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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Salespeople and sales managers would benefit from more sales education. There is a vital difference between sales training and sales education. And, it has a direct impact on the decisions you make about how to invest in boosting your sales performance. Sales training...
Sales is not about the numbers. Or your process. It’s about people and their time. Are you so consumed with hitting your activity goals, that you forget about the human beings that are the objects of your sales efforts? By this I mean the buyers and influencers that...
Anyone else both fascinated and exhausted by the presidential campaign? We’re 14 months away from the 2016 presidential election and it’s already hard to avoid taking my eyes off of the news about the candidates because of the sense that a spectacular train wreck...
Collaborating with prospects on their buyer’s journey to help them achieve their business objectives is hard work. But, it’s easier than just selling. I’ve written often about the fact that sales is not something that you do to a prospect. It’s a process you go...
“Why are you investing your time and money on this RFP?” That’s the first question I asked B., a VP of Sales who emailed me last week for advice on a sales opportunity his team was working. His company, B Co, is a bootstrapped SaaS start-up in growing space. The...