McCormack & Dodge scheduled a User Conference for its customers in San Francisco in August 1983. I was asked to find a luncheon speaker. Usually, we chose someone from the business world, academia, or the military, such as Admiral Grace Hopper (who was one of the best speakers I ever...
Several years ago, I found myself in a rather comical situation as a junior accountant at a mid-size suburban Chicago manufacturing company. It was a lesson in the peculiar behaviors that can unfold in a supposedly professional office environment. This company, which I will call Acme Manufacturing, kept manual accounting ledgers...
Have you ever read the tag on your bed mattress (or your pillow or winter coat) that says removing it is illegal and punishable by federal fines of up to $5,000 or imprisonment? Egads! That sounds like a Dilbert cartoon. Have you done so? I haven’t, but I have been tempted...
Several years ago, I lived in a home adjacent to a private golf club. My telephone number was similar to that of the golf club’s clubhouse. One afternoon, I received a call from an unknown man who asked me if he could reserve a tee- time for golf. I told him...
I was trained in sales by two of the best salespeople that I have ever met or heard about, Jim McCormack and Frank Dodge, the founders of the application software firm McCormack & Dodge. Both had met at IBM and had very different backgrounds. Jim was a highly successful salesperson...
Early in my sales career, I had the fortune of meeting with and introducing Red Auerbach at a McCormack & Dodge User Conference in Boston, MA, in 1985. This turned out to be a seminal moment in my career. I will explain. For those unfamiliar with the legendary Red Auerbach, here...
My latest book, Above Quota Sales Management, has been published by Armin Lear Press and is available on Amazom.com and barnesandnoble.com. Here is the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Above-Quota-Sales-Management-Techniques/dp/196327105X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2H3YJCJUCYJ78&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.K_4_4T0BF1S7HRvC6pufcqmtuy_tgN8ieKomqmfZPcVzKTXUkoyezqjeoVXsc_UdHCQRZlFV My first book, Above Quota Performance , was targeted at sales professionals with the goal of improving their performance by following the hundreds of...
It’s my observation that sales is a career that offers excellent opportunities for women and is primarily egalitarian. I say it’s almost egalitarian mainly because the company must hire a woman before she can take advantage of her sales career, and that may still be challenging, especially for women just...
Early in my sales career, I called on a very large well-known furniture manufacturer that was headquartered in Western Michigan. They were looking for solutions to automate their in-house built general ledger accounting functions. After several telephone conversations with both accounting and information technology (IT) people, they invited me to...
I have been in enterprise sales for many years. I also have been golfing for just as long. Unfortunately, my sales skills have exceeded my golfing skills. But as I wailed away in a sand trap earlier this week, I realized there are some similarities between the enterprise sales cycle and a...