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A Missing Ingredient in Your Forecasting Methodology - Deal Quality

Forecasting has been ranked among the top problems for growth-focused executives for the last decade. Given the disruptive nature of the last five years and the importance of forecasting to a business's ability to scale growth, this should be no surprise.

Here’s How Sales Managers Can Succeed Via an L&D Strategy

If you’re a sales manager, you were likely chosen for the job because you had great success as a...

What Is L&D and Why Should Sales Managers Care?

As a sales manager, you’re responsible for shepherding your reps to success. After all, if they...

7 Cognitive Biases that Influence Buyer Behavior and Decision-Making

Human beings make a lot of decisions—up to 35,000 each day. If you’re trying to influence a...

Lift’s Top INBOUND 2023 Takeaways: AI and HubSpot’s Evolution

INBOUND 2023, HubSpot’s annual inbound marketing conference, was just as electrifying and exciting...

The Common Theme Underlying the 2023 RevOps Trend Report

When Scratchpad released its 2023 RevOps Trend Report (click here to download the full report), our...

Hiring a HubSpot Admin? Read This First.

If you’ve read my blogs or listened to my podcast, you know what I consider to be the four most...

Why Traditional Forecasting is BS — And What To Do Instead

If someone tells me their biggest problem is forecasting, I congratulate them. After all, if...

How to Increase Revenue (Without Hiring More Salespeople)

In 2018, I wrote 7 Reasons Hiring Salespeople is the Wrong First Step for Faster Growth to caution...

3 Ways RevOps Helps Close Sales

As my employees and clients know, I love to ask a lot of questions. My favorite is probably “Is the...

4 Sales Hub Secret Weapons That Help Reps Close More Sales

Are you a sales rep who wants to be more organized and get more sales velocity? If so, HubSpot’s...

Point of View Selling vs Relationship Selling: Which Is Right For You?

Point-of-view (POV) selling has been around for a while now, but there are still those who resist,...

The 5 Major Mistakes that Stall Sales Pipelines

Selling exists to enable buying. If you’re about to click away, bear with me another minute as I...

4 Ways Your Sales Team Can Work Smarter, Not Harder

One of the traps in sales training and sales performance is that there's always been a focus on new...

Why Being Valued is More Important than Being Liked

Editor's Note: This is an updated version of one of our most widely-read articles, Being Liked vs....

Why Your Custom Integration Doesn't Work For You

We’re all aware of how companies’ go-to-market tech stacks have grown rapidly in terms of both size...

Why You Have a Premium Content Gap—and 12 Ways to Close It

A successful content strategy must employ a mix of content in order to reach prospective customers....

6 Tips To Getting The Most Out Of HubSpot Sales Hub

If you're a sales rep, stats show that you spend less than a third of your time selling. That's...

Stop The Sales And Marketing Blame Game And Hit Your Numbers

Since the dawn of time, sales and marketing leaders have spent way too much effort trying to blame...

Why Salespeople Shouldn’t Sell Too Early

Salespeople go wrong by focusing on 'buying', which seems like a simple goal. However, in reality,...

The Problem with Forecasting: Why Sales Isn’t Working Today

The dominant approach to sales forecasting - in which every deal in a pipeline is assigned a...

5 Tips for Sales Reps to Find Their Voice to Generate More Meaningful Conversations

I saw a tweet the other day from an executive (I’m not pointing fingers, but it may have been from...

7 Sales Coaching Tips From An SDR's Point-of-View

I have a love/hate relationship with sales coaching. I love learning, I love improving, but you can...

What Is System Design & Why It's Crucial For Smart Growth

I find myself thinking about something that Brian Halligan, CEO at HubSpot, said in his inbound...

5 Ways to Make Your Editorial Content Successful

My first job was at a magazine, where I was an assistant editor. Only recently, when I read an...

How to Successfully Advance Your Sales Connect Calls

Making sales outreach calls can be tough, for a bevy of reasons- getting past gatekeepers,...

5 Tips to Re-engage a Stalled Sale

It’s probably the most frustrating thing that happens to salespeople, and for many salespeople, it...

The Most Important Lesson I Learned In Sales

As a salesperson, your job is not to make sales. Let me repeat that (with some emphasis). If you’re...

5 Tips for Successful New Business Prospecting In A Virtual Selling World

Prospecting, whatever you call it, has never been painless. This year, I think most salespeople...

Winning More New Sales By Having Better Conversations

Each morning, I go into my home office, boot up my computer, put on my headset, and begin dialing....

ZoomInfo Review: Our Choice for Sales Intelligence

A core value at Lift is “In God we trust, everybody else better bring data”, so rest assured we...

Outreach Isn't Just A Sales Operation - How Marketers Help The Process

One important role of marketing to create content to promote and position a business and the...

HubSpot Announces Powerful Enhancements to Their Growth Stack at Inbound 2020

HubSpot Has Become A True Platform A few weeks ago Mike Donnelly and I were talking about how to...

Aligning Vectors & Structuring Your Team For Revenue Growth

A few years ago Dharmesh Shah highlighted an insight he'd gotten from Elon Musk: “Every person in...

The Single Most Important Driver of Profitable Sales

In my fourth post on this blog (back in September of 2005), I made the point that the ability to...

Yes, And: What Improv Taught Me About Prospecting

I’ve never been a person who’s particularly good on my feet. I feel much more comfortable in...

The Most Common & Costly Mistake Made With Sales Compensation

COMPENSATION. DOES. NOT. MOTIVATE. (With one exception.) I know right now there are three groups...

The 3 Motions To Master New Business Development

There’s no question that the world of sales has changed. Buyers have more control, access to more...

3 Reasons Mid-Market Companies Are Leaving Salesforce For HubSpot

It was just over five years ago that HubSpot introduced their CRM, designed to work seamlessly with...

How Being Wrong Frees You For Top Performance

“You are going to be wrong more often than you are going to be right.” As intimidating as that may...

5 Actions for Sales and Marketing to Succeed Through Scary Times

Things change quickly. Just six weeks ago, the economic conversations focused on the record-high...

The Art of Letting Go: What Every Salesperson Should Do

Editor's Note: The world of business focuses on the success, the learnings, and the growth they've...

The D.E.A.L.S. Framework: Unifying Customer Acquisition & Success for Acceleration

Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen the proliferation of marketing and customer acquisition...

7 Tips to Having an Effective Remote Work Experience

Editor’s Note: As the world of business continues to evolve at an increasingly rapid pace, one...

Sisyphus vs. The Flywheel: 5 Tips to Eliminate Friction

Last week I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days with a client’s sales leadership team,...

20 Tips to Crush 2020

Over the holiday break, Mike Weinberg, author of New Sales. Simplified., Sales Management....

2 Simple Things To Do To Dramatically Increase Your Sales Forecasting Accuracy

Quiz Time! Here are two outcomes: An opportunity in the sales pipeline was at an 80% probability...

Inbound 2019 - The Insights That We're Still Talking About

This past year at HubSpot’s Inbound 2019 conference, we were fortunate enough to fly the whole team...

What Hansel & Gretel Can Teach Sales & Marketing Executives About Content Strategy

In 2010, we made a critical decision at Imagine. We decided that we needed to move beyond our focus...

The Biggest Difference Between Companies That Sustain Smart Growth & Those That Don't

Earlier this week I hosted our latest Sales Genius Network webinar. The webinar focused on how...

5 Popular Sales Metrics That Destroy Sales Performance

Editor's Note: This post originally appeared on the HubSpot Sales Blog In 1997, Billy Beane became...

5 Necessary Elements for a Successful Account-Based Marketing Approach

One of my favorite things from 2018 was the opportunity to join Ryan McInerney’s podcast to discuss...

The Missing Persona That’s Damaging Your Sales & Crushing Your Margins

A client of ours, who provides a uniquely designed sales performance improvement program design for...

The Real Buyer's Journey, Part 2: Manufacturing Revenue

Welcome to part two of our series on understanding the real buyer’s journey. In the first session,...

Sales Lessons From Better Call Saul

Last week as I was recovering from an amazing Inbound 2018 conference, I sat back on my couch,...

5 Tips for Making a Strong First Connection with a Lead/Prospect

More money than ever is spent on the technology, people and process to enable organizations to...

The Critical Role of Intent in Demand Generation, Sales and Marketing

We've been doing a lot of research over the last year into a critical part of the buying process...

Conversations Don’t Happen by Accident: The 6 Strategies to Creating a Strong Chat Experience

Yesterday, Drift announced the latest enhancement to their conversational marketing platform,...

Why I Don’t Give My Head of Sales A Revenue/Sales Quota

Make the number! It’s probably the three words that dominate the thinking of salespeople and...

5 Steps to Design Your Pipeline to Shorten the Sales Cycle and Align Sales & Marketing

If any of these objectives are a high priority for you, read this post (if not, feel free to skip...

5 Keys to The Effective Use of Technology

According to McKinsey, most companies achieve less than one-third of the impact they expected from...

7 Reasons Hiring Salespeople is the Wrong First Step for Faster Growth

I see it time and time again. A company, seeking to accelerate revenue growth and customer...

5 Ways Salespeople Can Put People into the Top of the Marketing Funnel

I share a lot on the topic of sales and marketing alignment, but I’m convinced that the successful...

4 Resources to Get 2018 off to an Explosive Start

I simply cannot believe how fast 2017 has flown by. Here at Imagine, we’re in the final days of...

3 Ways Salespeople Kill Sales at the End of the Month

When I was a salesperson, I loved December. It was the perfect time to close business. While...

5 Reasons Your Annual Sales Plans Fail

It’s that time of year again. All across the land, sales and marketing executives, as well as...

Stop Closing & Start Selling

I honestly can’t believe I’m writing about this topic again. There was a period (probably about 3 -...

7 Ways Sales Managers Kill Sales

I have tremendous respect and empathy for sales managers. Frankly, I can’t think of a job that is...

Podcast: The Black Line Between Sales & Marketing

There are a lot of great things happening here at Imagine. Last week I shared the new approach...

[Video] Demand Creator Minute: Assess a Sales Opportunity

For me, one of the toughest judgments I have to make as a salesperson, manager or growth executive...

The Biggest (& Common) Mistakes Made with Account Based Marketing

As the chart below (where I compare interest in the term "account based marketing" with "demand...

7 Attributes of an Effective Sales/Marketing Playbook

Playbooks are back! When I first got into professional sales (in the ancient days of DOS),...

5 Tips to Deliver Effective Coaching to Your Sales & Marketing Teams

Last week a friend and fellow business owner sent me an interesting article from Harvard Business...

5 Common CRM Mistakes Made by Sales (and Marketing) Organizations

It's a great time to be a sales organization. I often find myself wondering how different things...

A Visit from the Ghosts of Business Past, Present & Future

When I was in elementary school, I was in the drama club. My 5th grade year, I was Jacob Marley in...

3 Go-to Emails I Use to Advance B2B Sales Opportunities

December has always been a fascinating month for me. Filled with the anticipation of what the next...

3 Criteria to Assess the Effectiveness of Your Sales Process

I was talking with a prospect a few weeks ago about his (lack of) sales process. He took exception...

[Video] What You Need To Know When Launching or Revising Your Growth Playbook

A few weeks ago I shared an article here on the Six Stages of a Successful Growth Strategy. The...

How to Make Effective Connect Calls to Your B2B Inbound Leads

Your prospect has downloaded one of your favorite pieces of content. You take a look in your...

5 Rules for Asking Effective Sales Questions

For as long as people have been training others to sell, one precept of effective selling has stood...

5 Keys to Successful Prospecting

For as long as I’ve been in sales, the bane for executives and salespeople has been finding ways to...

Business Acumen: Five Financial Metrics Every Salesperson Needs to Know

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a huge believer that business acumen is both lacking in salespeople,...

A Must Have Tool For Anyone In Sales

Selling is hard work, and it’s only getting harder. For more than 20 years I’ve been writing and...

The Five Critical Attributes to Sales Success

After 25 years, working with more than 1,500 companies, nearly 10,000 salespeople and witnessing...

The Fastest Test to Determine If You’re A Peddler

Ever since I wrote my post about Pests, Peddlers and Demand Creators, the most common question I’m...

Solving The Seller's Paradox

As I shared in my post last Monday: Stop Selling! If you’re selling you’re doing something wrong....

The Seller's Paradox

When I conduct sales training for executives and sales teams, I typically finish with the valuable...

How To Stop Overcoming Objections & Double Your Results

Walk into any bookstore, or read any sales oriented magazine and you'll see the primary focus on...

What Is A Strong Pipeline?

One of the toughest behaviors to change when salespeople are working to transform from being...

How to Get Access To Any Decision Maker

One of the consequences of the economic downturn, and the reductions in workforce over the last...

3 Mistakes That Are Costing You Sales

This post originally appeared on The Washington Business Journal's BizBeat Blog. Answer these five...

You Don't Need The Answers

One of the toughest lessons and most valuable lessons I learned early in my sales career was that...

Creating A Powerful Sales Message

What would the ability to get through more of the right doors, faster mean for you? In today's...

Challenge Your Customer

The Corporate Executive Board (CEB) recently released one of the most comprehensive and insightful...

Announcing The Sales Genius Network

For the last six years I’ve been talking about, working on and fiddling with an idea that would...

Selling Done Right

What profession is best suited for a liar? How do you know when a salesperson is lying? It’s...

They're Not Ready

The single biggest, most common, and most expensive mistake made by salespeople occurs when they go...

I Hate Losing

As many readers know, I coach college baseball. Last week the coaching staff got together because...

Business Acumen Drives Results

This book review originally appeared in Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia SmartCEO Magazine....

Successfully Hiring Salespeople

For 25 years the most frequent question I’ve gotten about sales efforts deals with successfully...

A Critical Approach to Effective Selling

If you’re bringing something valuable to the market; something that will allow you to break away...

Hiring Salespeople? It's All About Capability

Business owners and executives regularly ask me for advice on hiring salespeople. What’s...

The Key To High Margin Sales

I don't know about you, but Varuca Salt was my favorite character in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate...

Finish Your Sales Year Strong

Sure enough, a day after I present our webinar 5 Keys to Getting Your Sales Year Off to Fast Start,...

The Difference Between Good Salespeople & Great Ones

Yesterday, as I was conducting some sales training for a client, we were talking about the...

Getting Your Sales Year Off To A Fast Start

With more demands, fewer resources and tremendous competition, it's tough for salespeople to focus...

Sales Webinar: 5 Keys To Starting Your Year Fast

If you’re a salesperson you know how special the months of January through April are. Four...

The Best Way To Fill The Sales Funnel

If you want to leverage your sales efforts; if you want to grow revenues faster than expenses; if...

Insights When Hiring Salespeople

I've been interviewing salespeople for clients lately, and I have to tell you I'm disappointed. The...

The Toughest Lesson

Without question, the toughest lesson I've every learned in sales (or life for that matter) is that...

Hiring The First Salesperson

Monday, I discussed two grave mistakes made when small and mid-market companies hire sales and...

Successfully Hiring In Business Development

Potentially good news for the economy. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, reports that...

Marketing Defense vs. Attack

There is a tremendous difference in strategies, tactics and the overall approach used by companies...

Making August Productive

It feels like yesterday when I was saying goodbye to 2010 and hello 2011. In the blink of an eye,...

Sales Is Hard Work

Last week I wrote about how the counter-intuitive idea is often the right one. Yesterday I read one...

Can You Hire Salespeople?

Have you ever noticed that conversation topics tend to occur in bunches? This week the conversation...

It's Not A Salespeople Problem

With increased frequency I'm getting requests from owners, CEOs and VP's asking for recommendations...

Avoiding The Biggest Sales Mistake

The biggest sales mistake B2B salesforces make is focusing on process when they should be selling...

No Shortcuts

As much as I would like to tell you about a short cut to resonating with your customers and...

Pricing & Safety

A very common challenge for salespeople occurs when a prospect starts asking pricing questions too...

Don't Be A Pigeon (Why Selling Is Dead)

Traditional selling techniques are no longer effective in the twenty-first century. A study...

Predicting The Sales Slump

I can predict, with a great degree of accuracy, when a new salesperson (to sales or to your...

It Ain't Selling Until They Say No

There is probably no sales myth that angers me more than, “a salesperson must be able to get a...

I Screwed Up

Selling (the right way) is hard. As we train and lead salespeople and executives all across North...

Breathe

When I'm working out, my trainer always tells me to breathe. My response is that breathing comes...

Are Your Customers Asking The Right Questions

There is nothing more important for you to know than the questions the customers and prospects in...

When The Sale Is Won

In my post on Monday, I asked you what game do you want to win. That night, I saw an interview with...

Do You Know Your Customers?

Anyone who’s ever heard me speak or been exposed to our training programs knows just how much...

10,000 Times

I’ve been fascinated with the feedback I’ve gotten from my post last Thursday, “In Pursuit of the...

Go Deep & Shorten The Sales Cycle

The importance of asking questions in selling is, well, unquestionable. Much (some may say too...

In Pursuit of the Ah-ha!

Don’t fear the man who has tried 10,000 kicks, Fear the man who has tried 1 kick 10,000 times. –...

Asking The Obvious

Let me share what, in hindsight, is an obvious lesson. People work to solve their problems with or...

How To Tell If You're Focused on the Problem

If I had but one wish I could grant to anyone selling, it would be the ability to recognize whether...

There Are No Shortcuts

As I was preparing for our webinar today on Building High Performance Sales Teams, I was reminded...

3 Keys to Building High Performance Sales Teams

On Thursday, June 24, 2010 I’ll be sharing some secrets great companies know that have enabled them...

How To Win With Purchasing

Let me tell you a secret that all great Demand Creators know – purchasing or procurement is your...

Can You Be Indispensable?

My post on Wednesday focused in on the importance of understanding your customer’s business model...

The Most Important Thing to Know in Sales

Anyone who has heard me speak knows that I believe business acumen is the most important capability...

A Letter From Your Customer

Jill Konrath just released her newest book SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with...

Getting Past Awkward

Interlock the fingers of your two hands together. Look down to see which fingers are on top – your...

Promise, Pitch & Pray

Increasingly, over the last twenty years “Promise, Pitch & Pray,” has become the battle cry of the...

Managing Ambiguity In Sales

Wouldn't it be nice if we could go into a sales situation clearly knowing who is going to make the...

The #1 Sales Killer

Wouldn't it be great if the first thing a potential customer said to you was that they were in the...

The Shift: What Do You Sell

I have a simple question for you: What do you sell? But wait. Before you answer it, realize that...

The Intrinsic Value of Salespeople

Salespeople are often maligned, with quick associations to schiesters, peddlers, and a number of...

Building A Moat Around Your Margins

For more than twenty years I’ve talked about the effects of commoditization and working with small...

You Don't Sell What You Think You Sell

I realize I’m about to induce headaches, but it’s critical you stay with me. I’m losing sleep,...

The Most Powerful Question

If you could get your prospects to ponder any question, what question would best position your...

Being Liked vs. Being Valued

Editor's Note: This blog has since been updated as of August 2022. The entire concept of...

Don't Close Too Early

The single biggest, and most common, mistake salespeople make is attempting to close business too...

Teaching Business Acumen

Anyone who has heard me speak about the sales process knows that I’m crazy about the importance of...

Your Response Needed - NOW!

I’m grateful that I don’t rely on bid-oriented business. While several of our clients deal with...

The Only Difference That Matters

A friend of mine is a regional sales director for a Fortune 500 (soon to be 100) company. His boss...

Price is NOT the Reason!

Friday was a tough day for me. Lots and lots of conversation with selling organizations and I must...

Creating A Diagnostic Selling System

Think about your last five years in business. Ask yourself, what has the trend line in the...

Where's The Story

Once a year, people sit down to watch television and they're (almost) as interested in the ads as...

Great Wine

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I just got back from 10 days in Vancouver speaking with...

The Two Sales

As I've written before, the biggest challenge companies face in increasing their profitability, is...

Determining Price

Whenever people buy from you, they are buying two distinct components. First, they are buying the...

What Dogs Can Teach About Creating Demand

Over the holiday break, one of my friends put a picture of her dog on Facebook, with the caption,...

Effective Communication

I came across an interesting question (I can’t remember the source). The topic was listening and...

The 10 Most Popular Fast Growth Posts of 2009

2009 was a challenging year for many companies. It was one of the most rewarding for The Fast...

Can You Give Me A Price?

Last week, I was working with a brand new client on sales strategy. They had an opportunity to...

Brand Destruction

Verizon Wireless and AT&T are in an ad war right now. First, Verizon came out with their “There’s a...

Good Is No Longer Enough

For at least the last 20 years, businesses have had a wind at their back that has driven growth and...

Mistakes & Improvements

The people over at RainToday.com just completed an interesting study on The Sales Mistakes That...

Best Friend Conversations

I’ve had lots of conversation in response to my last post on cutting your sales cycle time. What’s...

The Secret to Cutting Your Sales Cycle Time

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was my first “official” sales job in a stereo/furniture...

The Key To Business Growth? Boring, Critical Tactics.

There are few bigger fans of strategy than me. Truth be told, personally, great ideas and thoughts...

Winning Competitive Business

I don't typically get jealous of people. We all have our own stories, but I have to admit I'm...

Your Solution Is Not My Problem

Do you have a great solution?

Is It Time to Kill The Cold Call?

In my efforts to stay abreast of what is going on in the world outside my office, I follow the...

Stop Closing

Look, I like Glenngary Glen Ross as much as anyone. And Alec Baldwin’s famous scene where he...

Finding Demand Creators

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about The 5 Levels of Sales Excellence. It’s generated a lot of...

Overpromise And Deliver

You show me a salesperson that doesn’t overpromise a little and I’ll show you a salesperson that’s...

Making It Rain Even In A Drought

UPDATE: in less than 24 hours we've "sold out" the Making It Rain Even In A Drought webinar....

Selling Is Not War

I admit it. I’ve used military analogies from time to time to explain both strategies and tactics....

The Difference Between 8 & 9

On a scale of 1 – 10, how good are you? If you’re like most people you probably do a lot of things...

It's Not About The Product

I’ve got a good friend who is an executive in the office supplies business. His division sells to...

Time Warp

There is a very interesting difference in the urgency that exists in any buying/selling iteration....

Understanding the Difference Between Conditions and Barriers

Earlier this week, we were working with one of our client's sales reps to develop their sales...

The Formula for 100% Closing Rates

Everyday, I see companies and salespeople in constant "convince mode." Why should you buy from us?...

Selling Mistakes In A Recession

Last week, I was sent a query from a reporter doing a story on the mistakes salespeople make during...

The New Marketing Funnel In Action

In my last post, I introduced The New Marketing Funnel and defined the phases of the process. In...

The New Marketing Funnel

The marketing function (at least as most business executives define it) has been undergoing...

How To Make More Sales

I was having breakfast at a hotel this morning before a speech. A business/sales meeting was...

Is It A Relationship or an Acquaintance-ship?

I was talking with a client and friend of mine about the challenges facing salespeople today. We...

Do Relationships Matter

I’ve been working with several new sales teams recently. One of the valuable thoughts I attempt to...

The Formula To Calculate Total Cost

Cost = Price plus consequences.

But, I Like It

Early in my career, I made the fundamental mistake of creating a marketing brochure that I chose...

Narrow The Focus - Expand The Yield

Keys to Effective Sales - Go Deeper

I don’t remember where I read this, but I found it very insightful – the only value that exists in...

Why Salespeople Fail

I remember the childhood joke that the only thing worse than finding a worm in your apple is...

What Your Clients Are Thinking About

I've always said that the most important thing that a business can do is to know more about its...

The Total Solution Ecosystem?

People do not want products or services – they want results. One of the biggest challenges...

Developing A Compelling Brand Promise Teleconference

The key to building a great pipeline is great messaging. The foundation of a great message is in...

Objections To Gitomer Tactics

Jeffrey Gitomer’s recent column about handling objections demonstrates that traditional sales...

Why Should A Prospect Talk to Your Company?

Why should a potential buyer spend time talking with your company? Take a moment and jot down your...

It Never Hurts To Ask

What is the best way to find out what a potential customer thinks? Why not ask them? It seems...

Don't Interrupt - It's Not Polite

I am a raving fan of a coaching company that I have been a client of for more than eight years....

You’ve Got Mail (But Don’t Forget To Call)

Just because you have a technology, does not mean you should use it. Salespeople seem to be...

Another Buzzword to Kill

I would like to nominate another buzzword (or sentence to be more specific) for elimination. Here...

When Does Transparency Lead to Commoditization?

Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba over at The Church of The Customer recently blogged about CoffeeCup...

The Problem With Marketing

I’d like to oversimplify the buying cycle for a moment. A buyer goes through six basic stages:

How to Kill Lead Generation In One Easy Step

I have been flooded recently with an extraordinary amount of sales literature, phone calls and...

Why Salespeople Have Such A Bad Name

Sometimes, I just can't take it. As someone whose vocation and avocation is the professionalization...

Your First Discovery Of 2006: What Causes Sales?

Successful selling requires a number of things happening in concert. You need an excellent...

The Hidden Truth About Creating Value: If You Don’t Create It, You Destroy It.

Over the last month, I’ve received several questions about creating value. For those who are not...

Why Dell, IBM and Intel are Able to Sustain Growth, pt 2

My salespeople are too creative.

Making Your Sales Process Your Competitive Advantage

Businesses must change their focus. The sales force must create value. Salespeople can no longer...