How to Motivate/Demotivate Employees
Lessons in Leadership: Observations from My Career I have encountered numerous managers who exhibited substandard leadership qualities throughout my c...
21 April, 2025
Who Is Your Number One Competitor?
I recently received a call from a sales professional seeking assistance with her strategy to beat her primary competitor, referred to here as ACME, on...
14 April, 2025
WILL YOU TAKE THE RISK OF A PRISON ESCAPE?
As a former accountant, sales manager, economics instructor, and someone who spent many years calling on large financial institutions and major corpor...
09 April, 2025
I WAS MUCH OLDER THEN, I’M MUCH YOUNGER NOW
This is paraphrased from a famous line in a song written by Bob Dylan. The song suggests youthful idealism often gives way to realism with age. Many t...
02 April, 2025
START YOUR DAY WITH INTENTION
Some people struggle to get started in the morning. I never have had that problem. I’ve always approached mornings with a clear sense of pur...
24 March, 2025
YOU ARE THE CEO OF YOUR OWN BRAND
You are the CEO of your personal brand. What does this mean, and why does it matter? In today’s world, whether you’re building a career in a corpo...
17 March, 2025
Overcoming The Advantages That Others May Have
I love sports and often use sports analogies. Now is the time of Major League Baseball’s Spring training. At every team’s camp, at least o...
11 March, 2025
SELLING INTO THE “C” SUITE
My background has primarily been selling enterprise-wide financial, human resource, medical, anti-money laundering, and manufacturing solutions. In ...
04 March, 2025
The Misuse of Metrics
This past week, I had a case of influenza. It reminded me of an incident many years ago when I began my career as an accountant. I joined the cost acc...
24 February, 2025
My Catch-22 Experience
“Catch-22” was a popular fictional book and later a movie published by Joseph Heller in 1961. In Heller’s book, an Air Force lieutenant desired ...
17 February, 2025
The Importance of a Positive Attitude in Sales
One of the most overlooked keys to sales success is Attitude. A positive attitude consists of being mentally optimistic and self-confident. It is esse...
10 February, 2025
THE IMPORTANCE OF PROSPECTING
Some sales pros work for companies that furnish adequate suspects and unqualified leads to keep them busy achieving their sales goals. I was not as fo...
03 February, 2025
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOUR PROSPECT DOES NOT RETURN MESSAGES OR EMAILS
Many sales pros ask me what to do when the prospect doesn’t return calls or emails. You have been calling on a prospect for several months and bel...
21 January, 2025
If You’re Not Winning, You’re Losing
This sounds like an obvious statement. Wouldn’t Homer Simpson say “duh” if I said this to him? Isn’t it a binary condition—e...
03 January, 2025
SHOULD YOU BE THE FIRST OR LAST PRESENTER?
I am often asked this question: If a buyer gives you the choice to be the first, middle, or last seller to present your proposed solution to the evalu...
23 December, 2024
SHOULD ALL SALESPEOPLE BE TREATED THE SAME?
When I became a sales manager, I believed I had to treat all the salespeople who reported to me equally. As a first-time sales manager, I thought it...
16 December, 2024
Loyalty to My Buyers
I was grocery shopping with my wife a while ago when we perused the jellies and jams aisle. My wife selected a well-known jelly brand that was on sale...
09 December, 2024
HOW FAR ARE YOU WILLING TO GO TO CLOSE A SALE
I recently wrote about an episode early in my sales career when I worked in a shared office environment with salespeople and remote workers. I overh...
02 December, 2024
Fun in Sales
Many assume that sales is a serious profession—and it certainly is. There are times when it can be very entertaining. Indeed, interacting with poten...
25 November, 2024
Fish in the Right Pond
Salespeople often ask me to explain the best method of identifying the highest-potential prospects to target. “How can I find these prime p...
19 November, 2024
Where is the Low Hanging Fruit?
Your sales manager is anxious and wants you to close additional sales this month. Perhaps she is worried about meeting her quarterly or annual new b...
18 November, 2024
WHEN WHAT YOU HAVE IS NOT ENOUGH
I have seen examples of people who achieved highly successful careers but were still unsatisfied with their situation. Something compels them to make ...
12 November, 2024
What Causes Unintended Consequences
Sometimes, well-meaning people plan or take actions that they intend to create a social good or results for the betterment of all, but their actions r...
06 November, 2024
Lessons from the Front: Year-End Forecasted Deals
We have reached the time of the year when sales managers carefully examine the opportunities forecasted to close by the end of the calendar year. Most...
29 October, 2024
THE “BEST” SALES PRESENTATION
What is the “best” sales presentation? How can it be defined or characterized? Is it a flawless presentation, perhaps utilizing the most up-to-dat...
23 October, 2024
INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO, DO WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT
“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” ― Mark Twain All of us wish to do what we love (or like) to d...
08 October, 2024
Should We Lower Standards?
I have read that we must keep lowering standards, such as the educational requirements for elementary and high school kids, where graduation rates and...
30 September, 2024
How to Find and Hire the Best Sales Pros
I am often asked this question, and the answer isn’t straightforward. Even the most skilled sales managers can attest to the challenge of findin...
20 September, 2024
SALES LESSON FROM A GARAGE DOOR REPAIRMAN
Recently, my electric garage door opener malfunctioned. I called Bob, a repairman I had used before, who diagnosed the problem over the telephone as a...
09 September, 2024
Best Advice, Worst Advice
Recently, an interviewer asked me what the best advice I had ever received was and, on the contrary, what the worst was. These were very challenging...
06 August, 2024
Don’t Be A Prisoner of the Past
Executives at many companies often become what I call “prisoners of the past.” There has been a decision made in the past, by them or somebody els...
29 July, 2024
ASSESSING EXCEPTIONAL TALENT – WHO ARE THE EXPERTS?
The thought has occurred to me that we trust “experts’ to judge hiring, promotions, selections for athletic teams, qualifications for music progra...
22 July, 2024
DENYING THE OBVIOUS
“The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery is Not Ignorance – It is the Illusion of Knowledge”1 Our local high school, Adlai E. Stevenson, in Lincolns...
16 July, 2024
SHOULD WE PAUSE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) DEVELOPMENT?
Pausing AI Development Is Not Feasible Many in politics, academia, technology, and the media have recently called for a cessation or pause in Artifici...
09 July, 2024
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Increase Sales
What is AI? Artificial intelligence (AI) is not just another trendy technology. It’s a truly transformative force that will reshape our lives in 202...
05 July, 2024
Leverage in Contract Negotiations
Many of us are familiar with the concept of leverage in negotiations. Leverage is not just a tool; it’s a mindset. It’s the perceived powe...
01 July, 2024
The Time I Hired Willie Mays
McCormack & Dodge scheduled a User Conference for its customers in San Francisco in August 1983. I was asked to find a luncheon speaker. Usually...
25 June, 2024
The Legend of Dinty Moore
Several years ago, I found myself in a rather comical situation as a junior accountant at a mid-size suburban Chicago manufacturing company. It was a ...
12 June, 2024
ARE YOU A BED TAG CRIMINAL?
Have you ever read the tag on your bed mattress (or your pillow or winter coat) that says removing it is illegal and punishable by federal fines of up...
01 June, 2024
HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE IN DENIAL
Several years ago, I lived in a home adjacent to a private golf club. My telephone number was similar to that of the golf club’s clubhouse. One afte...
01 June, 2024