Sales Tips and Marketing Strategies

Is your training program a waste of time and money?

Quick Quiz

Which of the following statements best describes your feelings about the training programs you have taken or have put your Sales Team through?

1 = Completely satisfied – training always yields visible and measurable results

2 = Fairly satisfied – training seems to be beneficial, but does not always yield the required results

3 = Unsure – The Sales Team is generally happy and business is moving in the right direction, but I’m unsure whether training is a contributing factor

4 = Fairly dissatisfied – training is something “nice to have” that my Sales Team could probably do without

5 = Completely dissatisfied – training is an expensive waste of time and resources Continue reading ‘Why Sales Training Doesn’t Work – Is Your Training Program a Waste of Time and Money?’ »

I can’t help but compare Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to selling. Tiger Woods came in second place at the Tour Championship, yet walked away with $10 million as the FedEx Cup champion and $800,000 for his second-place finish. Phil Mickelson walked away with $3 million for the FedEx Cup and $1.35 million for winning the tournament. The comment by Phil was “Let me get this straight. I shoot a 65 and win $1.3 million and Tiger shoots a 70 and wins $10 million?” That’s right. Tiger was consistent over time. Phil had a great day.

How many Tigers do you have in your organization? How many Phil’s? How many struggle to make the cut?

If you think about it, this makes perfect sense. Tiger was consistent throughout the playoffs and throughout the year. Phil was not. Tiger Woods, the consummate in consistency, work ethic, and diligence, plus a lot of skill, stays the course. He works golf as a process, continues to get coaching, and continues to come in usually first or second, and always within the top 10. On the other hand, Phil Mickelson has a ton of skill, but not overly diligent in his work ethic, and just within the past two years has embraced coaching. Tiger produces every time he plays. Phil has moments of greatness, and then ends up down in the pack at other times. In all fairness to Phil he did have personal problems this year. However, over the long run he’s just not that consistent yet Tiger is.

Continue reading ‘C-Level Selling: Are You a Tiger, a Phil or Struggle to Make the Cut’ »