A good metaphor for your business is to think of your salespeople as race car drivers.  They know how to drive, take the turns, and avoid crashes (you hope).  Yet, every winning driver needs a stellar pit crew.  It’s surprising how shortsighted managers forget this fact and wind up handicapping their sales people.   You…

Have you lost your “Cadillac” legacy?  Recently, Chuck Stevens, CFO of GM was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal.  He lamented the lost luxury of Cadillac as “the luxury” vehicle.  He declared that at one point it “was the definition of the luxury in the world.”  However, he confessed that they “underinvested in the brand…

How Important is Trust as a Buying Factor? It’s critical – especially if your product/service commands a price premium.  Companies aren’t likely to pay for anything if they don’t trust the seller. We are all familiar with the adage “trust isn’t given, it’s earned.”  So, how can your company quickly prove your trustworthiness?  You can…

Which Prevails in Your Company? What kind of surprises has your company had when you lost a prospect because you didn’t know what was most important to them, and you missed talking about it?  This can be avoided with a disciplined approach to gaining and/or acting on the customer perspective. How organizations gather customer input,…

Make sure your company’s business planning and investments reflect your customer’s most desired deliverables.  Don’t be overly focused on new product features or things you think are important if your customers don’t value those same things. We have seen too many companies offer innovations “because they could” when the customer didn’t value them at all. …

7 Steps to Avoid “Head in the Sand” Syndrome Meaning: Refuse to confront or acknowledge a problem(from the Phrasefinder website): Origin: “… The notion is that the supposedly dumb ostrich believes that if it can’t see its attacker then the attacker can’t see it. Competitive Disadvantages: How hard is your competition attacking you? Do you…

Nothing grabs the attention of prospective customers quicker than showing them how much money, time and effort they can save by doing business with you. But, it’s up to you to quantify those savings. Make a list of your actions/products/services that make your customers’ job easier and more profitable. Perhaps you provide free employee training….

We often ask company leaders to evaluate the quality of messaging on their website, and it’s surprising how often the reaction is similar – embarrassed laughter, followed by a quick retort, “we know our website needs help.” Today, most company sites are professionally produced, so they look and flow well. Yet, no one likes their…

All kinds of companies, ranging from the tiniest start-ups to the largest global organizations, have prospect and customer variations. While some sales professionals consider all sales targets homogeneous, here is a way of thinking about customers.  Customers can be: • Brand new – just came on board so you’re in the honeymoon stage with them….

The new buzz words are “content marketing” and/or “content messaging”. I know there are magazines touting its importance, and articles galore attempting to explain it, yet, when someone identifies what they think represents good content, the content seems to have a “ditto” feel to it. Each year, we are exposed to scores of different industries….