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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
A Frightening Look At The “Cost Of A Sales Person”
I worry, sometimes, that we take the process of hiring, onboarding, coaching, developing and managing the performance of sales people too casually. Too often, managers tend to treat sales people as commodities. There’s an attitude of quickly hiring the best that’s available, if that person doesn’t work out, we can fire them and hire someone new. Likewise, as business goes through it’s natural ups and downs, sales organizations are expanded and contracted to fit our budgets. It’s not just a sales management issue, too many sales people move from job to job, never staying in a job long enough to be […]
Are You Answering The Right Question?
I’m occasionally amused by some of the comments and responses my blog posts provoke. Not long ago, I published a post, The Best Sales Person I Ever Known. In the post, I basically said this was a meaningless question. The answer depended on a huge number of things, which until defined would produce a meaningless answer. Even then, it would be individually based, and someone else’s experience of that “best” sales person would be completely different. Yet, an amazing number of people, whether on LinkedIn, or email, sent me the names of the best sales person they ever met. Clearly, […]
Don’t Let Your Ego Get In The Way Of Your Effectiveness
As sales people, we probably have strong egos. It’s part of what gives us the confidence to call/meet with people we’ve never met and tell them “I can help solve your problems.” Having a strong ego can be very helpful in the day to day ups and downs of selling. Having too strong an ego can be devastating! When it becomes all about us, we lose our ability to engage prospects and customers. Too strong an ego puts us and our interests at the center of selling. The customer becomes peripheral. Understanding what they want to achieve, engaging them in […]
The Best Sales Person I’ve Ever Known
I’m often asked, “Who’s the best sales person you’ve ever known.” Recently, a colleague asked me this once again, he has some idea of compiling a list of these people. I’ve thought long and hard about that. I’ve reflected on the thousands of sales people I’ve worked with over my career. I’ve reflected on stunning performances, outrageous wins, stellar quota attainment. I’ve finally come up with the answer. The envelope please………. Drum roll please…….. Pregnant pause, while I open the envelope (I’m sure many of you are wondering, “Do I know who he’ll name? Is it me?”) The answer is……. […]
“I Don’t Want To Listen, I Have A Great Deal For You!”
Just when I think I’ve gotten the worst possible cold prospecting call and that nothing else could be worse, some sales person proves me wrong. Today, I got a call from someone selling “promotional items.” I answered the phone and get this over the top with enthusiasm greeting. I had to hold the phone 6 inches from my ear as he shouted the introduction. He referred to our speaking previously and of my having expressed interest in his products. I wedged my way into the conversation, “I don’t recall every speaking to you. We don’t buy promotional items as part […]
Letting Our Customers Help Solve Our Problems
Upon reading the title of this post, some of you are probably thinking, “Dave, don’t you have it backwards, aren’t we supposed help the customer solve their problems?” Well, yes, absolutely! We are supposed to help our customers identify and address their problems. We want to help them see new opportunities, we want to help them achieve their goals, improve their operations, reach new customers. But at the same time, our customers can be very helpful in solving some of our most critical problems, specifically: How do we most effectively and impactfully engage and work with them? How should we […]