Don't Just Say Thanks.
Veterans Day 2018 brought familiar reminders to those of us in the general public - non-veterans - of the service of others. Who can miss those Camo'/faux-military hats and warm up jackets on the sideline…
Veterans Day 2018 brought familiar reminders to those of us in the general public - non-veterans - of the service of others. Who can miss those Camo'/faux-military hats and warm up jackets on the sideline…
It's time to start thinking, acting and writing intentionally. Drop the shallow chumminess and stop clearing your throat. Respect is the new friendship, and if you respect your client's time by getting to the point you'll be rewarded with their most precious currency: attention.
You need your employees to make judgments... sound, moral, positive judgments. And the only way to get there is to establish a culture of values. Here are the four values that I recommend to my customers: be curious, be generous, be tenacious, and be worth. Each is personally controllable by the individual and helps him/her make better decisions both internally (with team members) and externally with clients. Share them, talk about them. If you want your team to thrive, let them make the decisions within a culture where values are the dominant drivers. Then get out of the way.
The reason your sales calls aren't turning into sales may have nothing to do with preparation, content, fit or numbers. They might just be too big. Repeat after me: Small meetings are always better than…
Nobody says no anymore. But then again, nobody really has to. Much of the lore and literature of sales has the seller managing the objection, tenaciously staying in the conversation and turning the no into a yes. But most sellers today wouldn't even recognize this kind of mano-a-mano customer interaction. First, most buyers effectively use technology to keep the seller at a distance until the time and circumstances of their choosing. They hide behind RFPs, email, voicemail and other means of high tech cloaking. If this was combat, the buyer would be operating a drone, far from the battlefield. Most sellers have rather mildly accepted the terms of this new relationship and are paying the price for it now. Even when they do get face-to-face or voice-to-voice time with the customer, sellers end up taking no for an answer... because the no sounds like a yes.
Next month I'll be speaking at Programmatic I/O in New York about selling programmatic technology and audiences. No, selling programmatic isn't a typo, nor is it a contradiction in terms like jumbo shrimp…
It seemed like Joe Gallagher had a million friends. And logic tells me that, while I was his friend, I was certainly not his best friend. Yet somehow, he always made me feel like I was. If you knew Joey…
I've often threatened to write a book filled with "Things No Customer Has Ever Said." Here's a glimpse at what might be on the first few pages... "I just wish there had been more PowerPoint." "I'm sorry, but there just weren't enough acronyms and buzzwords in this for me." "Forget what I paid last time...let's start fresh."
Nothing sells itself. Nothing. Don't just be another person who's out there describing stuff. Your job is to change the outcome...and it's a noble calling.
Soft power is a term usually associated with international diplomacy - what we do when we're not sending in the military. It's how we foster relationships and advance policy goals. It's no less real in the business world. When the sales team is frustrated by the policies or practices of a group or department they rely on, rather than circle the wagons and indulge in blame and outrage, great leaders look inward and ask a crucial question: What can we do to motivate them to work better with us?
Interviews are Not about Fact-finding: Make your minimum standards on skills and experience clear to your HR team or recruiter. Then leave the candidate's resume in your desk. Too many interviews end up being about the facts on the page ("...so you worked at AOL?") You're wasting a lot of time confirming data points, which could be better spent on higher order discussion. Focus Instead on Understanding the Candidate's Process.
It's not often that I've used this space to review or comment on business books. But the blend of industry perspective and salacious beach reading found in Ken Auletta's Frenemies: The Epic Disruption…