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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
Compensation Drives Sales Behavior? Is Compensation The Only Tool For Managing Sales Performance?
I’m participating in a discussion with a group of people I deeply respect. It is about managing sales performance, particularly about getting sales people to do things they don’t like to do. You know what those are: Spending time doing reports for management, updating the CRM system, attending one more training class they think they don’t need, getting those expense reports in on time, participating on an internal task force…….. The list goes on. The argument of sales people is always the same, “You’re keeping me away from the customer, don’t you want me selling?” “This will keep me making […]
Reacting!
Sales people are great at “reacting.” The customer puts a hurdle in front of us, we know how to respond. The competitor does something, we know what to do. Our management asks us to do something, we immediately (well OK–almost immediately) jump on it. Most sales people are proud of their nimbleness and speed in reacting, handling any challenge put to them. I guess I have the problem with the “re” part of reacting. If we are reacting, it means someone else is acting–demanding our response. It means someone else is setting the rules, defining the playing field, possibly defining […]
More On Sales 2.0—And Your Help!
A week ago, I posted, “I’ve Succumbed–I’m Talking About Sales 2.0.” Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a webinar hosted by Tom Scontras of Glance Networks on this topic. We had a great conversation! In case you missed it, you can still listen to it at Glance. If you missed it, take some time to listen sometime this weekend. It’s only about 45 minutes long. I’d love to get your comments and feedback. Your Help! If you are a regular reader, you know I have no shortage of opinions about sales, business, and leadership. However, I want […]
Does “Being Yourself” Count As A Sales Technique?
I few days ago, I started a discussion with “What Are The 3 Characteristics That Set Great Sales People Apart?” followed by “How Important Are ‘Techniques’ To Sales?” I hadn’t meant to turn this into a series (or saga), but the discussion has been very interesting. For me, it has been a bit of a journey of discovery. I’ve always had an aversion to what I call “techniques” — those 68 closing techniques, the persuasion technique and so forth. At the same time, there are techniques or tools that I have found very helpful, questioning approaches, storytelling as a means […]
How Important Are “Techniques” To Sales?
The other day, I wrote a piece, What Are The 3 Characteristics That Set Great Sales People Apart? It stimulated quite a reaction as people started suggesting their ideas. I was surprised by the focus of a number of people on the “right techniques.” These comments started to make me wonder about my own belief system and biases. I guess I have a very negative reaction to the concept of sales techniques. When I think of these techniques, I think of sales tricks and manipulation. I did a little research: Persuasion techniques like, “the art of repetition,” “the foot in […]
What Are The 3 Characteristics That Set Great Sales People Apart?
Last Friday, I had the privilege of being interviewed by an executive on critical issues in buying and selling. It was a great conversation, but one of his questions stuck in my mind. He asked me, “What are the 3 characteristics that set great sales people apart from others?” I responded, “Oh, there are so many……” He interupted, saying, “Dave, you only get to choose the top 3, no more.” This caused me to pause, any of us can come up with lists of characteristics of great sales people, sometimes it’s half a dozen characteristics, often a dozen, sometimes the […]