New year, new possibilities, new growth, and potentially new team members. Although it has been over ten years since I did a deal with Shaker Recruitment in Chicago, Joe Shaker and I have stayed friends. Joe and I were catching up over the Holidays when I asked him what is the best piece of sales advice he received?  Immediately, he quoted his father, Joe Shaker Sr. Make a friend, make a deal.   Knowing both Joe Shaker Jr and Sr., I can verify they live this statement. Like I stated, it has been over ten years since Joe and I have […]

As one year draws to a close and new one begins, organizations find themselves in unhealthy routines. They become engrossed and lost in the minutiae of numbers, quotas, portfolios, and fail to take an organizational approach to grow revenue.  Every organization should ask the questions below to create a productive dialogue. This dialogue provides the context to align revenue development, sales priorities, and long term health of sales to secure YOY growth. What are we growing?  What are we killing?  What are we creating?    What are we growing?  When I ask this question, most executives say everything we can. […]

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”no” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=””][fusion_text] The change in the buyer’s journey is creating a need for salespeople to develop a higher level of business acumen. Over the last several years buyers have made the traditional sales funnel into chop suey.  A sales funnel used to […]

According to Sales Hacker, on average, today’s salespeople only stay on the job for 16.8 months. Sellers are exchanging the promises of future commissions for short-term salary increases, and perks, bypassing the slugfest of building a book of business, which is vital for an organization’s long-term success. Typical factors, like competition and the economy, are contributing to salespeople leaving.  But the most significant change of surveyed sellers is the level of people reporting dissatisfaction as the primary reason for departure.  Not surprisingly, the organizations with the longest sales team tenure are the same as the salespeople expressing the highest level […]

Any business who does the same thing year-over-year without change, improvement or advancement will experience a natural decline of 15%.  To flip it, if everything stayed the same year-over-year, you would need to sell 15% more to make last year’s numbers.