It may be the dirtiest little secret in professional sales. The lie we all love to tell ourselves. The truth we just hate to face up to. What secret/lie/truth is that? The myth of the subject matter expert as key to sales success. Sources of Mythology about Subject Matter Experts There is no shortage of […]
If you’ve ever received a personal performance evaluation at work, there’s a decent chance you left the meeting thinking, “Well, it would’ve been good to know that about four months ago!” In other words, advice—even if valuable—has to be timely to add value. And, of course, an evaluation that doesn’t offer any recommendations at all […]
Exhibit A. Google conducted a multi-year, multi-million dollar study called Project Aristotle to determine just what distinguishes successful teams from unsuccessful ones. Tons of data were examined, decades of research studied, multiple hypotheses explored. The answer? Drum roll: successful team members display more sensitivity toward their colleagues, e.g. granting them equal talk time. THAT’S IT! […]
Back in 2008, RainToday.com published Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry in which they analyzed a ton of data from 645 consultants. There were six price-related topics. One in particular has stuck with me over the years: the analysis on discounting. As the authors point out, discounting is Ground Zero for hypocrisy in pricing. Everyone decries […]
Let’s not mince words. The answer, pretty much, is yes. The exception is what the academics call social trust—a generalized inclination to think well or ill of the intentions of strangers in the aggregate. That kind of trust ends up being inherited from your Scandinavian grandparents (or not, from your Italian grandparents). The rest, let’s […]
“…’tis a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” —Shakespeare, MacBeth Note: This post comes out of ongoing discussions with Barbara Kimmel, CEO of of Trust Across America. She and I share a concern (as do many others) about how imprecision in speaking about trust hampers progress. It’s not an […]
Years ago, O best beloved, there lived a musician, both popular and influential. His name was Bob Dylan. Some of you may remember. Dylan’s lyrics grace the lists of most popular lyrics of all time, including my favorite, “the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face…” from Visions of Johanna. But some […]
Trust takes time. Well, as I’ve said countless times – that’s the biggest myth out there. Trust can be built in a matter of moments. It’s all about how you go about it. And I can share with you how you can build trust…fast. ——– That’s quite a claim. But I think I can back […]
Integrity, like trust, is something we all talk about, meaning many different things – but always assuming that everyone else means precisely the same that we do. That leads to vagueness and confusion at best – and angered accusations at worst. Particularly in this time of elections, a careful examination of how we use the […]
When it comes to selling – many of us focus on our fears. “Will they buy?” “Are my services priced right?” “What are they looking for?” “Will they go with me?” These questions inevitably lead to a dance that involves both buyer and seller, a delicate tip-toeing around the heart of the matter. We try to […]