Partners in EXCELLENCE - Making a Difference
Sales Performance
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
Results are about performance. Sustained great results is about maximizing performance over time. The foundation to great performance lies in purpose, culture, values, and leadership. Performing well s developing the right strategies, the right organizational structures, putting the right talent in place, identifying the right processes, programs, systems, tools and metrics. Finally, it is about consistent execution. It’s about organizational and individual habit formation.
We work with clients in all aspects of maximizing performance. Whether it is developing strategies, recommending programs, putting the right structures and talent in place. Developing and implementing the right processes, systems and tools.
It may involve assessing current capabilities, both organizational and individual. Or assessing market and industry changes, developing recommendations for responding to those changes.
Finally, it’s about consistent execution. Training people in what needs to be done and best practices in doing these things. Measuring progress, putting corrective actions in place.
We are a collection of operations focused executives, working with our clients in developing their strategies, putting everything in place to implement those strategies, developing and supporting the change management efforts, supporting and refining the execution, then continuing to refine these to drive constant improvement.
Our goal is to help individuals and organizations to OutPeform their competition.
Sales Performance Posts
The Deck Was Never The Point!
I was struck by a LinkedIn post with the opening line: “Microsoft just made QBR prep obsolete. And CSMs everywhere should be celebrating.” The rest of the article talked about how Microsoft has integrated AI into it’s products, eliminating all the work needed to prepare the charts for a QBR. And there is post after […]
How You Sell To Me Shows How You Will Sell For Me…
As I clean out my inbox, texts, social messages, I often ask myself the question, “Do they actually ever read what they are sending me? Do they care about how they are representing themselves? Are they establishing the impression they want?” Your inboxes probably look the same as mine. You are inundated with people who […]
The Secret To Your Competitive Advantage……
A colleague shared an observation from a CRO. The CRO had discovered the secret to his team’s competitive advantage. Drum roll…….. The secret to your competitive advantage has nothing to do with your products, your pricing, even your company and it’s reputation. The secret to your competitive advantage is “Mediocrity!” Not yours, but your competitors! […]
What Would You Do If You Weren’t Told What To Do?
Let me run a thought experiment: “What would you do if your weren’t told what to do?” You know the goals you must achieve, let’s say quota-based, or similar revenue based attainment goals. If you are in a non-selling role, think about project goals/deadlines or other important goals. You have all sorts of resources to […]
The “Miracle” Of Real Time AI Coaching
I’m participating in an AI Conference where so much of the discussion is around agentic AI. A number of speakers have focused on the concept of “Real time AI coaching.” I’m also seeing a lot of this in many of the new AI selling platforms, it seems to be THE next thing in driving seller […]
Embrace The “Suck!”
Our work in selling is tough. There are details to manage, conflicts to resolve, shifts in direction. Some of the work is tedious, even unpleasant. Much of it is exhausting. When the work gets tough, our natural reaction is avoidance. At the same time, we mask that avoidance with busyness and activity. We avoid the […]
KPIs, When You Measure Everything, You Measure Nothing!
Key Performance Indicators are meant to achieve one thing, sharpen our focus. They help translate our strategies into focused execution. The KPIs help us understand the things that are most important in achieving our goals. They serve to align the organization around these critical goals and activities. They give everyone involved in executing the strategies […]
Ask Questions That Require Thinking
We are trained to ask questions. But our orientation is to ask questions that demand answers. As a result, conversations often resemble a ping pong game. The server starts with a question, then the response, back and forth. Then the other person serves, asks a question, expects a response, back and forth. A lot of […]
It Isn’t Just Buying That’s Hard…
There’s been huge amounts of very good research on the how hard buying is. We’ve learned about regret, FOMO, FOMU, abandoned buying efforts. I’ve contributed thousands of words in articles focusing on the difficulty buyers have in buying. But let’s look at this differently. It isn’t just buying that’s hard, all project/change work is hard. […]
Metrics Don’t Solve The Problem!
I was tempted to title this, “Metrics, metrics, everywhere, but not a solution in sight,” as a twist on the famous line in Coleridge’s “The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner.” We are drowning in data. We live in a world where tools, including AI, can provide endless analyses and insights into the data. We establish […]
Performance Quotes
““Dave helped us translate our strategic planning process from an annual exercise into the development of a plan the whole organization could get behind and execute. With Dave's support, the team came together and established a clear focus and priorities. The team felt the process was valuable in developing a pragmatic plan, focused on executing those things most critical to achieving the objectives our leadership team had established. Finally, the process established a solid framework for future strategic plans. Dave not only delivered on his commitments but delivered more than was expected.” Vice President Strategy and Planning
“I got a recommendation from a business colleague to reach out to Dave regarding our sales process for our startup. So I did and shot out an email where I asked for some tips on how to better leverage our sales process. Dave responded the same day where he asked if we could hop on a call, and of course, I was a bit amazed at his willingness to go head-on with our current challenges. During our conversations, I told him about a recent deal that had stalled and asked if he had any advice on how to get in a better position moving forward. He gave me some good advice and I also got two action points I could execute immediately. The following day I had a client meeting where I held a presentation and I took one of the action points into that meeting. After the presentation was completed I got the deal, and the client highlighted the expertise we had shown with our offer. Dave’s recommendation was perhaps the one thing I felt was the game changer from what we had done in the past.” Eivind Jonassen, Cofounder and CEO
“As a result of the program on Value Propositions, we have turned around and closed sales of more than $60 million within 45 days of implementing the principles you taught us.” Senior Vice President of Global Sales
“We brought David into our company to help us with our sales and go-to market strategies. His thoughtful and systematic approach exposed areas for improvement which resulted with an improved plan. All our employees benefited, especially when each of our team members shared their knowledge and practical experience across our group. We ended up a stronger, more cohesive and focused team due to David's leadership.” Ray Connelly, Vice President of Supplier Strategy
"Partners In EXCELLENCE differentiate themselves from other consulting firms we've used by providing practical implementable deliverables and then providing support and guidance during execution. Most consultants use a canned, one-size-fits-all methodology…. Because Dave Brock has real world experience in sales, marketing and management, his recommendations are tailored to his client's environment and are readily implemented." Vice President, Marketing
“In the past couple of years David has been a critical mentor, coach and partner to me. Throughout our engagements we together developed the Sales Execution Framework (SEF) which has been foundational for the continuous personal and professional development of my team, especially in the areas sales process mechanics, sales process, sales methodology and our operating system. Hands down this is the main reason why we realized high double digit profitable growth in the past couple of years and are confident we can sustain that in the years to come" Rene Voorhorst, Senior Head Global Account Management