Radio literally changed the world when it came on the scenes. Wireless as it was called opened doors that nobody had imagined possible. That is my history lesson on this post.

What I wanted to talk about was the exciting weekly Internet Radio Show that Chris and I host every Wednesday at noon. Sales Talk Live where we interview some really intelligent people and get their perspective on sales - especially how their area of expertise can be applied by sales people. Check out the great conversations in the archives with people like John Cass, Bill Ghormley or Bill Sells. Live listeners have been steadily increasing but you can also listen to recordings of every show.

Tomorrows guest is perticularly exciting because he is the first in a series of authors from the book stepping stones ( in which Dave Kurlan was also featured)

Minh Pham will be joining us at 12:00pm EDT to discuss his chapter "live your dream". Don't miss it.

Driving home last night I noticed that a pretty well established restaurant in my neighborhood - the Naked Fish - had closed. I was a little surprised at first but then as I started thinking about it I realized a few things. My wife and I had not eaten there in a while. I remembered driving by and my wife saying that the place was looking run down and they needed to spend some money on landscaping and paint. We used to enjoy their food but the last few times it had not been that great and we were told the chef had left and they had a new "guy". Their bar was one of their strengths, excellent mixed drinks, but the last few times we sat at the bar we felt like the glasses were smaller and the drinks were not top shelf as before. The martinis went from super to blah.

I guess the writing had been on the wall all along. It usually is.

I realize that there was a lot of new competition in the area and there is definitely a connection between that competition and the changes I described. When competitors move in what is the right course of action. Apparently the management of this restaraunt asked their accountant and I am sure he was confident that "cutting costs" was the way to go. Accountants - no offense - don't really know or understand what it means to grow a business.

The solution for business or for individual sales people is this - be better! That is what you need to do in the face of competition. When we try and compete by lowering our standards we lose their interest. How effective are you as a salesperson at overcoming competetive issues? Do you have the wrong perception as to what your prospects and clients expect? Is the writing on the wall?

I am currently reading an interesting book about change and getting people to change. One of the interesting points that might be truly applicable to selling is the concept of shrinking the change into small pieces. Quite often when a sales person is in front of a prospect part if not all of what they are offering involves change – new vendor, new product, different way of doing something and so on. Sometimes that change can be overwhelming regardless of any compelling reasons that might make it worthwhile. Think about it on a personal level the hassle that comes along with changing cable television providers, cell phone service or auto insurance; perhaps all three present you with an opportunity to save some money but they also hit you with an inconvenience or a consumption of time – stay home for a day to meet the technician and return the old cable box to the current provider for e.g. You might wonder is it worth saving a few dollars a month to go through that?

Like it or not if you are a sales professional your prospects are probably thinking that same thing about your “solution”. Even if they are in “pain” they are also weighing that out against the hassle of change. Perhaps this is why prospects get to that point in the cycle and then stop and disappear. You need to have a clear understanding of what is blocking their way and how you can make it easy. E.g. what if the cable company offered to return my old equipment for me and would guarantee my a specific installation time that worked for me? What would happen to the resistance I feel?

In history great leaders have understood the impact of this resistance to change and have sometimes had the luxury of forcing change to happen because – they are the boss! In sales you do not have the luxury of forcing anyone to buy from you. You need to slowly and piece by piece remove the obstacles that your prospect is facing – “suppose I took care of that for you, would that help?”

My daughter is coming to the end of her five year sentence of  wearing braces. She has hardly enjoyed the experience - constant visits to the dentist, adjustments and tweaking, pain, changes to what she can eat and last but hardly least - the short term effect on her smile.

There are numerous examples in history of painful adjustments that have taken place in society as well as the transformation of individuals. Think about the painful changes associated with the word revolution - The industrial revolution, the French and American revolution, the Russian revolution and so on.....these all involved an initial period up upheaval followed by a dramatic change in society.

When sales organizations go through change there is also pain - to be expected. That change is often a series of adjustments. That change may start or be prompted by a big event, but afterwords there are more tweaks and repercussions of the initial event. As a company experiences this change there might be moments of uncertainty and doubt. Ultimately it is an overriding and compelling goal that helps people and societies endure and make it through.

What about you? Are you a sales person trying to change behavior or conquer a weakness? Are you a company that is attempting to grow faster than previous years? Are you willing to adjust? Are you able to handle the pain? Do you have a goal that motivates you enough and that is compelling enough? Most of the companies that are working with us are growth focused - we help them achieve those goals and they emerge with a "beautiful smile". Is it time for your sales organization to look into braces?

When we look closely at the rapid expansion of empires like Greece and Rome we find some interesting analogies.
They both conquered and grew because it was part of a vision that their leaders had at the time. Along with that expansion came sacrifices and benefits to the people. Other countries although conquered saw benefits as well as compromises through their association with these empires.
They also eventually collapsed. Why?

Leadership changed, yes. The social fabric fell apart yes. But ultimately they stopped growing! When growth was no longer the priority of an organization that was founded on growth - it was as if the foundation was taken away.

Business is dependent on growth and companies should therefore be reliant on a performing sales force that can facilitate that growth. If your company is full of people that want to manage accounts and not find new business then you are doomed to failure.
Take a close look at your company and specifically your sales people - are they helping you grow? Do they think about expanding the business? Why guess or rely on your gut when you can simply have your sales people take an assessment.

Don't end up another business that went out of business because they lost their focus. Don't become another collapsed empire.

Maybe you need to have a little more clarification before you answer that question? No doubt if you are a small business you are thinking about the big budget, the marketing machine and the funds available for R&D. Of course that would be nice you say!

But that is not the context of my question and that context might actually surprise you. I am asking this question based on an experience related to networking and referrals. Now if you are a small business owner perhaps you are thinking - that is our strength! We are all about relationships and introductions are our bread and butter. But are they really?

I met with my small business referral group this morning and heard at least 5 of the members talk about companies that they had been working with and they all sounded like good prospects for me. I have given at least one referral each week and many of those have converted to business so I have no problem giving. But the group seems stingy when it comes to offering referrals.

This afternoon I called a VP from a 200+ million dollar company and reminded him I had been hoping to get an introduction to another several million dollar company - no problem he said, I'm sorry I have just been busy.

So why is that a big company - traditionally not what you think of as a referral based business does a better job than a smaller supposedly referral based collection of companies do in this area? Why are small companies hesitant even when someone has been generous with them? Can anyone help me understand this paradox?

Apparently historians are now saying that the mythological character of Hercules was actually based on a real person. Interesting but not what I want to talk about. I want to draw some lessons from the actual 12 labors of Hercules. Each of these 12 labors required impossible tasks to be completed. If he failed of course he was dead - but if he succeeded then he gained something that would help him with a later labor. e.g. When he killed the Lion in the first labor he saved its' arrow proof skin which served as armor later. When he defeated the 9 headed hydra he dipped his arrows in its blood making them deadly to any creature.

So it goes with sales people. Victories are not just victories in themselves, they also pave the way for other victories which may have seemed impossible at one time. Sales people need to have the feeling of accomplishment and that success can lead to more. Here are a few examples that might equate to those 12 labors of Hercules.

• Making an unhappy customer happy and then selling them something else.
• Their first new business sale.
• Their first referral that leads to a sale.
• Their first one call close.
• They close a major / elephant size deal.

As sales people accomplish these they build positive records that can help them grow expedentially as sales people. Sounds like a good plan doesn't it?

This past weekend was pretty heavily focused on the founding fathers, the declaration of independence, the revolutionary war that led to the birth of the United States and other events from the late 1700's when it all happened. Newspaper Articles, Blogs, Documentaries and parades or Re-enactments took place all over the country - Reminding everyone of the great story that led to July 4th.

It really is a great story - an underdog, outnumbered and out manned. The British had better weapons and more of them. They had a Navy that was the best in the world and able to ferry their troops up and down the coast quickly. They had experience fighting wars all over the world. They had numerous allies in the colonies and those that fought against them had the charge of treason hanging over their heads - there would be no quarter.

How did they succeed. The American people had Desire and commitment to the cause. They were emotionally connected to the campaign. It was on their soil. They had leaders that offered inspirational dialog at the right time - Adams, Franklin, Washington, Paine and Jefferson. They had Bravery, Recovered from Rejection and the ability to think on their feet.

Are you the underdog in your industry? If so when you look at your sales people or yourself do you see those same qualities? Desire, commitment, Bravery etc....or do you see something else?

Selling successfully is not easy. Great products fall to pieces when the wrong sales approach is employed and lesser products have won when a strong sales presence is in play. If you are a manager or CEO is your message inspirational or mundane? Winning against the odds at play in business is not impossible - but you need to do the right things and have the right people.

We love helping the smaller companies beat up on the big players. It is something we do often and we do it well. I just got back from San Jose where I worked with one company on that and this evening I am driving to New Jersey to help a company start changing the game. I will share some success stories in future posts.

I have been regularly going to a gym - daily for years. unfortunately the results have been inconsistent and somewhat sporadic. I had my routine, sometimes I worked harder than others but the bottom line was results. I simply wasn't getting the results I wanted and after all isn't that what matters. Enter Personal Trainer - Darin StGeorge.

Darin told me that I was still fat after coming for years, he said he had been watching my routine and that it sucked, he said he could help but only if I was committed to spending time and money - almost 4 times what I had been spending. He was a little abrasive, almost rude but he was right and I signed up.

Apparently after two workouts with Darin it is pretty clear that i really have not been working out. He pushes me, yells at me, makes me sweat and gasp and then provides instructions as to what I need to do all week. In case you haven't worked it out here are some of the lessons that I have gleaned from this experience.

• Being active and regular at the gym will not equate to success.
• I thought I was doing well but I wasn't.
• I had to be humble enough to admit that.
• Sometimes we need to be pushed and held accountable.
• Sometimes experts Know more than I do.
• It can be painful but it is rewarding.
• You can't get hung up on people being rude or direct or pushing back - if they are right then that shouldn't matter.
• The cost shouldn't matter if you care about and focus on the results.

Sometimes we run into obstacles as we try and help people. We push back, criticize or offer direct correction to a CEO and sometimes they get mad and tell us go away. No problem - they apparently are not worried about results. Sometimes we see sales people going through the motions and being active - but it isn't effective and they need to change. We are often in a position of holding CEO's accountable and sales people accountable - not always popular but if you want results it is necessary. Sometimes people focus on price - "$*#!! to evaluate my salesforce and determine what isn't working - are you mad?" - yet they pay underperformers and lose money every month by overpaying sales leadership for poor results.

So how fit is your sales team? Maybe they need a personal trainer?

This is my second post related to valuable lessons from the Xcite conference last week.

As I mentioned previously there were a host of interesting presentations by a variety of CEO's from a number of cutting edge companies. I particularly enjoyed a panel discussion that featured 3 CEO's from some Pharmaceutical companies.

One of the key points was that a stock price is not always reflective of the true worth of a company and the viability of the current development of a drug. However even though that is the case the public and Wall Street tend to rely entirely on that one number in forming their opinion. Not necessarily the truth. A point quite candidly made by Ironwood Pharmaceuticals CEO Peter Hecht - he emphasized the importance of being straight with investors and his brutal honesty was quite refreshing - honesty usually is.

As a rule we see something quite similar when we ask CEO's to look at sales people - both the people working for them and potential candidates. Often they want to look at just one number - we like to dig so much deeper than that. In fact our evaluations measure sales performance on a multitude of levels and a variety of data points. Always the truth.

When we look back historically we can find a number of examples where decisions were made with all the facts and an equal number where decisions were made with limited facts or only one fact. Obviously the more factual and truthful the foundation of a decision was the better the outcome.