Podcast Archive

Think About It... Archives

January 2012: Discovery: It's Not What It Used to Be
You wouldn't use outdated technology to connect with your customers, so why are you still using an outdated method to grow sales with them? 3:00
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December 2011: The Fundamental Core of Differentiation and Greatness
American author Harriet Beecher Stowe said: "To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization." 1:45
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November 2011: STILL Not Sure about E-Reps? Listen Up!
Need examples of how using cloud technologies can and will create a massive competitive advantage for you? Just listen to this. 2:39
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November 2011: Community Service: 11 Reasons Why NOT Doing it is Crazy
Volunteering isn't about "giving back"; it's about "giving". Good business leaders can learn great business lessons along the way. 4:36
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Click here to learn more about the Georgia Symphony Orchestra, where Todd Youngblood learned his 11 lessons while serving on the board.

September 2011: If You're in Sales, Like it or Not, You're in Publishing
To fill knowledge gaps, sales people often search the Internet for expertise. If you're invisible in those search results - in other words, if you're not publishing - you're missing out. 2:52
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August 2011: Work With Those Ready to be Worked With
While several people may benefit from what you're trying to sell, not everyone should receive the same amount of attention from you right off the bat. 2:22
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July 2011: Mom Was Right (...as Usual)
Mom was right: honesty, integrity and the commitment to serve will pay off in the long run. 1:18
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July 2011: Talent: A Process or a Thing?
Talent is an ability that is the result of process and effort. A lot of things have to come together in order to nurture your natural talent. 1:57
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June 2011: Anybody Care to Debate about the Power of an E-Rep?
The examples of e-Rep power and sales effectiveness just keep on coming. Listen to this story about how a totally off-topic sales call turned into a win. Thank you e-Rep! 4:52
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May 2011: The Blog Brochure – AAAAAAGGGGHH!
Brochures have their place; your blog isn't it. And your blog won't be viewed as a quality resource if that's all that you offer. 2:22
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May 2011: The Existential Opportunity
"If it's not in the CRM, it doesn't exist." The only way to make sure everyone is on the same page is to have all the information stored in one place. 4:04
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April 2011: The Great Stagnation = Selling Opportunity
The economy seems to be recovering a bit, but it's still pretty ugly. We've already picked the low-hanging fruit, so now what? Forget working harder; innovation now is about working smarter. 3:40
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April 2011: The Gap Between Mind and Mouth
Make no mistake. There is a gap between your mind and your mouth. Neglect filling that gap before making the call or presentation and guarantee less than optimal results. 2:27
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April 2011: They Don't Care About You, Your Products or Your Company
Customers are demanding. And they don't really care about you, your products or your company. They care about achieving their goals. 4:07
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March 2011: No Excuse for Not Quantifying Your Value
A sales rep can ALWAYS demonstrate quantified value, even if the comparative advantage seems counterintuitive. 3:08
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March 2011: 14 'Arrows' for Your Content Generation Strategy
Fourteen steps for effectively answering the question: 'What the heck do I blog about?' 3:06
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February 2011: On Funnels, Incubators and Out-of-Context Metaphors
There may be a lot of contextual confusion going on out there, and way too much reliance on over-simplified, passé sales process thinking. 4:35
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January 2011: Six Years to an Overnight Success
The cliché "It takes 20 years to become an overnight success" is bologna. It's actually six years. 3:40
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January 2011: Some Lessons Require a Refresher Course
There are some business lessons that are unquestionably true and that I have advised others to adhere to carefully that I still fail to follow myself all the time. 2:37
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December 2010: Innumeracy: Are Sales Reps the Next Victims?
Innumerate: Unable to understand and use numbers in a calculation. Innumeracy is rapidly and relentlessly reducing the relevance of one set of professionals after another. Are sales professionals next? 3:56
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December 2010: Learn LOTS, or Don't Bother
New facts and perspectives combined with the facts and perspectives already in your head are the raw materials for creativity and innovation. 2:32
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September 2010: Plan Every Sales Call in Writing
The title may be an example of stating the obvious, but sometimes what everybody knows is also a case of what few people practice. 2:35
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September 2010: Shut Up and Do Your Forecast
The best sales managers and executives expect a lot in terms of results, but tend to demand very few things. The single most common demand of the top-notch sales leader? A monthly forecast. 3:57
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August 2010: 'I Don't Know': A Great Answer
Finding yourself frequently acknowledging, I don't know, is a signal that you have become a superior sales rep. 2:27
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August 2010: Think, Work and Act like a Business Manager
The traditional role of sales rep as provider of information is obsolete. Today's sales rep needs to put himself in the customer's shoes and think like a business manager. 3:14
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July 2010: Plans are Nothing. Planning is Everything.
Dwight D. Eisenhower made this comment regarding the Normandy invasion, and how little the actual battle resembled the D-Day plan. Though things may not go according to plan, planning helps you manage any surprises that may arise. 2:16
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July 2010: Don't Waste Money on Sales Training
Conventional wisdom holds that continuous sales training is essential. But why isn't there more of it going on? 2:35
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June 2010: Do You Speak the Universal Language of Business?
Make no mistake, there is a universal language of business: finance. No matter how noble, executives are in it to make money. 2:50
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June 2010: All Sales Reps will Blog ... Except Ineffective Ones
By definition, sales reps have specialized knowledge and expertise; without it, they couldn't sell anything. Blogs will provide an efficient way to share that knowledge. 2:33
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May 2010: The Insanity of Protecting Your So-Called 'Proprietary Knowledge'
A case for aggressive sharing of EVERYTHING you know: The more valuable the knowledge you possess, the more valuable you are. 3:43
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May 2010: A Year-Old Sales Best Practice Probably Isn't
If the sales practices you use on a regular basis are the same ones you were using a year or two or more ago, they probably no longer deserve the 'best' label. They may be great, but are they really the best? 2:37
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April 2010: Unintended Consequences
Unintended consequences happen, even in sales process engineering. What can you do about them? 2:30
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April 2010: Funnel or Incubator?
Which is the better approach to sales process improvement: a funnel to guide new business to a desired point, or an incubator to foster new opportunity? 2:35
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March 2010: I'm Addicted to Podcasts
Podcasts can be a great tool for business executives. I'm addicted. Here are five reasons why you should be too. 2:28
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March 2010: An E-Rep Success Story
It only took 113 days for my E-Rep to close its first deal. 3:30
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February 2010: Discipline, Opportunity Management and Value Propositions
It's time again to take a look in the mirror and pick a few items to get really good at executing over the next twelve months. (Seems like maybe I've seen a few of these before!) 2:43
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February 2010: I Was Wrong About Proposals
For years, I've said a traditional quote does nothing more than list items for sale, prices, totals, discounts and net price; instead, I said submit a proposal to differentiate yourself. I was wrong... 3:45
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January 2010: Every H-Rep Needs an E-Rep
That is, every Human Rep needs an Electronic Rep to help execute the extraordinarily challenging job of Sales Rep. 4:18
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January 2010: Is Thought Leadership Really All That Important?
How important is it really to be active in social media? For some, it's very important; for others, there may be time to wait. 4:00
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December 2009: Another Spin on Value Propositions
Quite often the inspiration for a great sales idea comes from a source outside our normal frame of reference. Here's one example of a really creative value proposition, and how you can use its message for your own business. 3:37
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December 2009: Is Your E-Rep Any Good?
As a sales rep, you know better than anybody what your customers and prospects need to know. You've done your research. You know the value they could accrue by using your stuff. They just won't take the time to meet with you and listen! Well, maybe it's you that needs to listen up. 3:39
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November 2009: You Can't Afford to Let the Knowledge Leak Out
The sales rep with superior knowledge is a formidable competitor. That's why you have a Sales Excellence Council in place. (Right?) And that group is charged with identifying the best and newest sales best practices and tools. (Right?) 3:36
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November 2009: Did Google Screw Up Big Time? Or, Did They Just Transform B2B Social Media into a MUST-DO-NOW?
When your customers and prospects start their research in anticipation of buying something, they go right to Google, right? But where are you in those results? If you're not taking advantage of social media, you may be missing out on sales. 5:09
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October 2009: There's More Than One Kind of Value
None of us can ever invest enough time in increasing the punching power of our Value Propositions. Ever think in terms of their ubiquity and staying power? 2:46
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October 2009: ...By Gosh, This Web 2.0 Social Media Stuff is Fabulous for Selling Knowledge
When you blow all the smoke away, knowledge is the only thing any of us has to sell any more. Today, selling even the most commoditized of commodities requires lots and lots of knowledge. It's all about the intellectual content. 4:55
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September 2009: Maybe I really DO want to appear to be an order-taker...
It used to take multiple face-to-face sales calls to get a prospect up to speed on the potential value of your products and services. Now, web 2.0 makes your info available 24/7. They don't need you to learn about you. How can you use those same tools to gain that market edge? 4:35
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August 2009: Your Learning/Self-Improvement Process is Probably Obsolete
I don't know enough. (Notice the first sentence is the same as last month?) The pace of change in the world of sales, sales management and consulting is such that my traditional process for learning simply can't keep up.
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July 2009: Creative Abrasion and the Sales Knowledge Activist
I don't know enough. Not enough about my customers prospects, or their customers, prospects, suppliers, partners and competitors. And you're likely in the same boat.
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June 2009: All Opportunities Are Not Created Equal
When reviewing an opportunity, most sales manages will ask about the odds to close. When asked about odds to close, most sales reps have a ready answer. Most often, it's wrong based on some mystical gut feel, but it sure does makes everyone feel better - like authentic planning, prioritizing and time management actually occurred.
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May 2009: Try Selling Them a Better Buying Process
How much work do you expect your customers to do to for you? How much work do you need your customers to do for you? How much work are your customers doing for you?
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May 2009: Three Things That Kill CRM (… and How to Counter Them)
According to the best research I can find, roughly 23 of CRM implementations fail. How can this be? After so many years why haven't sales leaders and CRM vendors figured this out?
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April 2009: Value, Value Stream, Flow, Pull, Perfection

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April 2009: Would a Wiki Work?

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March 2009: Are You an Expert? (… at Anything?)

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March 2009: It's Always About Productivity

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March 2009: Four Facts All Sales Reps Should Always Keep in Mind

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February 2009: There May Never Be a Better Time Than Now

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January 2009: What's the Best Way to Make Your Verbal Statements More Compelling?

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