It’s 4th quarter – the time when sales teams are looking at closing the gap on their goals and where they are year-to-date. For some of you, you’re okay and on track. Good for you on managing your pipeline, developing new business, or “crushing it” this year. For many of you, this is a panic...Read More

I often joke about tattoos I would get – if I were the tattoo-ing sort. There are 5 or 6 phrases I use so regularly. They’re soundbites that are recurring in most of our training sessions – that after a while, my sellers can repeat them back to me like audience members that know the...Read More

I will admit I’d like to see your face right now after reading this title. It wasn’t intentionally “click bait” but when sitting in a client’s office and discussing his sales process, he wrote on his whiteboard: “Prospecting: *Research *Call/Connect *FU” He immediately realized his abbreviation for “Follow Up” looked like a particularly nasty insult...Read More

This blog is a CHALLENGE to you. If you’re reading it on a Monday, make something BIG happen by Friday . . . I did a double take when I read this statistic on Jill Konrath’s blog, citing a piece of research from LinkedIn “Win rates multiply up to 4 times when you are connected...Read More

I get frustrated sometimes. More often than I’d like to admit. I found myself explaining the story of Jack and the Beanstalk to a salesperson last week, a very young salesperson, who didn’t get my reference when I said, “There are NO MAGIC BEANS.” It seems that Jack and the Beanstalk isn’t as popular with...Read More

Road tripping this to a volleyball tournament a while back, I had 3 hours to spend in the car with my 12-year-old daughter. We listened to hundreds of songs on my iPod. Rolling through several decades of old and new ones. At one point, she marveled at how many songs she knew – as in...Read More

Sales is exhilarating. Selling is grueling. Sales is non-stop activity. Selling is exhausting. Sales is juggling competing priorities. Selling is chasing a constantly moving target. How do you keep filling your new business pipeline, juggling activities, reports, administrative stuff, client relationships, and AVOIDING burnout? Considering the recent (various) reports that suggest nearly 7 out of...Read More

Look, y’all, you know the saying about “Opinions”, right? That everyone has one and everyone is entitled to one. My “opinion” about Sales Advice is very strong and I give it freely – as a friend most recently described, I’m going to be “as honest as a toddler or yoga pants” with you. There is...Read More

Last week I decided to try something new with my sellers. I recognize this look of exasperation when I ask my sellers about their latest selling activity: prospecting, pre-qualifying, meetings, et cetera. For Account Executives or Account Managers, making time for Business Development can be incredibly tough with all they have to get done in...Read More

“Oh crap. Is it too late to resuscitate?” Recently, a sales team found out the hard way that a client was pissed about something that happened several months ago. Unfortunately, they found out because they are being shut out of an enormous opportunity. They were coming at the opportunity from several angles with several divisions....Read More