The Ideal Customer Profile Okay let’s start off with that old Willie Sutton saw: When asked why he robbed banks, the famous or infamous bank robber responded, “Because that’s where the money is.” Which reminds me of some of the sales people we know who are out prospecting for new customers and orders while having […]
The Rep / Principal Relationship Part Four: The Productive Partnership
For the past three weeks we have been discussing the rep-principal relationship and how it needs to be improved, for the future. We listed what the reps want from this relationship and what the principals want from the relationship and just by comparing those two lists we can see that there are some wide gaps […]
Reps vs Principals Week Three: What The Reps Want
Turn around is fair play: last week we discussed what the principals want from the rep-principal relationship, now we are going to discuss what the reps want. As we mentioned last week, these are wish lists only, some of the things both these entities want are not fair or even practical, but it symbolizes the […]
Reps Part Two: What The Principals Want
Last week in the first column of this four part series we discussed how the rep/principal relationship is no longer as productive as it once was. We discussed the disconnect between what the reps want out of the relationship and what the reps want from it. And we discussed how this relationship has to not […]
The Sales Rep Dilemma: There Has To Be A Better Way
Overall, the sales rep-principal relationship is not working the way it used to. In fact, it is archaic to the point of being unworkable. Let’s look at this issue from both sides and examine why it just doesn’t work. From the Reps point of view here the challenges of being a rep in 2021: Reps […]
Don’t Sell Your Customers, Educate Them
There has never been a better time to pick up new customers. For the first time in years companies are looking for new suppliers…especially domestic suppliers. They want to bring some of their offshore business home. They also are developing new products and are concerned now more than ever about protecting their intellectual property). It’s […]
The Brand! It’s All About The Brand!
Remember the Pepsi Challenge way back in the dark ages of the 80’s? That was when Pepsi performed blind taste tests with real people having them take drinks from two identical cups of soda, one filled with Pepsi and the other Coke? And remember that Pepsi won, as most people said that Pepsi was better […]
Don’t Be Afraid To Brag
Please stop being afraid that people are going to steal your stuff! It’s too confining. Stop taking yourself so seriously. No one is going to go out of their way to steal your stuff. First of all, we are in the most NIH industry in the world. NIH, for those of you who don’t know […]
You Gotta Make Sense
These things happen to all of us. We all have stories of when “policy” supersedes common sense. Here’s a good one I heard a few years ago. I took my I-Phone to Verizon one day because there was something wrong with the software and I wanted to get it fixed. The clerk checked to make […]
Hiring: The New World Order
A couple of facts to start with. The Boomers wanted jobs for life. They wanted security. Remember when working at the post office was a great career choice because you would have a job for life? Comedian and Seinfeld co- creator Larry David likes to tell the story about how disappointed his mother was that […]