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For the uninitiated, sales would likely be thought of as a great example of collaboration, not only individuals collaborating, but whole teams or departments working together for a united cause: revenue through client satisfaction.  Sales people seen as quarterbacks of resource and specialists, working together to craft and deliver solutions made up of the best [...]

A lot of sales people and organizations talk about a sales process, but many really don’t get it, and as a result end up doing more harm than good through the motion of implementing one.
A good sales process is a series of logical steps, executed in sequential order that help the buyer and seller go [...]

Having worked for several companies in my day, I have three times made the ascent from “independent contributor” to Management.  Twice in a sales role, and one of those did not count as I had no direct reports, the team I managed was product not sales, I had the revenue responsibility.  So when I got [...]

Qualify is one of those buzz words in sales, you “know” it, you “use” it; you can smell like a sales person and play with the other dogs in the yard, and you get a seat on the bus. What the list above excludes is doing it well which many sales people don’t.
As with many [...]

I had just transitioned from inside sales to my first outside sales position where I was selling some high end estate planning vehicles in the home. My clients all had net worth’s in the 5-10 million ranges, and appearance was everything. After a week or so it became clear to me that my lifted Jeep [...]

While they may not always admit it, sales people are really gatherers and hoarders at heart, that is why there is premium paid for real hunters.  When you ask most sales people what they need to do better they say “I need more accounts”,” I need more territory”, as though more stuff equals more results [...]

At the risk of sounding old and cynical, (not burnt out), I have to share with you one of my favourite things in presenting sales effectiveness programs to senior sales executives, and the thing that makes it even more fun, is that it happens regularly and therefore I am sure to be amused regularly.
The scenario [...]