Author: Steve Ainslie

Every Inside Sales Organization I’ve joined has had far too many rules. The number of rules grew over time. I’m sure many were created with good intentions to eliminate ambiguity or prevent problems. Others were added to make someone else’s job easier. Still others were once important but have outlived their usefulness. I’ve found that it’s really difficult for Inside Sales…

The Staff Log is a simple tool to track your interactions with your sales reps. I was introduced to it by my manager when he promoted me to run a team of 10 reps. This log is so simple, you will have a hard time believing how much it can impact your effectiveness as a manager.  I’ve recommended it…

This post is not sugar-coated for political correctness or HR appropriateness. I work in the real world where prejudice, biases and unfair employment practices abound. Instead of pretending they don’t exist, let’s deal with them head on. I’ve built outstanding sales teams by following a few simple hiring principles: Hire weirdos. Hire people for their strengths. Build teams with diverse skills sets.

Sometimes 3 Big Rocks are too many. At the same company where I developed the 3 Big Rocks approach I had a manager who met with me every Friday afternoon for a 1-on-1. He was a mentor who taught me many valuable lessons.  I cherished our time together. At first, we met for an hour a week. Then…