Tim Rooney

Ask salespeople to list their least favorite selling activities, and you can count on “prospecting” being at the top of the list. And, the least favorite of all prospecting activities is unquestionably making cold calls.

Research has shown that making a bad sales hire costs a company, on average, $100,000. This typically only assumes direct costs, before factoring in lost opportunity costs, not to mention the negative impact on other team members and your long-term relationship with clients. Therefore when making new sales hires you need to give the process the time and commitment it warrants.

Sometime in the late nineteen sixties, on a sunny afternoon in Paris, the sidewalks were alive. At a café in the Place Royale in Marais an austere woman traveler was about to experience the ultimate romance of the city. Seated beside her, nearly unrecognizable in his late age, was the famous painter Pablo Picasso.

If you’ve seen the latest advertisements for Halls “Refresh” you’ve been told, “it’s not a cough drop.” This is a great re-positioning tactic for the goal of “introducing a different kind of Halls.” The problem is that Halls is already a leader, it doesn’t need a new position.

Trying to make the transition from successful “corporate guy” to “wannabe entrepreneur” was a big challenge – digging deep into my savings and my ego!

My mother used to tease me whenever I hurt myself. She said I was overly dramatic in my carrying on of “owws” and “ohhhs.” Maybe it was a tactic to make me laugh – to ease the pain. Most times it worked. Except when it really hurt. When it really hurt I didn’t think she was very funny at all. And I sure didn’t think it was up to her to measure how much pain I was really in anyway. I mean, how could she know?

There are many truths and just as many myths about what it takes to be successful in life and in sales. Test your knowledge and beliefs on these 5 questions.

Or is your strategy somewhat of a “hit & miss” process where you simply connect by chance, as opposed to any planned approach.

One often hears the refrain that “success in sales is a numbers game.” Is this true or false? Where’s the evidence to prove this theory?

We all know that from time to time in life “ bad things happen” to us – sometimes those bad things can be quite overwhelming. How we respond can either strengthen or weaken us and is a measure, perhaps of our true character.