My series about the Top 10 Sales Competencies that nobody talks or writes about is among the 10 most widely read of my articles. That series did not include the traditional sales competencies so I want to talk about one of those competencies today. In my opinion, this sales competency has become the most important of all… Read More
What’s the Difference Between Sales Commitment and Motivation?
A better question might be, “Which is more important in sales – commitment or motivation?” Let’s discuss the difference first. Commitment is the willingness to do whatever is required to succeed in sales, at reaching quota, achieving goals and closing a particular deal or account. Whatever it takes (ethically). It’s not, whatever it takes “as… Read More
When Does Effort Beat Skill?
Do you have a value proposition that you consistently use? What about an elevator pitch? While these two professionally crafted messages are important, they aren’t used nearly as often as companies expect. Among the approximately 180 questions that Objective Management Group (OMG) asks salespeople as part of a sales evaluation, we ask them to provide… Read More
Why Companies Must Teach Their Salespeople to Sell Value
Those of us in the space who write a lot tend to write about what’s current, what we care about, where we see things trending, and what we specialize in. Those topics aren’t always the same as what you need to be reading. It’s the same with most of the companies that we help. They… Read More
Why Mastery is Required to Significantly Increase Revenue
Recently, I wrote an article for LinkedIn that discussed the Incredible Business Disconnect that Nobody is Talking About. In a nutshell, I looked at the myriad of sales content that has been written, recorded, produced and delivered over the past several years. More specifically, I looked at everything that has targeted consultative selling, asking questions,… Read More
Why Sales Leaders Continue to Hire the Wrong Salespeople
Today I spoke with three different sales leaders and discussed specific candidates they liked for various sales roles in their companies. You would think that’s a good thing, them checking with me first to make sure they were on the right track. And no, it’s not a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of thoughtfulness… Read More
Will Salespeople Ever be able to Sell Value?
Maybe not. A lot of companies are training their salespeople to sell value and failing. Is it their internal trainers? Their sales managers? The salespeople themselves? Most salespeople can talk about their value proposition, and they can certainly add something of value, but they are unable to provide value – enough value so that their… Read More