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

Sometimes, when I’m talking with salespeople, something comes out of my mouth and I think, “Damn! I wish I’d recorded that. That was a really great sound bite!” It happens A LOT. Last week, I actually stopped to write down one of those verbal gems while discussing time and productivity with a team member. This...Read More

It’s a brand spanky New Year. As most people are, you’re probably pumped to put the last year 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 strategies with a...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

I like to categorize one of the worst things that have ever happened to me on a sales call as one of the BEST things that ever happened to me on a sales call. Imagine heading up to a very important meeting at a large bank headquarters with a VP of Something Important and a...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

If you’re a salesperson and your company isn’t investing in helping you build responsive sales skills … that really stinks. Maybe we should have a talk about why that is and where you are. In the meantime, if you’re a sales leader or managing a line of business and a sales team and you’re looking...Read More

It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to earn a response from a prospect these days. In 2007, it took almost 4 touches on average to get a response. Since then, the average has been more like 8 to 12 but hold on to your lunch . . . According to the Sales Development Technology Report by...Read More

Not to name drop but I have some extremely smart friends and colleagues that have written and are writing amazing sales books. I’ve reviewed a lot of them here on The Pipeline blog and usually bring a few with me when I go to train a sales team. Many of my clients are devout readers...Read More