This past week, I had a case of influenza. It reminded me of an incident many years ago when I began my career as an accountant. I joined the cost accounting department for GD Searle & Co., then an independent, more than one-hundred-year-old, family-controlled public biotechnology company, now a Pfizer subsidiary....
“Catch-22” was a popular fictional book and later a movie published by Joseph Heller in 1961. In Heller’s book, an Air Force lieutenant desired to be exempted from a bombing mission because he claimed he was insane. But, claiming he was insane to avoid a dangerous mission demonstrated that he was...
One of the most overlooked keys to sales success is Attitude. A positive attitude consists of being mentally optimistic and self-confident. It is essential in sales—and life! Attitude is as important as skill in determining sales success. How can you perform well if you’re not in your best mental state? If...
Some sales pros work for companies that furnish adequate suspects and unqualified leads to keep them busy achieving their sales goals. I was not as fortunate, working for several technology companies and a few start-ups. If I did not develop leads, I would have starved and been terminated from my...
Many sales pros ask me what to do when the prospect doesn’t return calls or emails. You have been calling on a prospect for several months and believe you have established rapport with your contact. You presented a thoroughly researched business case about two weeks ago but have not received...
This sounds like an obvious statement. Wouldn't Homer Simpson say "duh" if I said this to him? Isn't it a binary condition—either one or the other? And isn't the reverse then true, too? No, not really. It also could be neither. It is not that simple. How do you know whether you...
I am often asked this question: If a buyer gives you the choice to be the first, middle, or last seller to present your proposed solution to the evaluation team, which should you choose? Conventional wisdom suggests that one should try to be the final presenter when the buyer reviews several...
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...
I was grocery shopping with my wife a while ago when we perused the jellies and jams aisle. My wife selected a well-known jelly brand that was on sale that week. However, I insisted that we purchase Smucker's jelly. The same thing happened a few minutes later when I insisted...
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...