At a friend’s recommendation a while back, 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...Read More

Here’s a new approach to the profession of sales. For years, we’ve seen the reputation of sellers slide into a negative, “pushy” or “obnoxious” stereotype of the “don’t-take-no-always-be-closing” pushers portrayed in movies such as The Wolf of Wallstreet, The Boiler Room, and Glengarry Glen Ross. Personally, it pisses me off that so many sellers before...Read More

“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

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

I love stacking up my summer reading list. Whether it’s an audiobook I listen to while driving or a good old paperback page-turner that gets covered with sea salt and sand, I’m planning my list as Memorial Day and Summer is right around the corner. What’s on this year’s list? A mix of business, skill...Read More

*Note: This may ruffle your feathers. Good. If you disagree with me, let me know why. When I’m speaking at an event with sales pros, many times veteran sellers will approach me and size me up with these questions, “What techniques do you teach?”, or “What are the hottest new sales techniques?” I cringe inside...Read More

As the topic of probably 1/3 of all conversations and certainly 1/3 of all social media posts, this election is truly remarkable and will certainly be dissected 7,432 ways in the history books. What I think is remarkable from a sales vantage is how these Presidential Candidates are masterful in their communication and the response...Read More

Traveling to NYC this past week, I had the opportunity to get chatty with many of my fellow travelers. “Going places” is pretty much a universal language and helps create instant bonds when you’re “all in this together” on a plane, or in a terminal. So, unless you give the international sign of “don’t bother...Read More

More and more when I meet business owners at conferences or events and exchange introductions, the conversation quickly turns to “Selling” for the owner and how difficult it is for them. Most often, they say, “I just don’t have enough time to get out there and sell.” But what I really hear is, “I’M NOT...Read More

This post evolved from a conversation with a colleague, Gina Trimarco, of Pivot10 Results, a leadership, sales, and service trainer, a studier of people, and a fantastic business sage. Gina uses analogies and metaphors in much of her training and coaching so I challenged her to take part in our March Madness Business blogging and...Read More