Essentials of Selling

If you are like me, you love to hear a great story. I am sure you would also agree that the telling of a good story is a real talent. Some accounts are so compelling that they are later turned into books or movies. I was curious as to who some of the top storytellers […]

How many times have you heard the saying necessity is the mother of invention? I think we can all agree to the truthfulness of that saying. Because of recent events, today, more than ever, companies and employees are being called upon to be inventive as they are required to do more with less. As I

The global public relations and marketing firm, Edelman, releases an annual report they refer to as the “Trust Barometer.” A recent report indicates that trust in governments, businesses, and not-for-profits is on the decline. We may not be surprised by the results of the Edelman report. However, the fact that trust in business is declining

Have you ever bought something and later regretted it? No doubt, we have all had that happen to us with something we have bought, whether small or large.  Once a buyer has a bad experience naturally, they want to avoid having a similar thing happen again. You know the saying, “Fool me once shame on

Do your prospects know your principles? It seems like a strange question, but what you stand for, or your values, is core to who you are as an individual and has an impact on whether people like you or want to do business with you. The ideas that I am sharing are not “entry-level” sales

I grew up on a farm in Kansas, and as a kid, one of the great things about living on the farm was the trucks. Yes, we had several on our farm, and our neighbors and my extended family had some nice trucks as well. One of my favorites was my grandfather’s 1949 Ford, which

Recently I was reading HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence (from Harvard Business Review’s “10 Must Read” collection of best practices in business). This collection of articles discusses the theory of “groups within a group.” The idea is that within any organized group of people, there are sub-groups within the larger group. The contributors

If you want to meet people, you may want to consider a career in sales. Yes, salespeople meet a variety of people, and over time these connections may cause one to think that they are good at “reading” people, but is that true? According to the book, Talking to Strangers, by Malcolm Gladwell, the reality

Most likely, you would agree that how people buy products and services today is far different than it was twenty years ago. If you visit any (remaining) shopping mall, you quickly realize that the shopping scene has changed dramatically. Why? The main reason is e-commerce – which, in many cases, causes individuals to be informed

“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run…” You probably recognize these lyrics from the Kenny Rogers song, “The Gambler.” In sales, we are not gamblers, but we are proposal makers and negotiators, and the best salespeople are excellent at

When it comes to sales performance, we often listen to “stories” versus looking at the numbers. Details can vary, and sometimes they are what we want to hear instead of the facts and figures, which confirm poor sales performance. Let’s face it – numbers are cold and at times, cruel. They can be downright horrible

You may have heard that selling is a science and art, but what does that mean? Science is the systematized knowledge of a field. Therefore, the science of selling is understanding the mechanics and processes of selling. Logically, anyone engaged in sales needs to commit to learning the science of selling to succeed in their