As 2010 looms with continued economic uncertainty in full bloom, it is imperative – now more than ever – to proactively address weaknesses in your selling team. The most serious weak areas, however, are difficult to spot. In fact, they are virtually invisible because they stem from how your salespeople think as opposed to what they do. Here are 5 (invisible) reasons why your salespeople will underperform in 2010.
This is Tom Peters’ latest video message and it highlights the importance of “out-reading” your competition. In case you’re wondering who Tom Peters is, publications including Fortune, the Economist, the New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times have said Tom is the “uber-guru” of management and inventor of the enormous “management guru industry,” that “in no [...]
I met Stony earlier this month on a flight from Newark to Houston. He was on his way home to Mobile, Alabama. I was on my way to deliver a keynote presentation to the Texas General Counsel Forum in San Antonio.
Stony was working in the New York area for 9 days replacing all of the [...]
In late August our summer vacation took us to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. If that’s a part of our country you’ve never visited, I suggest that you add it to your destination list – the beaches are beautiful, the environment is quiet and clean, and there is an incredible amount of history to [...]
In today’s mile-a-minute, e-connected, global, frenetic, here-today-gone-tomorrow world of commerce, it is no surprise that many of us don’t take enough time to select and focus on our most important business objectives. Whether you employ 4 or 400, crystal clear focus combined with a steady cadence of accountability will dramatically improve your competitive positioning [...]
One of the keys to developing leverage in business is to ensure that revenue is generated as evenly as possible across your selling team. Yet many business owners find their sales results to be lopsided – either generating the lion’s share themselves or having one or two star performers amid a field of mediocrity. [...]
In today’s mile-a-minute, e-connected, global, frenetic, here-today-gone-tomorrow world of commerce, it is no surprise that many of us don’t take enough time to think – and I mean really think, in a deep and focused way – about our business. We’ve become reactionary experts, essentially sucker-punched by our clients, by our competitors, by 24×7 connectedness, and by the pundits who espouse turn-on-a-dime flexibility as the panacea for 21st century business success.
In a recent article entitled “Economic Downturn Gives Owners Time to Work on Value Drivers,” my good friend Eric Donner, Managing Member of Regal Wealth Advisors reviews how important value drivers are to maximize a business’ selling price.
He goes on to point out that it is the work of the owner – not employees – [...]
To understand why we resist change, it is useful to acknowledge that humans are creatures of habit, and that habits are learned behaviors with predictable outcomes. By creating change, we force those involved – including ourselves – to confront the unknown and “unlearn” things that we previously accepted as producing desirable results. Even [...]
(This is part two of a two-part post on Leadership. Please see last week’s post for part one)
Ask yourself how you’re doing and what you should be doing differently—and be sure to answer truthfully. As simple as this may sound, many people are shocked by their answers to basic management and leadership questions.
Last week’s [...]
