In my experience, too many sales people simply take the value proposition given by marketing and restate it to the prospect. This is the worst use of a value proposition. If you are in Marketing and you enable your sales team this way, then you are not helping.
Read MoreSo, if you don’t make New Year’s resolutions, here is a list of items from my posts during the year that might make good subjects for reflection.
Read MoreThe Trust Edge by David Horsager is a compelling look at how trust and lack of trust can impact an organization. Horsager turns what might be a soft skill into a hard skill by giving the reader conrete steps to build an organization basewd on trust.
Read MoreFor years, VPs of Sales and CEOs have been looking for the magic bullet to help select the best sales people, the top 20 percent that bring in 80% of their sales. There are minor industries built on evaluating and testing sales candidates. Including recruiters, testing, and the risk of making the wrong decision, hiring a great sales person can be an expensive proposition.
So with advances in genetic testing, why can’t we test for the genes that make great sales people? Now you can.
Read MoreMany companies still rely on the “presentation” as a sales tool. But a couple recent studies may indicate a major problem with this approach.
Read MoreRecently I wanted a piece of information from a web company for a service in which I was interested. This time I really didn’t want to “read the whitepaper,” so I called for a “demo.” The resistance I had was that this would begin a sales cycle, yet all I wanted was information.
Read MoreGroup dynamics in meetings and decisions are influenced by the social pressures of the group. You’ve heard the cynical old expression that the best decision of a committee is worse than the best decision of any one individual in the meeting. Here are some signs that you may have a problem and what you can do about them.
Read MoreIn the past two posts, I’ve tried to answer why we, as humans, are so ready to agree with others, even when we know it’s wrong, or not what we think? The real question is what can we do about it?
People who know me might say I am a bit of an iconoclast, always questioning the prevailing norm (see There Are alligators in the Sewers of NY). But I often have others say to me after a meeting, “I wished I’d asked that question.” It’s a kind of a pain in the ass trait, and not one that will endear you to some management or others.
Read MoreA recent experiment and research at the Weizmann Institute by Prof. Yadin Dudai and his students may show why we are suseptible to group pressure. So what do you do when everyone around the conference table nods in agreement to an idea that no one individually would agree to?
Read MoreOnce my teenage daughter said she wanted to get a tattoo while on a trip we took to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. All her friends were getting them. Our dialogue on subsequent days, as we negotiated, went something like this….
Peer pressure and group think is especially dangerous in business, and it’s something that marketing or sales managers, and CEOs have to guard against.
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