Yesterday I sold my plane. It is a 1978 Cessna 182Q. Seats 4. Cruises at 160 MPH. What a wonderful plane it is. I bought the plane in 1995 after Datalogix International, a company where I was a principal, went public. I flew nearly 2,000 hours in the plane with trips to Florida, Atlanta, Chicago, [...]
Filed under: sales process | 8 Comments »
In Q3 2011, ES Research Group, Inc. conducted an important survey to explore the impact that technology, evolving media, and new delivery methods are having on the people and organizations that develop, deliver, and purchase sales training. The results show that, over the past two years, rapid advancements in technology, combined with a sluggish economy, [...]
Filed under: Measurement, Methodology, Presentations, Research, Sales 2.0, sales process, sales training, Sales Training Companies, Technology | No Comments »
I recently spent a wonderful half-hour interviewing sales training industry legend, Mike Bosworth. Mike’s latest passion is working with salespeople on an under-utilized, but critical skill, storytelling. Really! Shortly after I started ESR, the subject came up. I was skeptical as well. But after you listen to Mike discuss how it all works, you may [...]
Filed under: Interview, Presentations, sales process, Sales Training Companies | 1 Comment »
The more I know about them, the more I’ve been impressed with Kadient. I really like their playbook approach, the people I’ve met on their team, and their straightforward, no B.S. approach to sales effectiveness. After receiving an email from Rich Berkman, Vice President, Sales Enablement Strategy, about his new eBook, Dive Deeper into Your [...]
Filed under: CRM, Interview, Marketing, Measurement, Methodology, Opportunity Management, sales process | No Comments »
Prior to our briefing last week by The TAS Group executives in advance of today’s announcement, we were somewhat skeptical. We thought claims they made in their YouTube videos were more than a bit outrageous, like this one from their press release: “Dealmaker Genius uses over 20,000 core knowledge elements and more than one million [...]
Filed under: CRM, Measurement, Methodology, Opportunity Management, Sales 2.0, sales process, Sales Training Companies, Technology | No Comments »
That’s a question I’ve been asked again and again by journalists, sales leaders, sales training company CEOs, corporate training departments, consultants, and our clients, when they first contact us. When I tell them that’s not a question I can easily answer, many offer to pay me just for providing them with “just one name.” If [...]
Filed under: Buyers, sales process, Sales Training Companies | 11 Comments »
Happy New Year. You know how, at this time of year, all the media review the past year (or in this case, decade) and talk about advancing into the next one? Here’s one for you: I may have the attribution wrong, but I believe it was Confucius who said, The best time to plant a [...]
Filed under: Methodology, sales process | 4 Comments »
Back in October I delivered the keynote at SMT‘s conference. I shared with the audience ESR’s list of 12 obstacles that must be overcome for sales training to begin to have the degree of impact that a few the leading sales training companies are having with every client. Sales training is most often reactive. We [...]
Filed under: Hiring, Measurement, Methodology, Opportunity Management, Sales 2.0, Sales 2.0, sales process, Sales Training Companies | 5 Comments »
Dave Brock wrote a terrific post about sales process. It sparked me to write about an issue that has been troubling me. I’m not going to put forward any more arguments on the subject of whether or not process important in selling. There is enough research out there—from ESR, from other research firms, and a [...]
Filed under: Methodology, Opportunity Management, Research, sales process, Sales Training Companies | 11 Comments »
As a result of some recent research ESR has done for client projects (working with sales trainers as well as buyers of sales training), we have some information we’re able to share with you. Sales training revenue. Sales training revenue is off across the board, ranging from a 10% decline in previously rapidly growing companies, [...]
Filed under: sales process, sales training, Sales Training Companies, Technology | 1 Comment »
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
