There’s all this free sales advice out there … So, why aren’t your sales team members killing it? Why aren’t they soaking it up? Why aren’t they studying YouTube, signing up for all the webinars, and buying all the freaking books? Seriously, WHY? Don’t they WANT to kill it? Don’t they WANT to be the...Read More
No one and I mean NO ONE loves it when I’ve ever asked them to role-play a sales scenario. It’s hard to explain how many times I’ve gotten eye rolls when I brought up role-playing through a scenario. Why do we hate it so much? Well, it’s awkward. Everyone’s staring at you – thinking, “glad...Read More
Why do we love toddlers and small humans in weddings? It’s not because ring bearers and flower girls perfectly execute their duties with the style and panache of professionals. It’s because, in spite of rehearsals, practices and coaching, we know that they are a wild card and are capable of melting down, going off course...Read More
Do you remember the old instructions on the back of a shampoo bottle? I think there are still a few around with those instructions. “For best results, Lather, Rinse, Repeat” This was actually one of my super successful sales mantras when I was a sales account executive in Television, Commercial Print, and Flexible Office Space....Read More
Over these past few weeks, I’ve had strong reinforcements of my core beliefs about sales training: Most of it needs to be, “Undone.” I see proof every day that Sales Onboarding is upside down or backwards. I see sales training that is hype, technique and manipulation-based vs skills focused. Much of the current “well-known” sales...Read More
Potatoes, Eggs, Bacon, Croissant, Orange Juice, Dolphins. See what I did there? Your brain started looking for a pattern: Food, Breakfast Foods … then, BAM. Disruption. Want to get someone’s attention? Disrupt patterns AND their expectations. Our brains are, say it with me now, FUTURE PREDICTION MACHINES and we’re constantly surveying and assessing for what...Read More
My agile, fit, 71-year-old mother came over this week after cleaning her gutters. They were pulling away from the house so she climbed on a ladder and in the 90 degree Memphis summer heat, cleaned the debris and gunk out of her gutters. The rub came later when she was in the house and tidying...Read More
Our clients are usually classified as “Small Business” – though I absolutely DESPISE that term. The US economy is POWERED by Small Business! In fact, as of the 2010 census, Small Businesses make up to 99.7% of Employer Firms in this country (a “Small Business” is defined as having less than 500 employees). Yeah –...Read More
I recently recorded a session for a Virtual Sales Summit along with three super-smart counterparts – and our focus was on Coaching the Next Generation of Sales Leaders. My contribution to our sales coaching discussion was “3 keys to coaching behavior changes.” Coaching is one of those broad, ambiguous titles. Some folks confuse coaching with...Read More
Have you ever done the “Sales Walk of Shame” back to your car in the parking lot after realizing you just lost a sale and thought, “What in the world happened?” You didn’t see that coming. You thought things were looking good for you. Your buyer said things were going well. But somewhere along the...Read More
