Since December 28, 2009, I have written 1,000,000 words here at The Sales Blog. If the average book is 60,000 words, I have written the equivalent of 16 books. Over the course of all this writing, I have learned a few things. Write and Editing Are Different I am a decent … [Read more...]

If you are a parent of two or more children and treat all of them the same, you are abusing some of them. Your children are different, unique individuals, and they need something different from you at different times of their growth. This is true no matter how many children you … [Read more...]

The most important question you are ever going to ask yourself when hiring a salesperson is this: “Is the right person for my clients?” When you are hiring a salesperson, you are involved in a sale. You are the buyer; the salesperson is selling you on hiring them. But you … [Read more...]

It isn’t as easy to sell as it once was. You used to need a few attributes and skills. If you had those attributes and skills, you’d do well as a salesperson. But things have changed. They’ve gotten a lot tougher. Globalization has made it so many of us are competing on a … [Read more...]

From time to time it can be good to bring the sales force together for a massive, all-out prospecting assault. There’s nothing really wrong with a sales blitz from time to time. But it isn’t a magic bullet for poor sales results. Here’s the analogy: You eat too much and … [Read more...]

Your fancy day timer binder can’t help you manage your time. The time management classes you took can’t help you either (even though there is nothing wrong with the methodology they taught you). The books and magazine articles you pored over in search of the secret to time … [Read more...]

There have been 297 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States. Seventeen of these people were sentenced to die before DNA evidence proved their innocence. The average time served in prison by those exonerated has been 13 years. In many of these cases, these people … [Read more...]

Oh, your dream client gave you their business all right. But that doesn't mean you didn't really lose on price. You can win the business and still lose on price. You won the business and still lost on price: If the only reason you won the business is because you discounted … [Read more...]

You ask your salespeople to accomplish a lot. What you ask of them requires much of them personally and professionally. Sometimes you ask them to walk through walls for you, for the company, and for your clients. Fair enough. With all of its challenges, the job of sales is what … [Read more...]

Some organizations train their buyers to negotiate more than once, each time taking more and more out of the deal. These buyers are extracting value instead of creating it. First you negotiate with your main contact. Then he brings in purchasing. Then purchasing brings in the … [Read more...]