Recession Proof Your Sales Team

Recession Proof Your Sales Team

Face it, even before COVID-19, we were long overdue for a recession. Most “experts” predicted one would occur last year, in 2019. So, guess what? We got an extra year of unprecedented expansion.

And guess what else has happened since the last recession? Many salespeople have become complacent. In the pre-virus economy, life was grand. Anybody and everybody were buying. There was so much demand that it didn’t matter if an individual could sell on value and differentiate – they sold. Not because they were good, mind you, but because the buyers were buying.

Those times were so happy that most employers […]

Beliefs Are More Powerful than Skills

Beliefs Are More Powerful than Skills

I heard author and motivational speaker, Gabby Bernstein, doing a radio interview recently. In it, she made the statement, “Beliefs are just thoughts you keep thinking.” It resonated with me. She was specifically talking about fear and how it becomes not only a habit but an addiction. I, of course, thought about it from the perspective of sales.

Beliefs Limit Success

We know that an overwhelming number of salespeople are sabotaged by their own beliefs. Regardless of an individual’s current success in sales, they can limit that success just based on thoughts they repetitively think. Of the last 100 salespeople we analyzed, […]

The Pros and Cons of Making Remote Work Permanent

The Pros and Cons of Making Remote Work Permanent

Working remotely has suddenly become the new normal, and I suspect many leaders have discovered that this remote work thing can actually work, even once the current crisis is resolved. It could permanently transform the workplace allowing for more flexible working arrangements and work from home options.

But as great and forward-thinking as these changes may seem, they won’t work for everyone. For example, not every salesperson is well-suited to work remotely. The Objective Management Group already has data on it. It indicates only 41% of salespeople are suited to work remotely. Uh-oh!

Remote Work Benefits

As a manager, you might think this […]

Crisis Time Equals Leadership Opportunity

Crisis Time Equals Leadership Opportunity

Now is the time when leaders’ legacies are formed!

I just participated in a wonderful video conference hosted by Patrick Lencione’s company, The Table Group. Patrick has written or co-written eleven books focused on teamwork, organizational health, and managing people, including “Five Dysfunctions of a Team.” I highly recommend these books and The Table Group’s teachings.

I heard some very powerful concepts on the video conference worth sharing. Since Braveheart Sales Performance focuses very precisely on sales teams and revenue growth, here are ones that can be applied to the sales side of an organization by managers. These concepts are […]

Lessons from the Last Economic Crisis for COVID-19

Lessons from the Last Economic Crisis for COVID-19

Braveheart Sales Performance turns eleven years old on March 25.  So, if you do the math you will realize that we started the company in 2009.  Smack dab in the economic aftermath of the Great Recession.  Sure, it was risky.  But it seemed less risky at the time than placing my future in the hands of executives of large companies.  And, I knew there was a need for our services.  Boy was I right.  More than I ever expected.

During the recession, it became painfully obvious that many salespeople were not skilled sellers at all.  They were merely product pushers and […]

More Coaching, Even Poor Coaching, is Better than None

More Coaching, Even Poor Coaching, is Better than None

I cannot impress enough the importance of sales manager coaching and doing it a bunch. I have stats to back me up. Check out this data curated by Objective Management Group on about 5,500 managers and their teams.

Ineffective coaching still yields significant improvement.

You can see, even if the manager isn’t effective at coaching their team, just spending 50% of their time doing it will increase seller effectiveness. And this increase is greater than what effective coaches can produce with their ability alone (without coaching at least 50% of the time). Crazy, huh?

So exactly what do I mean by coaching?

Think of […]

Depend on Recurring Revenue? Here’s How to Contain Creation Costs

Depend on Recurring Revenue? Here’s How to Contain Creation Costs

This article is written with field sales teams in mind. However, if you run an inside sales team exclusively, don’t despair, you may still find a nugget or two of helpful information as well.

Containing costs is important in every business. But for businesses where the costs of creating new customers are measured by lenders to determine the health of that business, they are especially important to manage.

In the electronic security industry, as well as SaaS, telecom and other recurring revenue businesses, customer creation costs are a key component which determines the company’s ability to borrow for expansion.

Conference Panel Insights

While attending […]

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 […]

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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