What kind of infectious agent do you want to be? Infectious like humor or infectious like the plague? For good or ill the senior leadership of every organization is infectious. By this I mean that leaders’ behaviors tend to be transmitted to their direct reports, who pass them on to the next level, and so on down through their organizations. Over time, they permeate the organization from top to bottom, influencing activity at all levels. Eventually they become embodied in the organizational ... Read Full Story

The higher you rise in organizations the more you need to be able to practice the corporate equivalent of international diplomacy. Whether you are striving to transform your organization internally or working to shape the rules of the game with government officials externally, the essential challenge is the same: If you want to achieve your objectives, you need to learn how to effectively identify alignment and build alliances in order to get things done. Failure to master this critical skil... Read Full Story

As salespeople, we can get very enthusiastic about our business and offerings. As tempered as this enthusiasm may be, we run the risk of being overwhelming, or worse being too “salesy.” This has contributed to the stereotype of the average salesperson as pushy, aggressive, and overly excited. The result is, invariably, a degradation of the sales process. By virtue of this stereotype, internal feelings of pressure and tension are instantly created within prospects and clients alike. The prosp... Read Full Story

Trust is the single most important purchasing factor in any sale. Trust is the buyer’s confidence that the seller will do right by them, and becomes more important as the level of vulnerability (risk, significance of the decision) and dependence (technical, knowledge, time) rises. As I am sure you can imagine, the importance of trust is highest in a strategic sale. Buyers will never work with a seller that they don’t trust, and will most likely choose to work with the supplier that they trust... Read Full Story

It seems every week we talk to just another IT services shop trying to kick-start their marketing and sales process. We sit down with the founder and ask the same question: “so how are you different from all the other firms out there?” When we ask that question, we get the same answer: we have a global delivery model, we are client centric, we put people first, we are domain experts and/or we really understand our clients. Woop do flipping do. Welcome to the club. With those credentials, yo... Read Full Story

Objection Handling Although prospect objections during the sales process are quite common, many sellers are unprepared and uncomfortable in dealing with them. Lack of comfortability in handling objections does not have to be the case, as most objections are quite predictable and will focus on 3 main areas: Product, Price, Support. There are several ways to handle the objections you receive from your prospects (i.e. Feel, Felt, Found, or Identify, Quantify, Relate, Isolate, etc.), and for more... Read Full Story

OK. Everyone is tired of hearing about the recession, right? So here's my question: why do people look at me sideways or, in some cases, get really irritated with me when I encourage them to just quit the recession? Here's what I think. I think they hear what I'm saying and interpret it to mean that I think we should all just ignore what's going on in the world around us, pretend like everything is wine and roses and think happy thoughts. If that's the case, I want to make it really clear: t... Read Full Story

When it comes to selling, what, exactly, is an objection? If we can truly understand what we’re dealing with when a potential client makes an objection, then it will be easier to handle and use to our advantage in the appropriate situation. Not all objections should be received as a negative blow to your sales presentation. In fact, with the exception of two very specific objections, most others can be dealt with effectively and are actually a positive sign that your client is showing some i... Read Full Story

The First Practice of FIERCE LEADERSHIP By Susan Scott, www.FierceLeadership.com It’s my opinion that today’s “best” practices of leaders not only fail to resolve the problems they’re meant to resolve or achieve the results they’re meant to achieve, they actually escalate problems. I’d like to recommend alternative practices to take their place. After all, reality has shifted and those who cling to old practices that no longer serve them and perhaps never did, will fail to thrive. Seriously... Read Full Story

Every sales leader needs to consider their market value. Not only should sales leaders regularly evaluate and determine areas for growth for their staff, but also for themselves. When I talk about market value, I am referring to the two critical areas that will help you increase your value to your organization and as well as up your personal value. Your market value appreciates as you become a better leader and have a large professional network. As a former sales executive I was always in a ... Read Full Story