Let me clarify. It’s not actually bad advice unless it’s taken the wrong way. The problem is too many salespeople do take it the wrong way! They take this platitude and go down the path of making “serving” their customers their paramount mission. Whatever the customer asks for they’ll bend over backwards to deliver. Their Read more

David Brock wrote an excellent post this past week that inspired me to write this. He touched on the frustrating fact that despite all the good sales advice and methodologies that are available and have been for many years, an alarming percentage of salespeople still use approaches that are frankly terrible! Something I’ve pondered for a while is Read more

A lot has been written about the fact that being busy is not the same as being productive, activity doesn’t equal results, etc. Much of this writing is about effective prioritization of tasks and time; allocating our time to what’s truly important to achieving our goals vs. the “tyranny of the urgent”. I want to Read more

“Selling with insight” is all the rage in our profession, and for good reason. “Challenging” customers and prospects with insights about how they might solve important problems, realize elusive opportunities or create a competitive advantage can be an effective way to engage at high levels. As long as these insights are truly unique and valuable Read more

“You like the part of the game when your dream client says yes” to your “ask.” You must also love the game when your dream client tells you “no.” It’s all part of the game, and no one is undefeated.” This quote is from an outstanding post I just read by Anthony Iannarino and it Read more

A recently published research report from the folks at Corporate Visions about the state of B2B sales training suggests that most sales leaders view on-site instructor led training as the most effective modality, while virtual options are considered far less effective. However, these leaders perceive a dilemma that is often expressed something like this: “I Read more

We’ve all witnessed the danger that can come from those holding extreme views in politics and religion. Although the consequences aren’t nearly as dire, I see more and more extreme views hurting the sales profession. Who espouses and promulgates such views? It’s some of the so-called pundits who would have us believe that anything that Read more

You’re probably saying to yourself: “This guy must be crazy! My reps can sell more by not thinking? Preposterous!” Allow me to clarify. Of course, critical thinking skills are essential in sales (as in most professions). We use them at ever stage of the sales process to advance and ultimately sell deals. That’s not what Read more

We’ve all heard the adages: “The customer is always right”; “Sell the way customers want to buy”, etc. These  are helpful in a certain context. Unfortunately too many of us in sales take them too literally and apply them universally to all our interactions with customers. We are often misguided because we don’t understand the Read more