When was the last time you were on the receiving end of a sales surprise? Let me guess, it was not of the pleasant sales surprise variety. Our good friends at Merriam-Webster online capture it best by defining the word “surprise” as: “to attack unexpectedly” (source:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surprise). When I think of sales surprises, I inevitably think of them all being…
Why Are You Accepting Sales Failure? Think of the ancient Greek mythological figure of Sisyphus applied to sales (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus) I was chatting about the state of enterprise sales with a long time enterprise sales colleague of mine last week. We’re both grizzled enterprise sales veterans with 25+ years experience, complete with the requisite battle scars…
The most powerful word in sales is “no”. I was reminded of this once again over the past several weeks in various business negotiations. Let’s start with the fact that the customer is not always right. In fact, sometimes the customer can be horribly wrong and ask for things that are not in their best interest.…
The inspiration for this post was my recent visit to Boston and one of my closest friends in the world twin sons. They are identical twins and are four years old. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that they are absolutely the cutest boys on the planet. My experience with four year…
My blog posts are mostly inspired by real world sales interactions that I’ve experienced first hand. That includes both the good and bad sales experiences. Being a perpetual student of the sales game, I collect the extreme examples of both in my own little Sales Hall of Fame and Hall of Shame. Admission is free…
I got together with an old colleague and his sales team for dinner the other night. It was a blast as each one of us enterprise software sales veterans tried to outdo the other with our respective sales war stories. Suffice to say, there was ample material between us to write several lengthy novels. Some…
What is a thought leader? According to Forbes, thought leaders are: “… recognized as one of the foremost authorities in selected areas of specialization, resulting in its being the go-to individual or organization for said expertise. A thought leader is an individual or firm that significantly profits from being recognized as such.” (source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/russprince/2012/03/16/what-is-a-thought-leader/)…
I’ve been working in B2B technology sales for over two decades. The past 22 years of my career have been based in Silicon Valley. It can be truly exhilarating to work with twenty something year olds freshly minted with their college diplomas, chock full of enthusiasm and ready to build the next great company. At…
“Why” is the most important word and concept in sales. We have a habit of overcomplicating sales. I know that I’m certainly guilty of this at times! But if you strip away all of the selling methodologies, frameworks and strategies that are often bandied about when talking about sales best practices…you’re left with the pure essence of…
Recently I’ve been reminded of the old adage: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That quote has been attributed to Oscar Wilde, Will Rogers and Mark Twain among others. Suffice to say that it resonates with a lot of people, particularly those of us who are lifelong sales professionals. Personally,…