The following blog post was first published in 2015 by the late Steve Marx, founder of The Center for Sales Strategy, and has been one of the most popular posts in the blog’s history. Even though the text is updated, the message has never been more relevant. To learn more about Steve Marx, click here.
Most of us don’t head to the supermarket without a list in hand, and without knowing exactly what we intend to come home with. I needn’t explain why.
Likewise, most of us wouldn’t start driving to an unfamiliar destination without first finding it on our GPS and clicking for directions. Doing so gets us to our goal with the least hassle and the most efficiency.
About a year ago I conducted a sales talent assessment for an up-and-coming college graduate who had very little sales experience but was loaded with both raw talent and a passion for sales. We’ll call her Ashley. The hiring manager, let’s go with Brenda, was thrilled to be able to get someone with such potential “on the cheap,” so she made her an offer right away, which Ashley quickly accepted. 
If you’ve wanted to update your LinkedIn profile, but each time you start, it feels like an overwhelming task, remember that the best profiles on LinkedIn were not written in one session, but layered in over time.
As VP/Sr. Consultant at The Center for Sales Strategy, I’ve worked with many customers over the past fourteen years. I would be a wealthier man if I had a dollar for every time I heard this line from sellers:
We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.
Today, we are taking our sales strategy lessons from the pages of pop culture, and we're talking movies. 
Even when you are intentional about removing surprises and skilled at talking about price, you may still encounter objections during the sales process. Listening for objections along the way and handling each one as it comes up helps you avoid trying to address all the objections while you are presenting your proposal.
Sales can be fun. Sales can be stressful. Sales can be rewarding. Sales can be life-changing. Here are some gifs to bring a little humor into your week and get you on track to improve your sales performance (we hope you are as pumped as #5) and help your clients crush their goals with your solutions (see #7). And then, we hope you end up like #10. 
We hope you've had a great week! It's Friday, and today we're sharing what we've been reading online this week! Here are our "best" from around the web.
We're ignoring you.
