Todd Cohen

Sales AND Marketing - It’s AND not VS.

ToddCohen.com Sales Community, I was in a meeting yesterday with a client and we were having a spirited and engaging conversation around the topic of sales and marketing working as a team. Now to great sales professionals this is a basic tenet of our job. To be a great sales culture, sales and marketing need to be aligned, on the same page, in synch or whatever saying you prefer - you get the idea. Wait, not everyone does though....the conversation yesterday was with people who DO get it, but I am still amazed at the people who cant get this fact and think that sales and marketing is actually sales vs. marketing. Its NOT. Wake up! We ...

Sales Culture and Service!

Hello ToddCohen.com Sales Community! Here is a thought for the day.....have you though about the fact that great sales cultures are built on delivering great service? OK, maybe this is not your first and last though of the day, but as sales professionals and part of the overall sales community we must be the ones who are experts at delivering exceptional service to our clients. This is really not a negotiable point.

Starbucks.

Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community, I love my coffee ( yes, I do actually drink decaffeinated). Yes, this post has virtually nothing to do with sales and I dont care. I was finishing my walk this morning and stopped into my regular Starbucks to get my large decaf coffee. I refuse to say the words "venti" or whatever. Anyway, I am amazed that people can ask for a drink that's at least 16 different words and do it with straight face. I am equally amazed that the people behind the counters can repeat it and it gets made correctly. So, I began to think about how these people who work at Starbucks might ...

Almost There

Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community, Its amazing ( well at least to me)! On June 4th we will celebrate our first full year of building the ToddCohen.com Sales Community! How does a year go by so fast?....Well, to that end, several new things are about to happen. First, you will be seeing the new and upgraded ToddCohen.com website. We have made many upgrades to the technology and added great new features. I have just finished recording video and more podcasts. Many great people writing timely articles for us to learn from as a community. On the heels of the new ToddCohen.com, my new corporate website, SalesLeaderLLC. com will be launched as well. ...

Sales Culture Part TWO!

Dear ToddCohen.com Sales Community, As many of you know, my work and passion is very much about helping companies build successful sales culture. I have been doing some formal and informal research the last few months and have been asking the question" What does sales culture mean to you"? Here are some more answers:

“Sales culture is the sum total of all the informal behavioral interaction between people, within the organization and between the staff and customers. It starts at the top and pervades all levels of the organization. These behaviors will tend to fall into one of these behavioral categories: rigid, coherent or diffuse. Coherent behaviors are the ones that engage people – staff as well as customers –

I am Back!

Dear Todd Cohen Sales Community... Hello! I am back and ready to blog! Thanks to all of you in the ToddCohen.com Sales Community who were sending me emails and calling to see where I was! In short, I learned the hard way that moving and keeping up with your blogging is not easy! Some updates: *The new ToddCohen.com is about a month away and I am sure you will like it! Many of you have offered great insight and thoughtful suggestions I thank you! Please keep the ideas coming. *I am holding off on my next newsletter until the new ToddCohen.com is ready. Stay tuned. *I am busy writing my next white paper titled " Creating Great Sales Cultures". ...

Quality vs. Quantity

Dear Sales Community, Which do you think is better? Quantity of sales calls or the quality of sales calls? As one who was raised (in sales) in a time when we were strictly measured against metrics, one might say that making many calls is the most important thing. Make as many calls as you can and you will be successful. I do agree that activity is critical and a key party of being a successful sales professional! In fact, in the world of sales management this is still very important-making sure that your team is keeping activity high. That has not changed. However, times have changed in some ways.  In many cases, what we sell has ...

The Difference is Service

Good Morning ToddCohen.com Sales Community, Yesterday I was talking with some sales professionals who were concerned about their product being seen as a commodity. This is certainly not the first time I have heard this. It happens to all sales professionals at one time or another. I am often asked how I deal with that issue, and one of the first things that comes to mind is service. The service you provide as a trusted partner to a client is the difference and a large reason why people will buy from you. Now we all have heard the old adage " people buy you not the product". Guess what? It is TRUE. ...

Do you have your Sales Mojo?

Hello 2008! I want to welcome the Toddcohen.com sales community to a new sales year! It has been a few weeks since you have returned to work. Hopefully you have done what you need to to do to get organized to get off to a fast start. I talked with you a few times last year in the ToddCohen.com weekly columns and blog about making sure you are doing the things that will help you get off to a fast start....doing the tactical things you must do! This brings me to a question I want to ask my sales community...Do you have your sales mojo?  Are you mentally ready to tackle the 2008 plan and hit the (larger) ...

The Innovators Club Lives Large in Philadelphia

Dear Sales Community, Networking at its finest took place on January 8th in Philadelphia! Our inaugural meeting of my new networking initiative, The Innovators Club, was amazing (standing room only!). The comments have been wonderful and very kind. I want to thank everyone who came-you made the night special and made it come alive. We could not have done it without the trust you placed in us by coming out. A special 'THANK YOU" to our speaker Chuck Sacco of PhindMe. His comments totally resonated with everyone and were very timely. If you want to know more about PhindMe, check out the website-www.phindme.mobi A final note of "Thanks" to my to co- ...