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Making A Difference – Thoughts, Observations and Opinions
This is Dave Brock’s Blog.
It offers my views on a variety of business, sales, marketing, and leadership topic. My goal is to make a difference for you, the reader, in both your professional and personal lives.
Latest Posts
Begin With The End In Mind
Stephen Covey’s famous 2nd Habit is: “Begin with the end in mind!” It’s great advice for most things, but stunning advice as we think about our deal/opportunity strategies. Sadly, too few sales people leverage this habit/principle effectively. The immediate reaction to this will be, “Dave, you’re crazy, sales people always do this, they are focused on getting the order and producing results!” I get it, but, based on too many behaviors I see in sales people, it’s not clear to me they really understand what this means or that they are effectively executing it. Let me do a deeper dive […]
How Do We Improve Forecast Accuracy?
Yesterday, I wrote, Forecast Accuracy, Again. It’s an important foundation to this article. It focuses on why we need forecast accuracy, which may be different from what most sales leaders think. I’ve actually become very accurate forecasting when and how this topic comes up. There are two peak periods. The first is about now, midway through the second quarter. This happens because people may have struggled to make their numbers in the first quarter, they are midway through the second quarter, looking forward, seeing both the quarter and the year at risk. Jumping on the topic in the middle of […]
Forecast Accuracy—Again
I’ve come to learn about a seasonality effect on queries I get on Forecast Accuracy. We’re mid way through the second calendar quarter of the year. Executives are seeing they missed the number in the first quarter, we’re now midway through the second quarter and they are starting to worry. For some with XaaS models or long sales cycles, if they are off on YTD attainment, it will be a real struggle to fill the gap and make their numbers. The confluence of these factors create a number of queries around “How do I improve forecast accuracy! We’re really struggling!” […]
How Interested In Your Customer Are You?
It was one of those big opportunities. It would make or break the following quarter for the sales team. The sales team had “qualified” the customer and were midway through the “discovery” process. “What are they trying to do,” I asked. “Well, they are trying to buy a software platform, we are a strong contender,” replied the eager sales person. “Why are they doing that?” I asked. “Well dugghhhhh, they need a solution like ours,” replied the sales person, looking at me impatiently. “I know that, but why? What is driving the need for the new solution, what are they […]
Changing “Sales Habits”
We know how difficult it is to change our personal habits. For example, at the start of every new year, we make a resolution to lose weight and get fit. We may go so far as to join the gym, sign up for a class. It lasts for a few weeks, then we miss one session–we always have a good excuse, then the next session, again a good excuse. All of a sudden, we have forgotten that commitment and displacing it with something else. Each of us has lists of these well intended habits that we want to change that […]
Driven To Distraction—“Love The One You’re With”
In November, 1970, Stephen Stills released his hit single, “Love The One You’re With.” In 1971, it hit 14 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Some extracted lyrics “If you’re down and confusedAnd you don’t remember who you’re talking toConcentration slip away……. Love the one you’re with….” It happened earlier today. I was in sitting in an executive review. We were looking at the plan for a major change initiative we would be introducing. The project owner, a Regional VP was standing in front of his PowerPoints outlining the plan. The other RVPs, the EVP of Sales the Sales Ops VP and […]