Why does sales exist the way it does? Despite knowing I could ask Todd Caponi for a sales history lesson, I keep asking myself this question. Why? This morning, Justin Clifford posted this question above on LinkedIn and I love it. My answer? Well, I started writing...

Sales Prospecting Fundamentals - From Sales History How often have you heard how many touches it takes to reach a new prospect? How often have you heard that cold calling is interruptive? How often have you heard that surface-level objections hide the true...

Sales Leadership: Why Celebrating Losses Wins! “Celebrate the losses!” A few months back, I was keynoting a revenue leadership summit for one of the largest technology companies on the planet. I said those three words...celebrate-the-losses. One leader immediately...

Pioneering Women in Sales: Barbara Pletcher In my nerdery, I’ve found some incredible pioneers who built the sales profession. Specifically, one you’ve probably seen me highlight a few times is Lucinda W. Prince Prince set up sales schools for women in 1905,...

The Challenge of a Dishonest Competitor “Todd, I appreciate and embrace the idea of being transparent - but here’s the problem: We’re transparent. Our competitors aren’t. And, the customer doesn’t find out until it’s too late - they’ve already gone with our...

Sales Negotiations - The Irony of the Simple Concession “My budget is tight - and for me to be able to buy this gallon of mayonnaise here at Costco today, I need 10% off?” “I know this ‘bowl two games, get a third one free’ coupon expires on Saturday, but I’m...

Three (Obvious) Priorities for When Sales Gets Difficult (and Why We Do The Opposite!) I’ve become a bit obsessed with a historical problem. When the economy makes selling more difficult, would you agree that the following three things are required to thrive?...

Sales Territory / Business Revenue Plan Template - In Your Pocket Growing up in sales, at least once per year I was either asking someone this question or being asked it: “Hey, uhhh, do you happen to have a sales territory plan template, or a business revenue...

Negotiating a Pilot / Proof of Concept When I’m teaching a negotiation workshop, there are certain things that really fire me up. There seems to be a moment when one of my rants goes a bit crazy (I need to work on that). I had another one yesterday. The subject?...