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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
“Sales Is The Tip Of The Arrow In Executing Corporate Strategy”
The other evening I was in one of those reflective moods. I started thinking about the integration and alignment of sales with the other functions of the organization. Not just sales and marketing alignment, but alignment with the corporate business strategy, product management, customer service, finance, and so forth. I started thinking about things I’ve said in the past as well as lots of pundits, writers, speakers, and others. I’ve often use the metaphor of an Arrowhead or Speartip to represent sales, saying things like: “Sales is the tip of the arrow in representing the company to customers” “Sales is […]
Teaching “Old Dogs New Tricks”
We’ve all heard the phrase, “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.” It could be rephrased, “You can’t teach ‘old’ business people new tricks.” If this really were true, then every business is condemned to failure. No organization can sustain itself and grow, unless they are committed to learn, change, execute, make mistakes, learn…. No organization can sustain growth or leadership, unless they can leave a past that no longer works behind. If you’re a millennial, or even Gen Z, don’t get too comfortable. If you work in a relatively young company, this applies to you, as well. This has […]
The Customer’s Responsibility Is To Solve Their Problem
I just saw a tweet from Andy Paul caught my eye, “The buying cycle has six steps, but in reality prospects have only one task to accomplish: buying the right product or service. #sales” Andy’s a super smart guy, we are usually absolutely aligned in our point of view, but in this case, I couldn’t disagree more. The customer’s sole responsibility is to achieve their business objectives and goals, whether it’s keeping their operations running smoothly or changing to improve what they are currently doing. Buying the right product or service may be an aspect of the changes that need […]
Stop Heroic Sales Efforts!
We’ve each seen Heroic Sales Efforts. They’re something to behold and, for a few moments, to revel in. Heroic sales efforts are those where a sales person or a team have taken an impossible situation–something they probably shouldn’t have won, but through sheer effort, force of personality, dealmaking, or some other reason won a deal they probably shouldn’t have won. If you are involved in one, there’s an unforgettable feeling of elation, and adrenalin rush, and to be honest, some relief. You and your colleagues, often, revel in stories about the “one that didn’t get away,” for some time. Often […]
Social Selling Is So “Last Year’s News!”
Last week, I happened to be attending SAPInsider’s CRM2015 Conference. Every once in a while, it’s great to attend these types of conferences, both for what you learn and the people you meet. One of the things I also love is there is usually a lot of great market research and data. At this conference, there has been some great research on how customers buy. It’s not surprising, actually it’s very powerful in reminding us of fundamentals that persist. The research shows…… Drum roll please….. Customers leverage many different channels, sometimes simultaneously, through their buying process. They will use whatever […]
Why We Have Fewer Choices In A World Of Wider Choice
Whether as individual consumers, or organizations, there’s an interesting paradox. The number of choices we have is expanding at a huge rate, sometimes the rate of change and volume of choices is overwhelming. At the same time, often unwittingly, we are narrowing and having are choice narrowed–and perhaps in ways that create unintended consequences, or can be very damaging. Before I go forward, I need to give a couple of illustrations, so you can follow my thinking. If you look at my Amazon account, my whole world of reading and literature is covered by the following categories: Biographies (tending towards […]