You don’t know anything about our company. You don’t have a plan. You don’t know what you’re doing. These statements were spinning through my head like a merry-go-round stuck at hypersonic speed.  The drive home from my client who just informed me of my ineptitude felt like what time travel might be like: one moment, […]

In last week’s post, we explored what happens when your client list is radically redefined. The previous year, my list of prospective clients was 25; this year, I’m contemplating an increase in my sales goal but with only five accounts to make it happen. Staring at the five target accounts and trying to visualize success

Years ago, the company I was with decided on a sales strategy to help their salespeople to be more effective and of course grow sales. We moved to a target account sales model. The quick translation of a target account-model meant that my prospective client list went from 25 prospects to five. Doing more with

In the spirit of keeping my focus on my family during the holidays, today’s post will be a replay from 2019.    The years when I don’t achieve my business goals are particularly painful. It’s very easy to fall into a useless game of blaming others and finding excuses for my failure. The reflection in

The last three posts have been about planning for 2020 and the decade ahead. The timing is right to revisit a post from April 4, 2019, called A Bad Plan Is Better Than No Plan.  Too often we get hung up trying to develop the perfect plan.  The worse scenario is operating without any plan

Every year in late November or early December, I take a day or so to reflect on the current year’s activities and accomplishments. Even though it seemed like December 2018 was yesterday and surely given how fast the year flew by, it didn’t seem like much happened in my life. The early days of doing

In the December 5th edition of the Salesmuser blog, we blocked some time to quietly reflect on our accomplishments in 2019, as well as over the past decade. Closing our eyes we looked down on future goals to see them already accomplished. Most importantly, while overserving the outcome of our completed dreams, we judged how

It’s nearly 2020, and a new decade is looming. Consider how different our society is today and how much closer everyone in the world is than even just ten years ago. We’ve evolved into a culture where our heads are tilted downward to stare at a computer in our hands most of the day.  Hundreds

Early Edition of Salesmuser Only a few selling weeks remain in 2019. The holidays are a fantastic time of the year but the stress to get your deals closed by yearend can deflect your attention. Whether you plan to spend the holidays with family, friends, helping others or even alone, make sure you are present.

Every firm has their sales rockstars, even firms with marginal products or services. Pareto’s Principle is proving itself yet again… except in this scenario, it’s only a fantasy of a company’s senior management that 20 percent of their sales staff would be sales rockstars. The actual ratio of these rare individuals is likely south of