There are ideas a sales leader must refuse. Allowing these ideas to take hold can decelerate growth, distract the sales force from their real work, and result in a poor sales performance. They can also start a vicious cycle, a downward trend that…

Your company is not always going to execute as well as you want, or as well as your clients expect. Some salespeople feel embarrassed by the challenges of execution, using those challenges as an excuse to not continue selling. More successful…

It’s easy to fall into the trap of leading and managing by the numbers. The objective numbers are real, concrete, unassailable. If goal was $1,000,000 and only $825,000 was achieved, there is a measurable gap of $175,000. Similarly, if the goal is…

Recently, I had a conversation with a person who told me that one of the leaders in her company led “with the stick.” His view was that a leader leads with something negative instead of positive. It would go too far to suggest that he was…

Software programs generate reports that provide leaders and managers with the metrics they need to run their business. Customer Relationship Management software tracks activity, opportunity funnels, client interactions, and sales.

These tools are…

I watched an interview with Jamie Dimon, famed CEO of Chase. The interviewer had heard about a list Dimon carried with him in his pocket. It was handwritten, and he carries it with him at all times. The list is pages long, and it is a record of…

A leader raises standards.

The leader raises the bar for everyone. She sees what is possible for an organization and for the individuals that make it up--even when they do not. She believes that her vision can be made real even when no one else…

It’s impossible to be a Level 4 Value Creator without owning the outcomes that you sell. Your clients expect you to be accountable for results, just like any member of their management team. Here’s how to own outcomes.

Ensure Execution: The…

If you don’t follow the recipe, things don’t turn out like they should. This is especially true if the recipe is your business model. Most of us don’t sell the lowest price. We also don’t sell the best product, either. We sell the best total…

As a salesperson, you own the outcomes you sell. You are accountable for the results that you promise. But being accountable for the outcomes doesn't make you accountable for the transactions that make up those outcomes. It makes you accountable…