If You Know . . . If you believe something to be true but don't act on it, it is the same as not believing it. The ability to improve your performance depends on two things. First, you have to be able to recognize the gaps in your performance and the truth that underlies … [Read more...]

Your opportunities don't live forever. They either turn into dream clients or they die (at least they are dead to you). Understanding where they went when they died will help inform you as to how to you can best keep your deals alive and progressing towards living on as your … [Read more...]

Don’t Use Single Metrics Single metrics tend to give you a very narrow view of what is being measured. In and of themselves, some metrics may tell you a story, but it may not reveal the moral of the story. It usually won’t tell you what the story means or how to make … [Read more...]

The short answer: Yes, your metrics lie. Metrics are numbers; they are quantitative. They can tell you much. And they can you tell you little. What they lack is a qualitative context. Example 1: Activity Metrics Let’s take two salespeople and their individual numbers. … [Read more...]

You worked hard to create opportunities with your dream clients. Now that these opportunities are in your pipeline, your challenge is to keep them moving along from target to close, doing all that is expected of you and more. One of the iron laws of sales is that the longer … [Read more...]

Your sales process, in part, encapsulates how your company believes it needs to act in order to win deals. It is also more than likely that it contains some of the iron laws and principles of successful selling. Following the ideal operational plan and your company's doctrine is … [Read more...]

There can be no doubt that one of the primary contributing factors to poor sales results is low activity. You will never hear me argue otherwise. But increased activity is often touted as the panacea for all sales problems. This is, unfortunately, not true; making more calls … [Read more...]

Well, the week is over. How’d you do? Did you win that big dream client you have been pursuing and nurturing for the last ninety days? Did you make the cold call to that C-level executive to schedule the appointment you need so that you can share your big (value-creating) … [Read more...]

Your dream client is making judgments about you. They are holding you to a higher standard. Your Dream Client is Holding You to a Higher Standard You are being judged by higher standard than your competitors, especially your dream client’s incumbent. You are there to make … [Read more...]

Thought One: Your Behavior Off the Field The following is a true story. The names have been redacted to protect the guilty. A salesperson that was working for me had a sales call across town. She was driving to the call, and the women driving next to her was on the telephone … [Read more...]