If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! There aren’t many feelings as cool as when you get to see one of your own best practices kick in. I had the great good fortune this past Wednesday to watch one of mine take hold and accomplish its [...]
Who am I to argue with General Dwight D. Eisenhower? He made the comment in this post’s title regarding the Normandy invasion. He was reflecting upon how little the actual battle resembled the D-Day plan; a plan that resulted from a truly stupendous effort on the part of the Allies.
I know, I know, you’ve all heard the “ask why five times” cliché over and over and over. Why repeat it again? I’ll tell you why. It’s because of a story I heard just last week from an extremely successful rep with more than 30 years of experience. The story starts with our crusty old [...]
I’ll never forget that coffee mug. It was the second year of my sales career, and I had finally submitted a proposal that got me invited to “present and defend” in front the powers that be in the executive conference room of one of my key customers. It sat in the middle of the table. [...]
There are all kinds of bad tactics earnestly applied in sales calls every day. I do it; you do it; we all do it. Nobody deserves to get beaten up for the occasional goof. Everybody deserves to get beaten up for making the same mistake three times. (Notice what a sweetheart I am – allowing [...]
Doesn’t it always seem like it takes more time to lose an opportunity than it does to win one? Well, based on a whole lot of empirical data I’ve collected over the years that instinct is true. In company after company, industry after industry, 2.1 seems to be the ratio. That doesn’t necessarily mean twice [...]
A case for aggressively sharing every ounce of knowledge you have. What do think? Brilliant or crazy?
Conventional wisdom holds that continuous sales training is essential. I wonder why there isn’t more of it going on… Ask any sales manager about the need for continuous sales training and you instantly get agreement that it is important. So why isn’t there more of it going on? The fact is, most money spent on [...]
Guest post by Rick Howe, CEO of The Knotts Company Be a Why-ner! What is your best question when you are engaging a customer through your selling process and their buying process? Even though I am no longer on the front lines selling, I am still a salesman at heart and when I listen to [...]
