Don’t Confuse Your KPIs with Your CSFs
I spoke with BigCo, Inc. They wanted their B2B salespeople to become trusted advisors. They felt (correctly) that greater trust levels with their customers would result in greater intra-customer market…
Don’t Focus Just on Skillsets
It's become a truism: you can't manage what you can't measure. (Actually, it's quite a debatable proposition.) A corollary is that therefore what matters are observable behaviors, hence the essence…
The Traveling Salesman? Or the Prisoner’s Dilemma?
The Prisoner's Dilemma is a classic conundrum in game theory. It purports to explain why two people might not cooperate, even if it is in both their best interests to…
Don’t Manage My Expectations
"An expectation is a pre-meditated resentment." So goes one interesting saying aimed at managing our own expectations. But what about managing others' expectations of us? Have you ever done a small…
If Selling Is Too Hard, You’re Doing It Wrong
Many fine sales authors will tell you that an essential ingredient in selling—perhaps the essential ingredient—is effort. Gumption, grit, hustle, sweat—whatever the word, the image it conveys is that success…
So, You Don’t Have Time To Be a Trusted Advisor?
One of the more frequent comments I get in talking about being a trusted advisor is this: “We’d love to practice all the things you talk about, Charlie, we agree…
Don’t Be a Social Selling Lemming
You probably have a social media presence. You might even call it a social media strategy. But is it really strategic? Or is it just a lemming strategy—making you…
An Open Letter to Timothy Ryan, PwC’s US Chairman Re: Oscars and Trust
Mr. Ryan, Some days as Chairman must be fun. Others, like the Oscars the other night – not so much. I recognize you, in fact, know a lot about trust.…
Don’t Hog the Trust
If you’re in an advisory or sales role, you probably strive to be a trusted advisor to your customers. After all, if your customers trust you, tons of things start to go right,…
Is Selling Too Hard? Maybe You’re Doing It Wrong
Most salespeople love athletic metaphors. For example, consider these well-known maxims: No pain, no gain The harder you try to hit the ball, the worse you do. Note – these two platitudes…