Sixteen (More) of the World’s Top Sales Experts are Meeting. Get a Seat at the Table.

Thanks to the more than 2,000 of you who, as of today’s count, joined our last Sales Thought-Leader Panel Series either live or via our MP3 archive. Beginning in January, 2011, I will be moderating four new, unscripted, unedited panel discussions on today’s hot button sales issues. Join me online to listen, ask questions, and [...]

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation

If you’re in sales management or especially in a higher level sales executive position and you don’t know who the Sales Executive Council (“SEC”) is, you should. They’re part of the larger Corporate Executive Board, a $440 million public corporation that provides insights and tools to executives of large corporations through a participatory membership-based model. [...]

Critical Success Factors for Sales Managers

Today’s Successful Sales Managers: Who Are They, What Do They Do, and How Do They Do It? Panelists: Dave Kurlan, CEO, Kurlan Associates Martyn Lewis, Founder and Principal, 3g Selling Steve Johnson, President, The Next Level Sales Consulting Richard Lane, Partner, durhamlane ltd. Archived The core issue for the discussion on Wednesday and for every [...]

About Salesreps: Can You Transform a C Player into a B Player?

We read a lot on the sales blogs and in articles about A, B, and C players.  Those pieces have covered various methods, learning approaches, and tools for transforming C’s into B’s, and B’s into A players. We have a strong view at ESR about this subject.   With the right approach, time, and support, you [...]

Your Company’s Culture: Does Sales Eat First?

I don’t hear the phrase “sales culture” very much any more. That’s too bad.  In the past, that phrase was most commonly used in two situations. First, by venture capitalists who were determining if a CEO in whose company they were considering investing had the orientation and experience to support sales to the extent that [...]

Transform Your Customers into Unassailable References (Part 2)

Good references are made, not born. Here is a continuation of the previous blog post, Part 1, beginning with step seven of the thirteen-step process: Train your reference. Whether he’s the ally you recruited and trained to sell on your behalf, or someone you met after the contract was signed, you have to train him [...]

What Are the Real Inhibitors to Effective Selling in Your Organization?

When companies come to us to understand how their salespeople can sell more effectively, we don’t just look at sales training.  One of the foundation exercises we conduct with sales leaders consists of a look at inhibitors to effective selling at multiple levels.  What follows are real examples of those challenges from sales leaders with [...]

Are You Stuck on an Escalator?

There are some valuable videos on YouTube that I’ve used as the foundation for meaningful discussions at the executive level about elevating the level of sales effectiveness within ESR’s clients’ companies. A few weeks ago I posted a question on LinkedIn, Quora, and Focus.com seeking the responders’ favorite videos. Thanks to all of you for [...]

Are You Prone to B.S.O.S? (Bright Shiny Object Syndrome)

Funny how expressions all of a sudden seem to appear, sometimes from out of nowhere. For me, “bright shiny object” is one that I started to notice a few years ago. Now it’s all over the place.  (I looked it up on Google’s Timeline and found the first occurrence representing a syndrome to be March [...]

Now THIS is Sales Leadership!

During 2010, ES Research Group was retained by Bob Seiler, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at PR Newswire.  Bob was new at PRN and had determined that deploying a selling methodology was a critical strategy to help support company growth objectives.  Elevating selling performance with the relevant training, technology, and reinforcement was required [...]