During my career, I have managed or worked with more than 1,000 sales pros, ranging from top performers to those who struggled to meet expectations. I studied high performers closely so I could better identify, hire, coach, and retain them. In my first book, Above Quota Performance,1 I described thirty...
Waymo and Autonomous Vehicles: Technology in Search of a Problem? We recently visited San Francisco and were amazed by the prevalence of Waymo autonomous vehicles throughout the downtown area. For those unfamiliar with them, Waymo operates self-driving robotaxis that transport passengers 24 hours a day without a human driver behind the...
Recently, my family attended a graduation ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of San Francisco. What I witnessed left a lasting and alarming impression—not because of the graduation itself, but because it reflected broader generational and political changes taking place throughout America. At the beginning of...
The Counterfeit Epidemic in the Celebrity Autograph Market The autograph market is booming, with signed memorabilia from celebrities, athletes, and historical figures selling for extraordinary sums. But where demand and money surge, fraud follows—and the flood of counterfeit autographs has become impossible to ignore I have some familiarity with the autograph market...
So, Who Exactly is the Key Decision Maker, aka Economic Buyer? While many use the term “key decision maker,” I prefer the term “economic buyer,” as popularized by sales trainers and authors Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman.1 There is always one person—or sometimes a small group—who fulfills this role for a given...
The Myth of “Anything’s Possible” Can an amateur golfer sink a 50-foot putt while blindfolded? Sure. It’s also possible to survive going over Niagara Falls—and a small number of people actually have.1 But in both cases, the keyword is possible, not probable. A professional golfer sinks a 50-foot putt only about 3 percent...
We have all seen cartoons of a dog chasing the garbage truck down the street. What happens when the truck stops and the dog catches it? Frequently, the dog is left uncertain, unsure of what to do next, and simply barks in confusion. A similar scenario often unfolds in enterprise sales. A...
Lessons From Bad Managers Over the course of my career, I’ve worked for more than a few poor managers—enough that choosing just one as the worst would be nearly impossible. Instead, I’ve narrowed it down to three who left the deepest impression. Ironically, I’ve also been fortunate to work for some...
Think about the last time you attended a meeting where a seller utilized PowerPoint slides to present their offerings. Did the presentation effectively persuade you to give more serious consideration to their company? Many have bored me to fight to stay awake. This is probably because the seller utilized the company’s...
Reasonably accurate sales forecasting has been a persistent challenge in every sales organization I’ve encountered throughout my career. The question is simple: why can’t sales pros forecast their deals to close this month and next month with even 60% accuracy? On the surface, it should be straightforward. In reality, it...