I saw some investment research recently that shockingly noted how many current Android users were planning on buying an iPhone when they next purchased a smart-phone. Well over 50% would move away from the Android whereas somewhere around 90% of current iPhone users will buy another iPhone. That’s devastating for Google and I think the [...]

The problem with most approaches to marketing automation in B2B settings is that we’ve completely ignored the complexity and centrality of sales interactions to the B2B sales process. Marketing Sherpa released a study earlier this year in which they noted that the average B2B purchase involved 21 people on the buyer’s side. Booz Allen and the American Marketing Association have done very thorough research on the primacy of sales executives in customer minds. According to them, 60-70% of all perceptions are driven by the sales exec, and those human interactions are BY FAR the most important customer experiences that customer’s have with B2B firms. Wow, have you ever heard a “marketing automaton” mention that?

I’ve just read a great article on the habits of successful people which I think highlights aspects of many people’s beliefs about success that simply aren’t true. Many of us believe that talent or skill is somehow innate in people, that they somehow are different from others (or us) in their makeup, but that isn’t [...]

I recently heard tell of a Fortune 1000 company with a sales force in the tens of thousands that discovered its sales representatives were spending too much time in low potential accounts. It is a “repeat” business, and the sales force was spending most of their efforts on either the big buyers of their products [...]

Are you a PowerPoint hotshot? If not, you are leaving some meat on the table when you are out pitching clients. What I mean by “hotshot” is can you make compelling, appealing and supportive presentations that really help you communicate? What I don’t mean is can you do the craziest builds or animations or graphics? [...]

I’m currently re-implementing a CRM solution for my personal entrepreneurial and sales efforts. As a 25 years B2B sales veteran who sold CRM for number of years, I have a fairly good idea about what’s possible with the technology out there. In fact I built my own first system in ’89 using a Q&A database [...]

I just read an article (see it here) that claims sales people shouldn’t be blogging, that it isn’t a productive use of their time. But at the same time, the author claims that these same sales people should be active participants in social media – which I agree with.  I have a hard time squaring [...]

I was trained in a process – extensively. It was called “Solution Sales” – and many of you newbies out there would be well served by familiarizing yourself with it. IBM and Xerox developed this process and it fundamentally changed B2B Sales, turning it from a scatter-shot and hale-fellow well met kind of approach, to a professional endeavor in which the salesperson acted as a consultant and problem solver.

The Basics – Old School but still fantastic, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie and See you at the Top by Zig Ziglar. Some might think them a bit corny, but they are very accessible and cover so many of the basic things a salesperson has to do right – and until a salesperson masters the basics, they have no chance at becoming a big deal or strategic sales executive. They’ve all written dozens of other books that are great too, but my recommendations are for the books that made them famous.

“Back then (not that long ago, really) in most companies, marketing was seen as inexplicably related to sales in B2B environments, rather than as a completely separate department. Not today. Marketing has become independent, and many a marketeer sees themselves as responsible for improving the sales process. In many organizations, because of marketings access to the executive suite with respect to strategy and analysis, sales is continuously competing with marketing’s vision of the world, and much friction can result. I do have to say that I know I’m biased as a salesperson, but I’ve also seen this pattern in dozens of organizations. I’ll try to stay evenhanded – let me know how I do!”