Have you ever heard someone say, "He'd do great in sales. He's a real talker!" I think the world is beginning to recognize that it's not just the talking, but it's the ability to listen well and talk appropriately. A good conversationalist can turn a single word or a facial expression into a great, back and forth conversation and when it's a salesperson and a prospect involved, the resulting engagement can result in a true relationship with willing participants.

Researchers for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority found over 200 dead crows on I-90 recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be vehicular impacts. However, during the detailed analysis it was noted that varying colors of paints appeared on the bird's beaks and claws. By analyzing these paint residues it was determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car. MTA then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviorist very quickly concluded the cause: When crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger. The conclusion was that while all the lookout crows could say "Cah", none could say "Truck."

Usually, when I write an article for this blog, I turn my laptop on, start and an hour-ish later, I publish. I've started three articles in the past three days and deleted every one because I didn't like where it was going.

Arjun Moorthy sent this tweet yesterday and I replied this morning. I'll let him decide whether he wants to share my reply. I wanted to share another twist.

It's a simple question!

Monday is a new sales week!

Greg Brown is one of the Sales Rock Stars over at Hubspot. One of the great things about hanging around with rock stars is that they ask much better questions about much more important stuff. Last week, he sent me a tweet. in which he asked, "Have you seen this series of articles? What do you think? 'How Our Sales Process Broke Down'". So, I read the article(s).

Let's start with this short story about Ed Kleinman. Notice that the story is 5 years old, but I'm using it for two reasons. First, Ed's clients love him and even though he stopped working for Dave Kurlan a few months ago, his clients still find him. Second, he knows his stuff cold! He doesn't need the book. He is the book. He not only can quote the book, but he can tell you the page that the quote is on and he can show you how to do it and tweak you so that you can do it right.

I was having a conversation with a consultant today about stuff and he said, "I went looking for your services page today and I couldn't find it. Can you point me in the right direction?" I replied, "Huh?" He said, "Yeah! You know, what you do for your clients. How you help them. What your services are. I've been thinking that I need to start thinking about that. So, I went looking for the page." 

I had a fun conversation today with Omar at Amazing Riviera. He had attended the interview with Mark and Matt a couple of weeks ago and he had a couple of questions regarding close rates and the difference between working inbound leads and more traditionally generated leads.