Partners in EXCELLENCE - Making a Difference
Blog
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
The Death Of The Funnel, Long Live The Funnel
I’ve been reading a lot of articles, some from people who should know better, declaring the death of the funnel. I have to admit, I get frustrated and tired with a lot of this talk. But more importantly, I think it demonstrates a complete misunderstanding about what the funnel really is. The funnel is simply a representation of a process. People choose to label or represent the “funnel” in different ways. I interchange the words pipeline and funnel, but mean the same thing. Some times, I use the concepts of selling cycles or buying cycles. Pictorially, it sometimes looks like […]
Management Reviews: More Discussing, Less Reporting
Fred Wilson’s Bored Of Directors post struck a chord with me. It reminded me of the majority of management reviews I’ve seen. I participate in 100’s of reviews every year—pipeline, deal, call, account, territory–all of them. Somehow, they are all the same–someone’s standing up front, they have their PowerPoint’s–all in 10 point font, and they go through page after page of data, reporting on what has happened. There are a couple of questions, a few sharp criticisms, then time has run out, the next victim is on deck. These reviews to strike dread in each participant–sales people steeling themselves for […]
Competition Got You Down?
Understanding our competition is critical to our success as sales people. Too often, though, I see sales people underestimating their competitors and what their customers may think of their competitors. As a result, they fail to develop a winning strategy or are outsold by the competition. One of the primary reasons sales people underestimate the competition is they’ve “drunk the Kool Aid.” Great sales people are proud of the companies they work for, they are excited about their products and solutions. They believe in them so strongly, they think nothing can compare. This level of excitement and passion around the […]
Outsourcing Our Thinking?
I love sales and selling! Being involved with customers as they are buying, working with them then winning a tough deal is such a rush! There are few things more fun than talking with sales people about their deal strategies, coming up with ways to better align with customers and to win the deal. Struggling with some of the most difficult challenges with individuals in winning deals, with teams in maximizing performance is always energizing. Facing tough competitors and figuring ways to outperform them gets my adrenalin flowing. The reason I love sales, selling, and sales professionals is that to […]
How Many Salesepeople Does It Take To Screw In A Light Bulb?
I’ve given up, we deserve all the jokes people tell about us. Stupid sales behaviors—the source of endless jokes, the reason people hate sales people, the reason we have such difficulty in meeting with customers. The tricks and manipulation…… A client sent me a note about one. A sales person calls, leaves a voicemail, but doesn’t leave his name. Curious, my client calls back, the sales person is totally unprepared, did not recall the message (left 45 minutes earlier), didn’t ask my client about their business, but starts pitching a meeting. My friend, Anthony Iannarino, has another similar one: “Should […]
We Want To Improve Sales Effectiveness…..
“’We want to improve sales effectiveness!” is often the starting point of many of my conversations with executives. “Terrific,” I respond, “What are you trying to achieve?” There’s an awkward silence, “What do you mean—we want to improve sales effectiveness, how can you help me improve sales effectiveness?” This is always a difficult start to a meeting, because the response is always the same, “It depends on what you are trying to achieve.” Unfortunately, too many people think there is a solution to sales effectiveness – possibly, because too many consultants say there is a solution to sales effectiveness (it’s […]