There are very few sales or sales management positions where public speaking isn’t a necessary skill set. Sometimes it is as simple as leading a sales meeting or conducting a business review for key clients. Over the course of our careers we have each seen dynamic speakers that grab our attention and motivate us to [...]
Quota Blog
As many of you know, I have been studying martial arts for over 45 years now and have seen many parallels to how we teach martial artists and how we teach professional sales people. One of the parallels is seen in a quote from Bruce Lee “Before I studied martial arts, a punch was just [...]
One of the questions I ask prospective sales representatives is “Describe the best sales manager you ever worked for. I don’t need their name, just what their characteristics were that resonated with you…”. In other words, what did you value about your relationship with this manager? As professional salespeople, we also need to ask ourselves, [...]
They say that Information Technology students that graduate from a 4-year University program are already 2 years out-of-date with current technology. The pace of change that is impacting all of us is both stressful and daunting. Should we facebook or twitter? Does my mobile device have LinkedIn capabilities or should I do it on my [...]
One of my business mentors once referred to a company’s ‘teeth’ vs. ‘tail’. I asked him to explain and it went like this: Every business is like a living organism, there is the mouth that brings in the nourishment and there is the body that consumes the nourishment. When we think of our businesses, we [...]
How do you teach integrity to someone that hasn’t any? There is a great scene in a movie called BAGGER VANCE with Matt Damon and Will Smith. In it, Matt’s caddy tells him he is embarrassed by his father, a street sweeper, but impressed by a local bombastic businessman. Matt explains to the young boy [...]
One of the insights I most value from my years of interviewing sales candidates and clients is their perspective on partnerships. A question I ask all sales candidates is ‘Who was the most effective manager you reported to… and why?” The question typically elicits a response that speaks to the partnership between them and their [...]
Q NEWS™ has been designed to bring you 3 articles/month on a contemporary sales practice that is essential to your business success. Our article this month is on sales readiness. I recently attended John Wilson’s Global CEO Network breakfast meeting that sponsored speaker, Verne Harnish, to speak with the attending executives. Verne is the author [...]
I just returned from a trip to Singapore and meeting with our Distributor team from the Middle East and SE Asia. A really inspirational trip for me as it reinforced the great opportunities in the region and the solid team our company is building to address these opportunities. Having spent some time in Asia, I [...]
There is an old saying that if we aren’t growing we’re dying. Clearly, this saying relates to each of our companies and markets. Companies that have been retreating from the market for the past few years are discovering significant market share losses and key accounts that have switched alliances. Of course it’s easy to say [...]
