In sales and business in general, we have an incredible opportunity to learn from those we interact with daily. We can learn about customers and their business, industry, concerns, outlook, and more. We can dig deeper and learn about their goals, aspirations, and desires. We also have the opportunity to learn about ourselves through the process. This learning can only come from inquiry, but not all inquiry is the same. The power of learning comes through the process of asking

The Power of Goal Setting – Part 2 of 2 In Part 1 of The Power of Goal Setting we covered the importance of setting goals in our professional lives. We discussed the method of making those goals SMART (specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic, and time based). Furthermore, we offered a recommendation to set goals not only in your professional lives, but also in different areas of your life to ensure that you create the success that you deserve! In Part 2, we will intro

The Power of Goal Setting – Part 1 of 2 One thing that is as important as spending the time and effort researching your field and becoming an expert and trusted advisor is the practice of setting goals so that you know what you are working towards. The exercise of setting goals is an interesting topic to discuss. Many of us understand the concept of setting goals, but there are many reasons why we don’t make this an everyday practice. To start, most have never been trained on

Become an Expert in Your Industry- Part 2 of 2 As mentioned in part 1 of this 2-part blog, becoming an expert in your industry is imperative if you want to rise to the top. In our last blog (part 1) we covered the importance of studying market trends and economics as well as end user group similarities and differences. In this blog we will cover the last two areas to cover: competitive offerings and future development plans and projections. Competitive Offerings A critical

Become an Expert in Your Industry- Part 1 There is an adage mentioned in numerous texts that says that you must help yourself first so that you can then help others. This has application in many different arenas. If we spin it for our purposes here, then I will state that before you can sell anything to anyone, you must first be an expert in whatever it is that you are selling. You must first help yourself by studying and researching the field, technology, service, or offerin

How much internal selling are you doing? Many years ago, I was introduced to a concept that changed the way I do business. This concept was quite obvious but had been something that I was not cognitively practicing daily. Once I embraced this concept, I not only increased my productivity and realized more success, but I also created a friendlier, peaceful, and more enjoyable environment in which to work. The concept is internal selling. I define “internal selling” as selling

I recently had a discussion with my ten-year-old son, Jonah, about a game that he wanted. His objective was to have me purchase a video game that he could download on to his iPad. He knew the cost of the game ($19.99) and knew that the cost would be an issue based on prior experience. He knew that whenever he asked me for a new game, my first question would be, “Is this a free download?” He wanted the game, and wanted me to say “yes.” He knew what some of the objections would