Remember when sales professionals were the “special” ones whose compensation included an upside? The pay-for-performance trend emerged in popularity several years ago, and is showing no indication of losing steam. In fact, Mercer reports 89 percent of companies link performance and pay.Pick up virtually any...
By now, most of us are familiar with the stereotypes of the millennial generation – at least we think we are. I’ve heard numerous generalizations, such as:They’re not into owning cars, houses or getting married. They are overburdened by massive student loans. They’re totally...
Defining ValueOur understanding of value has not changed since we introduced the broadly applicable value equation with SPIN Selling [1]. It’s a basic and powerful concept! If the customer perceives the problem to be larger than the cost of solving it, then there’s probably a...
As I watched the latest episode of Deadliest Catch, the storyline that grabbed my attention the most was the interaction between veteran captain Sig Hansen of the Northwestern, and Jake Anderson, young skipper of the Saga.Longtime viewers of the show know Sig and Jake have...
I’m curious by nature, which is the reason I studied journalism. I’m more interested in the whys and hows than I am in the whats. It’s just the way I’m wired.So you can imagine my excitement when I was given a seat in the control...
I’ve been an admirer of the TV show Deadliest Catch for several years now, ever since I met the show’s narrator, Mike Rowe, and heard first-hand his stories about fishing for crab on the Bering Sea. It’s not a place for the weak-minded, that’s for...
Recently, during a cocktail hour at my company’s global sales conference, a colleague initiated a conversation about the way another colleague was holding his hands in a photo that was posted on social media. Apparently, the pose was considered offensive in his country.We discussed the...
If you’re like me, when you graduated from school you probably thought your days of classroom learning were over.But when you think about it, school was only the beginning of our learning process. If you are successful at anything in life, you are likely learning...
Earlier in my career, my company regularly required our team to attend training sessions or workshops. Each time, we started out eager to learn and would quickly soak up the knowledge only to go back to work and, after just a couple of days, forget...
World-class sales organizations every day see the value of a strong enablement program. Organizations with a formalized sales process and coaching methodology significantly outperform their competitors.Consider these statistics. World-class organizations:Meet their sales quotas more often than other organizations (64 percent compared to 53 percent). ...