Not sure why it took working full-time for 35 years before pulling the trigger to make this happen, but I am so thankful that I finally listened to advisors, mentors, friends, and peers telling me to do it. I recently completed my first-ever sabbatical. 30 days off… The entire experience was wonderful, instructive, life-giving, convicting,
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It’s been an incredible year! I hope you feel that way, too. Recently, I spent time with two particular clients who would agree with that sentiment. These two companies could not be more different. One is a large global organization that I’m precluded from discussing publicly (but what I will offer is that I’m glad these
Here’s a second excerpt from the live web-video conversation some of my favorite sales gurus (Miles Austin, Mark Hunter, Andy Paul) and I conducted earlier this year. In this 47-second clip I challenge you to think about when you should be making sales presentations. Way too many salespeople deliver presentations way too early in the sales process. *A note to those
A few times per year I write a post that I’m pretty sure will be unpopular. Based on how many salespeople I see wearing embroidered logo shirts, this one certainly will ruffle a few feathers – at least that’s my hope. Here’s my premise: Way too many salespeople wear their company logo (golf, polo or
I get asked to read more sales books than I could possibly get to. And of those I do read, very few get my endorsement or shared with you here. Well, this past week I finally got my hands on a new book that I’ve been eagerly anticipating. I like everything (the layout, accessibility, smooth writing, short,
Earlier this year three of my favorite sales gurus and I conducted a fun, quick-hit, live web-video conversation offering blunt comments and bold tips for salespeople. We had a blast alternating between arguing the finer points of sales and patting each other on the back for being so smart. The audience feedback praised both the practical nature
I’ve never held back making my feelings known about the word “presentation” – particularly when pronounced by excited salespeople with the long e – preezentation. Last week I shared about the boardroom disaster that was the most painful (and formative) lesson in my sales career. If you haven’t had a chance to hear me telling the story
Pain is a good teacher. Fourteen years ago I suffered the most painful experience in my sales career – so painful, that it’s burned in my memory as vividly as the birth of my children. And so powerful and formative were the lessons from that experience that it’s not an exaggeration to say it changed
New Digs Welcome! Thrilled to have you here and thankful for your patience as we’ve been working hard to launch this improved site. I’ve saved up some great blog posts that I can’t wait to share. The look is different but the goal is the same – to bring you blunt, practical
You know how CNN overuses the “BREAKING NEWS” thing ad nauseum? Remember how ten days after that Malaysia Airlines flight went missing they’d lead in with the dramatic music and the breaking news logo to tell us that the plane still hadn’t been found? That’s pretty much where I am with the non-stop hype about
When I was 12, my dad remarried and I gained an incredible “step” family. For 35 years, Ed Davidheiser has been a more than a step grandfather; he’s been a hero, mentor, consultant and dear friend to me. Mr. D (what I’ve called him since day one) got a brief mention in the Acknowledgments of New
Sometimes the solution to our sales problem is so simple that we can’t see it. I am pretty sure that this is one of those cases. What We Want We (sellers and sales leaders) ALL crave a full, healthy (fat), balanced, moving pipeline of sales opportunities. What We Typically Do Unfortunately, most of us in
Sales Friends, I get it. We want to be liked. We want to be seen as responsive. We want to show customers that we care and that we listen and that we can follow instructions… All of those things are wonderful. But there’s just one little problem: very often defaulting to our prospect’s (or their
This is Trevor. He’s the senior executive of a company he founded in the UK. He’s also an amazing human being. I think it is fair to say that after the few days we just spent together at our Supercharge Your Sales Leadership event in Atlanta, our relationship crossed from client-coach to friends. The way
