A Question from the Sales Team: How do I discover information without asking rude and possibly offensive questions? Leading questions can uncover answers worth celebrating! I regularly coach salespeople to learn more about their customers.  I often reference a bit from Harvey MacKay’s book from the 1980’s “How to Swim with Sharks without being Eaten Alive”, called the MacKay 66.  It’s basically a 66-question list of things to discover about your customer.  It covers all things personal as well as their thoughts around their company, job and career goals.  Quite honestly, it’s an exhaustive list.  But… I believe a salesperson armed with this information will outperform their competitors.  And, since I have received the same question from several of my clients’ salespeople in the past few weeks, I feel compelled to address the topic. One young salesperson stated point blank, “I have been thinking about the questions you have asked me to d...

A Question from the Sales Team: How long should I pursue an account before I give up? Chasing money is a timeless art. A couple of weeks ago I was making coaching calls with a sales guy who possessed lots of potential but less than 18 month’s experience. He’s a smart, aggressive guy with a professional attitude.  He targets his accounts, studies his results and devotes time to prospecting.  But after nearly a year of calling on a couple of major accounts, orders still weren’t flowing.  As our day wound to an end, he asked me point blank, “How long should I pursue an account before I give up and move on?”  Here are some thoughts for you to consider: Was the customer properly selected as a prospect? Is the customer in the right industry, possess the right potential volume and credit worthy?  A lot of this information is available via a little research.  Armed with a manufacturer’s directory, the internet and maybe a D&B report, we can na...

Some questions demand an answer, they literally jump up and down screaming for intelligent action. The problem is this; many times these questions develop over a long period of time. Because they develop slowly over time, they become invisible. Life’s like that. My dad used to say, “We’re too busy picking up acorns to see the tree.” I think we’ve gone past the tree and are neck deep in forest. Last week I had the opportunity to address the leadership teams from a select group of distributors at the SPA Strategy Session in Fort Lauderdale. I was the final speaker, and the meeting was running long. To cut my talk short and put a little life into the meeting, I cut my presentation down to ten simple questions. I feel each of these questions demands an answer. Together, they demand action. Question 1: Do you believe our business environment is changing? It’s pretty hard to justify any kind of answer except for a resounding… yes. Our customers want more services, faster respo...