There are hundreds of selling systems and sales approaches. “Unique proprietary methods” are touted by every sales consulting or development firm and every sales guru. But there is one common denominator that never varies: salespeople must be likeable. Likeability is the very foundation of trust, and before prospects will provide you access to their thoughts, ... Read Post

To be clear, your target account list is: Your highest potential target accounts Your ‘Big opportunities or big hits’ list Your elephant or whale list We call these TOP Line Account™ opportunities. (TOP Line Accounts are defined as your biggest and best opportunities and are generally worth at least 5x your average prospect size.) Many ... Read Post

So, how do we get sales and marketing aligned? At first glance, this might not seem like a very complicated question to answer. I mean, both departments have very similar goals, right? Now, ask me how we can align sales and legal? Ahhh, now that’s a question! Sales versus the sales prevention department – a ... Read Post

Setting sales quotas is not pure science; rather it is a healthy blend of both employing standard analytical tools and imposing the broader needs of the company. These are 5 deadly traps organizations fall into when setting sales quotas. 1. Applying a bottoms up approach; setting individual rep quotas and summing them to determine the ... Read Post

No sorry, this is not an article about strategies to get out from under mortgage debt and sell your home quickly. It is quite the opposite. It is an article about how to take the stress out of the selling process, and put the relationship and profit back into it. For anyone who knows me ... Read Post

How hard a time do women have connecting to their power? Are they more reluctant than men to brand themselves as experts? Not long ago I was conducting a “Message of You” workshop for women. As we shared our mess-to-success life journeys, I noticed we all seemed to have something in common: each of us ... Read Post

Back in my cold-calling days, a Health Food Store owner whom I solicited agreed to buy one trial bottle of the multi-vitamin I was selling. I placed a follow up call with him a month later to see how the trial went. He responded, “Yes, that was the best multiple I’ve seen. Please ship me ... Read Post

Inside sales cannot succeed on volume alone. More customer conversations will not move the needle unless those conversations yield value. Read Post