The iTunes Store's newest app, Ninety Five 5 Sales Flashcards, debuted today in a bid to help sales professionals master key conversation responses to commonly asked questions. The app is free and can be downloaded here.Why should you download this app? Because success in sales (as with most things in life) is determined by practicing a deliberate, repeatable set of skills – over and over – until mastery is attained. Practicing key conversation responses helps […]

Sales Leaders who are trying to help their salespeople have different conversations with their customers should consider how they can have different conversations with their sales teams.The same principles for creating value for customers applies to leading teams.Mindset 1: "We both want the same thing."Think about how you can create win-win scenarios with your team so that is clear not just that if they win, you, but also that if you win they win.  Emphasize shared […]

I'm at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. When I saw these trees to my left and right, I was reminded of Dr. Seuess. And it gave me an idea for a challenge to you: Go read (probably re-read) one of his books titled "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" And then tell me how it made you feel. In case you need a little more info: Emilie Coulter, Amazon.com's official book reviewer, writes: "Inspirational yet honest, and always rhythmically rollicking, Oh, the […]

One of my greatest mentors, Stephen R. Covey, encouraged me to seek principles.  Principles are in a simple sense... truths.  I don’t mean truths for one group or another, but rather truths for all groups... for everyone.  Sometimes principles can be expressed mathematically.  This can be helpful.  An example would be the principle of Fire = fuel + oxygen + ignition.  When you find these three elements combined, you find […]

Oneness. What a cool word! We achieve it when our actions align with our words, which align with our values, etc., etc..  We could go deeper here but for this blog post I’ll keep it simple."Integrity" comes from the same root as the word "integer." It’s a oneness. When people have this "oneness" (visualize the number 1), they are described as "straight," "stand up," "aligned," "ducks in a ro […]

When you look at two pictures side-by-side, it can be relatively easy to spot the differences between the two.When changes occur over time, it is easy to miss some important details. If you are focused too much on details, you may fail to miss some big changes.The phenomenon known as "change blindness" is explained in the book "The Invisible Gorilla, How Our intuitions Deceive Us." In one famous experiment, before viewing a short video in which two groups of people […]

One of the most memorable movie scenes of all time is Rocky running up the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and raising his arms in triumph.Why is he celebrating?  He hasn't even fought the fight yet... or has he?It appears to me that Rocky is finally ready for the fight, that he has done the drill, paid the price and triumph is his.  He has overcome many if not all of his doubts about himself.  He has overcome the physical barriers that could […]

Sales leaders, how often do you coach your team on uncovering and handling client objections, concerns and doubts? It's a crucial part of having quality opportunities in our pipeline, yet many of us don't take the time to make it part of our regular management routine. At Ninety Five 5 we refer to these as "Yellow Lights" because unless we slow down and address them we will more than likely lose the opportunity (after needless wasting time, money and effort) or be i […]

I recently was in Denver, the home of "The Big Blue Bear." The piece is titled "I see what you mean." I can't say that my interpretation of this cool art is accurate, I can only tell you I like it. The bear is looking at us from outside the building, much like we look at interesting animals in a zoo.We are interesting creatures and many of us love to people watch. It's fun, interesting and ever-entertaining.I thought this was a good thought to focus on. […]

Have you ever seen a hypnotist on stage who appears to gain control over volunteers from the audience?  Some of those stage shows can seem pretty far-fetched.  A subject hears a whistle and all of a sudden, they are clucking like a chicken. In his experiments with dogs, Pavlov proved that conditioning is possible and that a stimulus can bring about a specific response.  Humans have a choice, however, and can elect to choose how they respond to differ […]