Sales Managers and Sales Leaders often complain about the lack of effectiveness of their effort to train their salespeople. They say, "We tried this training, and it didn't work." The very statement elucidates the likely reasons the training was…

Nothing that was once necessary for sales has disappeared, despite what the pundits and prognosticators suggest on the internet. Had they been right in their past predictions, there would no longer be nearly so many salespeople. Nor would those…

Of all the many things that bother salespeople, one that seems to dominate their attention (and emotions) is when their prospect goes dark after what they believed was an excellent first meeting. The Lost Art of Closing will surely help you string…

They say good judgment is the result of prior lousy judgment. That idea has proven true for me over the course of my life in sales. The following stories of nine mistakes are all true, and the name of the person responsible is known to you and…

In Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition, I wrote a chapter on Capturing Mindshare, or building and supporting a general theory about why your dream client should change. That section is practical and tactical, and it is…

Despite our best efforts to see both the sales process and buyer's journey as linear, reality provides a truth that is at odds with what might better serve us—and our clients. In complex, B2B sales, it is more often that deals take a circuitous…

The following strategy is for salespeople who are asked to present to a prospect by a broker or agent. Here is how to win when you have an hour to present to a prospect you haven't met. You might want to read this primer on Value Creation before…

The four levels of value provide an orienting generalization that gives guidance on what your dream clients value. Because value is in the eye of the beholder, creating value means providing something your client perceives as value (for a primer…

The single question I hear most often from salespeople is, "How do I compel my prospective client to take action?" We have to unpack this a bit to explore what's behind this question. You can compel your client to take action, but much of what…

A recent prompt suggested that one should only work in sales because they want money or because they want to compete. The second part of the prompt suggested that "helping other people" was not a reason to work in sales. Leaving aside that fact…