The idea of "value creation" can be confusing. The word "value" itself can be nebulous, unclear. Value is also in the eye of the beholder; it is a perception. In sales, however, we can define "value creation" with some significant level of…

In boxing, the aggressor is on their front foot, driving the action. Even though boxing is different from many other sports, being on your front foot indicates you are on offense.

The opposite of being on your front foot is, naturally, being on…

Every week I receive an InMail or a connection request on LinkedIn from a person who describes them as a "high ticket closer," an inaccurate description of both the individual and their skill set. Also not something a salesperson should ever…

In the past, a time when salespeople were taught to behave badly, you would have been taught several tie-downs that would inevitably lead you to close your prospective client (something you were doing to them, not for them, or with them). If you…

It is sometimes difficult to think of winning a deal as an outcome. It isn't something that you do; it's the natural result of everything leading up to your dream client's decision to buy from you. Much of the time, when we talk about winning…

People often challenge me about my ideas in Eat Their Lunch, but mainly about the concept of Level 4 Value Creation and Entering the sales conversation from the right instead of the left (imagine Level 1 is on the left side of a slide, and Level 4…

Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition contains a chapter about Capturing Mindshare or, put another way, shaping the lens through which your dream client views their business, their challenges, and their opportunities. The…

I recently had a client describe me as non-slimy. Those were the words he used to describe our interaction. For this to mean anything worth exploring, you would have to believe that there is a way to be slimy in sales. Naturally, I asked for…

One of the ways salespeople were taught to uncover a compelling reason for their dream client to change or the source of their dissatisfaction, was by asking the single question, "'What's keeping you up at night?" I am not certain where this…

The current thinking on sales is that your client is either unaware of the need to change or already motivated to change, something we might have described as either dissatisfied or satisfied. Naturally, salespeople prefer their dream clients be…