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
The Forecast Isn’t A Number!
As the end of the calendar year approaches, the inevitable articles and conversations about forecasting arise. We are asked for our forecasts and we provide a number. Perhaps that’s at the beginning of the quarter, and we are held accountable for that number through the remainder of the quarter—though that number always changes, and rarely is it an upward change. But the forecast isn’t a number! The forecast is really about a deal. Will a decision be made, and a PO signed in a specific timeframe–say this quarter? The forecast becomes the aggregation of the deals we believe will be […]
Setting Up Front Line Managers For Success
Front line managers have the highest impact in driving seller performance. Sadly, too many organizations fail to set these managers up for success, as a result, the organization underperforms it’s potential. Millions are spent on training, tools, technology for individual contributors, while little is invested for front line managers. Coaching individual contributors is viewed as critical to their development and success, yet front line managers receive little or no coaching themselves. How do we reverse this? What do we do to set these FLMs up for success, maximizing their own ability to perform, and through that, maximizing the performance of […]
Behavioral Steering, Influence Or Manipulation?
We are in the business of behavioral steering. Whether it’s working with our customers, collaborating with peers, or as leaders working with our teams, we constantly seek to shape behaviors. Sometimes gently, often deliberately, sometimes without even knowing that we are doing it. Behavioral steering is the process of designing choices, contexts, or presenting information intended to drive certain actions or outcomes. We use it in helping customers make a buying decision, coaching our people to more effectively achieve their goals, influencing our peers in developing and executing strategies. And others steer us, to influence our own actions and behaviors. […]
Just Good Enough, The New Standard For Performance?
When did, “just good enough,” become the standard for performance? Too many sellers and leaders seem to be going through the motions. They are putting in the hours, many measuring their success by the hours they work, rather than the results produced. Seeing inspirational or even driven performance has become a rarity. Mediocrity seems to be the norm. It’s not that people aren’t busy, they are overwhelmed and overloaded. It’s not that people aren’t achieving their goals–they are doing what they can. They may be hitting their numbers, they are attending meetings, doing their activities. I see uninspired customer meetings–following […]
Urgency Alignment
Recently, I was having a conversation with a group of sellers about ICPs and qualification. During the conversation, we were trying to refine their targeting and qualification. They were relatively sophisticated, but something wasn’t quite working as effectively as they hoped. I introduced the idea of “Urgency Alignment.” I asked, are you and the customer aligned in the sense of urgency to achieve a shared goal? The ensuing discussion was fascinating. The sellers had a high sense of urgency to close the deal–and to do it “this quarter.” We talked about how that was irrelevant to the customer. They are […]
“I’m Wasting My Time Being ‘Problem Focused!'”
Sometimes, I sound like a broken record (Hmmm, I need to update that metaphor). Selling isn’t about pitching solutions. It’s about helping customers understand and solve their problem. It’s about helping the customer develop and maintain change urgency. This shift drives higher levels of customer engagement, builds greater trust, and higher win rates. It reduces buying/sales cycles by 30-40%. But when I talk about this, I often get pushback from sellers. It usually boils down to this, “I can’t afford to take the time to help customers understand and define their problems. What if I do all that work, and […]