Look at this.

Here's the scary part. This rep is not in the bottom 10%. He's in the middle of the over 2 million that we've evaluated.

   ...but not the kind that blows up in your face.

I just Googled "closing tactics". 34,800,000 results in less than a second. My favorite close is, "What should we do now?" The typical reply is, "How do we get started?" If it doesn't sound like that, it's not time to close. I missed something and I either have to go back and fix it, or I walk away. So, how do I set up my question?

Seriously! Are they? Do they have any freakin' idea what "value" is?

If you rewind the clock a few decades, you'll probably be reminded that when most employers were looking to hire a salesperson, they were looking for someone that could 'hunt' up some new opportunities and 'close' the deals. Mostly, with one exception, they were looking for someone that could go door to door or would make telephone cold calls to find business. The one exception

This is a short article that will make it's point quickly.

So, I asked myself, "Should I start where they're strongest?" (Only 3% of over 2 million salespeople are weak presenters.) or "Should I start where they're weakest?"

Originally published 3 months ago. Updated with the links to the specific competency articles.

I, like you, probably spent at least some of the past weekend remembering 9/11. I also listened to some 'talking head' comparing the patriotism created by 3,000 American lives lost that day and the lack of a similar effect by the 700,000 American lives lost to Covid, but that's not what this is about.

You know how sometimes a series of unrelated events can cause an awakening, like at dawn? Like an answer you've been looking for or the solution for a situation that you've been dealing with or 'all of a sudden' realizing the path you should take or confirmation that you're doing the right thing.

That happened to me this week.