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Showing posts from November, 2010

Patron Saint of Salespeople

St. Lucia or St. Lucy is the Patron Saint of salespeople. Her story?? She stood strong in her faith and was persecuted because of it. She was hooked to a team of oxen, but could not be moved. She stood strong in her beliefs. Then she had her eyes cut out and was stabbed in the throat. Nice metaphor. In October, I missed my 'quota' for the first time this year. My 2010 personal goals allowed for this (plus one actually), but I was attempting to pitch the sales equivalent of a no-hitter. I missed. Even though I am still at roughly 150% YTD Even though I am guaranteed to go to President's Club (they've already listed it under 'taxable gift' on my last paystub). Even though I will almost assuredly be in the Top 10 nationwide..... Even though I have not been dragged away by a team of oxen, I still feel my eyes on a plate. But, I'm the one doing the gouging. There is no one as critical of me as me. Self-flagellation....works well with the Patron Saint/Catholic mot

The dreaded RFP

Using an RFP to select a vendor is like selecting a girlfriend by how well she writes a book review....of a bad romance novel. It is my experience that RFPs are for suckers and chumps. They tend to only benefit consultants and write down revenue for incumbents. They are a 'price-first', one-sided discussion that tends to rob the bidding parties of any ability to bring value. As you may guess, I am working through an RFP bid. It's a biggie, and I am hopeful and optimistic (both of which are signs of weakness in the sales world). But my company is truly a great fit. I made several mistakes in this particular process, all of which could be traced back to my general distaste of RFPs. Ten years of training has ingrained in me this is a lost cause 95% of the time. I was apathetic. This particular RFP seems to fall in the other 5%.....we will see. I will embrace this process, push to win, and act as though the RFP is my best friend. I will put on my suit and a smile. I will do eve

Precision

I crave, long for, desire, and pray for the ability to be precise. I strive to eliminate as much guess work as possible from my line of work, and be an expert...a consultant...a highly valuable resource. But....I realize more and more that I am a blunt instrument. At my best (and I am one of the best), I am still more of a baseball bat than I am a scalpel. I am realizing that this is not a unique situation to me. Our world is filled with experts. These experts, however, are generally no more than educated guessers. I have discussed in the past that the more moving parts something has, the more likely it will break. I think the same could be said for experts. The more we need to know, the less precise we will ultimately be. I have to study my clients, create urgency, understand my service offerings, understand my competitors, study the technology that my service plugs into, read minds, win hearts, overcome objections, change perceptions, psychoanalyze, pontificate, evangalize, etc. etc.