Decades ago, when I started building banking markets, I faced a dilemma. I had to develop leadership and sales skills in people that went to college to learn how to be rewarded financially for their deep knowledge skills, not management or growing a client base. Adding call sheets, pipeline tools, and growth expectations into the …
When Your Dream Prospect Says, ‘Who Cares!’
A sales professional takes their seat in front of their dream prospect after nurturing a long business development process. After an exchange of pleasantries, the prospect asks the sales professional, ‘tell me why I should work with you; tell me why you are different!’ The sales professional proceeds just as they were taught to talk …
3 Powerful Pillars of Effective Business Development Training
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 …