Dan Smaida – Wednesday, November 23, 2016 It’s been real popular over the years for sellers to define themselves as “customer-centric.” A search for the term on Amazon yields 3,042 book results! There’s everything from customer-centric selling to marketing to service culture…and I think it’s wrong. What’s wrong with all the focus on customer-centricity? Being […]
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Dan Smaida – Wednesday, October 29, 2016 In a previous post I suggested that millennial sellers aren’t closing as much as they could be because they’re over-relying on text and email. Comments on this post flew in all directions, but not many disputed the fact that more than ever, we’re using screens to do what […]
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Dan Smaida – October 1, 2016 Have you noticed any of these phenomena when reviewing the pipelines of your millennial sellers? Not enough opportunities Not enough early-stage opportunities Companies who should be in the pipeline aren’t Now, the easy (and lazy) conclusion is that millennials are entitled, don’t know how to work, etc. But I […]
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Dan Smaida – Wednesday, September 29, 2016 Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a client’s Enterprise Sales team on strategies for responding to RFPs (Requests for Proposals). Although they’re different, RFP sales and Committee sales are fundamentally similar – they’re both complex sales. In procurement-driven RFP sales, the “official” needs expressed by the […]
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Dan Smaida – September 22, 2016 Have you ever run into these phenomena when reviewing the pipelines of your veteran sellers? – Deals seem to drag on and on as the customer goes through “the process.” – All of the opportunities seem to follow the same path. – Companies that should be in the pipeline aren’t in the […]
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Dan Smaida – August 25, 2016 Have you noticed a couple of things going on in the pipelines of your millennial sellers? – Pipelines are full of prospects that look demographically appealing, but aren’t closing – Salespeople are getting meetings and more meetings, but not enough forward progress – Opportunities that were “sure to close” […]
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Dan Smaida – Saturday, August, 2016 Let’s play a game: I’ll describe one of two presentations I witnessed this week, then you tell me which one you think I’m describing. Ready? After a brief introduction, the presenters (there were four) clicked to the second slide in their deck. I was immediately assaulted by a swarm […]