It seems like all our prospects are crazy-busy these days. They’re too busy to answer the phone, too busy to return your message, too busy to make a decision and too busy to even think. My friend & colleague, Jill Konrath, just came out with a new book to address this key issue. It’s called: […]

Sales managers often wonder why team activity levels are so low. “It didn’t used to be that way,” they think to themselves, and then it gets worse. It transforms into an attendance problem. Sales mangers become babysitters, “Where are you? Why aren’t you here? Every minute you are late is costing you deals!” Disciplinary action […]

You do it at home. Do you do it at work? Your “COMPANY” is anyone and everyone who comes into your office, store, showroom, factory, or outdoor or mobile worksite. It’s anyone and everyone who visits your website, your blog, your email address, your mailbox, your telephone, your voicemail, your fax machine. In fact, if […]

This is not just a wistful daydream of lost love affairs. It is a reflective statement. Is it most typically expressed by those who are too old to actually do anything about what they’ve learned in life? Or is it the kind of comment we might expect to hear from those who think and behave […]

With the good fortune of my having talented, creative children —a major Washington DC award-winning theater director daughter, and a major Atlanta award-winning musician/composer son— comes the awareness that business trade shows are theatre! If you’re participating in one trade show, or hundreds, and don’t treat each as if you were hosting a world premier […]

Sellers are always being schooled on how to properly qualify by doing their homework up front, asking good questions, identifying and visiting the executive decision-maker, assuring there is budget, and a compelling event. Great. That makes you unique… just like everybody else. Do you stand WITH your logo or in FRONT of it? Let’s face […]

Whatever it is that you’re looking for —money, health, fitness, sex, happiness, security, employment, religion, fame, more sales— is just around the corner. But, without a periscope, you’ll never see it.  And that’s a good thing because to get where you want to go, you need to stop looking at “the where” and start focusing […]

In the January 22nd edition of the Kiplinger Letter there was a disturbing fact stated.  “As a business owner or manager, you should be worried about losing critical employees as the economy recovers.  Some companies are now working to pick off the cream of the crop.  Surveys show 20% of all employees wants to switch […]

Understanding Your Customers’ Buying Preferences Successful companies today find that staying ahead of the competition requires more than what it did 3-4 years ago.  If your business has reached parity on features, production costs and other areas of cost efficiencies, then you may be having a hard time differentiating yourselves.  What is often overlooked as […]

As bureaucratic nooses tighten around business necks, it’s natural for feelings of desperation to begin setting in, and to respond by reducing prices in order to make sales. It doesn’t take long to be traveling on this road before you’re giving away the store! Resist the temptation to undercut your value by offering “more competitive pricing.” Easy to say, […]