A few years ago I was working a trade show in New Orleans and decided to visit the casino since I’d never been in one before. I know how to play Blackjack so I stepped up to play at a $5 per hand table. Within 30 seconds I had lost $20. (Apparently I am not like everybody…
What Would Happen If You Lowered Everyone’s Quota?
In high school, I set a personal goal to graduate as Valedictorian. Our class ranking was based on GPA. I set my sights on attaining a perfect 4.0 GPA. But alas, I was not very athletic nor artistic. In my first 2 years, I earned a couple of B’s in Gym and Art. I graduated as Valedictorian…
What Do You Really Want From Your VP of Sales?
2 years ago, I signed up for an online training program from GMB Fitness. At the time, I had no plans to change my high-intensity crossfit training routine. I just wanted to learn how to do handstand pushups and to move a bit more fluidly. When I signed up for the course, GMB surprised me by…
Save $300K …You Don’t Need to Hire a VP of Sales
Before I launched Inside Sales Dude almost a year ago, I was contacted by a CEO who wanted to hire me as his VP of Sales. We had an in-depth discussion about his business, his need for a structured sales organization and his revenue projections. Although we had an interesting discussion, at the end of…
How Easy Is It to Contact You?
Late yesterday afternoon I was mowing the lawn when suddenly I was surrounded by 2 giant dogs. One flopped onto my foot so I would scratch his belly while to other jumped up to put his paws on my shoulders and lick my face. I herded the dogs into my garage so I could check…
Use the Ben Franklin Close to Sell Anything
When I was in grade school, we had fundraisers which required each kid to sell a minimum allotment of stuff in order to fund field trips, school programs, and clubs. Usually we had to sell candy bars. I was terrible at this. I’d trudge from house-to-house after school, knocking on doors and asking people to buy….
How to Get Hired in Sales
I’ve been hired as a rep 8 times, a manager 5 times and received at least twice that many offers that I’ve turned down. Contrary to conventional wisdom, only once did I have an inside “connection” who helped me get an interview. I never brought a “rolodex of C-level contacts”. Sometimes, I was even entering an…
You Already Know What to Do To Sell More
Over the last few years, I’ve put on a few extra pounds that I’d like to lose. Despite my best efforts at exercising like a lunatic, I’ve learned that I cannot “outrun a Twinkie”. So I spent the last several months reading about different diet & exercise plans. I’ve read about Paleo, Primal, Keto and…
Put Your Best Rep on Your Best Territory
A long time ago in a land far away, I was suckered into being the Little League Coach for my son’s team. Although I was new to coaching and was an awful baseball player myself, I did one thing right – I assigned our best players to the best positions.
Just One of Those Days
Last week my son Zack’s car broke down on the way to work. This was the first of a small avalanche of problems: He rescheduled all of his shoots for the next day and dropped his car off at the mechanic. He drove 30 miles to my house to borrow my car. The next morning, he woke…