Yes.
Do it to establish and/or nurture relationships with customer decision makers. Yes, it will require a good bit of effort. No, you don’t have to write the whole thing. In fact, it’s better if you don’t write it!
Position and think of the project as prospecting. That’s right, publishing an e-Book can be all about grabbing [...]
A little over a year ago, I started blogging in earnest. I did it based on relentless urgings from the two guys who have become my Dreamland partners. I really didn’t want to do it, but they harassed me until I finally gave in. They told me it would be good for my marketing efforts. [...]
There’s something exhilarating about tackling a really big problem or pursuing a really big goal. It somehow puts so many things in a different perspective. Lucky for me, I’ve experienced the excitement quite a few times in my business career, and now I’m in the middle of another biggie in the [...]
We’ve all gotten inadvertently poked in the eye. Ouch X 10! Ain’t nothin’ quite so painful. Polite people would never, ever do such a thing to anyone. Certainly not a friend, or an acquaintance or even a total stranger. It’s just …well, so mean.
“Au contraire,” I’d like to suggest. If you’re a manager, mentor, colleague, [...]
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 intended effect. (I just wish I had actually thought the practice up instead of simply bumbling [...]
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.
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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 veteran [...]
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 as [...]
