Strong sales leadership builds, nurtures and inspires. Weak leaders are ineffective at best, and destructive and demoralizing at worst. The business world has always had its share of both—but there are few areas where it matters more than in sales. A bad sales manager can adversely affect the backbone of any organization—sales revenue, employee morale and ... Read Post

Let’s be honest: When you hear that phrase, you should be thinking, “Wait, were you not practicing strong business ethics with me before this?” Those of us that are top producers tend to have more prospects in our sales funnel than other sales reps. This allows us to be brutally honest with our prospects on ... Read Post

Long-serving sales professionals surely remember a time when their industry was all about hustle, drive, and determination. Newcomers needed little other than a high school diploma and some natural ability to become a rising star in a hurry. These days, the encroachment of technology and big data into the world of sales is changing all ... Read Post

Today’s internet age has turned us all into self-diagnosing doctors with medical degrees from Google. We can search out our symptoms and attempt to self-medicate, self-prescribe…perhaps even self-destruct. By the time we seek out actual medical assistance we’ve either driven ourselves into a tizzy about the “worst case scenario” that our symptoms might amount to, ... Read Post

Verne Harnish, the author of Scaling Up and founder of both Gazelles and the Entrepreneurs Organization, once called me on the stage at the Fortune magazine Scaling Up Conference in Atlanta. The audience consisted of 1,000 growth-focused business leaders, and Verne asked me to share a sales tip with them. I took the microphone and ... Read Post

If you search online for the phrases crush your quota or outstanding revenue growth, you’ll get about 4,500 and 8,000 results, respectively. We adore not only revenue, but its fast and furious capture. Revenue is king! As my district manager used to say, “I don’t care how you make your number, as long as you ... Read Post

Recently I caught up with Bernadette McClelland, CEO of 3 Red Folders. I asked for her opinion on the topic of key attributes of high performing salespeople. Bernadette is someone I respect, therefore here is an edited version of her response. I’ve worked alongside hundreds of sales professionals, both in intimate groups or one-on-one. They ... Read Post

In the past, the sales process was covered by a thick veil of secrecy. Companies could mask their real intentions using a bunch of attractive ads and complex semantics. And, it worked. For a while. Then, with the rise of the internet and the hyperconnected approach to the business-client communication, it stopped working. Today, your ... Read Post