Often, real life and real sales situations provide the best fodder for blog posts. This is definitely one of those cases. Shake your head with me as I recount this true story and conclude with a coaching lesson.A high-performing senior vice president at a large company was looking to engage me to lead a Sales Truth-based […]

A long, long time ago, a good friend/client and I declared the critical eleven weeks between the U.S. Labor Day and Thanksgiving holidays the Fall Selling Season. For several years I published an annual post asking Are You Ready for the Selling Season Sprint?So, I’ll ask you now: are you (or your sales team) ready?Have you…Cleared your

My wife and I were out for dinner with old friends on Saturday evening at a great spot in downtown St. Louis. My phone started to buzz and I checked to see the lock screen filled with messages from the “Boys.” My son who lives in Indiana heard it first and quickly texted his older

Earlier this week three people from a large client came to visit my business partner and me in St. Louis. We’d never met with these particular individuals before, although we did have some email dialogue and a preliminary phone call before this meeting was scheduled.As my team and I were preparing for the client’s visit

The topic of sales rep turnover has come up several times during recent workshops I’ve led for sales executives and managers. Each company’s situation was a bit different, but there was a similar and dangerous undercurrent I heard from sales leaders that compelled me to share this with you. Managers were expressing their fear of holding

One of the most common (and most deadly) sales leadership sins is when the sales manager plays the role of sales team “hero” instead of “hero-maker.” Whether it be due to pressure, inexperience, insecurity, or a possibly an inflated ego or lack of confidence in team members, bad things happen when managers “do” instead of

Sharpening what I call our “Sales Story” pays more dividends than you can imagine. When your sales story is spot on selling becomes a completely new ballgame. A compelling, customer issue and customer outcome-focused, differentiating message changes everything, and I mean everything! 1. It gives you confidence – confidence to prospect and confidence to meet

“…there are no underemployed true sales hunters. People who have mastered creating and closing sales opportunities are in high demand and command top dollar. There are lots of sellers who can fulfill demand but far fewer who can create it.”  -Mike Weinberg in Chapter 6 of Sales Truth My July 4th post boldly declared that sellers

I love this country, am a proud American, and could not be more thankful for the freedoms we enjoy!  Freedom to learn. Freedom to read whatever we want. Freedom to worship. To choose our career. To pick our employer. To work as hard as we want. To create our own opportunities. Freedom to earn as

Serious question: Who is on YOUR team? When you need some encouragement and to be told “you can do this,” to whom do you turn? When you’re doubting yourself, in a slump, or just need a boost of confidence, where do you turn? Take 40 seconds to watch this post-game video interview with the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright:  It’s