“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Sure, when the four-term president said this, he was in his first term, and he was talking about the depression and as the history books tell us that turned out to be the least of his problems during his time as […]
The Rep-Principal Partnership Part 4: The Solution
Okay so here is what we do. Atticus: “Do you know what a compromise is?” Scout: “Bending the law?” Atticus: “Uh, no it’s an agreement reached by mutual consent. Now here’s the way it works. You concede the necessity of going to school, and we’ll keep right on reading the same every night, just as […]
The Rep/Principal Relationship Part 3: What Do Principals Want?
If you have been following this column for the past few weeks, you know that we have been talking about the relationship or lack thereof between independent sales reps and their principals. Since I started this series I have received a number of comments from readers enforcing the points I’ve been making. Some of them […]
What Do Reps Want?
Continuing our series on closing the gap between independent sales reps and their principals I thought the next step would be to talk about what reps are looking for in an ideal rep-principal partnership. As I talk to reps, and yes I talk to a lot of them, one of the issues they always have […]
What’s Wrong With Reps?
How to fix this rep thing This is a question I get asked on practically a daily basis by PCB shop owners and leaders. They tell me that they are just not getting out of their reps what they used to. They tell me that their reps are not getting out there enough, not […]
The Elephant In The Room: What Are We Going To Do About Sales Reps?
The idea of sales reps is not working. Not only is it not working, the situation is getting worse. The gap between reps and their principals is growing to the point where it’s hard to see if we can ever find a way of closing it in the future. I have been on both sides […]
It’s Your Website. Own It!
Please, please do not believe that website “experts” can tell your story…they cannot. Yes they know how to put web sites together, they know all about sitemaps and what you should have first and second and if they are very good they can develop and design very good, very comprehensive web sites that are easy […]
No, These Are Not The Worst Of Times
It seems that for whatever reason people want to say that these times are worse than any other. People say we are heading for a recession and that we should all be scared of what is going to happen. When I ask salespeople what is going on out there they tell me that their customers […]
21 Reasons Why I Can’t Make My Sales Numbers
Are you hearing any of these statements when you talk to a salesperson about their sales or lack thereof lately? Take a look. Oh, and feel free to add your own. The economy is down and the news said we are heading for a recession so everyone is scared to buy my products. The war […]
Know Your Customers
A famous (and telling) story: a number of years ago in the deep past when the fast food giants were having the great burger war and wanting to prove that size matters, both Burger King and McDonald’s were bragging about who had the biggest hamburger with a quarter pound of beef. Mc-D had the famous […]