What Can Leaders Learn from LSU Coaches Steve Ensminger and Joe Brady?

What Can Leaders Learn from LSU Coaches Steve Ensminger and Joe Brady?

If you aren’t a college football fan you may not know that Steve Ensminger is Offensive Coordinator and Joe Brady is Passing Game Coordinator of the recently crowned CFP National Champion LSU Tigers. While there are many takeaways from the team’s 2019 campaign that are applicable to business and sales, I believe sales managers, and leaders in general, can especially learn much from Ensminger and Brady.

Contrasting Coaches

Steve Ensminger is 61 years old. He’s been around the block. He’s been fired three times as a coordinator or assistant. He’s been a college, NFL and CFL player. And he’s been up and […]

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Four Reasons Your Sales Training Fails

Four Reasons Your Sales Training Fails

Have you spent money on sales training without seeing rewards? Are its promises of increased revenue and the vision of stress-free management evaporating? Well, you are not alone. And here are four reasons why:

1. Methodology Only

Many sales training organizations focus on tactics and strategies only. They teach a repeatable process which in and of itself is fine. In fact, getting everyone to use a repeatable process is essential and it absolutely will increase revenue some. Mapping out who the stakeholders are is also important. And establishing a sequential flow to any sales conversation is critical. These all make complete sense […]

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The Harder the Questions; The Easier the Sale

The Harder the Questions; The Easier the Sale

Have you ever left a sales appointment and wished you had said something else? Or have you ever debriefed a sales rep’s call and find they didn’t ask the next logical question, and now critical information is missing?

Unfortunately, it’s a common problem. Most salespeople don’t ask enough questions.

Let’s examine some statistics. Only 11%* of salespeople ask the next, most important question when necessary. Further, the typical questions most salespeople ask are garden-variety ones; surface questions that are easily answered. Salespeople tend to accept too much at face value.

When the prospect says something like “This sounds great. Send me a proposal […]

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Adapt or Die

Adapt or Die

I recently spent two days with about 40 sales leaders from across the country who primarily lead outside sales teams. It was exhilarating, intense, fun and, yes, I was exhausted!

Our theme was “Adapt or Die.” And for sales leaders this can be difficult – for they have tried and true ways of doing things.

Generally, sales managers come from the ranks of the sales staff. They know what worked for them when they were in the trenches. But, guess what? The marketplace, the people being hired, and the technology are no longer the same and will continue to change into the […]

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Is the Pendulum Swinging Back?

If it isn’t obvious from my many posts using the Objective Management Group’s database, I love to mine facts on salespeople. I’m fortunate to have access to this large database and all the information it provides. And recently I’ve noticed a slight trend shift regarding how salespeople are motivated that needs to be shared.

Motivation Changes

In February 2019, the breakdown looked like this:

And as of November 2019, it looked like this:

To break it down, in just nine months’ time our data on over 550,000 salespeople indicates a 60% increase in the number who are motivated by rewards, recognition, and money from […]

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Highlights and Lowlights from Real Sales Calls with Apologies to ESPN Xtra

Highlights and Lowlights from Real Sales Calls with Apologies to ESPN Xtra

Borrowing an idea from ESPN Xtra’s Greg McElroy and Danny Kanell and their college football show on SirusXM, here is a video blog covering a lowlight and highlight from actual sales calls we received this past week. These real sales interactions provide some great learning moments and takeaways that apply to every sales team.

https://braveheartsales.com/wp-content/uploads/Sales-Highlight-and-Lowlight-10.22.2019-1.mp4

 

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Sales Effectiveness: Nature or Nurture?

Sales Effectiveness: Nature or Nurture?

There are no perfect salespeople born into this world.  At least I haven’t met any.

Sure, there are numerous “natural born” salespeople. You know the type. They had a paper route growing up and by age thirteen had numerous other kids doing the route for them while they slept in and counted their profits. Or they were the cub scout or girl scout that sold the most popcorn or the most cookies (unaided by their parents).

The Benefits of Getting Help

I tend to believe that one’s natural behavior type or personality is not an indicator of success in sales. Sure, nature has […]

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When to Set the Sales Hot Seat Heater to Burn?

When to Set the Sales Hot Seat Heater to Burn?

Football season is here again and with it comes the inevitable placement of some coaches on the proverbial hot seat. Expectations are high for certain colleges, as usual, and a couple of those schools’ seasons have not started well. But just how much time should these teams’ coaches be given to turn a program around?

I heard a sports talk show debating this topic the other day and it got me thinking about the same situation in sales. How long should a seller be given to hit their goals? How long should a manager be given to turn their team around? […]

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Improve Your Golf and Improve Your Selling

Improve Your Golf and Improve Your Selling

The other day, I played in a tournament with some other golfers, all trying to qualify for a national event. I failed.

I started off poorly. I quickly got into some situations on the course that were difficult to get out of and, to make matters worse, I did not putt well. My caddie encouraged me to focus on the upcoming holes and when we ran out of holes on the front nine, he said “That’s okay. You have the back nine. Just beat her on the back.”

Well, this might sound like fine advice. He was trying to get […]

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