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Signed Copies for SKO? Book Club? Quarterly Gathering? Rewards for Great Performance? Volume Discounts?
Volume discounts? Yes! Book club support? Yes! Signed copies? Yes, again! For those who want to provide Great Demo!, Doing Discovery, and Suspending Disbelief ...
More Premature Elaboration: A Competitive Oops!
I was the prospect listening to a vendor present their offering. The salesperson was working his way through their product presentation and entered a ...
Delight in Being Surprised!
Delight in being surprised – embrace it – because it means you just learned something! And if you’re curious, here are a few wonderful ...
“We Tell Great Stories but We Lose the Business…!”
This lament came from a head of sales. He noted that they had invested in storytelling training, thinking that storytelling skills would give his ...
“Doing Discovery” SE Book Club – What’s YOUR Discovery Skills Level?
I joined Kintan Brahmbhatt, Co-Founder and CEO of Olto Labs, for this intriguing and enlightening discussion of discovery skills, methods, tips, and examples. We ...
Diary of a Sales Engineer – Storytelling Episode!
From the fabulous Hosts: “Stories are what make us human. They’ve helped us pass down knowledge and values for generations. Take the tortoise and ...
Ass-u-me – A Short-cut Discovery Tragedy!
Not long ago, I was working with a high-level champion who had purchased and enjoyed our product at his previous company and wanted to ...
In a “Bake Off?” Demo First!
When in a competitive “bake off” or similar situation where multiple competitors will deliver demos to a prospect, be first. Why? Two reasons! Being ...
A Late Majority Story: No Compelling Reason to Change
Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside, California was renowned as a place where many Silicon Valley startups were founded. Stories of cocktail-napkin drawings sketched at Buck’s ...
Next Tuesday August 5 – The SE Book Club – Live!
“In discovery, people and organizations want you to understand their perceived uniqueness; with solutions, they want to be part of a group.” Join us ...
Suspending Disbelief: 5 Minutes Can Save You 5 Years (or More! )
“Ugh – I learned it the hard way. This would have saved me five years!” “I didn’t realize what I was doing was a ...
How Can Setting Expectations Impact Sales?
A sales methodology trainer shared this intriguing story: “There were two vendors competing for a prospect’s business, a very large opportunity. Both vendors were ...
My Cup Is…?
The optimist says, “My cup is half full!” The pessimist says, “My cup is half empty!” The presales person says, “That cup is twice ...
Want a Demo Horror Story?
The Credit Card Story: I was doing a demo for a small but important prospect. The CEO of the company was the key ...
How to AVOID Discovery Feeling Like an Interrogation
Discovery should be perceived by your prospects as a two-way conversation, where both parties take away useful information. “A conversation is a dialogue, ...
The Myth of the Informed Buyer – And the Importance of Vision Reengineering!
Do you know everything about the products you buy? “Informed decision-making comes from a long tradition of guessing and then blaming others for ...
Power Tools of Communication: Analogies and Metaphors!
Sometimes a good metaphor or analogy can save the day. “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed!” – Peter Senge Years ...
The Origin of Value Realization Events: A Delightful Differentiator!
Waaay back at the turn of the century (2000, not 1900), I purchased a CRM system for my organization, amounting to an investment of ...
Buyer Enablement and Transition Vision: Which Vendor Will Get Your Business?
“Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners.” – E. Joseph Cossman “If all the cars in ...
Buyer Enablement: A Whole New Game
Buyer Enablement endeavors to remove as much friction as possible from prospects’ buying processes and anticipate their needs. It is a major, delightful shift ...
Discovery: The Surprising Importance of Environment
Experience is knowing what questions to ask. “If at first you don’t succeed, that’s about average for a construction project.” — Sam “The ...
Illustrations Article: Doing the Last Thing First!
Illustrations: Doing the Last Thing First! An Advanced Never Stop Learning! Article “Wow!” exclaimed the CRO, “You really nailed it. That’s exactly what I’m ...
What Did You Say? What Did You Mean?
Word choice can be critical! “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw ...
Discovery Tip and Story: Tour the Facilities!
An intriguing discovery dimension is learning about your prospects’ physical environment, and it can be differentiating. “The real voyage of discovery consists not ...
“I Want This to Be Interactive…!”
“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and ...
The System Is a Bit Slow Right Now…
Dealing with software disasters can cause frustration, fear, and panic, and sometimes surprising elegance. “Programming today is a race between software engineers striving ...
Too Easy?
When you find you repeat the same, exact process over and over and over, you should consider automating it. “The first rule of ...