The sales and marketing communities have a historic enmity: marketing people think sellers don’t effectively use the data they gather, and sales folks think marketers give them bad leads. Marketing people are annoyed that sellers get paid so much when such a high percentage of sales don’t close and sales people think marketers are sending the [...]

Where does selling begin? Why do we begin a buyer conversation by focusing on finding needs?

What, exactly, is selling with integrity? Is it about creating great solutions that make a difference in companies and lives?

The sales profession focuses on placing product. While some would disagree and claim it’s based on ‘meeting a buyer’s needs’, it comes down to the same thing: how to get a product placed. And, after being in every aspect of the field since the 70s, it seems to me that placing product, or understanding needs, [...]

Do you sit and wait for your buyer’s to close? They need your solution. They like you…

Your solution matches the buyer’s need perfectly. You like them, they like you, you’ve had coffee/a meal/a powerful meeting or two. They talk about implementation and how they need to add your other product next year. And then they buy from someone else. Or not at all.
What happened? Are they stupid? Did they lie to [...]