1. “Mine’s Better” In technology sales, salespeople are often trained to focus on their product’s or service’s “bells and whistles” (features). This is done in an effort to convince potential buyers that their offering beats their competitor’s. The focus is put onto the technical (often slight) differences and advantages of their technology, instead of its ... Read Post

What is sustainable value? Stated simply, it is “value that keeps on giving.” For the customer it is that quality of a product, service or company that always delivers, that is always there. For the seller, it is an opportunity or an account that pays for itself over and over. Sustainable value should be the ... Read Post

Because I was raised by a salesman, you could certainly say that selling runs in my blood. I sold many different things between school clubs, boy scouts and sports teams. These included toothbrushes, light bulbs, doughnuts, fertilizer, and first aid kits for card—and I sold all these items door-to-door. Upon graduating the University of Maryland ... Read Post

The words combative and hyper-competitive often describe athletic coaches. An accolade usually follows: “they get results!” No doubt. But it’s worth questioning whether those results are ones you want. “Rutgers coach Mike Rice’s fiery style has been on public display before . . .” Mike Rice was the University’s basketball coach until 2013, when ESPN ... Read Post

There are 4 phases to sales management evolution: 1) Chaos – no management 2) Primitive management – some reporting, some standards, often optional; Gallup poll management, every salesperson is unique, cater to the salesperson; no one fired. Take all orders, even (and sometimes especially) the unprofitable ones. 3) Strong management – consistent, fair, appropriate standards ... Read Post

As sales managers, you all know how important it is to be effective at managing your sales staff and sales pipeline. Moreover, you must be honest with yourself and your executive team because in today’s competitive marketplace and uncertain economy, it is difficult to manage sales structures, products, policies, and sales staff while keeping executive ... Read Post

Many people assume that top sales teams can only be found in Fortune 100 or Fortune 500 companies. Regardless of company size, the best performing sales teams execute similar best practices. The good news is that you don’t have to reinvent the sales management wheel. You only need to duplicate and install these 3 proven ... Read Post

Most of us spend a good percentage of our business day in meetings. Some are good and some are bad but client meetings should always rock. Each and every sales meeting with a client should be productive (moving the sales cycle forward) and reinforce the client’s choice to do business or consider doing more business ... Read Post