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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
Your Value Proposition Is No Longer Sufficient
Too many sales and marketing people struggle with value propositions. For some–the value proposition is still internally focused, basically an advanced form of Features – Advantages – Benefits. Others think of the value proposition – the elevator pitch that, when stated in a compelling manner, the customer will melt and immediately issue a purchase order. Others recognize that value is in the eyes of the beholder, they work to understand what customers value, then present their solutions in the context of what each customer values. They recognize, they need to do this for each person involved in the decision. They […]
The Commoditization Of Referrals
Referral’s are important to sales. We want people who know us to introduce us to others who might be interested in our products or services. Referrals are important and valued endorsements of who we are and what we do. When someone refers me or my company, I am deeply appreciative. I feel as though the referrer has bestowed something very valuable on me. It’s something I will not betray, it’s something I’ll do all that I can to live up to their trust in referring our company. Likewise, I value my relationships–when I refer someone to a colleague, I want […]
Dear Marketing: Please Help Those Of Us In Sales
The other day, I was listening to a very interesting discussion among a number of talented marketers. They covered a number of topics I found to be very interesting. They spoke of great things they were doing to create great awareness in the market place. They spoke about what they were doing to create demand, to bring in leads. They spoke of the great content they were developing, the programs they were developing to inform and nurture potential customers to the point of buying. It was an interesting conversation, but something was missing — sales never came up in the […]
Chief Revenue Officer?
Today, I had the privilege of participating in a Focus.com round-table with Craig Rosenburg and Carlos Hidalgo (both wickedly smart and insightful folks). The topic was Building The Ultimate Revenue Machine. It was a fun discussion, you may enjoy listening to it. With that as a preamble, during the discussion, Craig asked what we thought of the term Chief Revenue Officer. To tell you the truth, I’d never thought about it before, I’d never really taken it terribly seriously. Apparently, it’s coming more in vogue, though I’m a little confused about why. I later “Binged” it (Mr. Ballmer, you can […]
No Sales Model Is Forever, What To Do When What Worked Isn’t Working
Often, I go into a sales organization that is struggling and am amazed to see they are approaching the market and customers the same way they always have. They have the same sales deployment model, their sales process hasn’t changed in years, the profile of the people they recruit and hire hasn’t changed, same metrics, same compensation system…….. Everything that has served them well in the past, is no longer serving them effectively. Some are caught in a precipitous downward spiral in terms of sales performance. Others are struggling to stay even, they are working harder, longer, faster; but it’s […]
Why Would They Ever Choose To Do Business With You?
Not many months ago, I was involved in a very complex sales situation with a client. This client sold high end capital equipment into specific manufacturing processes. They had an opportunity with to do a deal that represented a couple hundred million dollars. They had asked me for help in developing and executing their sales strategy. As I listened to the team describe the account history, goals, the sales situation, the competition, and everything else, one question kept going through my mind, “Why would the customer ever make a decision for my client?” Based on everything they told me, I […]