I cut a hole in my perfectly fine living room wall this past weekend. It all started when my wife and I decided we needed a dog door. After some research, I found the Hale Pet Wall Door and thought “I can install this.” After all, their website says, “Any person with a working knowledge…
Work 1% Harder – How to Move Up in a Big Company
About 10 years ago, my wife and I had just purchased a house (again), when I received an unexpected call from my boss. “Steve…I’m going to have to let you go. This isn’t working out.” With a new mortgage, plenty of home repair projects lined up and a boatload of bills, I was not a…
Why You are Not on My Mailing List
At Inside Sales Dude, word of mouth referrals are crucial for generating consulting projects. I want people to think of me when they are trying to solve a sales problem. One way to I stay “top of mind” is by writing blog posts providing practical advice for Sales Management. If I dumped all of my contacts…
My Experience With Hurricane Irma
7 Days Before Landfall – Preparations When I first heard that Hurricane Irma might hit us in Southeast Florida, I thought, “I better gas up the cars now before everybody panics.” That turned out to be a smart move. The very next day, cars were lined up for 2 hours getting gas and stations began…
Fix Your Broken Outbound Prospecting
My Grandpa was one of those guys who could fix anything. One summer, when I was a little kid, Grandpa decided it was time to paint our porches and that I was old enough to help. First we had to replace a few rotten tongue-and-groove boards. Then we had to hand scrape and sand down…
Dealing with Irrational Behavior
Every morning as the sun comes up, my dog Snickers likes to sunbathe on the back deck. Since I am an early riser, I let Snickers outside and start exercising, while my wife still sleeps. In addition to sunbathing, Snickers is our self appointed Guardian of the Back Yard. She fiercely defends it from squirrels and…
Using Indeed.com to Find Sales Reps
This week, a woman from Massachusetts won the $787M Powerball jackpot. The odds of one of us winning the next big powerball jackpot are 1 in 292,000,000. We have better odds of being struck by lightning, killed by a shark or injured by a toilet. Luckily, the odds are much better for finding and hiring…
How to Sell $12K in 1 Hour (plus 9 months)
Last October, I stepped out of bed and felt my laminate floor squish beneath my feet. Being a longtime homeowner, I figured this was worth investigating. I knelt down, pushed on a plank and saw water ooze up from the seams. This was not a good sign.
Is It Time to Move to a New CRM?
My wife and I have moved 11 times. This included relocating from Pittsburgh to Florida & back twice, from Florida to Raleigh & back once, and 5 more times to different cities. The first time we moved from Pittsburgh to Florida, we needed an entire 18 wheel tractor trailer to transport our belongings – and it…
The Truth About Setting Sales Quotas
Many of us have received our quota and thought, “Where the $#@&! did this number come from?” Today, you will learn the truth. I’ll shed some light on how quotas get created, how they are assigned, and what you can do about it. You may be surprised.