Leadership & Management

Leadership & Management

New Sales. Simplified. Goes Back to College

My oldest son is a junior in high school. We’ve been ramping up our college research, visiting campuses (free copy of my book to the first three people who contact me and correctly identify the university pictured above), and on Saturday morning he took the ACT for the first time. It brought to mind this great post Dr. Dawn …

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Executives, Managers and Salespeople Must be More Selfish to Drive Improved Results

I wrote recently asking executives, managers and salespeople if they were moving the needle on high payoff activities or just simply busy. The piece got a lot of play and also caught the attention of the editors at Open View Labs who wanted to further explore the topic of being “Selfishly Productive.” And because this …

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Sales Manager: Why Don’t You Formally Meet 1:1 Monthly with Every Salesperson?

Leading the team and creating a healthy sales culture are primary responsibilities of the sales manager. Very often, I’ll ask a vice president of sales or the sales manager how often they meet 1:1 with their people. And the typical answer sounds something like this:  “I am in touch with every one of my people …

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By Request: Pay Sales Commissions or Not?

After a crazy week of speaking, consulting and traveling amidst winter storms, I thought I’d try something new and take requests for a weekend post. Shelly Lucas, Senior Marketing Manager at Dun & Bradstreet, was first to respond with this doozie: “…would love to hear your take on whether or not paying sales commissions still makes …

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Are You Moving the Needle on High Payoff Activity or Drowning in Details & Admin?

As I work with senior executives, sales leaders and salespeople, I’ve observed a trait that is common among top-performers in all three roles: The very best executives, managers and individual contributors are Selfishly Productive. I started incorporating the description Selfishly Productive into team sessions I was leading a few months back and noticed what an impact that phrase had …

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Turn Off the CRM AutoPilot and Get Strategic About Where to Spend Your Time

I love to fly. If you’re a regular here, you know about my loyalty to and friendship with my personal Sales Force One – Southwest Airlines, and why I think Southwest is the Sales Airline. But as highly as I think of Southwest for a commercial flight, nothing compares to flying in a private business jet. Early …

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