Sales coaching excellence is difficult to achieve, but it is one of the fundamental elements that one finds in highly effective sales organizations. A couple of years back, I wrote a series of articles with my friend and former boss, John Golden about the need for sales leaders to focus on their craft as coaches. ... Read Post

Step back to get a better view of your partner relationships. More effective: Appoint an advisory board to help you gain better sales insight. Our research shows that accountability — or, more accurately, the lack of accountability — is among the top challenges that partner-company executives face. We’ve also found that many partners are too ... Read Post

The elements–water, fire, earth and air–are reflected everywhere, for example in landscaping, architecture, martial arts and in many different philosophies. In my new blog series, we’re looking at how they are reflected in sales. In this edition we continue with another view on water. In the last blog in this series we talked about how, ... Read Post

There is a double standard when salespeople are taught how they are supposed to sell to clients versus how sales training is actually received. It’s no wonder that the sales training results are frequently disappointing at best. We are all familiar with the comment, “one size does not fit all.” Yet, when it comes to ... Read Post

Last week, I left yet another meeting in which the executive wanted to schedule a training class as a solution to a development problem. This short sightedness occurs so frequently that it really frustrates me, and I know I’m not alone. Training has been an important part of my business throughout the years, so I’m ... Read Post

Even legendary technology can use a little help to take its rightful place in history. I began my sales career at Xerox in a collaborative environment driven by a pervasive selling culture and a truly energized client focus. It was a great place to be and an even better place to start. And Xerox was ... Read Post

..and what you need to do about it! Do you know the most difficult time to close a deal, the toughest time to close a sale? Yes, you are right, when you need the sale to close. I don’t care if your best friend or you mother is your prospect, you can bet that if ... Read Post

Sales role-play can be an extremely valuable tool for helping reps internalize product knowledge and adopt new skills – when it’s done well. Too often however sales role-play is merely an awkward, high-pressured test of a rep’s ability to regurgitate back what they think is expected of them. Instructions are vague. Direction is unclear. Ultimately ... Read Post