As a leader, imagine you have invested in business development training for your sales staff and now you want to stop by the training area to show your support. You listen as the facilitator talks about the importance of building rapport, making more calls, and asking powerful questions. As first, you feel satisfied that your …
A Simple 5-step Exercise to Stand Out from Your Competition
Many organizations today believe that they are a value-based selling organization based on the premise that they can simply command a price higher than their competition because they are worth it. I will typically challenge them to articulate what exactly they offer to their clients that deserve a premium price, thus proving their differentiation. Typically, …
3 Strategies for Fearless Leadership in Family Business
We have heard countless stories of family businesses that involve multiple generations eventually stagnate, missed a changing market, and then close. The feeling of growing up in a family business is still with me today, having memories of never taking a day off and no one ever complaining about the long hours. Growing up I …
Death of the B2B Generalist
This topic has been debated for decades whether a sales professional is better to be a generalist or a specialist. There is some consensus amongst the voices that agree that in smaller organizations that sell in the B2B world, a generalist makes sense. In these smaller organizations, the sales professionals have to service many types of …
When is the last time you did something for the first time?
Firsts. As an adult and a parent of older children, you start to run out of “firsts.” The first walk, the first birthday and at some point, the first time they drive a car. As adults we can lose the ability to try meaningful firsts and we get stuck in a comfort zone of mediocrity. …
Can a marathoner develop a wicked jump shot?
Like most people, we all have spent time logging miles on a treadmill. When we first start running, our goal might be to just finish a distance or time without stopping. At first, when we measure our heart rate during these initial runs, it is usually through the roof. As we continue our progress each …
Asleep at the wheel of my career
Have you ever driven home for a long day at work and as you park in the driveway this sickening feeling comes over you? As you gather your belongings to go into the house you realize at that moment that you don’t even remember the drive home. You think about all the cars you passed …
Networking: 3 And Bolt
When I get asked the question about networking most people start to conjure up images of racing around the room loaded with other professionals dispensing business cards like candy from a pez dispenser. The advice I give is to “3 and bolt”. There are numerous books written on how to network and how to work …
How To Recognize When Your Environment Is Boiling
Have you ever asked your spouse where they put the car keys to which they reply that they are on the kitchen counter? You make your way over to the counter and all you see are the kid’s old homework assignments and a bunch of junk mail. Typically, a verbal fight ensues as you argue …
Pitfalls To Move From Good To High Performance
As a coach and trainer to 100’s of executives, many times people ask, “will this help me?” They are trying to compare the cost of my coaching with the return on their investment through the impact on their organization. Change is behavioral and a detailed roadmap for that success is paramount. I was a collegiate …