Next time you’re in a room full of business owners, try asking ten of them to define business development. Chances are, you’ll get ten different answers. Some might use the term interchangeably with “marketing,” while others think of business development as whatever the sales team does all day. A lot of people go to classes ...
There used to be a time long ago when someone who wanted to start a retail business had to invest large amounts of capital for a storefront and a place to store their inventory. Along came the Internet and dropshipping, offering entrepreneurs a new way to do order fulfillment. Dropshipping is when the e-tailer receives ...
Building a sales organization that is able to respond to “the unexpected” is one of the most challenging roles for leaders to play in today’s environment. Market dynamics are significantly different than in the past where there were greater continuity and relatively less unpredictability. Today it is commonplace to see multiple new technologies shot into ...
Most everyone is familiar with Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, which relates the story of the greedy old Ebenezer Scrooge. Mr. Scrooge is visited by three different spirits who show him the various stages of his life—past, present and future—and how the various decisions he made led to his miserable existence. When Scrooge is ...
Most salespeople want recognition for their excellent work. Sales training teaches us a specific order for the steps of the sales cycle. Reading the classic sales books will boost our understanding of how to sell. However, when one follows the exact rules and procedures similar to everyone else, there is little hope for rising above ...
The Three Best Ways for Salespeople to Master Marketing Sales and marketing go together like peanut butter and jelly. Despite this obvious truism, many sales professionals lack a clear understanding of the synergies that exist between the two disciplines. In general, salespeople believe that the marketing department of their organization exists to generate leads, and ...
At first, this title may seem like some kind of an oxymoron. How can a business process be enjoyable? If you go and, let us say, sit and listen to a talk on business processes, you’re probably not going to come away saying, “Wow, that was really fun and entertaining! Most people would agree that ...
Hiring Right By Learning From Past Errors Hiring the right salespeople can be difficult. In my experience, there are often times when sales managers hire the wrong salespeople. But, this doesn’t mean we cannot learn from these errors. From a sales manager’s standpoint, we should step back and look what at what made it a ...
