Be a Troublemaker and Increase Your Sales
This past Friday I had the privilege of attending my daughter’s graduation from Northeastern University where CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour spoke to the graduates. In her commencement address she quoted a civil rights activist who once said, “Give good trouble,” and implored the graduates to “make a hell of a lot of good trouble.” In sales, you’re causing good trouble when you don’t allow your customers to settle for the status quo. When you motivate them to think outside the box and...
A Super Bowl QB Formula for Winning at Sales
This past Sunday on a flight to San Francisco, I had the privilege of sitting next to Jim Plunkett, who led the Raiders (first Oakland, then LA) to two Super Bowl wins, and who also played for the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots during his career. I remember watching Jim play in the ‘80s and marveling at his character, his skills, and the attitude he brought to the game. On Sunday I seized the opportunity to ask Jim what leadership...
Experiences Impact Sales
Do you accept the fact that every employee in an organization can impact customers? The recent United Airlines fiasco should make that clear to us all. United is a rules- and systems-based culture, not a customer satisfaction–based culture, and that is why they imploded last week. As a Sales and Leadership expert, I help people see that growing sales is a people business, and it isn’t just the responsibility of the executive team and the sales people; growing sales requires...
The #1 Obstacle Preventing You from ImpactING Your Market
If I were to ask about the biggest issue preventing you from ImpactING your markets and closing more sales, most of you would say low-cost competitive pressures—and you would be wrong. The biggest issue that prevents us from ImpactING our markets is actually…us! By us I do not just mean sales execs, but all of the individuals involved in creating proposals and quotes. The most precious resource all of us have is time. As a Sales and Leadership Expert, I...
The Success Differentiator
Last week I had the privilege to have Todd Davis, the founder and CEO of the publicly traded company LifeLock, speak at the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) Mastermind dinner in Scottsdale. This is a group of CEOs from high-growth companies who get together with me three times a year for peer-to-peer mentoring and coaching on how to break through their roadblocks. Todd's presentation came 30 days after he’d sold the company to Symantec for $2.2 billion. As Todd shared his...
Supercharge Your Sales through Alliances
If you want to make money, you can only do so much through your own efforts. As a sales and leadership expert, I often remind people that we are stronger together. You can make a lot more money when you build alliances, and this is something that all top producing sales executives do. There are two kinds of alliances: internal and external. Internal alliances are the people in your organization who you need to have behind you so you can build...
What Turns Ordinary People Into Superstars
I love sports, and as a sales and leadership expert, I find there are a lot of lessons on the field that apply to sales. As a Yankees fan, one player in particular stands out to me, and it’s not Mickey Mantle —one of the Yankees’ most revered players of all time. I admit he had incredible raw power and skill, but because of his drinking and carousing, he didn’t use that raw talent to its full potential. I think...
From Trusted Advisor to Exponential Sales Growth
In 1988 before I launched my speaking and consulting business and become known as a sales and leadership expert, I was a regional manager for a computer company. In that capacity, I learned a critical lesson about sales that has served me—and my clients—ever since. In my region I was responsible for several distributors, and the reps were always complaining to me and demanding more leads. The trouble was that they couldn’t handle the leads I did give them because...
Golden Opportunities in Hidden Messages
Recently I was attending a board meeting, and there was a sign in front of one of the serving dishes that said, “Scrambled Eggs: Contains Eggs.” As a sales and leadership expert, It served as a reminder to me that often when we’re seeking new opportunities in life and in business, we need to look beyond the obvious and search for what I call “hidden signs.” A while back a client called because they were facing a competitive threat, and...