I typically ask prospective clients what they are trying to accomplish. I get all kinds of answers. Vague references ranging from an altruistic goal to world domination, paying off debt, providing for their family. Some show me their business plan that shows strong growth and scalability. How do we know if it's THE goal? How do we know if it's worth working for? How do we know when, how to start?

If you've been following along, you'll know that this is the 10th step in my coaching process. You can catch up here.

If you haven't read my first three articles on the first 6 steps in my coaching process, you can catch up here.

So, at this point, we've covered 5 of the 10 things that I do that sales managers should do if they want a team full of sales rock stars. A quick recap....

So, once you help them establish their goal and plan and you understand that it's all about them, you both need to get on the same page regarding what needs to be changed and done and how it will happen. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you may want to do that first.

I'm not gonna do a lot of set up here. This list is for sales managers whose job it is to get salespeople to sell more today than they did yesterday. It's not for founders, CEOs or sales VPs when they're thinking strategically about scaling growth, but it could be for those same leaders when they are managing salespeople because they don't have a sales manager. Whether you have one salesperson or ten salespeople, these ten things will help you grow them individually and consequently grow your team sales bigger than you ever imagined.

Yesterday, I was driving to a restaurant with Elaine, Jack and Pete.

If you read my last article, you may have gotten the idea that I think that Drift is cool and helps reps engage with website visitors and nurture them through the buying process. Today, I'm sharing another real exchange that you will love.

This is the unedited exchange between Chris Queen at Brand Builder Solutions and Max Seller, a visitor to the Brand Builder website. Notice that there are 20 back and forths in 19 minutes.Notice that the entire exchange used 374 words (less than 19 words per chat). Notice also that there is a 5 hour time difference between Chris and Maurice.

Actually, my client really asked, "Are you making assumptions that cost you money?" But isn't it more than money? Have you ever lost a client that you thought was happy? Have you ever lost a deal because you assumed that when they said that 'money was no object' they meant that they had enough and the authority to spend it? Have you ever decided to pitch someone and after hours, days or weeks, they tell you that their boss's, boss's, boss's boss has a friend that's gonna get the business?