Sales – Meaford

Value Realization, not just Value Proposition

June 3, 2018

I work with many enterprise class B2B software and SaaS companies. Many are continually looking for ways to increase the value proposition to grow average deal size, but in their search for greater Value Proposition, they often miss the concept of Value Realization. Consider this example. You are the maker of lead generation software operating in ...

Why aren’t there more women in high tech sales?

February 8, 2017

A collaborative post from Shann McGrail and Pete Smith Last August, I published a post called, “Why do we hate (our own) sales people?”. Since then it has been viewed almost 150,000 times and received over 15,000 likes, comments, and shares. I have enjoyed reading the comments that my post generated. Many have been thought provoking, but none ...

Why Do We Hate (our own) Sales People (Part III)

January 10, 2017

I received the following comment from David Field about my last post: “Another good article, but with so much feedback on part 1 in relation to ‘some of it is deserved’ it would be great to see some pointers on why the top ten things that make delivery hate sales have to be done, or how ...

Why do we hate (our own) sales people – Part II

December 13, 2016

In the four months since I posted the article “Why do we hate (our own) sales people?”, I have been overwhelmed by response of the number of people who have read it, liked it, added their comments to the conversation and shared it with their networks. To each and every one of you: Thank you, I ...

Why do we hate (our own) sales people?

August 18, 2016

Last week, the Globe and Mail featured an article “Companies struggle with shortage of sales talent” which I believe was suppose to feature a new program at Wilfrid Laurier University. This new program has been created to teach sales training, something not traditionally taught by universities. Unfortunately, the article got derailed and took on a ...

Do product features really matter?

May 29, 2015

An on-going discussion in most software companies is the value of the next release of software. In some companies, these discussions often take on the dimensions of a holy war and can be quite disruptive and distracting. On one hand, a number of sales deals will be relying on the features planned for the next ...

The Challenger Sale

September 29, 2013

I usually don’t do book reports as part my blog. That said, if you are selling complex, enterprise-class solutions in a B2B environment, you need to check out “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation” . Developed based on research CEB , the Challenger Sale model seeks to quantifiably defines the success factors of the best sales ...

What do your email habits say about you?

April 15, 2013

If you can't manage your Inbox, Can you really manage your company? Email is a fact of life in business communications and I don't see that changing. Many people now advise on their voicemail that for faster response, instead of leaving a voicemail, send them an email instead. Some people are more blatant and state ...

Lessons from Great Sales Reps

August 21, 2012

Why do the best sales people think they are losing the deal until the day they win? An observation that I have repeatedly made over my career is that the best sales reps think they are losing the deal until the day the win. Conversely, the less successful reps often think they are in the ...

Using labeling to productize; Then merchandise your services.

April 1, 2012

A few months ago,I wrote about a client who I helped to create a sales methodology to speed up their sales cycle by developing and selling front end services that substitute consulting revenue for free pilots. Their product was too complex for a simple download and free trial so they were being forced to offer ...

Category: Sales