Blog

Have you noticed the most recent car commercials? What are they selling to the consumer these days?

Leaders and managers can easily and unpredictably find themselves caught between the tensions of two very important organizational dynamics: the need for accountability and the need to develop talent.

Who Are Your Best Leaders?

Answering this question is one of the most critical challenges a business executive/owner faces.

It’s that time of year when the realization begins to settle in that we probably need to have a challenging conversation with a difficult employee. We either hoped this person would improve and hasn’t, or we chose to put off a needed conversation out of sheer avoidance.

It is important to recognize that Business Development Consultants and Sales People alike are often starved for quality feedback. Contrary to the "I've got it together" stature with which they typically comport themselves around the company or in front of a customer, the truth is, on the inside they are always asking the question: "How am I doing".

When a salesperson prematurely leads with the value proposition they: 1) risk being perceived as reckless with their social equity and business stature, 2) errantly assume that the company’s value proposition and the prospects interest automatically align when they may not, and 3) accidentally convey an unintended condescension toward the customer’s current product or service.

It should be noted that sometimes the road to success has a ditch on both sides. How true in the world of professional selling. If you can avoid these pitfalls as you develop sales dialogues you can make it further down that road and live to fight another day!

Depending upon when your fiscal started, you might be at the midway point for 2017 or wrapping it up. Hopefully this year’s quota is in the bag.
But if that little green arrow plotting the sales trends has failed to happily point “up and to the right”, is trending flat—or even worse—down, it might be a good time to reflect on key lessons learned from the New England Patriot’s Super Bowl 51 victory from last February. Why?