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Sunday marks the 5 year anniversary for this blog and I want to thank you! Thank you for reading it, commenting, sharing it with your friends but most of all; Thank you for helping me embrace my purpose and as a bonus . . . Leave a  job as a Vice President to get my … continue reading »

A few years ago, I had a special guest lined up to speak to a group of aspiring sales rock stars I was responsible for training. He had an impressive record in the printing industry having consistently sold over 7-8 million dollars each year. At that point, he had over 30 years of printing experience … continue reading »

Let’s face it, our prospects aren’t the easiest people to reach! I know there are many of you who won’t leave a voice mail which I feel only reduces your chances of contact even further. So what’s an aspiring sales rock star to do? Well for starters you can try these 5 ideas! 1) Utilize … continue reading »

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a firm believer in working a process during my face to face prospect meetings. I do this for a variety of reasons: 1)    I don’t want to get into a price discussion prematurely. “Prematurely” in this context is before we’ve had an opportunity to create value. … continue reading »

Sometimes we say things so often in sales, that quite frankly, we’re saying it more than “owning” it. Like that whole “People do business with people they know, like and trust” thing. It makes sense. Might even illicit an immediate, AMEN from the aspiring sales rock star but . . . How do you actually … continue reading »

It was almost 2 years ago that I was considering a specific CRM for my business. I had a nice chat with the sale rep. Exchanged a few emails and then . . . I went “M.I.A.”! I got caught up in a few things, and this was no longer a priority . . . … continue reading »

It’s called RECOGNITION! Too many times, a manager will look at the base salary, the commission, bonuses and perks and think its all good . . . Its NOT! And before I continue, let’s kill any feelings that I’m about to go into some rant about “worshiping the ground sales walks on” . . . … continue reading »

I once met a rather hard core sales dude who was mentored by another hard core sales dude. One day he shared a philosophy he felt to be appropriate with regard to hiring sales reps. “Paulie (my maiden name) you bring them in by the masses, put them through classes and if that doesn’t work … continue reading »

It was almost 27 years ago to the day that I agreed to meet my guitar teacher at a local cemetery! I thought it was a tad odd, but I was really into Ozzy at the time and thought  communing with the dead might give me some musical insight. I was wrong! In fact (pinkie … continue reading »

There’s a question that I’ve been asking participants in my training programs and it immediately changes the tone. The room typically goes fairly silent, eye contact is usually broken and for about 30 seconds or so; it gets a tad awkward. Before I tell you what the question is, I don’t think for one minute, … continue reading »