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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
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, All I’m Askin For….
Aretha Franklin had it right, all any of us want is a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. I could write a year’s worth of posts on this, but I want to focus on one tiny aspect of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, that’s T-I-M-E. All of us are time poor–everyone has more to do than there are hours in the day. One of the greatest signs of respect, for our people, for our customers, for ourselves, is how we value time. Take some signs of disrespect: We show up for meetings late–it’s a demonstration of our lack of respect for the people we are meeting with, we […]
We Keep Missing Our Forecast! Deals Keep Slipping!
It’s that time of year, everyone’s focused on getting the second quarter done. The year’s half way over, managers are reviewing deals and forecasts. We’re doing all we can to get deals closed, to finish the first half on or above target. It’s a time of great frustration to sales managers. I get in lots of conversations, “The forecast keeps slipping, there’s no predictability, and I don’t know what’s really going to close!” It’s true, you look at the history of deals, the forecast close date keeps moving—always in the wrong direction. You talk to the sales person, they say, […]
Sales/Marketing SLA’s – Are They Really A Sword Of Damocles?
There is a fascinating conversation on the topic of “Should sales and marketing have SLA’s between the two organizations?” Visit Focus.com for some terrific ideas on this topic. I have to admit being torn about this concept. Taken from one perspective, SLA’s are very powerful. The process of establishing and aligning around goals and objectives between organizations and functions is very powerful and critical. Great SLA’s establish clear goals and priorities, define roles and responsibilities, establish common metrics, establish project management approaches, problem management approaches, and rewards. The process of developing SLA’s is great to align the different parties involved […]
Your Value Proposition Is No Longer Sufficient
Too many sales and marketing people struggle with value propositions. For some–the value proposition is still internally focused, basically an advanced form of Features – Advantages – Benefits. Others think of the value proposition – the elevator pitch that, when stated in a compelling manner, the customer will melt and immediately issue a purchase order. Others recognize that value is in the eyes of the beholder, they work to understand what customers value, then present their solutions in the context of what each customer values. They recognize, they need to do this for each person involved in the decision. They […]
The Commoditization Of Referrals
Referral’s are important to sales. We want people who know us to introduce us to others who might be interested in our products or services. Referrals are important and valued endorsements of who we are and what we do. When someone refers me or my company, I am deeply appreciative. I feel as though the referrer has bestowed something very valuable on me. It’s something I will not betray, it’s something I’ll do all that I can to live up to their trust in referring our company. Likewise, I value my relationships–when I refer someone to a colleague, I want […]
Dear Marketing: Please Help Those Of Us In Sales
The other day, I was listening to a very interesting discussion among a number of talented marketers. They covered a number of topics I found to be very interesting. They spoke of great things they were doing to create great awareness in the market place. They spoke about what they were doing to create demand, to bring in leads. They spoke of the great content they were developing, the programs they were developing to inform and nurture potential customers to the point of buying. It was an interesting conversation, but something was missing — sales never came up in the […]