Category Sales Leadership

“Hope is not a strategy” is a rant from almost every sales manager. Rick Page even wrote a book about it. Yes, hope is a strategy. The idea that hope is not a strategy is killing your sales results and…

Recently I’ve been working with more and more businesses where sales are cratering. Business itself seems to be faltering. Whether its from a dysfunctional government or the uncertainty of the business climate increasing profitable sales seems to be harder than…

I don’t normally use this site to talk about myself so I hope you’ll bear with me because there are some ideas here that will increase your sales and your effectiveness if you lead salespeople. I spent the better part…

Every year CSO Insights publishes the largest study of sales compensation and trends in the US. The report is 37 pages long. We can learn a lot from it. Below are some of the key points on firms under $50…

Today almost every business conversation seems to start with how much things have changed. Selling is harder. Business is harder. Open any book and the first half seems to be filled with endless reasons competition is harder, whether it is…

“We must grow our revenue” is what every business owner is telling me these days. An annual survey of hundreds of CEOs places top-line growth as their number one priority for the past 5 years. That is sales folks –…

I just read a great book on Competitive Advantage by Jaynie Smith. It reminds me that most companies are saying the same stuff over and over. Want to know why customer’s aren’t excited about seeing you anymore, let alone buying…

Kind of a good news/bad news story here. Sales is about persuasion, about getting other people to think differently about their business, hec your business (and offerings). That can be a lot of fun. I remember one time getting of…

A couple of guys jumped in their truck and headed to the woods for a good day of hunting. As the truck screeched to a halt on a dusty trail the passenger jumped out. Blam, blam, blam. The sound of…