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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
Why Multitasking Only Works To A Point
I’ve written before about the perils of multitasking and will continue to rant on this topic. I’m at fault for multitasking too much—I do emails on conference calls, update my calendar during web conferences, and manage to focus on watching the news rather than listening to my wife in the evenings.Somehow multitasking has become the test of how important or how busy we are. I’ve been convinced that productivity and quality of results actually declines the more we multitask. Most of my evidence, however, has been anecdotal, or personal. (Sure I can quote accident figures about people talking on cell […]
Focus On Your Customer’s Need To Buy! Getting Personal With Your Customer.
We have spent years getting sales professionals and organizations trying to become more customer focused. About 10 years ago, I published an article, Focus On Your Customer’s Need To Buy, Not Your Need To Sell. To be successful in selling, sales professionals and organizations need to get personal with their customers. It is important to talk to your customer–not the organization, but the individuals involved in buying your products. We need to get beyond the surface needs and obvious requirements. The sales literature is filled with stuff about “identifying the customer pain points.” As Adele Revella cites in her Buyer […]
In Praise Of The Checklist
Fast Company has an interesting short article, Heroic Checklist, that is a worthwhile read. I’m a tremendous fan of checklists, though in our consulting practice we find too many people resist them as either too structured or too simplistic. Checklists are great, there greatness lies in their simplicity: They help keep us disiciplined and focused. They make sure, that in the rush of everyday activity, we don’t overlook critical items/activities. They free us up to identify and focus on the most critical issues. They help us be more effective. They free us up to be more creative and innovative. They […]
Improving Our Communications
I’ve been seeing a lot about “problems in communicating.” Newspapers and TV are filled with stories about “communications problems.” As I speak with business executives around the world, much of the dicussion is rooted in communications problems. Even my wife complains, “you don’t listen!” — It’s true—and I think most husbands probably get this same complaint—but that’s a different issue. A lot of the materials I see about “improving communications skills” are oriented around presenttion and speaking skills. Something struck me about the things I read and, in fact, a lot of the conversations I have been invovled in that […]
Stop Networking And Start Building Relationships
I’ve written a number of times about Social Networks and Networking. Today, I read a nice blog entry at thd Dumb Little Man-Tips For Life Blog: Stop Networking and Start Building Relationships. Echoing my thoughts, they write: “Creating working relationships should be the goal of networking, not meeting as many people as possible.” They comment on MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, saying: “We need to shift our goals from numbers and volume to quality and relationships. After all, the point of networking is to connect yourself with others who can help you, as well as you help them. Relationships, communication and […]
The "New" Art Of Selling????
I’m somewhat distressed the article that appeared in the January 28, 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal. It was the column on Theory and Practice, entitled: Next In Line For Reinvention: The Art Of Selling. Both the author of the article, Phred Dvorak, and the author of the Book, Ram Charan seem to have discovered the secret to selling: finding a customer with a problem that you can solve and helping him solve it. What a tremendous insight! I’m sorry, I don’t like to trash others, particularly Dr. Charan. I have liked some of his past books. But have […]