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

What’s your focus for improved sales results this year? Cleaning up my office this week and the biggest stack of papers on my desk is my “Session Notes” pile. It’s the colorful printouts of PowerPoint decks and session worksheets that are scribbled on in blue, purple, hot pink, and aqua (I love my colored sharpie...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

Every December in Memphis, TN, thousands of people descend upon the city’s Downtown area to participate in the St. Jude Marathon. Runners run or walk a 5k, 10k, half, or full marathon and raise funds to support the mission, research, and children of St. Jude. This year’s marathon weekend raised over 12 MILLION dollars! It’s...Read More

Everyone hates to fail. We don’t want to admit to failure. I despise it. Even though we’re familiar with sayings that tell us how much we learn from failure, how it makes us stronger . . . and all those other rah-rah messages. Sure, we learn what we SHOULD have done. That’s easy to see...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