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Well, do ya’??? It’s so, so easy to say, “Of course! I’m not a silver-tongued devil, I’m a silver-eared devil.”

OK, let’s say you actually do listen intently after you ask a question. Let’s also say you’re constantly alert for stray comments, body language and all the little nuances of customer Read More

“If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less.” US Army General and ex-Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki

Change is relentless. There’s no stopping it. Embrace it! Read More

A comment on one of my recent posts about forecasting really got me thinking. Here’s the comment, “Managers, grow a backbone. Hold your people accountable and stop accepting excuses.” My knee-jerk reaction was violent agreement. Read More

Here’s my contention: Finding yourself frequently acknowledging, “I don’t know,” is a signal that you have become a superior sales rep.

Huh?

Before you conclude I’ve finally lost it completely, listen and see if you agree... Read More

About fifteen years ago, I ran across a paper written by Arie De Geuss, then chief of corporate planning for Royal Dutch Shell. In it, he made one of those pithy observations that really capture the essence of sustained excellent performance. Insightful as he was at the time, it’s just not enough a Read More

The best of the sales managers and executives I’ve had the pleasure to work with tend to demand very few things. They expect a lot in terms of results, but are generally reluctant to lay out a long list of specific requirements. The single most common demand of the top-notch sales leader? A monthl Read More

Sometimes, stating the obvious is nothing more than that; merely verbalizing what everybody in the audience already knows. Sometimes, something is obvious to the speaker/writer, but is genuinely a novel concept for the audience. Sometimes, everybody already knows, but only a few actually practice the best practice Read More

“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” Samuel Johnson

Make the effort when you write an e-mail, a proposal, a meeting summary, whatever. Writing is permanent. It’s your reputation. It’s your credibility Read More

There is always a danger in focusing on the tools used to get a job done. (We all know the cliché about the six-year old with a chain saw…) That said however, a robust CRM system just might be the most powerful tool a sales team can have Read More

As a group, sales managers are not big on “managing by the numbers.” Only a very few use more than a half-dozen or so measurements to monitor the quality and effectiveness of sales performance. Most rely on two, revenue and profit. They are the ultimate indicators of success, right? Why would anyone need to know any more Read More