This week on the podcast I chatted with Chris Voss, author of Never Split the Difference and founder and CEO of Black Swan Group about all things negotiation. Below are just some of the takeaways from our conversation plus the video of the full interview. If you haven’t read his book, it’s a must-read for […]
We are givers in Sales. We give and give and give in the hopes that at the end of the sales process, we get what we want – which is the signed contract and commission. The problem is we tend to give a bunch of stuff away without really getting much in return. When this […]
There are a bunch of key indicators that happen throughout the buying/selling process that help us understand the true ‘health’ of any opportunity we’re working on and whether we’re in a good or bad position to win the deal. However, there is one that I’ve found to be the #1 key indicator of losing a […]
For many of us, April marks the start of a new quarter, fresh targets and quota and new opportunities to focus on. Sometimes you hit your quarterly number with weeks to spare, other times you’re pushing in any deal you can to Make It Happen by the end of that third month. I received this […]
Do you know the biggest sin in sales? It’s not to lose a deal. It’s to take too long to lose a deal. You know the ones: they sit in our pipeline or forecast as the 20 percenters and get pushed out month over month over month because we’re “saying there’s a chance.” We, like […]
I’m getting a lot of questions from reps right now about what they can do to make sure the deals in their pipeline will close by the end of the year or how they can create urgency to get them to close. There’s no magic answer to this other than discounting (which is sad) but […]
This is one of the hardest things to do in Sales in my experience. You have a good relationship with someone below the Power Line who is telling you what you want to hear and being just nice enough for you to stay with them even though you know they can’t get the deal done […]
In my sales trainings I always ask reps what they think their #1 competitive differentiator is. Most answers focus on specific features, functions, the company history, people, customer service, etc. These are great but unfortunately, they are things your competitors are saying, too. If your team is your differentiator, do you think your competition is saying […]
… An Ego. If you have an ego you’re not going to get very far in sales or in life in my opinion. However, if you have confidence you can achieve almost anything. People gravitate towards confidence and want to be a part of it. This is true in all aspects of life and especially […]
Have you ever seen the movie Tommy Boy? If not, go see it. If it’s been a while – see it again. It’s one of the best sales movies of all time. There’s a scene in Tommy Boy that stands out and highlights what I call “catching your sales groove.” It’s the scene where he does […]
