How Much Sales Process Is Too Little? How Much Is Too Much?
I had lunch last Thursday with a very smart woman who just started a six-figure executive sales position in a health-care company. She seemed a little frazzled as she described the sales process at the new company: “It’s like, ‘Oh Boy. Everyone Go Sell!’” she said. It had taken her a week to figure out […]
What Prevents Sales Forecasts from Being Accurate as They Could Be?
An incredible variety of reasons prevent sales forecasts from being accurate. Consider this partial list (there are many more): Factors involving the prospect Companies make decisions for wildly different reasons, making them hard to predict. Competitive activity varies in different parts of the country. When several people are involved, they may not decide until the […]
Evolving Your Sales Process: The Four Stages to Becoming a Market Leader
Hello, Thanks to some of you for your calls regarding the weather here. We got lucky: The weekend storms hit south of us, in downtown Atlanta, and north of us, in the Cumming and Gainesville areas. While the storms were coming through, I wanted to swap the cars in the garage. If one of our […]
Salespeople Frustrated by Six Sigma Training: What to do Instead
Hello, Sorry I missed last week’s newsletter. I got hit with a bad flu on Sunday night, and struggled through the rest of the week. It wasn’t until sometime on Friday that I started feeling human again. And, luckily, I saw a question posted on the www.iSixSigma.com website that got me inspired. So, you can […]
Root Out the Marketing and Selling Disconnect
Hello, I’m attending a conference for Internet entrepreneurs this week in Orlando. It is interesting to compare what makes Internet marketers and corporations successful. Obviously, it is all founded on an understanding of their customers. A cartoon on the wall in my office shows a dog sitting in front of a computer screen with the […]
Are Your Salespeople Making the Most of “Face Time” With Your Customers?
Hello, This week’s article refreshes a piece I wrote about several years ago. Organizations have a hard time improving their sales. This is not just because people need to perform better. Often it is also because the organization has to change if people are to have a chance of performing better. Executives, stuck with the […]
Are Your Salespeople Making the Most of "Face Time" With Your Customers?
Hello, This week’s article refreshes a piece I wrote about several years ago. Organizations have a hard time improving their sales. This is not just because people need to perform better. Often it is also because the organization has to change if people are to have a chance of performing better. Executives, stuck with the […]
Extending Lean into the Enterprise
Hello, If you’ve been in sales for any length of time, you may have the sense that “there must be a better way.” I know I did when I first became a salesperson (the business forms industry back in the late 1970s). We were taught the mantra of “the numbers game” … that the more […]
Are Sales Commissions Bad for Business?
Hello, Welcome to frosty February. The super bowl upset is on everyone’s minds … I love it when the underdog wins, don’t you? Business is a game of win or lose too, and sales commissions have always been a critical part of that world. Process thinkers, like Deming, have challenged commissions (and other types of […]
Should You Help Your Sales Organization Improve Its Sales Process?
Hello, I’m off to the Northeast this week for a client engagement, but I thought you would be interested in a question I received recently from an unusual salesperson. She had a phenomenal background in process disciplines and had also managed to transition to a successful sales career. This shows tremendous talent and determination, in […]
