Help Your Representatives Get Things Done

I am reading the book Getting Things Done by David Allen.  Although the book was written in 2001, the principles are still relevant today whether using paper based organizing tools or advanced electronic tools such as smartphones and tablets. I know, you are thinking “Great here we go with yet another time management book.”  Yes it is a book dedicated to organizing and productivity.  As a matter of fact the sub-title is “The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.”  That is what grabbed me.  I must say that I am not even halfway through the book yet, and I am captured.

The book’s […]

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Show ‘Em

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I held The Braveheart Games, a client event where we shot all types of guns, threw hatchets and rocks, and caused a few explosions.  The shooting skill of the participants ran the gamut of experience.  I witnessed one of the range safety officers helping a relatively inexperienced shooter with an AR-15 rifle in fully automatic mode.  Instead of just telling her to push her left hand forward, he gently touched her hand and showed her what he was describing.  He had her perform the skill with his guidance.

This is a great teaching lesson […]

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How Do You Know if Your Salespeople Have or Can Develop the Necessary Sales Competencies?

I recently read Sales Competence, How Do We Know? By David Brock, and the premise was sound to the point that I even wrote down a couple notes.  The article spoke about making lists of competencies, and talked about a sales competency model or framework.  It all made perfect sense.  The example the author gave was of a particular client who listed 150 competencies.  (Whew!  That is a LOT of competencies.)   The general idea is to help aid in hiring the right salespeople, as well as in creating a development path for existing salespeople.

So then I started thinking, how could […]

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First Annual Braveheart Games

We did a unique and fun event with clients, prospects, and friends of the firm last week.  We held the First Annual BraveheartGames. See a couple pictures below.  It was a blast both literally and figuratively, and I learned that a unique client outing, although hard work, is memorable and ties people together – you with your clients, and prospects with clients.  My advice is to try something off-the-wall for your next client event.

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Do Your Salespeople Have Executive Presence?

This topic of executive presence has been front and center with me lately, and has come up in a wide variety of contexts.  If your sales force sells to consumers or sells products and services to lower level end users in a B2B environment, then executive presence may not be necessary, but it certainly would not hurt.  If your team sells to the C-suite, or has to gain the trust of high level influencers in a complex selling situation, then the concept of executive presence is key.

I was approached recently with the question about teaching executive presence.  As I thought […]

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Do You Have Salespeople Who Want to Discount Everything?

Maybe this video clip will give you a perspective on those salespeople who allow every sales opportunity to turn into a price negotiation.  If your salespeople are selling on value by understanding their prospects’ true underlying needs and then providing the solutions that your clients need, then this video doesn’t apply.  But if not, watch on.

The Vendor Client Relationship in Real World Situations 

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Salespeople are Not Entrepreneurs

This is one of the single most important things entrepreneurs need to understand when they hire salespeople to grow and scale their business. During a first meeting with an entrepreneur, I often ask what is the profile of the ideal salesperson for their business, and I usually hear the following:

Knows my industry and understand my business
Has contacts with prospects for my business
Very autonomous, no need to be managed or motivated
Ready to take risk and accept a large portion of commissions – if they are good they should not hesitate… because my product is great

What was just described is the profile […]

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Don’t Let Your Salespeople Use Previously Learned Bad Sales Tactics That are Ineffective

I was recently role playing with a fairly young salesperson.  He had previously been a salesperson at a large organization that engaged outside sales trainers.  He used my first name six times in about a three minute conversation.  So I asked him about it.  He had learned this skill in his previous job, and was told that he had to use the prospects name at least 3 times in a voicemail message.  I know this is a common tactic taught by sales trainers, and I am sure that there is some basis in psychology in that we like to hear […]

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Don’t Let Your Salespeople Use Previously Learned Bad Sales Tactics That are Ineffective

I was recently role playing with a fairly young salesperson.  He had previously been a salesperson at a large organization that engaged outside sales trainers.  He used my first name six times in about a three minute conversation.  So I asked him about it.  He had learned this skill in his previous job, and was told that he had to use the prospects name at least 3 times in a voicemail message.  I know this is a common tactic taught by sales trainers, and I am sure that there is some basis in psychology in that we like to hear […]

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