Partners in EXCELLENCE - Making a Difference
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.
A client called me up stating, “I need to hire a rainmaker.” He is the CEO of a mid sized company that’s struggling a little, and wanted my help in finding someone. Since I’ve always struggled with the concept of a rainmaker, so I asked him what he meant. He replied, “I need someone to make things happen!” He went on to describe someone who could turn around the most difficult situations, walk into a prospect and in one or two meetings inspire the customer to whip out a PO. I was tempted to ask if the candidate needed to pull […]
Read MoreI read an interesting post last week. It focused on the importance for sales people aligning themselves with “What the customer is ready to do.” On the face of it, it made a lot of sense. It really focuses on the necessity of aligning our selling process with the customer’s buying process. At each stage of their buying process, the customer has to be ready to move to their next step. If we aren’t aligned with them acting on what they are ready to do and moving to the next step, we aren’t engaging the customer effectively. An extreme example […]
Read MoreAs sales professionals looking for new business, it’s critical that we establish our credibility in our very first contacts with a prospect or customer. We then have to maintain that through every subsequent communication, creating value in every exchange. We all know that, but I’m amazed at how few people execute that. I get all sorts of queries–and I’m not talking about the obvious SPAM who’s sole purpose is to clog up the web. Emails asking me if we are interested in learning the latest advancements in lean manufacturing technologies, and how we can leverage them in our factories–I suppose because I write […]
Read MoreThe other day I had one of those Abbot and Costello “Who’s On First” moments. I was doing a review with a sales team. One sales person was presenting some stuff. In my normal rude manner, I interrupted the sales person asking, “What’s the deal?” The sales person misunderstood me, replying, “Nothing, everything’s OK,” to which I responded, “No, what’s the deal?” The conversation went on for a few moments, the sales person kept coming up with different answers, describing different activities, but never answered my question. (I have to admit, I probably extended it, I was having so much fun.) But […]
Read More