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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
Rediscovering “Discovery”
“Discovery” has been an important part of the sales process ever since I started selling (Yes, that was back when we had first chipped a wheel out of stone.) In all our training, we’ve gotten playbooks, done role plays, and learned how to conduct discovery and what questions we should be asking the customer. Implicit in our thinking about the discovery process is that our customers know the answers, our job was to get ask questions to get those answers. We’ve been taught the all sorts of techniques for asking those questions and drilling down into those answers. SPIN is, […]
Are We Doing Things “To,” “For,” Or “With” Others?
Sometimes a simple change in a single word changes our mindset and those who we work with. To me, one of the most important areas in applying this concept is with the words “To,” “For,” or “With.” With our own people, when we look at enablement, tools, coaching, programs, the choice of which of these words produces a profound difference in the outcomes we are trying to create. When we are looking to maximize performance, the approach—to, for or with–is critical. For example, are Performance Management, Enablement, Technology/Tools or Coaching something we do to our people, for them, or with […]
Missed Diagnoses
Recently, I had a fascinating conversation with Dr. Howard Dover about some programs he and Becc Holland are conducting with his students. We talked about some fascinating concepts: Mis-diagnosis and Missed-diagnosis. Both concepts are hugely important, so I need to separate writing about them. So much opportunity is lost, both for sellers and customers, because of diagnostic problems. These tend to fall into two categories: “Mis-diagnoses,” incorrectly identifying the problem/solution; and Missed Diagnoses, not recognizing that something might be changed or improved. Both represent huge opportunities for all of us. But each requires different approaches with our customers. This article […]
Mis-diagnosis
Recently, I had a fascinating conversation with Dr. Howard Dover about some programs he and Becc Holland are conducting with his students. We talked about some fascinating concepts: Mis-diagnosis and Missed-diagnosis. Both concepts are hugely important, so I need to separate writing about them. In this article, I’ll focus on Mis-diagnosis. I have written a companion article on Missed-diagnosis. I encourage you to read both. What is a Mis-diagnosis? At it’s simplest level is is mis-diagnosis is an incorrect identification of a problem. Mis-diagnoses are rampant, and not for malicious reasons. For instance, as sellers, we are looking for customers […]
Settling For What We Get, Rather Than Getting What We Want……
I read a fascinating article about the response rates for a variety of outbound email prospecting techniques. The author, with a client, had tested 8 techniques to pitch their solutions. The response rates were anywhere between 0.29% and 1.25%. The sample sizes was 200K, which is significant. The argument the author was making was the technique that produced 1.25% was the best approach (which aligned with what they sold). It was roughly 4 times better than the lowest performing technique and 2-3 times better than the others. The logic behind this was sound, the author had produced a technique that […]
“Give Your Best Leads To Your Top Performers!”
I can’t begin to count the number of “experts” filling my social feeds with the sage wisdom and advice on maximizing performance: “Give your best leads to your top performers!” The rationale they provide goes something like: “If your top performers have win rates 2X more than the average for the rest of your sales team, then giving them your best leads will drive 2X yield over giving them to others! You don’t want to be wasting your leads!” They go on to say, “The easiest way to hit your goals is to give all the best opportunities to your […]