23 Apr

My latest book, Above Quota Sales Management, has been published by Armin Lear Press and is available on Amazom.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Here is the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Above-Quota-Sales-Management-Techniques/dp/196327105X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2H3YJCJUCYJ78&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.K_4_4T0BF1S7HRvC6pufcqmtuy_tgN8ieKomqmfZPcVzKTXUkoyezqjeoVXsc_UdHCQRZlFV My first book, Above Quota Performance , was targeted at sales professionals with the goal of improving their performance by following the hundreds of tips and techniques that were covered in the book. It has been well received by readers, many of whom have given it a perfect 5-star review on Amazon so far. Above Quota Sales Management follows a style similar to my previous book but targets sales managers. The book covers many critical...

11 Mar

It’s my observation that sales is a career that offers excellent opportunities for women and is primarily egalitarian.  I say it’s almost egalitarian mainly because the company must hire a woman before she can take advantage of her sales career, and that may still be challenging, especially for women just starting out in her career or for those women who took time off to raise a family and have returned to the workforce. Prejudices still exist that may result in ill-informed managers not hiring some very capable women in sales.  Those existing prejudice challenges still prevent some women from being hired...

06 Mar

Early in my sales career, I called on a very large well-known furniture manufacturer that was headquartered in Western Michigan. They were looking for solutions to automate their in-house built general ledger accounting functions. After several telephone conversations with both accounting and information technology (IT) people, they invited me to present our solution. They also invited our major competitor as well. There were about fifteen people in the room who were very engaged and had a lot of questions, especially from the IT people, when I presented. I felt that the sales presentation went reasonably well. The Manager of Accounting...

22 Feb

I have been in enterprise sales for many years. I also have been golfing for just as long. Unfortunately, my sales skills have exceeded my golfing skills.  But as I wailed away in a sand trap earlier this week, I realized there are some similarities between the enterprise sales cycle and a round of golf.  Each has finite beginning and ending points and many changes in strategies and tactics along the way.  Let’s explore that: First, enterprise sales and the golf game have a significant beginning point.  In sales, it is when you have qualified the opportunity, and the prospect has agreed to...

19 Feb

This article will discuss mergers and acquisitions from three perspectives: 1) What is a merger? 2) What are the business cases for mergers and acquisitions, and are they usually achieved? 3) If you work for a company that is undergoing a merger or acquisition, what is your best strategy to survive it?  There is no such thing as a merger! Contrary to what we read and hear, especially in business journals, there is no such thing as a “merger” in corporations, or they are extremely rare at best. They are kind of like unicorns and exist in myths. Let me explain: When two...

14 Feb

Amber: Get on a plane, meet the prospective client in person, and make the pitch. Watch the signals in the room to see what is happening. Observe body language. Pre-2020, does this sound familiar? Then, it all suddenly changed. Many of us thought we would be on pause for a few months, tops. But we’re still on pause four years later, and no end is in sight. At first, we moved our exact same process onto the conference call providers. The goal was to get appointments on the calendar while the world went upside down. And then we started to notice something....

12 Feb

The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery is Not Ignorance – It is the Illusion of Knowledge”1   Our local high school, Adlai E. Stevenson, of Lincolnshire, IL, is one of the highest-rated secondary schools in Illinois.  This is because the administration stresses academic excellence and produces many national merit scholars. Both of my children attended Stevenson High School in the late 1980s and 1990s.  During this time, I had the opportunity to talk with Deputy Sheriff Perry Coleman of the Lake County (IL) Sheriff’s Department. We discussed many topics, including the illegal drug problem that was plaguing many high schools.  The Stevenson Superintendent declared that...

08 Feb

Years ago, as an accountant, I reported to a manager named Bob.  One day, I excused myself and went to the restroom, and when I returned, Bob said, “Steve, you took too long.” My response was, “What?” Then he said, “You took 8 minutes.  I can go to the bathroom and back in 4 minutes.”  I responded, “Good for you.”  The conversation was very insulting and degrading. Should I hurry my time in the restroom to keep my manager happy?  Did the 4 minutes matter? What about proper hygiene? There were other similar incidents where Bob watched over me every...

31 Jan

Singer Paul Simon wrote and recorded a song called “Slip Sliding Away.” Like many of Simon’s songs, the meaning of the lyrics is often obscure.  But he does say that the nearer you are to your destination, “the more you’re slipping and sliding away.”1 Has this ever happened to you in your pursuit of closed deals? Perhaps you have been calling on the prospect for several months, and during this time, the prospect has shown some interest in your solution and was receptive to your proposal.  You have met with the key decision-makers and influencers and have not heard any objections...

31 Jan

The behaviors of some excellent, high-performing salespeople are sometimes like those of typical American teenagers.  This can be considered both positive and negative attributes of salespeople. I first noticed the similarities when managing a group of primarily high-achieving salespeople while helping my wife raise our two then teenagers.  I was confronted with many of the same issues at work and home. For example, top salespeople and teenagers can be obstinate, challenging to manage, and resist direction or supervision, like herding cats.  They want to be left alone, to make their own mistakes.  They do not care that we previously faced many...