Category: Startups

5 Steps to Hiring the BEST Salesperson

I’ve written a series of blog posts to help you attract, screen, interview, and hire the best sales rep you can find on the market. I’m going to share successful strategies I’ve learned, developed, and implemented, in several companies over the past 20 years. Hiring the wrong sales representative is costly. I want to help ensure that you have the tools needed to make sure you’re placing the right bet ...

October 13, 2021

Sales Acceleration Group blog was recognized as one of the top 50 Sales Blogs

The Sales Acceleration Group blog was recently recognized among the 2021 Top Sales & Marketing Blogs featured on Top Sales World! Congratulations to my fellow contributors in the “Top 50”. I invite you to review all of my blog posts. “Top 10” Article of the month from Top Sales World I was also honored to have been recognized for their “Top 10 Articles” in September. Check out The Great Resignation ...

October 12, 2021

Get Out of Your Bubble

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to travel to Bucharest, Romania to visit a client I’ve been working with for 6 months. I didn’t have expectations beyond strengthening the relationship with my client, by spending time together, and wanting to better understand the country and culture. Since I set the bar fairly low the trip far exceeded my expectations. It has been over 30 years since I’d been to ...

August 23, 2021

Own Your Life and Your Future

I started using #ownyourownshit about 5 or 6 years ago when I was in an environment where there were a lot of excuses flying around. The reality was, those individuals, the ones with all the excuses, could have controlled a lot more than they were taking responsibility for. The majority of complaints I hear from sales reps revolve around things that they can control and either choose not to, don’t ...

July 19, 2021

Sales Reps are professional interviewees – Don’t be fooled.

There are few things as frustrating to me then when I discover a new client, who’s hired me to come in figure out why they are missing their revenue targets, has mis-hired. This is because most of my clients are small privately-owned startups that have either taken VC money or are bootstrapping, and regardless of how they are financing their startup, they can’t afford to waste the limited financial resources ...

May 17, 2021

My 2nd favorite word is No!

“My 2nd favorite word is No!” That’s what my former employee James was famous for saying. It’s great when your prospect does you the favor of saying no, but most times their actions and words will sound more like, maybe. That puts the pressure on you to decide when a maybe is really a no. The trick is to be confident about when to pull the plug on a prospect ...

April 20, 2021

Suspects vs. Prospects

Visualize a stack of 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper 4 inches tall. This is what I think of when I begin to reach out to a group of “suspects” to see if I can turn them into a prospect. My goal with this stack of suspects is to move them from the 4-inch suspect pile into 2 smaller piles – the yes pile or no prospect pile. When you begin ...

March 22, 2021

What’s Your Sales Secret Weapon?

After spending 13 years playing racquetball competitively, at the open level, I decided to pick up tennis. I’ve always excelled at eye-hand coordination sports; racquetball, softball, and volleyball, so tennis seemed like a good choice. I felt like it was as important to pick the right sport just as it’s important for you to choose the right sales job. After a few months of group lessons, focusing on the basics, ...

February 8, 2021