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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
“Why I’m So Interested In Selling,” Jim Barnet
Preface: Jim Barnet and I met through LinkedIn. It’s, perhaps, one of those “unusual” LinkedIn relationships. When Jim reached out to connect, he didn’t start prospecting me. In fact he never has. But we leverage our LI relationship to share ideas, explore issues we each see happening in the markets. These are fascinating conversations, I learn so much from them. In reading Jim’s story, there are a few things that strike me. We tend to think of sellers as “individual contributors. But, today’s reality is selling is something we do with others, collaboratively. Certainly, it’s collaborative conversations with our customers. […]
A SaaS Fairy Tale…..
Once upon a time in a Silicon Valley, not so far away, a fascinating new business model was developed. It was a model focused on getting software in the hands of end users much more quickly and easily. Rather than waiting for IT to implement new solutions, this software was hosted in the clouds. It enabled users to immediately have access to software solutions. It was, also, offered in a very different way that much software had been offered before. Individuals could buy and use the software. Rather than going to CompUSA to buy a box with a CD, individuals […]
“Will AI Replace Buyers?”
There’s a certain comic arrogance in the discussion, “Will AI Replace (or Augment) Sellers?” As usual, it’s the self centered focus too many have about selling. Somehow, we never take time to think about whether AI will replace buyers. The degree to which AI replaces buyers will have a greater impact on sellers than AI taking sales related tasks, consequently reducing the need for sellers. We already have so much evidence that buyers are charging ahead, potentially with a higher sense of urgency. We know: Most of the factors I’ve described above, are issues more prevalent in complex B2B buying. […]
On Disagreement
Disagreement is part of life and business. Disagreement is, probably, a fundamental to change and growth. After all, if we are always in agreement, we would never challenge ourselves and others to think differently, to consider something new. But we struggle with disagreement, too often we deal with it poorly. We may seek to avoid it, burying our heads in the sand, never considering a different point of view. Alternatively, we acquiesce, though we still disagree and are not aligned in what we are trying to achieve. Too often, we treat disagreement as if we are being attacked, seeking to […]
Problem-Market Fit…..
We, including me, have always focused much of our product development and GTM strategies around the concept of “Product-Market Fit.” Suddenly, I realized there is a much better way to look at this. The challenge with the concept of Product-Market fit is that it biases the way we look at things. As a result, it biases the solutions we create, the way we bring them and present them to market, and how we position ourselves in the markets. Ultimately, our focus is all about the product. As a result, we get into the old “If all we have is a […]
“Why I’m So Interested In Selling,” George Bronten
Preface: George Bronten and I have been friends for years. I first met him because I was intrigued by the capabilities of Membrain. It’s one of the most interesting technologies, I’ve seen. I think George and I recognized similar passions with technology, business and selling. Since that introductory meeting, we continue to have conversations about the state of our profession and its future. Two separate sentences lept out in George’s story: “There aren’t a lot of careers where you can do everything you can in sales.” This, I think is so powerful, when you look at the breadth of things […]