“Disparaging what one cannot obtain, as in The losers’ scorn for the award is pure Sour Grapes.” This expression alludes to the Greek writer Aesop’s famous fable about a fox that cannot reach some grapes on a high vine and announces that they are sour. By nature, sellers are competitive. The best salespeople are naturally...Read More

A while back, 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:...Read More

Everyone’s making big promises, resolutions, and vowing to make changes right now just as the ball drops on this New Year. I’ve never had much use for making grand proclamations of my intent or magically thinking I’ll turn into someone who LOVES running, eating steamed broccoli, or clearing my pantry of every carb and sugar....Read More

Thanksgiving signals the official rounding of the corner for wrapping up the business year. While never an excuse that I’ve subscribed to (or let my sales reps use), it can be extremely challenging to “do business” at this time of year. It’s all downhill after turkey day. Holiday parties, office potlucks, client gifts, employee parties,...Read More

If you’re in my salespeople posse, around this time of year, we start talking about getting through the Holiday season as productively and profitably as possible. Inevitably, the talk comes up about To Gift, or Not to Gift customers at this time of year. I have strong opinions about this and it goes like this...Read More

“Don’t you just LOVE meetings!” . . . said probably no one ever. Sales meetings, in particular, were usually met with an eye roll so hard from me that I could examine the back of my brain. Time after time, whether they were weekly, monthly, or scheduled on a whim, sales meetings devolved into sessions...Read More

What do YOU think would be the response when asked, “What are the top challenges sellers and sales pros face today?” Up until 5 to 10 years ago, you might have heard a resounding, “Lack of leads!” coming from salespeople. Nowadays, in this lightning-fast digital world of social platforms and instant communication, that’s not so...Read More

So, your field sales team has become an inside sales team AND they’re working at home? How do you make the transition? Inside sales teams right now have a slight advantage in that their tools, strategy, and processes are not likely to be wildly different – except for those that were centrally located and now...Read More

As we are in the throes of Pumpkin Spice Season (formerly called “fall” and “fourth quarter”), many of you are pushing hard to close out the year’s sales and have one eye on planning for next year too. For Sales Directors and Business Owners, this is that time where you start thinking of how to...Read More

Many sales people and business owners tell me “networking” is how they fill their pipeline with leads and opportunities. And rarely, do I ever believe them. I do believe networking can lead to opportunities, but more often than not, “networking” simply fills up their calendar and gives them the feeling that they’re accomplishing something. They...Read More