"As part of my initiative to build Sales Culture
I'll post my thoughts on the topics of the day"
As sales professionals we have all experienced something like this.... you conduct a great sales campaign, have multiple appointments and everyone loves what you are offering and you are getting definite buying signals. Your network is strong in the account! You report this deal as looking awesome in your pipeline reviews with the boss. You may have even gone as far as to let your internal resources know that some work is coming. Everything looks great for the BIG close! Then-NOTHING! The emails go unanswered and phone messages go unreturned. You slowly realize that "IT" has happened. Your client has gone "radio silent." This situation conjures up mental images of ...
Do you believe in good "sales karma"? I do. I am firm believer in the old adage "what goes around comes around". I am writing this blog to the sales community today as a bit of a wake up call for us all. I just had an interesting conversation with a former colleague who was very excited about a deal that just closed! As she told me more and more about the deal and its structure , it was apparent to me that shortcuts had been taken and she was looking only at this one deal. Whatever the reasons (pressure to make the numbers, ego, etc), I was really concerned ...
Hardly a day passes without some news agency reporting some sort of impending doom for the economy. I listen very carefully and try to make sense of it; seek out experts and ask questions. I have talked to professionals from all walks of life and everyone has some compelling vision of what is coming. Obviously, I am most concerned about helping the sales community protect itself against a downturn. I have devoted my column this week to sharing some of my thoughts about what we can do to make sure the sales keep coming in and we stay sharp! In my career, I have been through a few significant slowdowns and one ...
The last few days I have been reflecting on the upcoming Labor Day holiday. I did some research on the meaning and origin of the holiday and here is what I found...."Labor Day is a... holiday that takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man". It is still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many." Interesting and clearly the holiday had noble beginnings and intentions. I am not a huge fan of Labor Day only because it reminds me that my favorite season is ending. ...
OK..I need to have a small "rant" for a moment or two. I think the one thing that could earn ejection from the sales community is not having a healthy respect for time! Time is respect. Period. If you make an appointment, be on time. Plan it well and think about the things that will make you late.....traffic, AIR TRAVEL delays (especially in Philadelphia!) weather etc.... There is nothing worse than showing up late for an appointment and being late with no explanations. Nothing screams disrespect more than a disrespect for peoples time! I am just amazed at how this continues to be a problem in the sales community. If ...
Cheesy title-granted, but it was what just came to mind when I was reading some responses to my earlier blog on Great Sales Leaders. One of our sales community members was remarking about managing a team of people when none of that team actually report to him. This is one version of the classic matrix organization which is a challenge to understand and "get" and takes skill to manage. Personally I have worked for several matrix organizations and it is a unique way to work. It is of course funny to me when I bring this up to different sales professionals and I get a blank stare and some of them think ...
I am really curious what this sales community thinks a great sales leader is? What defines that person to you? I have written my column this week on sales leaders and offer some of my initial thoughts on what a great sales leader should look like. As sales professionals we have all worked under a variety of leaders and as a result have been shaped and sharpened by those experiences. I think about my sales career and how much influence some really great sales leaders have had on me. Of course, that works both ways and I can also point to areas that have not been as...hmm..should I say not as ...
I had an interesting email the other day from a member of our sales community. She asked me if it is "normal" to not leave brochures with a client. Now, apart for the general fact that I don't think we can decide what is normal, I responded that I have several schools of though on this. My thinking is part of how I was raised in sales. Brochures and other documentation are a part of any sales call. They do not replace the sales rep and are not to be overly relied on! I firmly believe that as we move from tactical to more solution oriented and complex selling, the brochure becomes less relevant and ...
I was finishing my morning walk and stopped in to the local Starbucks and saw some people having a heated discussion where one person was obviously trying to convince the other to adopt his view on whatever it was they were talking about. The discussion was very emotional ( and quite passionate) and it started me thinking about how we as a sales community use our emotions in the course of selling. There is a difference between being emotional and passionate and it can be a fine line. Thats a subject for another time...... When you are working with clients or prospects, do you let your emotions get in the way? I can say that ...
I was talking with a change agent/guru this morning and we started to talk about the politics behind a sale and getting the deal closed. I started to reminisce with him about some of the deals in my early career where I believed that I had done everything right and met the prospects expectations. I was confident that I had managed and executed a good sales campaign and then the unimaginable happened-NO deal! I get a phone call or an email to tell me that they had selected another vendor. This was like getting punch and losing your wind. The deal was lost and I had no idea why.....then over time I began ...
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