Doing More With Less (or Managing Time When There Isn’t Enough of It) The chronic condition we observe in corporate America today is the “overload” factor experienced by all levels and all types of people. It seems that the work keeps coming, the staff keeps downsizing and the management still expects the same turnaround and […]
Corporate Culture by Design – Is It Really Possible? Have you ever heard someone, usually a senior manager, say, “We need to change the culture here?” People define culture in many different ways. Thus, many firms don’t know what they have, some don’t have what they want, and some don’t know what they want. How […]
Sales Skill Development—Major ”on the Majors” and See Great Results Whether you have a highly skilled and effective sales force or not, “continual learning and constant improvement” should be your mantra. Sales is no “Lake Wobegone” (where everyone’s above average)—every sales executive, and every sales manager, has some developmental need. With limited time and resources […]
Everyone Can Benefit From a “Coach” Today the average manager doesn’t have enough time to work as directly with their employees as they should, or they’d like to. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day for meetings, decision-making, budget work and hands-on management of staff. But… everyone needs a coach, or a strong focused […]
The Art of “Reading” People You Can’t See a/k/a Cold calling and e-mailing “in style” Our clients hear us talk about behavioral styles and the impact of modifying styles to fit the audience. We know that“people buy from people they like” and we tend to like people who are like us! When I can see […]
Cold Calls — Effective Sales Tool or a Waste of Time? In the technologically advanced business world of the 21st century many salespeople and managers question the efficacy of the good old-fashioned cold call. The depersonalized nature of electronic communication — personal email, corporate email blasts and advertising, and websites — has allowed buyers to […]
Dealing with Difficult People One of the Collaborative principals is an adjunct professor at a local university teaching a course with this name, so we’ve invested a lot of time in researching everything that has ever been written on the topic. Of course, we frequently talk about this also. Our key note speech to the […]
Managing Salespeople — and keeping sales coming — through turbulent times When the economy is rocky — like now — and many firms aren’t meeting sales goals, advice for sales execs comes fast and furious. Things like “focus on positives”, “stay in constant contact with customers”, “increase networking activities” and “don’t prejudge the prospect — […]
Understanding the Mind of the Buyer: Using the First Secret of Human Behavior to Sell More Effectively In a difficult economy, such as the one we are experiencing now, selling is of course even tougher than it is in good times! It’s tougher to get loans, properties have a lower mortgage value, budgets are crunched, […]
Secret Number Four: “Don’t Assume the Prospect Knows What You Mean” We observe many firms we work with, whether small or large, taking their message to the market without making the connection for the prospect about why does this matter? Think about the overload we all experience in our day-to-day interactions. We are bombarded with […]