A Sales Parable: Hunters, Farmers and Top Producers
A Manager owned land and territory with many customers of his products and services. He left his domain for a while under the care of three overseers. The first was a Hunter who successfully scoured...
View ArticleThe Opportunity Plan
As we’ve recently addressed the process and purpose of the Territory Plan (and its lacking across many sales organizations), let’s now confront the many faces, facets and formats of the equally...
View ArticleChallenger Sales Superstars
There is natural aligning of the 5 attributes of a Sales Superstar (see Rule #12) in my book 42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness and the 5 sales rep types from The Challenger Sale. 1....
View ArticleRethinking Your Sales Methodology
With all due respect to Michael Bosworth, author of Solution Selling, it’s long past time to rethink “solution selling” or any of the legacy sales methodologies. Both the selling world and customer...
View ArticleLean, Mean Selling Machines
Here we go again. Assuming a calendar fiscal year, it’s a new season, a new quarter. 2012 numbers have long been finalized. Recognition and achievement awards have almost all been passed out. New 2013...
View ArticleSo Why Do They Really Buy?
Enterprise customers do not necessarily buy today because of the company and brand impact. Only 19% claim this to be the main reason for their purchase. Another 19% claim it’s because of the product...
View ArticleSales Messaging Madness
In traveling to Asia Pacific, Europe and throughout North America, we work with sales teams with various approaches to effective sales messaging. Some teams use extensive but tired scripts to deal with...
View ArticleTop 10 Sales Messaging Problems
Here’s a summary listing of our Top 10 Sales Messaging Problems. They are common and they are the fault of salespeople, sales management, marketing and sales departments. They need not be deadly but...
View ArticleRule #3 – It’s Not About Your Product
from 42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness …While we’ve learned in Rule 2 that “It’s not about you,” I can tell you with assurance that to be effective in sales, it’s also not about your products....
View ArticleGrading the Pipeline
We’re well into March and the pipeline pressure is building; that is, pressure from above to build the pipeline. How’s it going? How you stand now is a very strong indicator of success for the rest of...
View ArticleForecasting Enabling Technology
Aberdeen Group research published in 2012, Better Sales Forecasting Through Process and Technology, highlights how top performers better deploy process and technology to achieve not only more accurate...
View ArticleRule #4 – It’s All About Your Customer
So if it’s not about you the salesperson, and it’s not about your products, then what is it all about? Well, who’s left? It’s all about your customer. In sales, the customer is number 1. The customer...
View ArticleProvocative Selling in 2013
There is nothing new under the sun in sales, or so they say. Not so fast. Fundamentals never go out of style, of course, however how we prepare, engage, converse, present, confirm and conclude...
View ArticleChampions and Masters
As college basketball NCAA Champions get crowned this week (congrats Louisville), and attention shifts to The Masters (the PGA’s next major golf tournament), competitive people paying attention are...
View ArticleKey Sales Trends – Quota Attainment
The numbers are in from CSO Insights. They’ve released their latest 2013 Sales Performance Optimization Study after surveying over 1500 firms of various size and across multiple industries. Since 1994...
View ArticleTop 3 Sales Priorities in 2013 vs 2012
When Chief Sales Officers were interviewed and asked in 2011 what their top sales priorities were for the coming 2012 year, across the globe they said: 1. Increase Sales Effectiveness (56%) 2. Increase...
View ArticleRule #12 – Be a Superstar
We all like winners and can appreciate superstars when we see them. We admire the superstar athlete who is talented beyond question and helps his team win games. But we’ve seen superstars come in a...
View ArticleChallenging Winners
There’s a current debate in some sales circles around the popular Challenger Sale book and a recent Rain Group report entitled “What Sales Winners do Differently.” The issues are over the so-called...
View ArticleWhat is Sales Messaging?
Check out this answer to the question ‘What is Sales Messaging‘ featuring Tanner Mezel of DSG. The right sales messaging tools and training can bridge the divide between high level strategy and what...
View ArticleHigh-Performance Sales Organizations
You want a high performing sales organization? Focus on account penetration, customer retention, specific sales call planning, drive internal feedback, and focus training in teaching product, market,...
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