Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

A successful sales force transformation can mean increased revenue, increased sales productivity, and reduced cost of sales. But, up to seventy-five percent of attempted transformations fail, according to the authors of the book,  7 Steps To Sales Transformation - Driving Sustainable Change In Your Organization . Transformation failures are often a result of an organization that neglects to address the human factor (skepticism, resistance, avoidance). Equally important, transformations must focus on truly transforming and not merely making tweaks. Authors  Warren Shiver  and  Michael Perla  use their own experiences transforming sales organizations, the lessons they learned from a host of interviewed sales professionals, and original, quantitative research to show readers how to  transform and modernize  a sales force -- including ones that are typically intrinsically resistant to change. The recommended transformation  seven steps  are defin...

   How To Become A Rainmaker is a quick, instructional book that reveals the rules for getting and keeping customers and clients. Written by Jeffrey J. Fox , the handbook format provides you the best approaches to take to become a true rainmaker – one who brings clients, money, business, or even intangible prestige to an organization.  One of the real gems in the book is Fox’s The Rainmaker’s Credo , which includes:  Cherish customers at all times. Treat customers as you would your best friend. Listen to customers and decipher their needs. Make (or give) customers what they need. Teach customers to want what they need. Make your product the way customers want it. Get your product to your customers when they want it. Give your customers a little extra, more than they expect. Thank each customer sincerely and often.

You'll find the following list of the  ten most common mistakes  made by sales managers toward the very end of Kevin Davis' book,  Slow Down, Sell Faster! , about how to sync your sales approach with your customer's buying process: Failing to shift from "super salesperson" mode to managerial mindset. Fighting fires continually. Leaving your staff to sink or swim on their own. Ignoring the importance of performance standards/getting blind-sided by poor performance. Failing to leverage the strengths and resources of your team's top producers. Spending too much time working with the bottom 20 percent. Allowing senior salespeople to get stuck in an unmotivated rut. Being inconsistent in your recruiting and hiring process. Assuming your sales reps will figure things out the same way you did. Hanging on to low-producing salespeople for far too long. The chapter on  coaching for sales success  is well worth the price of the book by itself...

A Conversation with BRIAN TRACY About UNLIMITED SALES SUCCESS Question :    Why are some salespeople more successful than others? Brian Tracy:  "I asked myself that very question when I started selling many years ago. My first breakthrough was the discovery of the 80/20 rule. It says that 20 percent of the salespeople make 80 percent of the money. That means the average income of the people in the top 20 percent is sixteen times the average income of the people in the bottom 80 percent. When I first heard that statistic, I was both inspired and discouraged. I just did not think that being in the top 20 percent could be possible for me. Then I learned another fact: Every person in the top 20 percent started in the bottom 20 percent. Everyone at the front of the line of life started at the back of the line. I immediately made a decision to be in the top 20 percent. Making a decision, of any kind, and then taking action on that decision, is often the tu...

When you start reading Mark Thompson’s and Brian Tracy’s book,  Now…Build a Great Business! , you may feel like you are reading 200 pages of Blog posts, but the bite-sized approach to providing tools, practical steps and ideas, rather than theory, is precisely the authors’ intended approach. The book thoroughly explains the  seven keys for how to achieve business success : 1. Become a great leader 2. Develop a great business plan 3. Surround yourself with great people 4. Offer a great product or service 5. Design a great marketing plan 6. Perfect a great sales process 7. Create a great customer experience You’ll find a checklist at the end of each step (each chapter) where you can write down your action plan for applying what you’ve learned. Particularly interesting is the chapter on  strategic planning , where the authors recommend you should  ask yourself these important questions before you act to create or reinvent the direction of your organi...

As a sales leader, it's important that you analyze your current customers to help you identify the best places to focus your energies for finding new customers.  That's the advice of Brian Tracy in his new book, Unlimited Sales Success . And, Tracy recommends that the best way to analyze your current customers is to ask and answer these twelve questions: Who is using your product or service today? Who will be using it in the future, based on current trends? Why should somebody buy your product at all? If someone should buy your product, why should they buy it from your company rather than from some other company? If customers have decided to buy from your company, shy should they buy the product or service from you personally , rather than from someone else in your company? Who exactly is your customer?  Who buys from you most readily?  Why does your customer buy your product or service?  What specific benefits does the customer receive from your p...

A Conversation with BRIAN TRACY About UNLIMITED SALES SUCCESS Question :   Why are some salespeople more successful than others? Brian Tracy:  "I asked myself that very question when I started selling many years ago. My first breakthrough was the discovery of the 80/20 rule. It says that 20 percent of the salespeople make 80 percent of the money. That means the average income of the people in the top 20 percent is sixteen times the average income of the people in the bottom 80 percent. When I first heard that statistic, I was both inspired and discouraged. I just did not think that being in the top 20 percent could be possible for me. Then I learned another fact: Every person in the top 20 percent started in the bottom 20 percent. Everyone at the front of the line of life started at the back of the line. I immediately made a decision to be in the top 20 percent. Making a decision, of any kind, and then taking action on that decision, is of...

Read Brain Tracy 's new book, Unlimited Sales Success , twice!  First, to cherry-pick and quickly discover the solutions to your most pressing sales challenges and roadblocks.  Then, from cover to cover to learn a host of new strategies and techniques to propel your sales success and results. On  my first read, I devoured the sections on: The seven new realities of sales today How to truly analyze current prospects and customers so you can make the most sales in the shortest period of time How to most effectively open  your first meeting with a prospect and client The keys to relationship building  in sales The single most powerful question you can ask your customer What to say when your prospect complains about price Making persuasive presentations How to close a sale In my second read, I found particularly beneficial Tracy's seven steps to mental fitness , and what it takes to be an effective salesperson: Ambitious Courageous Committed t...

You'll find the following list of the ten most common mistakes made by sales managers toward the very end of Kevin Davis' book, Slow Down, Sell Faster! , about how to sync your sales approach with your customer's buying process: Failing to shift from "super salesperson" mode to managerial mindset. Fighting fires continually. Leaving your staff to sink or swim on their own. Ignoring the importance of performance standards/getting blind-sided by poor performance. Failing to leverage the strengths and resources of your team's top producers. Spending too much time working with the bottom 20 percent. Allowing senior salespeople to get stuck in an unmotivated rut. Being inconsistent in your recruiting and hiring process. Assuming your sales reps will figure things out the same way you did. Hanging on to low-producing salespeople for far too long. The chapter on coaching for sales success is well worth the price of the book by itself, but fortunatel...

You'll find the following list of the ten most common mistakes made by sales managers toward the very end of Kevin Davis' book, Slow Down, Sell Faster! , about how to sync your sales approach with your customer's buying process: Failing to shift from "super salesperson" mode to managerial mindset. Fighting fires continually. Leaving your staff to sink or swim on their own. Ignoring the importance of performance standards/getting blind-sided by poor performance. Failing to leverage the strengths and resources of your team's top producers. Spending too much time working with the bottom 20 percent. Allowing senior salespeople to get stuck in an unmotivated rut. Being inconsistent in your recruiting and hiring process. Assuming your sales reps will figure things out the same way you did. Hanging on to low-producing salespeople for far too long. The chapter on coaching for sales success is well worth the price of the book by itself, but fortunatel...

You'll find this list of the ten most common mistakes made by sales managers toward the very end of Kevin Davis' latest book about how to sync your sales approach with your customer's buying process: Failing to shift from "super salesperson" mode to managerial mindset. Fighting fires continually. Leaving your staff to sink or swim on their own. Ignoring the importance of performance standards/getting blind-sided by poor performance. Failing to leverage the strengths and resources of your team's top producers. Spending too much time working with the bottom 20 percent. Allowing senior salespeople to get stuck in an unmotivated rut. Being inconsistent in your recruiting and hiring process. Assuming your sales reps will figure things out the same way you did. Hanging on to low-producing salespeople for far too long. The chapter on coaching for sales success is well worth the price of the book by itself, but fortunately, the rest of the 250-pa...