Blog

Read / Download our Latest Articles

04 Mar

Posted at 19:42h in Uncategorized

My background has primarily been selling enterprise-wide financial, human resource, medical, anti-money laundering, and manufacturing solutions.  In most cases, the prospective buyer has strategically decided to change their infrastructure. The highest-level executives typically make these decisions in an organization.  So, when deciding who to sell to in the organization, it...

24 Feb

Posted at 17:36h in Uncategorized

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....

17 Feb

Posted at 16:36h in Uncategorized

“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...

10 Feb

Posted at 20:38h in Uncategorized

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...

03 Feb

Posted at 17:21h in Uncategorized

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...

03 Jan

Posted at 21:15h in Uncategorized

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...

23 Dec

Posted at 15:48h in Uncategorized

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...

16 Dec

Posted at 16:25h in Uncategorized

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...

09 Dec

Posted at 18:15h in Uncategorized

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...