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Annualize Your Value Statements!
How is 1 day per week worth 2 FTEs? When communicating value, we need to present the largest reasonable figures. One simple way to ...
What is the Calculus of Sales?
Critical Moments! What is the Calculus of Sales (or more accurately, what is the Calculus of Buying)? It is understanding what happens moment by ...
Value Statements Need to Align with Job Title
The sales call wasn’t going well! I was watching the prospect’s reaction to the salesperson’s statements… He said, “It looks like you’ll gain $24 ...
A New Strangely Accurate Forecast and Pipeline Term
LITLOH! What is LITLOH? Living In The Land Of Hope. And if the opportunity rolls over into the next quarter it is Lounging ...
Making Monetary Numbers Tangible
What can $100 buy? $1,000? $25,000? $1,000,000? It is often hard to associate an amount with a tangible deliverable, and it gets more difficult ...
Want a Demo Horror Story?
(Stop selling when your prospect is ready to buy!) I was doing a demo for a small but important prospect. The CEO ...
“Great!” Said the Salesperson…
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard vendors exclaim “Great!” in response to a prospect admitting a major pain. It would be ...
Life Sciences Sales Lab Podcast – Flipping the Demo!
“In the world of life sciences, we often fall into the trap of the “Harbor Tour”—dragging our prospects through every single feature, button, and ...
Arithmancy: The Magic of Numbers!
How a Little Goes a Long Way: 3 Minutes Equals $24 Million Some years ago, there was an explosion of interest in electronic health ...
Which Vendor Statement Has More Impact?
Compare these: “If you buy our software, you’ll save time and money…!” “If you implement our software, it looks like you will reduce your ...
Sage Sayings and Wise Words to End 2025 and Start 2026
Do the Last Thing First! Peel Back the Layers. Encrispen! Avoid Buying It Back. Execute all pathways with the fewest ...
“Here’s the Truth?”
When someone starts a sentence with the phrase, “Here’s the truth,” I’m immediately skeptical!
“Customer Fill In” – A Truly Terrific Demo Tip!
This tip will change your demos BIG time… Encourage your prospects to actively PARTICIPATE in your demos by gently (but firmly!) forcing them to ...
Tell Your Prospects “It’s OK to say no…”
Most people, as prospects, are uncomfortable saying “no” to sales teams. Prospects will say “yes” to small steps rather than to stop the process ...
An End of the Quarter Dialog
This same conversation occurs hundreds of times, all around the world every year! “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can ...
‘Twas the Night Before the Big Demo
With New Stanzas! (and apologies to Clement Clarke Moore) ‘Twas the night ‘fore the demo and all through the house Not a creature ...
An Advent Calendar for SKOs? Sure!
“A story a day,” says a colleague… What an intriguing idea! A CRO colleague sent me a message that he is buying copies of ...
Demo No No: “I’m not listening…!”
In a demo, clicking or changing screens while the prospect is talking indicates “I’m not listening…!” Just saw this and realized how rude ...
The Reverse Demo: A Fabulous Discovery Method!
“Before I demo to you, why don’t you demo to me?” If you are looking to displace an existing system (either a competitor or ...
How to AVOID Discovery Feeling Like an Interrogation
“A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue.” – Truman Capote Discovery should be perceived by your prospects as a two-way conversation, where both parties ...
Cooks, Chefs, Discovery and Demos
Are You a Cook or a Chef? Insights into Personal Growth With respect to doing discovery and delivering demos, are you a cook or ...
The Gruesome Anatomy of a One-Hour Overview Demo
Warning! Gruesome content ahead! Here’s the rough but strangely consistent timeline for far-too-many overview demos: 00:00: Fumbling with Zoom/Teams/Google Meet 00:04: Introductions, but one-sided ...
Overview Demo? A True Story
“What’s he doing?” – Whispered my colleague in my ear I was a third party joining a demo presented by a partner vendor ...
A Story a Day – A Rewarding Strategy!
What a great idea… A colleague shared his intriguing strategy for consuming Suspending Disbelief: A Collection of Sales, Presales, and Marketing Stories (and Lessons ...
THIS Is a Good Discovery Call!
(Compare this one with the poor discovery call posted previously.) But before you read further, examine the Gong recording – the call was ~55 ...
Is THIS a Good Discovery Call?
You decide…! But before you read further, examine the Gong recording – the call was ~45 minutes long. What do you detect? First, the ...
DISCOVERY Skills Assessment Time!
Where are YOU with the seven levels of discovery skills? Level 1: Uncovers statements of pain Level 2: Uncovers pain and explores more deeply Level ...