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. I’ve been thinking about college and his future …
I concluded my recent post “Prisoners of Help Are Doomed to Fail” promising to tackle the characteristics of a healthy sales pipeline. My intentions were good, but I was distracted in early October by the release of my long-sought-after feature story in the great Southwest Airlines’ inflight Spirit magazine. So thanks to the Sales Airline for choosing me …
A Healthy Pipeline of Sales Opportunities is Full, Moving and Balanced 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 …
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 »
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 »
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 »
In my last post, I shared that waiting is one of the all-to-common reasons salespeople fail to develop new business. The passive, reactive salesperson who is always waiting for new materials, better instructions or warm prospects tends not to deliver the numbers. Being late to the party may be fashionable on the social scene, but …
Salespeople Fail to Develop New Business When They Are Late to the Party Read More »
There are various reasons salespeople fail to develop new business. I’ve devoted an entire chapter to that painful topic in my soon-to-be-released book. Speaking of the book, thanks to many of you who continue to inquire about it. “New Sales. Simplified.” is complete and in production. AMACOM will be releasing it in September. Trust me …
Successful Sales Hunters Do Not Wait for New Materials, Instructions or Leads Read More »
Everyone hopes there is a secret sauce or magic bullet for success. It sure would be nice! I always enjoy kicking off a new client relationship and getting to meet a bunch of new salespeople. For the most part, members of the sales team are happy to have some help and possibly even a sympathetic …
