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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
After You Ask For The Order, Don’t Forget To Get It!
The sales person had been doggedly pursuing me for several weeks. He had called a number of times, we finally connected. I was interested in what he presented it–he had an idea for my business that I hadn’t considered before. Over a period of several calls, he talked to be about the ideas and his solution. We agreed on the right solution. I told him I was ready to buy, asked that he send me everything in writing. I told him I would sign the agreement and we would go forward. That was four weeks ago…… A week after we […]
Are You Coachable? If You Aren’t, You Won’t Make It!
My friend, Jim Keenan, considers this a key characteristic of people he hires–are they coachable? Are they open to being coached, are they willing to listen, considering other points of view. It’s critical, but we don’t spend a lot of time talking about it. A friend of mine, a top executive of a large company called me a few months ago. He was having trouble with one of his people. This person had been a top performer in past years. In recent years, he had struggled, he wasn’t making his numbers, every deal seemed to be challenge. Because of his […]
Is Social Media Really Anti-Social?
I was having a conversation with my friend, Gary Hart , no not that one—the @salesdujour one, about social media. Both of us are kind of old war horses, but have eagerly embraced social media. We reflected on networking as we knew it in the “good old days,” and social media today. Both of us were thinking that social media can actually be very anti-social. In the good old days of social networking, we had to rely on traditional means of networking—going to trade shows, conferences, picking up the phone and talking to people, and, God forbid, actually going to […]
The New Sales And Marketing, Playing A Different Game!
We all know that customers are changing the way they buy. It’s driving profound change in the way sales and marketing need to engage customers. Traditionally, we have been somewhat at odds with each other, working in our own silo’s. Marketing would conduct all sorts of programs to increase awareness, drive demand, generate leads. Marketing would hand those off to sales—sales would reject them, we would go back and forth a little, a few leads would be qualified and then sales took over, marketing’s job was finished, the ball was in sales court, it became sales’ responsibility to close the […]
Forecast Fatale
“The day was gray and wet in the city that seldom buys.” Not what I expected as the opening sentence in a book on Forecast Fatale. Techniques For Sales Professionals. Hmmm, what’s this about? I decided to read on, Brian Schlosser’s book Forecast Fatale captivated me. Brian’s lead character in guiding us through the trials and tribulations of a sales organization, needing to improve performance, is none other than business detective, Bart Steele. Written as a noir detective novel, with Bart Steele helping the CEO understand the challenges of a sales organization, as I read, I found myself reliving much […]
Bad Decisions–We Hate Them
“The customer just made a bad decision!” I hear this all the time from disappointed sales people, it’s always just after they learn they have lost a deal. Usually the rant goes on, “they don’t get it,” or even worse, “they’re stupid.” I understand the disappointment, no one likes to lose. We’re competitive and goal oriented. We want to win, we want to earn a commission. We should be upset at losing. Where I get unglued is blaming the customer, thinking the customer is wrong or even stupid. When I hear those statements, I can guess the deal was lost […]