The Dead Zone!

When you and I come home and turn our thermostat up or down the equipment kicks in and the temperature adjusts to a nice comfortable temperature. You and I might call this our comfort zone. What is interesting is that HVAC professionals call this the Dead Zone!

When I graduated from college, I set some goals and a Five-year plan. Then life happened. I was promoted into Sales and if I wanted the job, I was going to have to move to St. Louis MO. (That was not in my plan). I was 24 years old and …

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They Lost the Top Line in Pursuit of the Bottom Line

I was sitting at the airport last week, when I heard the guy behind me talking to his sales team. I heard the following; “We are not going to do anything about that issue right now.  People, I have worked for some really poor performing companies over the years and I have gotten very good at getting out of trouble. So if you need me to help you talk it out with a customer, get me involved.”

Did anyone else hear that the way I did?
–    We have a problem
–    We are not going to fix the problem
–    I’m …

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When Persistence Doesn’t Pay

When I started in selling, it was a truism that you had to be persistent. Studies seem to show that most buyers won’t buy until they have had 6 – 8 contacts with a sales rep. Most sales reps give up after 3 calls.


I know that early in my career persistence worked. I heard through tbhe grapevine that my persistence was making an impact and people were starting to do business with me.


Lately I have been hearing buyers tell me about sales reps that they will NEVER do business with. Why? It is because they are …

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Sales 2.0 Is It Real?

Gerhard Gschwandtner,  founder and publisher of Selling Power Magazine, was recently the keynote speaker at the Sales 2.0 conference in Chicago. In his address, he claims that technology is replacing the sales professional. I find this hard to believe; yet, I have been around long enough to see a lot of things and people replaced by technology. So, I want to explore this a little.

I remember when airlines and grocery stores put kiosks in place vs. agents and cashiers. I thought great this is going to be challenging. Yet now these operate smoothly for most people and in …

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Selling for the Non-Sales Professional: The Value Proposition Part 1

This is the beginning of a series of posts designed to help peole that don’t see themselves as sales people develop the tools to sell.

I don’t know about you, but if I can get someone to let me talk to them about my business, I believe strongly enough in it, that I can often transfer that belief to them. However, getting to the point where they will want to have a conversation takes a lot of work.  I recently heard a trainer say, “I would do the work free, people pay me for the aggravation of getting to the location”.  …

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