Sales process. Did you cringe? When we say those two words, the most common reaction we see from some salespeople is that they either wince or grimace. Then when we recommend implementing a formal sales process, we often hear “I don’t want a script,” or “I don’t want to be a robot,” or “well there […]

Many CEO's believe the answer to underperforming sales is to send their sales team, sales leader included, to sales training – which could cost them $10k or more. Most of this training is "off-the-shelf" with a few customizations to make it more applicable to their company. But that type of training is rarely the answer, […]

Sales leaders are extremely busy people; no one is arguing that. They are often running around, putting out fires, strategizing deals, figuring out what the CEO is asking for, and so on and so forth. That means they don't have a lot of time and often they are looking for things to cut. Unfortunately, they […]

Every business owner, CEO, president, and sales leader I talk to has told me at one time or another that they want a high performing sales team. When I ask them to define that, they usually use a combination of the following things: They can consistently acquire new business and retain current clients They are […]

The executive team spent the last couple months of the year coming up with the growth strategy for the company. They conducted multiple meetings, debated several topics, then defined goals and initiatives for the sales team to execute. Everyone was happy with the work that was put in and were cautiously optimistic that the plan […]

Sales leaders have some of the shortest tenures of any positions in the business world. In fact, most research will show that the average tenure of a sales leader is right around two years, give or take a couple months. This is such an important role in the organization and is most often tightly linked […]

Working a plan to retain top salespeople is often something that gets overlooked.  People often love their top sales people, but don’t do a good job of making sure they love the company back.  Very few companies can afford to lose their rainmakers and in today’s very competitive demand for quality talent, losing a top […]

If your typical sales cycle is longer than 2 months from initial customer contact to close, it’s time for a reality check! “The majority of the hay is in the barn.” So let’s focus our efforts on the key adjustments we can still make. Finish strong and position well for next year! Scenario: You have […]

When I ask this question to sales leaders, the answer that I get 98.7% of the time is "Yes, of course I am." But then I ask "How do you know?" This is a much harder question to answer. The easy answer would be "I hit my numbers." Sure, you could use that, but is that […]

What would happen if sales gave an average of a 5% discount on items they sold? 5% isn’t that big of a deal, right? Hey, if it helps them win the business then everything is good, right?  That is the mentality of most sales people and even most sales leaders. What they don’t realize is the […]

Have you ever been to a meeting where there doesn’t appear to be a purpose?  People just talk about a bunch of stuff.  There is no specific actions or to-dos.   Of course you have.  I think everybody has.  We call those spaghetti meetings.  They usually start late, somebody dials-in after the meeting has started, topics […]

When it comes to measuring what matters in sales, most people immediately think RESULTS! Most companies excel at this. They slice and dice the data by salesperson, territory, product, and more. However, focusing solely on results doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s like trying to coach a sports team by only looking at the scoreboard. […]