It’s the age-old question that has been asked since the beginning of time (or at least since the beginning of sales): What makes a good salesperson? Is it attitude? Is it skills? Is it knowledge of the product? You will find someone sitting on of the three fences. But what really is the answer? The ... Read Post

Are you on the right track to accelerate sales and productivity? It often doesn’t feel that way. You’re working harder every year but you’re not consistently achieving quota expectations. You’re are not alone. Most companies are on the wrong track. Fewer companies are achieving their revenue plan each year (89.2% achieved plan in 2012 but ... Read Post

Continuing our series on artificial intelligence and sales, let’s take a look at Industry 4.0, known more commonly as the 4th Industrial Revolution. It has a profound effect on sales–and if done right, for the best. Defining Industry 4.0 Before we delve into this heavy topic, what do we mean by Industry 4.0? As I ... Read Post

It may or may not surprise you to know that trust is practically universal in being a decision-making criterion for buyers. But what may come as a surprise is the frequency with which that factor tips the scales from one vendor to another. Not long ago my company conducted a survey of 800 people. We ... Read Post

From the beginning, a primary goal for any CRM application has been an efficient management of sales performance. It has also been a desire of individual team members to evaluate their own performance. With its original release of Performance Insights, Pipeliner CRM well surpassed this functionality which has, in traditional CRM applications, proven overly complex and ... Read Post

We learn our best lessons when it comes to errors and embarrassing situations. The moment of horror can’t be erased, yet we can quickly move past it if we embrace the lessons from what took place. It was a typical stress-filled day on my first job trying to prove my sales capability. A keen focus ... Read Post

20+ years ago I was teaching a public Solution Selling workshop in Del Mar, California. I was going around the room, asking each participant what they sell. Most attendees were selling some kind of technology based, B2B productivity improving system to a committee of risk averse buyers. I got around to ‘Richard,’ and I asked ... Read Post

It is certainly true that everything has changed since the arrival of social media. In the beginning of the Web, it was unclear how money could possibly be made through Web page content. But then came AdSense from Google, followed by a rush of competitor programs and people producing good content. These individuals paid attention ... Read Post