Dave Tear

Referral. The very word gives people an upset stomach. The thought of putting myself out there & the chance that something could go wrong… “Nope… I can’t think of anyone.” You’ve all been there. On both sides: As the consumer: A salesperson asks you for a referral, “Do you know anyone that I should talk

If you think it doesn’t matter where you sit on sales appointments, you’re wrong. If you think your customer is always “in charge” & will tell you where to sit, you’re also wrong. Where you sit matters… & you do have a say. Please note: This is written & intended for selling in North America.

  As sales leaders & salespeople, how do you feel on the 4th or 5th time that you call a prospect to let her know that you are “just following up”? Be serious. Raise your hand if you feel like a stalker. Keep your hand up if you feel a little bit more of your

Everywhere you turn there is an article on leadership. Not a day goes by that you can’t find a blog or white paper on effective management strategies. A cluttered space to say the least. At the risk of adding to this already-cluttered-space here’s a hard look at the difference between people that just have the job

Negotiation. One of the worst occupational hazards of the sales profession. It’s not fun. Nobody ever looks forward to it. We want it to end up a win-win for both sides (but does it ever really turn out that way?). It’s inevitable. Hear me out. If a sale is qualified properly (all items in the qualifying

We facilitated a role play session with a client last week. Were the participants dying to do it? Nope. Was it awkward? Yep. Were they nervous? Oh, hell yes! Did it help them? Absolutely. It’s not uncommon for salespeople to really dread a role play session. After all, as Jerry Seinfeld says in his stand-up

How many times have you said to yourself, “I need more time”, “There’s just not enough time in the day”, “I don’t have time to hunt for new business.” How many times has your manager or director come down on you because you were late on delivering a project, report or anything else she asked for? Admit

Does your business lend itself to customers consistently placing “orders”? Are you lucky enough to enjoy easy & automatic renewal of business? If so, stop reading. Most salespeople have to endure a daunting balancing act — a balance between two activities: 1) the management of current accounts (farming) & 2) going out & finding new

Hate voice mail? Everybody does. Get over it. It’s not going anywhere. As companies continue to downsize & right-size, voice mail is the Administrative Assistant of old & has been for a long while. The Gate Keeper. And your prospects use it beautifully. You probably use voice mail too, so relax & think about what you

A life-long study of sales, selling, salespeople & anything related to the wonderful world of helping people make decisions has been a blast! As you might expect, we have run into quite a few sales organizations. A few things are constant among most of these organizations. There are some common characteristics that sales leaders look