I surveyed a sales team recently – prior to a Skills Building session on Pushback, Objections, and Negotiation – and asked them some of the most common obstacles they face in business development. Their answers didn’t surprise me, but one of the things about their answers that I pointed out really made them think –...Read More

We spend a huge amount of energy working with our clients on the early stages of their pipeline. Right now, at this time in history, the demand for our customers’ attention is in intense. We are fighting to be able to get in front of buyers for those first precious impressions and to be able...Read More

There’s hardly anything I can think of that’s more cringeworthy to a seller than hearing, “I’ll think it over” come out of a prospect’s mouth after you’ve proposed a solution or put a contract in front of him or her. For me, it was worse than hearing a flat out, “No” or “I’ve chosen another...Read More

Many times when a new client reaches out or “sends up the bat-signal” it comes after one or more significant sales losses – especially if the loss is an existing account and it came as a shock. This has happened to me when I was an account executive and I see this often when I...Read More

NOTE: This is an update to the WHACK-A-MOLE Business Strategy post from several years back. I work with both business owners and their sales teams and individual sellers and I see more WHACK-A-MOLE than ever! Does this title feel ALL too familiar to you? I write this blog as I had an encounter with a...Read More

Why do we love toddlers and small humans in weddings? It’s not because ring bearers and flower girls perfectly execute their duties with the style and panache of professionals. It’s because, in spite of rehearsals, practices and coaching, we know that they are a wild card and are capable of melting down, going off course...Read More

Potatoes, Eggs, Bacon, Croissant, Orange Juice, Dolphins. See what I did there? Your brain started looking for a pattern: Food, Breakfast Foods … then, BAM. Disruption. Want to get someone’s attention? Disrupt patterns AND their expectations. Our brains are, say it with me now, FUTURE PREDICTION MACHINES and we’re constantly surveying and assessing for what...Read More

Our clients are usually classified as “Small Business” – though I absolutely DESPISE that term. The US economy is POWERED by Small Business! In fact, as of the 2010 census, Small Businesses make up to 99.7% of Employer Firms in this country (a “Small Business” is defined as having less than 500 employees). Yeah –...Read More

If you asked 10 Sales Pros what their primary goal would be, you’d predictably get some variation of, “Close more deals,” or “Grow revenue,” or “Make my quota and bonus.” I like the “eye on the prize” mentality but question those answers as goals. They are outcomes. They are results. Similar to the name of...Read More

With the age of the internet, we’ve all become self-diagnosing doctors with medical degrees from “Google”, right? We are able to search out our symptoms and try to self-medicate, self-prescribe . . . maybe even self-destruct. When we finally seek out medical help we’ve either worked ourselves into a tizzy about the “worst case scenario” possibilities...Read More