Selling Through The Slump: An eBook

I was asked by my friend Charlie Green representing The Customer Collective to contribute to an e-book that was just published. I recommend that you download it, read it and use it.
Selling Through A Slump: An Industry-by-Industry Playbook
A Guide by Salespeople for Salespeople on How to Sell Your Way to Recovery

Download this Free eBook
Selling [...]

ESR’s Sales Training Vendor Guide Published Today

ESR’s Sales Training Vendor Guide: Third Edition was published this morning.
The Guide analyzes, compares, and contrasts 23 leading sales training providers across many areas including:

Solutions Range
Range of Target Companies
Range of Target Audiences
Range of Training Programs
Adaptability
Range of Instructional Aids & Tools
Quality of Instructional Design
Measurement Programs
Post-training Reinforcement
Supporting Technology
Yield Growth
Return-On-Training (ROT)
Utilization among sales teams
Ease of Learning/Adoption

The Guide weighs [...]

Strategy 18: Become An Expert At Competitive Positioning

Hey, I have a proposition for you.
I had a really bad experience with Dearborn Trade Press (now Kaplan Financial Publishing) with my book, How Winners Sell, Second Edition. It’s no longer in print, although companies seem to be able to find copies somehow when I come in to present at their sales kick-offs and other [...]

Hope Is Not A Strategy, But It Can Make All The Difference

“Having hope,” writes Daniel Goleman in his  study of emotional intelligence, “means that one will not  give in to overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude, or  depression in the face of difficult challenges or setbacks.”
Rick Page is right.  Hope isn’t a strategy.   Profound words.  Hope doesn’t replace the comprehensive and objective assessment of a selling situation, [...]

A New Look At That Old Sales Capability: Empathy

We’ve always listed empathy as a required trait for salespeople.  In a Sales 101 application, empathy is the salesperson’s ability to understand the customer’s situation from the customer’s perspective.  Nothing new here.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, in her wonderful book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, provides us with another, very powerful reason why [...]

Trust

I’ve been very critical of sales tips during the past six months.  My column in Sales and Marketing Management Magazine about it as well.
The simple reason is that sales tips keep salespeople and their managers focused on tactics and shortcuts rather than investing the time and effort required for planning and executing a strategic approach [...]

Let’s Get Real Or Let’s Not Play

Last July I was honored to be sent a final draft of Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig’s revised and expanded edition of Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play.
Mahan and Randy are key members of FranklinCovey’s sales performance practice.  (Here is a podcast interview I did with Mahan.)
What is immediately significant about this book is [...]

Down Economy. Fewer Deals. Respond To An RFP!

When I worked coaching sales teams I generally took a tough, if not black and white, position on responding to blind RFPs.  My clients heard me say again and again, “Follow conventional wisdom:  If you didn’t write it, your competitor probably did.  Let’s come up with more productive ways to spend your time.”
(Now I’m on [...]

Sales Lessons From The Presidential Race

No matter what side you were on, here are a few observations, affirmations and truths, post-election, with respect to selling:

Strategy and tactics are equally important.  The purpose of executing tactics in a sales campaign is to drive a well-founded strategy.  Tactics without a strategy is like playing darts with your eyes closed.
Message! Not messages, messages, [...]

How To Save Hours Every Month

Fifteen years or so ago, I was typing something on my computer with my friend Mike Campanelli looking over my shoulder.  “Are you crazy?” he asked.  I had no idea what he was referring to.  “You spend all that time on the computer and you type like it’s the first time you’ve seen one.  I [...]