Learn to sell from a teacherWho is your favorite teacher? It may be from grade school or grad school, but we all have a teacher we admire for the how and what we learned from them. So if teachers are fondly remembered, why not emulate them in other professions? Read more
Category Archives: Sales Enablement
Fix the problem or apply a band-aid?
When do you just cover up the problem and when do you fix it? Some problems are just too expensive to fix. You won’t get a reasonable ROI in the needed time frame. Every potential solution has to be prioritized. Read more
Hire an athlete!
The age old debate, do we hire a sales person with industry experience or do we just get the best darn sales person we can find? I hear this conversation often. Today I heard the best answer. Read more
So, you wanna be a blogger?
Would you like to start your own blog or website? Are you worried about the commitment? Do you really have enough content to make it happen? Yes, you do. Does the technology scare you? It shouldn’t. Here a few tips and tricks to get you started. Read more
How to use a story to challenge a buyer’s thinking
Good friends, good food, and good wine always lead to stories, so it’s no surprise that I have a second post from the wine trip that I mentioned earlier in the week. This is post for any seller who has challenged a customer to think differently, but the customer did not at first respond well. Read more
The most successful business owners tell the best stories
The best trade-show on earth, well that’s what our group called this past weekend at the Savor the Central Coast wine event near Paso Robles California. It offered rows of booths to visit and everyone wanted you to like their product the best – similar to a trade-show. As easy as it was for each seller to give away wine, the best storytellers were the winners. Read more
How to make a sale
Remember your last big personal purchase? You had to define your needs, develop a budget, explore options and make a decision. That’s not too different from a purchase made in the business world. I was reminded of this today. Read more
Plan “spontaneous” rewards for your team
It is worth your time and effort to understand what motivates your team of salespeople? After all, they (and the revenue they generate) represent your business’ life. Hiring the best sales people and giving them the tools to succeed is important, but keeping them motivated is critical. Read more
Budget cuts? Lower my expense account but don’t touch my bonus!
America’s businesses have trimmed the fat (and then some) from their expenses. The federal government has found a way to (barely) cut spending, cover (for now) its debts and (again, for now) avoid tax increases. With a pending double dip, where can companies cut? Read more
Tuning sales operations for growth
Ouch. Your sales force just missed another deadline, putting launch of your new product line in jeopardy. What’s wrong? With a broader, end-to-end look at what they are doing, you might just find significant opportunities to help free up more of their time for selling instead of the other necessary activities that aren’t managed most efficiently and may be done elsewhere. Read more