Lauren Harper at Focus.com pinged me last week to contribute to a discussion about the worst sales training horror stories. Before I took down my sales training shingle in 2005, I had a lot of stories. One that came to mind was this, a slightly edited version of the one I posted as a comment [...]
Filed under: On the Road, sales training | 3 Comments »
Funny, how when you travel for business, especially to someplace exotic, your friends and relatives always say something like, “Can I carry your bags?” I’ve been hearing that for a while, since I’ve consulted, trained, and keynoted in 27 countries. Last week I made Turkey my 28th and it was quite an experience. Three flights [...]
Filed under: Buyers, Economy, Marketing, On the Road | 2 Comments »
Note: I’ve been reluctant to write posts that are a bit more personal. The reason is every time I do a bunch of readers unsubscribe from this blog’s RSS feed. (I guess they just want knowledge. The fact that some stay on as long as they do must mean I deliver some of that to [...]
Filed under: Book Recommendation, On the Road, Professionalism | 9 Comments »
As I write this I’m attending a client’s annual sales conference at a resort in the Midwest. The client is a large insurance company. Although I have a workshop to facilitate tomorrow morning, I’ve been in observation for the past two days. Yesterday there were three presentations: the president and co-chairman of the parent company, [...]
Filed under: Leadership, On the Road | 4 Comments »
I’m just back from my yearly trip to Ireland where I facilitate a series of workshops on building a competitive sales approach as part of the highly-respected International Selling Programme. The program, the only one of its kind anywhere, is sponsored in part by Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the Dublin Institute of Technology where [...]
Filed under: Economy, Leadership, On the Road | No Comments »
Because I’m a pilot, people have been asking me my opinion on the Northwest Airlines situation. The facts: Two pilots flew an airliner with 144 passengers 150 miles past their planned destination. The pilots were out of radio contact for 91 minutes (revised from the 78 minutes originally reported). ATC (Air Traffic Control) tried a [...]
Filed under: On the Road | No Comments »
At SMT‘s conference last week in Orlando, Laurie Weed, Western Region Sales Development Manager at Ricoh, presented her company’s approach to ride-alongs (at Ricoh they’re called field rides) with sales reps. We’ve seen different approaches to this critical reinforcement process at ESR. I really like Ricoh’s for several reasons. First is that they actually do [...]
Filed under: coaching, Measurement, Methodology, On the Road | 4 Comments »
Four workshops down, one to go here in Ireland. No sign of Swine Flu anywhere! I continue to be amazed by Enterprise Ireland—Ireland’s Department of Commerce. The support they provide start-ups and high-potential Irish companies is something we can all learn a lot from. EI provides funding, programs, advisors, resources, introductions to key decision makers, [...]
Filed under: On the Road | 3 Comments »
I’ve written a lot about hiring sales people and sales managers on this blog. ESR knows that the epidemic of ineffective hiring is one of the reasons that sales performance has been so dismal over the years, even before the current economic situation. The best sales methodology, training, tools, technology, coaching, and reinforcement doesn’t have [...]
Filed under: Hiring, On the Road | 4 Comments »
I’m in Ireland this week and next working with Sales Executives and CEOs in a series of one- and two-day workshops as part of the International Selling Program offered by Enterprise Ireland (Ireland’s commerce department) and DIT (The Dublin Institute of Technology, where I am an adjunct professor of sales and sales management). My [...]
Filed under: Economy, Hiring, Leadership, Methodology, On the Road, sales process | No Comments »
Geoffrey James, former BNET Sales Machine blogger and now Inc. Magazine columnist, refers to me as "the world's top expert on sales training," a designation I'm proud to accept.
ESR publishes independent evaluations and comparisons of sales training companies and their programs and services. (Think Consumer Reports, JD Powers, or Gartner.)
We also coach CEOs of leading sales training firms as well as individual sales trainers on how to grow their businesses and be selected more often in opportunities where they meet customer requirements.
I'm proud that ESR is recognized as the leading authority on sales training programs and sales performance improvement.
For the past twenty years I've focused my career on the area of sales performance improvement, sales effectiveness and especially sales training.
Presently I write the regular sales training column for Sales and Marketing Management magazine.
I can be reached at
+1 (508) 313-9585 Ext 706
