You are hot on the pursuit of a solid opportunity in a competitive situation. How do you ensure your organization is conveying a consistent message about why you should win?One of my previous posts discussed a communication plan of using multiple levels of an organization to communicate at different frequencies and different levels of detail. During times of active pursuit of a competitive opportunity, you can use this communication structure to embed your message at the customer throu […]

We've been discussing the concept of change and transition and how they really aren't at all the same thing. As I mentioned last week, change is situational: The new site, the new boss, the new team responsibilities, the new policy.Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. Change is external; transition is internal. So unless transition occurs, change will not work. Even "good" changes bring about transitions […]

Five years ago, when I first introduced FranklinCovey's "Helping Clients to Succeed" to my then sales team, I had issues getting the methodology to "stick." It was a clear case of the "somes." Some of the salespeople used some of the sales tools some of the time!I wasn't sure what had happened. In my mind, HCS was a GREAT sales system -- and I was wondering "why haven't they embraced it?"When I discussed it with the team, I got &am […]

"Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain." - EmersonWhat is it that we fear in sales? Is it rejection, asking or answering tough questions, looking bad, competition…what?Nadia Comanici, five-time Olympic gold medalist, said this: "If I work on a certain move constantly, then, finally, it doesn't seem so risky to me. The idea is that the move stays dangerous and it looks dangerous to my foes, but it is not to me.  Hard work has made […]

The key to successfully managing sales projects is to maintain your focus on quality while managing changes to time, scope and costs. Changes in time – I'll get back to you later When will you win the deal you expected to close last month? Next month? Or never? When you are readjusting your forecast, do you understand the reasons for the date changes or are you guessing? Changes in scope – Bigger is not always better When the size of the project gro […]

Not everyone works for the perfect leader. But what can you do? (Embracing the: "It sucks to be me!" attitude rarely bears the desired results.)Which leads me to consider, on this beautiful Texas evening whether I'd buy a book titled: "The 59-second employee. How to stay ahead of the one-minute manager!"  Conclusion: I would. Now, I don't know how much I would pay -- and before I invest any significant measure of mental resources considering that, […]

Imagine you are surfing LinkedIn, you apply some filters and you find the perfect target customer. This person is unknown to you but you are in luck, one of your contacts (an existing customer) knows him. Are you brave enough to ask for an introduction?One of the hardest things to do is ask an existing customer for an introduction or referral. There is fear of rejection by them saying no (or more likely, ignoring your request). There is also fear that if anything goes wrong with the re […]

Often, Ninety Five 5 works with companies and sales organizations going through significant change. Many times it's called "sales transformation" or "re-inventing our go-to-market strategy," or "upgrading our sales staff and processes."Whatever one calls it, it's generally a large-scale, substantial, and sometimes painful process. In short, it's usually a big change.Today I'd like to begin a discussion on the differences between chang […]

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I speak with sales professionals every week and I love to hear successful and "less than successful" stories from their world.One man shared with me how he attempted to implement a clear call for an End in Mind (EIM) and how he went down in flames. ("End in Mind" refers to what we want the client to say, do or decide at the end of our interaction.) Here's his story: He was learning about EIM and agreed with the logic.  He decided that on his next sales […]