Mindset is important. Yet, you can develop whatever mindset you desire and still fail. You can be a highly skilled sales professional and still fail. Yes, mindset and skills are important. However, they run a distant second place to the importance of character in a salesperson. Keep this in mind: Success and failure both start with your character. Your character …
Reflections on 600 Conversations about Sales
Last month I published the 600th episode of my podcast, Accelerate!
Selling starts with your first question
Selling doesn’t start until you ask a question. This may sound counter-intuitive to many sellers. Yet, it’s a hard truth that you can’t sell if you’re doing all the talking. If a buyer wanted a one-sided conversation with you about your product, they’d visit your website. At least there they’d be able to gather the same information without someone blathering …
If you need a sales process to tell you when to close…
Do you need a sales process to tell you when a sale is ready to close? Recently I read an article that was written from the perspective of a sales rep and it stated: “..unless you give me a smart sales process to follow, I can’t tell you when the sale will close.” Really? That’s like saying that after 10 …
The Epic 2017 Sales Kick-off Week on Accelerate!
This will be an epic sales week on Accelerate! This is our 2nd Annual Sales Kick-off Week. And I’ve lined up a series of powerhouse guests that are going to deliver massive value to help you crush it in 2017. If you’re not already making Accelerate! your go-to source for the best sales advice you can find online, then this week …
First, Turn Your Phone Off
Sellers, turn your mobile phones off And put them away, out of sight, while you’re making sales calls. It’s so obvious that one would think you shouldn’t have to remind people. And, yet… Weapons of Mass Distraction Recently, I conducted a workshop for a client and their roughly 80 inside sales reps. A majority of one particular teaching session focused …
Are You Afraid of Success?
Are you afraid of sales success? You’ve all heard of fear of failure. Fear of failure has a sibling that could be holding you back. It’s called fear of success. Psychologists have a name for it: achievemephobia. I often think that this is a bigger problem for sales leaders and sales professionals than a fear of failure. I worked with …
The Top 5 Sales Books Recommended by Leading Sales Experts
Which sales books should you read right now? My top-rated podcast, Accelerate!, just marked its one year anniversary. During that time I’ve conducted over 300 in-depth interviews with world-class sales and marketing experts. At the end of every interview I ask my guest to name the one book, excluding any book(s) that she or he had written, that they recommend …
How Has Sales Management Changed in the Digital Era?
I recently participated in a panel discussion webinar hosted by Pipeliner CRM about the changes in sales management driven by the digital era. John Golden, Chief Strategy Officer, at Pipeliner moderated the discussion. In addition to me, the panelists included Mike Kunkle, Sr Director of Sales Readiness Consulting at Brainshark and Jim Obermayer, Founder of the Sales Lead Management Association. …
Top 5 Episodes on Accelerate! on Personal & Professional Development
This article is part of my series about the Top Most Popular Episodes from Accelerate’s first 200 episodes. Here are the top 5 most popular episodes we’ve had on my podcast, Accelerate!, on the topic of Personal & Professional Development (as measured by the number of times each episode was downloaded or streamed by you.) If you want to maximize …