16 Dec

When I became a sales manager, I believed I had to treat all the salespeople who reported to me equally.  As a first-time sales manager, I thought it was essential that no salesperson should receive any special treatment or more of my time than the others. I was also very personally committed to the concept of equality of opportunity.  I also endeavored to be color-blind and gender-neutral in hiring and treating my team. This goal seemed to be in alignment with social norms. I went on approximately the same quantity of sales calls with each salesperson and tried to divide my time...

02 Dec

I recently wrote about an episode early in my sales career when I worked in a shared office environment with salespeople and remote workers.  I overheard another salesperson, Stan, tell the manager of the buyer’s contact he had been working with that he had been promised a contract by a recently deceased prospect. It was untrue. The prospect had said to him that he was no longer under consideration, then passed away shortly afterward.  I assume there wasn’t a paper or email trail.  Stan was able to get the business from the uninformed manager and bragged about what he did...

25 Nov

Many assume that sales is a serious profession—and it certainly is. There are times when it can be very entertaining. Indeed, interacting with potential customers and learning about their company and its challenges can be enjoyable but sometimes very frustrating. Getting selected and closing a contract always gave me pleasure. Some of my buyer contacts became personal friends, many of whom I am still in contact with years after the sale.  Listed below are some of my favorite sales anecdotes: Where is the most unusual place where you have ever collected a contact from a customer?  Here are three of mine: Once,...

  Salespeople often ask me to explain the best method of identifying the highest-potential prospects to target.  “How can I find these prime prospects so I do not waste my time on companies that will not buy from me (this year)?” There is no easy answer to this, but there is a strategy that you can use to increase your chances of finding the best prospects.  And it is not as difficult as it may seem.  The clue is that you need to decrease the universe of all prospects to just those with needs that best fit your company and product. Consider a...

18 Nov

Your sales manager is anxious and wants you to close additional sales this month.  Perhaps she is worried about meeting her quarterly or annual new business sales quota. She directs you to go find some “low-hanging fruit.” This a metaphor representing the most accessible fruit to reach on a tree, which she assumes will take the shortest amount of time to close.   You leave her office wanting to please her but wonder where to find these opportunities. So, where can you find these “low-hanging fruit “opportunities? Here are a few ideas: Current opportunities that you can close within 30 days Examine your...

12 Nov

I have seen examples of people who achieved highly successful careers but were still unsatisfied with their situation. Something compels them to make decisions that, in several cases, are financially disastrous. They passed up certain high levels of earnings, probably with the expectation that they would earn even more significant amounts. Many of us would gladly trade places with them and do not understand why their ambition, needs, or greed caused them to reject the fortune they have attained.  Is it greed – or stupidity? I am sure there are psychological explanations for this, and I encourage these professionals to...

06 Nov

Sometimes, well-meaning people plan or take actions that they intend to create a social good or results for the betterment of all, but their actions result in undesirable unintended consequences. The people who were supposed to benefit do not do so and, in many cases, are worse off than before the action. There are many examples from economics or politics.  Here are a few: Rent controls Rent controls are prevalent in New York City. Landlords raise rents to levels that are unaffordable to many people. So, the political solution is to enact rent controls that limit the amount of rent or increases.  Rent...

29 Oct

We have reached the time of the year when sales managers carefully examine the opportunities forecasted to close by the end of the calendar year. Most sales pros are optimistic and often will forecast an opportunity to close by year-end, even if they only had one conversation with the buyer. Most organizations use a sales methodology incorporating milestones or activities to explain an opportunity's stage in the pipeline or funnel. For example, I have used the Miller Heiman sales methodology1 to define where an opportunity is at in the sales funnel, with the activities that occur in each stage, is as follows: ...

23 Oct

What is the “best” sales presentation? How can it be defined or characterized? Is it a flawless presentation, perhaps utilizing the most up-to-date technology designed to awe the audience? And one with no technological glitches, like a poor internet connection or mysterious pauses? Or one with large, readable graphics? Or the slickest? Or one in which the presenter was the most charismatic and articulate? Maybe it would be like the presentations that Steve Jobs used to give at the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference or for new product introductions. Or is it the one that best addresses the buyer’s current, future, or even...

08 Oct

“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” ― Mark Twain All of us wish to do what we love (or like) to do and earn a good wage for doing something we enjoy. In my case, I would have liked to have been a professional baseball or hockey player.  But I had no exceptional talent to be a professional in either sport – even at the lowest levels.  So, that dream was never realistic.  A second choice would have been to be a television or radio broadcaster for any professional sport.  However,...