Jeff Schneider

Many mentors (and mentees) resist asking an all-important question about the sales leader’s role: “Where are things most likely to go wrong?” And the answer is: “Wherever people are assuming that they already have all the answers.”

The STORY:

Do any of these scenarios seem familiar?

It’s time for a 21st-century reality check: We all live (and sell) in a ridiculously fast-paced environment.

Sales leaders: If you could only track one performance metric to evaluate the performance of a member of your sales team, which one would you choose?

The STORY:
Bill had decided that Harold, his prospect, was not going to get away. He was going to get the sale no matter what. Now, driving to Harold’s office, Bill reviewed all of the things he’d done to date.

No one is 100% in the world of sales. Very often, the company hero is the person who is winning 30% of the time! So, the big question is not whether you will fail. You will. The question is what you will learn from failure.

Among the questions sales leaders ask me regularly are these:

• How do we hire salespeople who will help us drive dramatic revenue growth?
• What are the attitudinal and behavioral profiles we should be looking for when we’re making a hire?
• Who should we NOT hire?

The STORY:
That morning Bill woke up with laryngitis. “Great,” he croaked at the mirror, “the big sale is today, and I sound horrible.” Stopping off at the pharmacy on the way in for some lozenges, he found his voice in even worse shape. While he could talk, it was just barely above a whisper and for not more than a few sentences.

One of the classic selling rules David Sandler developed and shared with salespeople sounds harsh . . . but it’s true. Sandler warned us that “All prospects lie all the time.”

There's been a lively debate among sales leaders in recent years and it centers on a big question: Has the digital selling environment we are all now operating in brought about a fundamental change in what it means to be a professional salesperson?