I surveyed a sales team recently – prior to a Skills Building session on Pushback, Objections, and Negotiation – and asked them some of the most common obstacles they face in business development. Their answers didn’t surprise me, but one of the things about their answers that I pointed out really made them think –...Read More

NOTE: This is an update to the WHACK-A-MOLE Business Strategy post from several years back. I work with both business owners and their sales teams and individual sellers and I see more WHACK-A-MOLE than ever! Does this title feel ALL too familiar to you? I write this blog as I had an encounter with a...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

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

Let’s talk about your sales and profit margins. How effective do you think your Sales and/or Marketing messages are? Are they compelling and converting leads in to opportunities and opportunities into customers with strong and healthy margins? At what rate? And at what cost to acquire a new customer? (If you don’t know your conversion...Read More

I received an email the other day from a company letting me know my order had shipped. The message came from “customerlove@blahblahblah.com.” Not “info,” not “orders,” but “customer love.” That made me feel special. For two reasons: It always makes me happy to know when my package was shipped and when I can expect it....Read More

Here is another one of those blogs where the Universe has conspired to bring a topic to light. I’ve been on a campaign to move sellers from their Intuitive behaviors to intentional actions. We do so many things naturally, in the course of selling, like building relationships, asking questions, responding . . . but often,...Read More

Probably one of the most frustrating scenarios in sales is when you have a conversation or exchange with a prospective customer, follow up with a brilliant email containing a meeting request, information, or pricing, et cetera … and then, NOTHING. Your Follow-Up FLOPPED! • Why didn’t they respond? • Why haven’t they replied? • I...Read More