Success
For the past 12 years, I’ve been on retainer, coaching senior executives at a company. In the first two years, I spotted a major issue: they were sending out far too many proposals. How did I know? Their close rate was a dismal 10%. That’s what happens when you’re wasting time on unqualified leads. So…
If you want to know how to succeed in sales, look at Bombas. That’s B-O-M-B-A-S, pronounced “bum-bus” socks. That’s right, these are the socks; they’re no-show socks. What I love about them is that they stay in place and are of great quality. But that’s not the reason I’m telling you about Bombas. When Randy…
Imagine you’re going into the office of a senior decision-maker at a huge Fortune 100 company. He’s had nothing but problems with your company. He bought 200 units of electric timestamps. Every time a trader makes a stamp, it’s the same time for all trades, and they don’t get fined by the SEC. He had…
What’s more important to you? The will to prepare or the will to win? That is a question the Vice President of Sales for Hertz equipment rental division asked me as we were flying together to his national sales meeting, where I was giving the keynote. Without thinking, I said, “The will to prepare.” He…
Recently, I had dinner with an executive in the baseball industry. He described baseball as a high-failure sport. I love that phrase. Why? Because I’ve always used it in my speeches, not that phrase exactly, but the idea. Think about it: a hitter getting three hits out of every 10 at-bats is a .300 hitter.…
If you were to tell me that you just closed the deal, my answer to you would be there is no such thing as a closed deal. You see, a while back, I was involved in repositioning a major chemical manufacturer with the largest player in their industry. They only had 40% of their demand,…
Two weeks ago, the number one golfer in the world was racing to the golf course for the second round of the PGA Championship. He was about to tee off, and all of a sudden, he ran into traffic in the dark, early hours of the morning. He needed to get there to warm up.…
Who says the market can’t handle high prices? Just ask Del Monte Foods and Melissa’s Produce in California who sell high-end premium fruit and vegetables. It took Del Monte Foods over a decade and a half to develop a Ruby-hued pineapple. There are no others like it in the world. Melissa sells this one pineapple –…
In 1927, JW Marriott opened up a root beer stand. That’s right, Marriott Hotels started as a root beer stand. The first Marriott Hotel did not open up until 1957 in Arlington, Virginia. Since then, you have 4400 Marriotts worldwide. What a success story. Now, what was the reason behind that success? Well, if you…
The number one reason why sales cultures are not performing the way CEOs want them to is simply because they’re concentrating on the wrong people. That’s right. You see, last Sunday was the annual Met Gala in New York City. The Met Gala was started in 1995 by Anna Wintour, who is the editor-in-chief of…
Video Interview on how a senior executive turned his sales team around and forced his competitor out of a market
In April of 2008, Steve Keating, Manager of Selling Skills at the Toro Company, heard me speak about using social media to build one’s sales. Already involved with Twitter, Steve had at the time a few hundred followers. After hearing the presentation, he decided to make it a key strategy in building both his personal…
Retailers like Sam’s Club and CVS have figured out that huge profits come from customization. Using discounts to track results, Sam’s Club achieved a 1-2 percent acceptance of generic discounted offers. Realizing it had a trove of information regarding buying habits and the purchasing history of each customer, it developed a new program called eValues.…
Something happened this weekend that reminds us all that we should not only appreciate the ultimate sacrifices made by our brave men and women fighting for our freedom, but also take time to thank the living and show our appreciation for all that they have done to help us achieve our successes. The incident I…
In the gym of my daughter’s high school (Northern Valley Old Tappan-NVOT), there is a banner that reads- Welcome to NVOT-Where sportsmanship is an expectation. So please let the players play. Let the coaches coach. Let the officials officiate. Let the spectators be positive. This sign caught my eye because all too often I see…
You know the old saying “if you have nothing nice to say about somebody then say nothing at all”! Well, here’s a new saying: “If you don’t have your facts in order, don’t bother marketing to your audience”! Just like saying something bad can turn people off, so can saying something stupid and untrue in…
Instead of concentrating on being more successful, work on increasing the velocity in your efforts on a daily basis. What is velocity? It is the ability to get more done in less time. It is about gaining speed, power and momentum in your actions to achieve your goals in less time than originally anticipated. Granted…
Why did Steve Teel of Teel’s Baseball (academy softball and baseball) bring me in to speak with their coaches on sales skills? The answer is simple. Coaches need to know how to communicate to all of the buying influences if they are going to grow their business. Steve Teel is a smart business owner. He…
- « Previous
- 1
- …
- 16
- 17
- 18