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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
But They Really Need The Product!
I was doing a deal review with a sales person. It was a big deal, important to the sales person and to my client. But the deal had been stuck for some time. As I reviewed the deal history, there were a bunch of things “wrong” with the deal. When it originally, was put into the system, it had a projected close date that was unusually fast. Both because of the very short sales cycle and the size of the deal, it caught management’s attention. Everyone was ecstatic. Then it slipped, and it slipped, and it slipped. In the past […]
What’s The Problem With Demos
Demos Sell! I was visiting a company recently, they had a full court press on doing demos. People were measured on the number of demos they were doing, they had created a contest around who did the most demos, they had banners and buttons around the Demos Sell theme. There was a problem—which was the reason I was visiting the company. Clearly, the sales people were selling demos, but they weren’t getting PO’s. I asked to sit in a couple of the demos to see what was happening. I had my suspicions, but I wanted to see the demo. My […]
Is Selling SaaS Solutions Different From Other B2B Solutions?
Is selling SaaS solutions different than selling other complex B2B solutions? Certainly, the business model and revenue stream looks different. Rather than making money in a single transaction, the revenue stream is spread over the period of a subscription. As a result, customer retention and renewals become critical in order to maintain the revenue stream. But how different is it really? As we discover in this discussion with Chris Palmisano, the fundamentals remain the same. I couldn’t think of anyone better to discuss this topic than Chris Palmisano. Chris is current Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Business Development at […]
CEO, Don’t Let Your Agency Destroy Your Brand!
I always hate having to start a post with an apology. I’ve many friends and clients that run outstanding agencies. Unfortunately, like so many professions, there are too many bad practitioners. The adversely impact your reputations and those of their clients. My apologies to those friends and clients, I really respect your work. Somehow, I’ve found my self on the “list” of dozens to hundreds of PR and other Marketing agencies. I get at least a dozen requests each week. People sending me press releases about the latest greatest wonderful product their client has launched, a partnership their client has […]
“What Type Of ROI Are You Looking For?”
I’m reading a post that provides “7 Phrases That Make You Sound Like An [Sales] Authority Figure.” My first quibble with the article is that I’d actually like to be an authority figure or, in the least, a credible sales person, not just sound like one. One of the things the author suggests is posing the question, “What type of ROI are you looking for?” The reasoning is: “With this question, you’re tossing the ball to your prospect and giving them an opportunity to show off what they know. It’s also an easy way to ingratiate yourself with results-minded individuals. […]
Would You Spend 45 Minutes A Day Training Your People?
I had a fascinating conversation with my friend Tory Hornsby. We got to talking about the performance of his sales team–they’ve produced great results over the past couple of years. I asked him what his secrets were—we’ll be discussing those in an upcoming podcast, but one struck me as remarkable–and completely counter to what most executives would do. Tory said, “Every day, we devote the first 45 minutes a day to sales training.” I had to stop him there, “Did you say every day? Did you say 45 minutes a day?” In my head, I was doing the math—assume a 9 […]