You have a sales team or maybe you’ve been plugging away at your own sales efforts for a while now. How do you know how you’re doing? Other than hitting your sales goals . . . or not, how do you measure the health of your sales program? Sales results are one indication of how...Read More

On a recent interview by Paul Watts for his show Sales Reinvented Podcast he asked me “What’s one thing you wish you knew earlier in your sales career?” My answer: “I wish I would have known to be more hardcore at pre-qualifying.” Yup. Pre-qualifying prospects is critical and when I think of all the thousands...Read More

The question I ask sellers and business owners most often is, “What’s the biggest obstacle to where you are now and achieving your sales goals?” What does your gut tell you is the most popular response? What would YOU say? Here they are in descending order: 3rd most common response – “Better pricing/lower costs would...Read More

At a friend’s recommendation, this weekend I read a short but poignant book by Jon Gordon: Training Camp, A Fable About Excellence. You may recognize his name from one of his many other books, such as The Energy Bus, The Carpenter, and The Positive Dog. Jon has a gift to take business and life wisdom...Read More

It’s a brand spanky New Year. As most people are, you’re probably pumped to put the (dumpster fire?) that was 2016 behind you. The New Year always feels like a clean slate – full of promise and possibilities. Many of you may have plotted out budgets, planned expenses or set goals and perhaps cemented your...Read More

Last week I gave away a bunch of copies of Jill Konrath’s new book, MORE SALES. LESS TIME. I tied those giveaways to an offer of a free consulting conversation about the struggles business owners and sellers face to be productive in this stressful and ever distracting “shiny object” environment. My purpose was two-fold: 1)...Read More

I am constantly looking around, trying to identify the “selling” moments that happen in everyday transactions and interactions – big and small. Trying to articulate the good, the bad, and the really terrible, because most selling exchanges are not clearly defined moments that each party is privy to – rather, they are small, natural communications...Read More

Why does the sales profession get a bad rap? What’s the number one reason many people don’t want to be approached by a seller? Is it that we think they’re too pushy? Is it that we don’t want to be confronted with a choice or have to reject someone? Is it because we think they’re...Read More

We’ve descended into total “ball” season, folks: football, baseball, the other “football” affectionately known as soccer, and even volleyball. In our house with two sporty kids, right now we’re either playing a game, practicing for a game, watching a game, or talking about a game. I’m writing this post after my daughter’s volleyball practice tonight...Read More

Several months back I was sitting in on a sales meeting with a new client, observing her sales team, what she asked of them and what they reported. When asked about the progress on meeting with a particular prospect, one sales rep admitted, with frustration, “I don’t know what his problem is. I just haven’t...Read More