Partners in EXCELLENCE - Making a Difference
Blog
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
“What Did They Buy It For?”
Some years ago, I was doing a review with a sales team. They closed a huge deal, one of the biggest in their region for that quarter. I called them to congratulate them on their success, asking, “What did they buy it for?” The answer stunned me, the lead sales person proudly responded, “They bought it for about $20M!” But they didn’t answer the question I was asking, so I asked again,”That’s great, I’m really delighted we closed that deal, but what did they buy it for?” Confused, the sales person described what they had sold–it was a mix of […]
We Get Specialization Wrong!
There’s a lot of discussion about specialization in sales. We’ve always had specialists in sales and specialization is important. But in the past 15 years, we seem to have gone off the rails with our specialization. My earliest experience of specialization was product/solution focused specialists. When I started selling, I had the responsibility for growing a very large banking account. I focused on understanding my customer, identifying opportunities to grow, and building our value with the customers. While I had good knowledge of the customer and good knowledge of our core products, I wouldn’t have been successful without the help […]
Targeting People Who “Do The Work”
I grew up in sales always being told, “Call at the top!” We always want to reach the highest levels possible. Often, we mistakenly believe that if we can convince them, our job will be easier. Sometimes, we go to the top, knowing we will be referred to lower levels, but us this referral as an “implied sponsorship.” Sometimes we are successful in engaging executives, and we focus all our attention on them, ignoring people who do the work. The reality, as we’ve known for years, is that buying is a “team sport.” Increasing numbers of people are involved in […]
“Those Volume Guys…..”
I was stunned listening to a webcast yesterday. There was an “expert” pontificating on the secrets of success in prospecting. I couldn’t believe that what he was presenting was positioned as outstanding sales practice. I knew a colleague was watching, as well, I started flipping out, texting him, “How can anyone who is an expert on creating value and differentiation in initial conversations be promoting these practices?” He responded, “Well, these volume guys have a very different orientation…..” There was nothing right about what this individual was presenting in his wandering conversation about prospecting. I can’t possibly cover all of […]
Coaching, A Two Way Learning Experience
Too often, we get coaching wrong–if we do coaching at all. We tend to think of it as something we do to some poor victim, something we do for them. Seldom do we think of it as something we do with someone, and in that, we miss huge opportunities. Let me dissect this. Too many managers think of coaching as something we do to someone. These managers inflict their opinions and direct the coachee. “You need to get you numbers up!” (Well dugghhh, I know that.) Or “Go do this…. then let me know what happens.” This type of coaching […]
“I Didn’t Take The Time To Prepare….”
Today, I participated in a pretty important Zoom meeting. It was an important meeting in moving a very large deal forward. Several organizations are involved, collaborating on a solution for a very large company. We had agreed on the agenda and objectives for the meeting. Several people had agreed to lead parts of the conversation. Our overall goal was to agree on the strategy and how we could create the greatest value in a series of meetings with the customer. The meeting started well, each person had prepared, we had very good conversations about how we needed to tune our […]