The best advice you can get on how your company should approach the industry is to ask your customers! More importantly, ask your potential customers. But you need to be willing to listen, even if its not what you think is right. A few years ago my partner and I Read more…
Why do they call it leading? Why do you lead a horse with lead-reins? Well, have you ever tried pushing a horse from behind? I certainly hope not. Some things should be obvious in sales leadership, but far too often are ignored. Let’s talk about push vs pull leadership. I Read more…
As January comes to an end, how are you doing with your 2019 New Years’ Resolutions? Did you give up already? If you’re off to a good start in keeping your resolutions, then you’re only 8% of the people who keep their resolutions. We all have good intentions, but let’s Read more…
A few years back I worked with a $100 million company in the commercial construction industry that was falling short each year on hitting its revenue growth goals. They had an alignment issue. Sales wasn’t aligned to marketing, and neither of those were really aligned to operations and customer service. Read more…
It’s Q4, and time to set budgets and sales goals for 2019. One recent trend I’ve seen in many organizations is the grave mistake of using stretch goals as the target. This is a mistake on several levels. Many sales leaders believe that the best way to motivate performance from Read more…
It’s November, and right now most companies have a pretty good idea of where they will end 2018 against their annual goals. Most are finalizing budgets, revenue and margin targets, performance management plans and capital purchasing plans for 2019. Sounds great in theory, but what I see most often is Read more…
You’ve probably heard the saying in sales that “People do business with people they like.” But what makes people like you? If you follow the sales tactics in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, chances are not too many customers like you. But do people really “like” you or do they Read more…
It’s time to detach from the traditional sales way of thinking. You know what I’m talking about. The “Always Be Closing” mentality. It’s time sales organizations abandon the “what have you done for me lately” micro-management garbage that’s unfortunately still ever so common in many sales organizations. New methods and Read more…
Throughout my 15 year sales career, I’ve had the privilege of working for several successful sales companies–both as an outside sales rep and as a sales manager. Each company had their own sales process. Often times, these sales processes were complicated and as a manager, it was expected of me Read more…
We’ve all experienced small talk while riding an elevator. In an elevator, you’re focused on your destination. Should someone start an awkward conversation, the tiny box that you’re suddenly in seems smaller, and the door to freedom cannot open fast enough. The same can be said during an initial sales Read more…