As important as it is to know the weaknesses of your team members, it is much more important to know and utilize their strengths. Any successful coach doesn’t position his players where each will do the least amount of harm; he places them where they’ll each do their best. Great pitchers or quarterbacks don’t play…
Do you have someone on your team or in your company who doesn’t fit with the job he or she is assigned to do? A poor or mediocre performer who has skills sets and potential, just not relevant to the current position? Whatever the reasons for the hire, if you’re the leader, then it’s your…
Thanks to shifty salespeople who made a living manipulating prospective customers into buying items they didn’t need or that weren’t a good fit, the sales profession has something of a bad reputation. This is unfortunate because it’s not accurate. Like any profession, sales has its sinners and saints, with most of its practitioners being of…
If a sales leader doesn’t have his team’s belief system on his radar, he’s not doing his job. If a leader doesn’t inspire her team to believe in success, then she’s destined to lead a losing team. Your team’s belief system matters. A successful team is guided by the belief that success is possible, but…
A friend jokes that the definition of adulthood is the age at which one learns to set priorities. Makes sense, but then, there are a lot of adults out there who haven’t yet reached adulthood! I would say that being able to set priorities is a skill that separates the sales professional from the sales…
“Positive thinking is fine in theory. But whenever I try it on a systematic basis…I end up really depressed.” – Ted Boynton, in the movie Barcelona Ted is American sales rep working in Barcelona, Spain. He thinks a lot about what it takes to be a great sales professional, but as the movie progresses, he…
Writing at Forbes, Mark Evans has advice for startups that would also serve sales professionals: In many ways, social media becomes dangerous because it can be distracting and time-consuming. There is so much belief that social media can generate major benefits that it’s all many startups embrace in terms of marketing. Sites like Facebook and…
Did you know that superheroes practice? It’s true. In the newest trailer for The Avengers, we see Captain America practicing his punches in a gym. Captain America! Practicing! The upcoming superhero movie is written and directed by Joss Whedon, the guy behind the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m told by a friend that…