From the outside the organisation has a great brand and and displays the trappings of success. The company is keen to hire you because you are a sales gun with proven ability to meet and exceed targets. Your past sales success gives the company confidence you could be their gun. But its a trap! If [...]
As a parent I often ask my six year old son if he has cleaned his teeth. Sometimes he's inclined to mislead me by saying, "hmmm....yes..?". With a big smile I like to remind him that Mummy and Daddy have Superpowers! We can tell when he's not telling the truth. He's not 100% sure about [...]
Over my career I've had various job titles in sales: Account Executive Sales Manager Account Manager Business Development Manager Business Manager Client Management The names have changed, but the role of a sales person is still the same. Peter Thiel in his book Zero to One talked about how many people disguise the fact that [...]
I've recently met with several startups seeking to meet with large enterprises. It can be frustrating when a potential client does not want to meet with you. Particularly if you strongly believe that your solution is designed to address their challenges. In my experience the biggest rookie mistake is overselling the first meeting. To get [...]
We have all met someone that has a force-field of contempt towards all other humans. They could be internal or external to our organisation. Similar to the character, Alice in Dilbert.com. Over my career I have seen many "Alices" across technical, accounting, finance and legal roles. When you ask for their help, you [...]
One of the most overlooked things in sales is the constant follow-up with clients You don't have the positional-power of a manager to drive commitments, you need the power of persuasion. Persuading Aristotle by Peter Thompson is a great book on understanding persuasion. He outlines that our communication needs to convey: Ethos, Pathos and Logos: [...]
While completing my undergraduate degree in the late 1990's, I took up a door-to-door commission-sales job that was run by my surfer-entrepreneur housemate. His business offered a service to reduce the chance of someone's car being stolen by etching the registration number on each of the glass window panels of the car. This reduced the [...]
If you are a student of politics then you would be familiar with Niccolo Machiavelli's book, The Prince. It's one of the best books on diplomacy and avoiding "rookie" political mistakes. In managing long sales cycles you should consider what strategy will help you keep the lines of communication open during the quiet periods. Every [...]
While selling into large organisations, have you ever wondered if the person you are dealing with is wasting your time? You keep calling them and they are willing to speak and meet with you. So it must be going somewhere right? And here is my typical MBA-learnt response: It depends! A prospect can be wasting your [...]
“The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. Copying others takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. Tomorrow’s champions will not win by competing [...]
I'm currently reading this book by Daniel H. Pink, To Sell is Human. Pink dismisses many of the selling stereotypes that rang true 50 years ago - but are no longer relevant. He also provides some great ways to build your confidence and to avoid that "traditional hype" that does not build enduring confidence. Check out [...]
"La Scapigliata" by Leonardo Da Vinci. The great artists of the world go to extraordinary lengths to produce work that is simple, flawless and natural. Leonardo Da Vinci was once quoted, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". You don't immediately think of the sacrifice made to produce great art. During high school I played the trumpet [...]
Alec Baldwin from the cult movie, "Glengarry Glen Ross." I In my early career I did print and online advertising sales for the banking and finance industry. To meet my short-term sales targets I kept myself busy on the phone and at meetings. I needed to create artificial deadlines for customers signed regularly. The pressure [...]
Signing up a big-name client will give your start-up great momentum. But are you up to the challenge to secure and maintain this clients? Over the last 12 years I've had successes and failures in getting big-name clients to buy my products. Benefits of signing big-name clients: Endorsement for future customers. Nobody wants to be [...]
"As a technical consultant-turned-entrepreneur, how can I successfully hire and on-board sales staff to grow my start-up ?" This question was recently posed to me by a start-up CEO, with a strong IT technical/consulting background who is seeking to grow his business by employing a sales person. If you are a sole operator, then consulting and selling is [...]
Taken from "Bart the Daredevil" Simpsons Episode 8, 1990. Homer Simpson attempts to skateboard over Springfield Gorge. For a brief moment he is elated, before falling down the gorge. . Let me describe a situation I've seen countless times throughout my career. You identify the perfect organisation to sell your product. You reach out to the [...]
Having discipline is an important aspect of sales success for the start-up CEO. About 90% of sales time is spent in follow-up. But getting on the phone to follow up it not always easy or natural. After several years I still struggle to pick up the phone and make those first morning calls. You start [...]
I have a problem with a lot of sales books and sales training courses. Especially when they are mechanical and process focussed. Sales is not a predictable science like other professions. A + B does not always equal C. People mistakenly think you can train anyone to follow a step sales process and the customer will [...]
As a start-up CEO, how do you get past gatekeepers to meet with senior decision makers? You first need to understand the job of a personal assistant for a senior executive: Their job is to help their boss make the best use of his or her time. This means keeping people like you away from [...]
If you have a technical background, how do you get into the "sales mindset"? I recently organised an event where a developer could demonstrate his start-up's software to representatives from various industries. At the end of the event, interest was expressed and business cards exchanged. A couple of months later, I followed up with the [...]
