If Anyone Can Be Your Customer

November 25th, 2016

Johnny makes $10 an hour working for a small chain of pawn shops. Most days Johnny sets himself up in front of one of the shops on the main road with a big sign that says “Cash for Gold.” Johnny does other things at his job, partly to stave off boredom. “Keep it easy. Keep it simple” he says Read More...

Cold Calling: 4 metrics that tell you if you should be.

September 1st, 2014

The battle over cold calling rages on. Is cold calling a necessary part of being a salesperson? Or should a good salesperson never be cold calling? The battle continues because the answer is contextual. Both of the above statements are true, depending on context. Whether cold calling is useful depends on your situation, your industry and your product Read More...

Selling to Friends

May 24th, 2012

If your job has a sales component to it, sooner or later you’ll step into the question of whether to sell to a friend. The question can be framed by two competing perspectives. "I always sell to friends. We already have a level of trust, and friends are the easiest people with whom to do business Read More...

Wooing the C-suite

February 6th, 2012

While prowling around LinkedIn to check on the conversations in the sales groups, I recently saw questions and advice about 'selling to the C-Suite. Some salespeople espouse starting only at the CEO, CFO or COO level. Their logic is sound and simple; if you can generate some traction at that level, you're off to a good start Read More...

Expect Nothing. Do Something.

June 28th, 2011

In a previous career, as a commercial mortgage banker, potential clients were easy to identify. The tricky step wasn't locating the organizations, it was getting the right person in that organization to say yes to a request for a meeting. These days I offer a product that anyone might want to buy; my "product" is structured creativity, training and facilitation Read More...