Haggling
Anyone who has watched the Monty Python movie, The Life of Brian, may recall the market scene where Brian attempts to hide, in plain view, from the chasing Romans by appearing to be making a purchase...
View ArticleHurry up and do nothing
Imagine you are a commercial pilot, you’ve just taken off, you’ve climbed to a little over 2,000 feet and you lose both your engines. You have been hit by a flock of geese. You can’t make it back to...
View ArticleThe Sales-Pilot
Imagine sitting on a plane and the pilot makes the following announcement “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to welcome you on-board our flight today. I just want to let you know that we’re going to...
View ArticleAre Rock Stars the Answer?
As brain surgeons go, I guess I would be far to the left of the 1st quartile of a normal distribution. Translation: You probably shouldn’t ask me to perform surgery. As a professional boxer, not much...
View ArticleAristotle in Sales
That Aristotle was one smart Greek. He wasn’t even thinking about sales people at the time, but he still laid some of the key foundations for successful selling. When we think about Greeks and geometry...
View ArticleYou never hear the Bullet that Kills you, a story of Direct vs Indirect strategy
This is a story of woe. Imagine a young salesman. Straight off of closing the biggest deal in his company’s history. $5m of software in 1989. To say I was full of confidence and full of myself would be...
View ArticleMasking the Objective – A story of Indirect strategy
Some 15 years ago I was consulting to a major account sales team who were selling to a large multi-national ($100Bn+). They were a relatively minor supplier to this customer. The incumbent supplier had...
View ArticleOnly the Qualified Survive
Any sales manager worth their salt will only forecast a sale once they are satisfied it’s fully qualified. But what does that mean? Just what is ‘qualified’? At its most basic level we’re taught a few...
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