A few weeks ago, I talked about the pride some of our customers have in buying the cheapest products available on the market today. About how for some reason, some companies feel that they can buy the cheapest parts they can get their hands on and then turn around and tell their customers that their […]
Sales Management: Focus On What Is Important
(Inspired by the book Sales Management Made Simple by Mike Weinberg) A sales manager should be doing everything she can to focus on her sales team. Getting them to perform at maximum proficiency at all times. Making sure that they are focused on all the right things. It is recommended that good sales managers spend […]
It Takes Patience To Be A Great Sales Manager
I once worked with a company president who hired a salesperson in a new territory on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and fired him before the Fourth of July weekend. Befuddled, I asked him why. He told me, “Look, the guy had not brought in a single order.” I asked if he had brought […]
It’s All About The Content!
The better the content, the better the story, the more provocative the message, the more successful your marketing and branding will be. But as we all know writing great content is not always as easy as it seems. Especially, if you want to write authentic content with stories that are actually true, instead of lifted […]
It’s Time To Rethink The Whole Rep Thing
For years now I have been working with reps acting as the liaison between them and the circuit board shops I work with. During that time I have seen the interest those reps have in working with board shops diminish as quickly as the market for fax machines. Most reps seem to have lost it […]
A Great Relationship With Your Sales Reps
One of the most important aspects of my business is helping companies with their relationships with their reps. Certainly it’s no secret that the rep/principal relationship is one of the most challenging that industry faces. This relationship is particularly challenging in the PC board industry with its’ tremendous ups and downs and its’ consistent struggles […]
The Power Of Tenacity
It’s amazing how much can get done when you decide to stick with it Another year, another strategic plan…or worse yet another month another strategic plan! Does this sound familiar to you? Well it does to me. The most difficult thing to do when you are a strategic consultant like I am is to […]
The Modern Salesperson
We’re not taking about your fathers’ salesperson, as they say. It’s a new world and the modern salesperson has to keep up or get run over. That’s just that way it is. I was talking to a young salesperson the other day. The first thing that struck me was how confident he was. This guy […]
Calling All PCB Sales People
Where are all the PCB sales people? A few years ago there were all kinds of sales people on the street. Good sales people; seasoned veterans with proven track records who had been victimized by the stream of mergers that left them high and dry when the conquering company went with their sales force and […]
Great Customer Service Stories
Oh, those wonderful customer service stories, don’t we all love them! The one about Nordstrom’s giving a customer a refund for the snow tires he returned, even though they don’t even sell snow tires! Or the one about the Saturn representative personally bringing a new seat to a Saturn owner in Alaska whose passenger seat […]