The “sales story” is our most important sales weapon. By “story,” I mean the collection of talking points we use to communicate when selling. Most executives and most salespeople I meet don’t have a consistent, compelling, succinct, differentiating, customer-focused sales story. That’s mind boggling to me, because pieces of “the story” are incorporated into every […]
The Sales Story Must Pass The So What? Test Read More »
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! I could not be more thankful. And I’d like to take this opportunity to demonstrate it. We have been blown away by the response to my new book New Sales. Simplified. – The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development. The feedback from CEOs, sales executives, sales gurus, reviewers
Thanking Supporters by Paying for First 50 Kindle Books Purchased Tuesday Morning Read More »
Not sure about you, but seeing this fall foliage picture gets my pulse up. After the summer we’ve had here in St. Louis, I’ve never been more ready for fall and football! But there’s another really important aspect to fall, and with just a week to go until Labor Day, it is time for my
Ready for the Fall 2012 Selling Season? Read More »
Here’s reality: very few salespeople prospect for new business. And even fewer do it effectively. There are lots of reasons that’s the case, but one stands out above the rest. Fewer and fewer salespeople have a working knowledge of how to prospect! Many in sales today don’t prospect because they never had do to it and a
Many Salespeople Do Not Prospect Because They Never Had to or Do Not Know How Read More »
There is a lot of noise and confusion about prospecting in the sales world. It’s always been hard to get salespeople to prospect for new business — even when proactively pursuing strategic target accounts was widely accepted as a valid method for acquiring new customers. Today, the false teachers, many from the Sales 2.0 movement,
Beware of Who’s Preaching that Prospecting No Longer Works to Develop New Business Read More »
There’s a lot of talk about “niceness” today. Employees are often judged on whether they play nicely with others or what kind of team member they are. Listen, I’m all about culture, and I love being part of a team – a winning team. But everyday I see supposed sales killers choosing to play good corporate
Stop Playing Corporate Nice Guy and Start Being Productively Selfish with Your Time Read More »
When I share my “Not-So-Sweet 16 Reasons Salespeople Fail at New Business Development” with new client sales teams, this issue usually generates the most angry faces in the audience. No one shoots spitballs at me when I point out failure resulting from a lack of focus against a strategic, finite target account list. And everyone smiles
Salespeople Use Babysitting Existing Accounts as an Excuse Not to Prospect Read More »
We hear it all the time. “This is a relationship business.” Or, “It’s all about the relationship.” I’ll ask someone about their selling style, and quite often, the proud reply is “I’m a relationship salesperson.” Those answers sound good and are usually accepted at face value. But you know what my experience shows – particularly
Are You Too Relational to Thrive in New Business Development Sales? Read More »
We just returned from our family vacation. It was a great time at an all-inclusive resort just south of Playa del Carmen. As my son and I were reading in the setting pictured above, he smiled and said it looked like we had found our Corona TV commercial spot. All-inclusive resorts seem to have a
What We Can Learn about Sales from the Rookie Mexican Teppanyaki Chef Read More »
Within a 24-hour period from Thursday to Friday evening, I made unexpected trips to both the Apple Store and the Emergency Room. Surprisingly, the experiences were way more similar than you’d expect. My two-year-old Macbook Pro had been running slowly, locking up causing me to have to “force quit” apps, and then an hour after
Sales Lessons from an Apple Store like Experience at the Emergency Room Read More »
