One of my favorite companies on the planet is Zappos, yeah, the shoe guys with headquarters in Las Vegas. Now I am not really a shoe guy, I have never bought a pair of shoes from Zappos, in fact I have never bought anything from them. Unless, that is, you count their books on customer […]
The Best Companies Earn Their Higher Prices
Being the best will get you the best prices. You have to be better than everyone else. You have to be better than everyone else to win the business; not only win it, but keep it. If you are good, very good, you can be good enough to get past the price issue. If your […]
Keep Treating Your Customers Like Prospects
I recently read a story about a man who died, and when he went to the Pearly Gates he was not met by St Peter but by a man who said “we have changed things around here, I am going to give you a tour of heaven and my counterpart is going to give you […]
What Goes Around…
This column is meant for those companies who need printed circuit boards but don’t want to communicate with the PCB shops directly. It’s meant for those customers who believe that a PCB is just a thin piece of green plastic that anyone can build. This is for those companies who feel that the board shops […]
The Right Way To Brand Your Company
There is more marketing in our industry right now than there has ever been before. More companies are spending time, creativity, and money on getting their message out to the market. This is a vast improvement over the way it used to be when people in our industry viewed marketing as some sort of mumbo-jumbo […]
Interviewing A Sales Person
The most difficult part of a sales manager’s job. Without a doubt the most challenging part of being a sales manager is finding the right sales people to make up your sales team. It’s vitally important to find the right people because as a sales manager you live and die with your team. If you […]
Building A Great Reputation
When you’re in sales, the most important thing you have is your reputation. It’s all about what people think of you that will determine whether or not you will be successful. And of course, how many people know who you are. This is why you have to have a personal marketing plan built on your […]
The High Cost Of Buying Cheap
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 […]