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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
Searching For Answers
Answers are what we, as sales people, are about—we look for answers from our customers, “What do they think of our solutions?” “When will they place an order”” “What does it take to win their business?” We’re hungry for answers to those questions. We, also, have answers for our customers.–even before they’ve posed the questions. But answers are meaningless without great questions and great understanding. As sales people, we’re trained to ask questions—usually these are focused on eliciting the responses that allow us to start “pitching.” But these aren’t the questions customers are most concerned about, they don’t generate the answers […]
Everything Begins With Principles
Principle (Noun): 1. a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief, or behavior, or for a chain of reasoning. 2. a fundamental source or basis of something. Synonyms: truth, proposition, concept, idea, theory, assumption, fundamental, essential, groundrule. It’s amazing how few conversations about business and selling begin with principles: Why am I a sales person? Why do I sell? What do I stand for? Is what I sell and my company aligned with what I stand for? What are my values and beliefs? Who are we as an organization? Who are our customers? […]
Sales And Procurement, Racing Toward Each Other
As sales and marketing professionals, we’re consumed with the change in our professions. Buying and Buyers are changing. Those things we used to do are no longer as impactful. Many of us are trying to do more of the same, faster. We leverage new technologies, so now we can do things at the speed of light—doesn’t mean they’re the right things, but volumes of activities are up. After all, sales is a numbers game. We attend lots of conferences with our peers, we read the sale blogs, we talk to, perhaps commiserate with, each other. Without a doubt, there is […]
The Insight Driven Organization
It’s clear that our customers want to be engaged differently. High performing marketing and sales organizations are reshaping themselves to respond with Insight. Insight is critical, our customers want fresh ideas, they want to improve their businesses, they want to find new opportunities, they want to become more efficient and effective. I’m not sure how new this is–I think customers have always wanted these things, I think they may be manifesting it differently. High performing sales and marketing teams are stepping up, they are providing insights–but I worry how long can this be sustained? Sales and marketing are the “face” of […]
“Clinging To The Familiar”
Change is a struggle for everyone–individuals and organizations. The business world is littered with the carcasses of once great organizations that clung to their products and business models, while the rest or the world (their customers and competitors) passed them by. As individuals, too often, we cling to the false security of what has always worked in the past. The marketing and sales strategies that served us well years ago. The methods and processes we are comfortable with, though they don’t seem to be as effective as they used to be. Perhaps we do them with greater intensity, making more phone dials, […]
What Do Your Customers Do?
As sales professionals, we’re supposed to really understand our customers-their markets, industries, businesses, functions–and their jobs. It’s critical in engaging them in discussions about the things the care about. It’s critical to be able to relate to them on their terms so we are credible and can build a trusted relationship. So it’s easy to say that. If we’re lucky, marketing has provided us a lot of content and tools to help us better understand. We may have training on the industries and markets. We may have various “personas” that help us understand the roles of the people we call […]