“Negotiaphobia” Jay Baxter was excited. He and his wife, Laura, had won a trip on a luxury yacht docked in Miami as part of the Top Producers Award Trip sponsored by his company, XL Information Solutions. They were pleased to leave below freezing temperatures in Cleveland for the sunny bliss of Miami. Additionally, Jay was…
Your “Two Systems” and What They Mean Any time you have to make sense of something, your mind applies two systems to the question at hand. The first is “System 1,” or the mental processing that reads emotions and handles your automatic skills, like driving your car or adding two plus two. System 1 takes…
Sales Challenges Sales managers face many problems, some of which they create for themselves. Others result from senior executives who impose unrealistic demands or from corporate cultures that work against salespeople and their leaders. If a sales manager performs poorly, so will the salespeople on his or her team. Salespeople create problems for their managers…
The New Sales Manager The sales manager’s job is to lead. People often rise to the rank of a sales manager from a successful career in sales. But the skills required to sell are very different from the skills required to be a leader and manage a sales force. A few of the differences are:…
A Matter of Habit A habit is an activity that a person deliberately decides to perform once and continues doing without focus, often frequently. Think about the complicated procedures you automatically employ to drive your car. Habits develop because the human brain is wired to seek ways to conserve energy. Researchers who study the science…
Selling: The Eras Within the past 50 to 60 years, selling has passed through three eras: The script era – During the 1950s, the salesperson worked on techniques to manipulate the customer into doing what the salesperson wanted to be done. Sales training focused on making the case, parrying the objections and going for the…
Loudcloud, Opsware and “the Struggle” “There are no shortcuts to knowledge, especially knowledge gained from personal experience.” Every startup encounters the Struggle. Your product turns out to have costly flaws. Your cash runs low, and your venture capitalist tells you fundraising seems unlikely. A loyal customer leaves you. A valuable employee walks away. There’s no…
Generation Traits and Gaps Millennials form the “most educated and technologically savvy generation ever.” Their parents sheltered them and gave their lives structure. The US workforce now includes 31 million Millennials, and that number will increase steadily in the next five years. When people of the same age experience highimpact events, they develop a similar…
The Basic Equipment Needed to Become a CEO You might compare climbing the corporate ladder to climbing a mountain. You need certain qualities, which are like equipment, to make it to the top. You also have to be ready to pass through “tricky and scary situations,” just as you would if you were going higher…
Paying attention How well you pay attention affects every aspect of your life. Effective focusing skills enhance mental processes, including understanding, learning, listening, being creative and reading other people’s signals. Most people underestimate focus or overlook its importance. You need to exercise all three categories of focus – “inner, other and outer” – to function…
