It is counterintuitive to refuse some large deals just because they are not profitable enough; it may sound strange to go back to market to prospect for new customers while you already have a historical customer database. It is a painful process to say no to your historical customers.To help make this shift, below are some tips I think can be helpful:

When salespeople lose a deal, most of the time, the reason is price, competition, lead times… in other words, losing a deal is primarily external. I have never met a salesperson telling me that it was his fault. In fact, it is the fault of the salesperson. Not because they are not good at sales. It is because they choose the wrong customer. Let me give you an example...

Almost every day I talk to salespeople (but also friends, colleagues, customers, executives…) telling me that they are very open to learn. Yet, few of them realize that it means being exposed to be proved wrong. And even fewer people know how to deal with it. Thus, it makes them vulnerable...

I don’t believe in “trying to be” authentic in sales and life. Instead, I believe in remaining authentic. We are all born authentic, but somehow we lose it along the way. The real question is how to remain authentic? I don’t have the answer, but I know how we lose our authenticity. Here is my explanation…

...calculating the profitability of a sales transaction beyond the margin requires some questioning. And the answers will show how effectively you are selling.

Although we like to pretend to do so (through the dashboards we generate from our CRMs), calculating the odds when facing a customer is very difficult. It is mainly because the customer's buying journey is much more complex than we think.

Training programs help salespeople gain new skills and competencies while coaching helps them achieve the behavior change, which makes the new learning last. Mentoring, on the other hand, helps accelerate the whole process...

We are planning to build a swimming pool in our garden we contacted three pool construction companies.  After three visits I asked my wife (who is a teacher) her opinion about the salesmen visited us.  Here is how she profiled them...

But how to use it as a real competitive advantage in sales…? By building customer dialogue with genuine curiosity and humility.