The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

There is a natural tension between goals to be achieved in a sales organization and the values to be followed. This tension is good. There is an interesting truth about values. In a tough economy your natural instinct might be to double down on your focus on goal attainment and not worry so much about the values of the organization (sounds like something we can focus on once the economy comes back). That would be a big mistake. The values the organization chooses to be guided by are more important in a tough economy—similar to how the importance of a lighthouse increases in a bad storm.

Just like every other five year old tomboy, I loved frogs… especially the baby ones. And in my town, after it rained, momma frogs and baby frogs were everywhere. As soon as the downpour was tamed into a light sprinkle… my brother, sister and I couldn’t get outside fast enough to search for baby frogs. The big frogs were ok, but it was the teeny tiny baby frogs that we were after. 

Why, oh why, as salespeople, do we put ourselves in a position without access to the person who actually makes decisions on where dollars will be spent? Maybe it's important to look at why we aren't invited to the big kids’ table. It's because there are lots of people around us who have bad manners. They don't set agendas for meetings. They don't contract for next steps. They have nothing relevant to talk about, so they are perceived as time wasters (and they probably chew with their mouths open). 

The first time I heard this phrase was in 2000, I was watching the movie Boiler Room in Denver, Colorado. Ben Affleck’s character was trying to “motivate”—or better said— “scare the dickens” out of his rookie recruits. I vividly remember him leaning over the conference room table, squarely looking each and every recruit in the eye telling them with force… “sell or be sold… someone is always selling… either you are selling them on why they should buy OR they are selling you on why they won’t/can’t buy... ”

Last week, I had the chance to speak at a leadership conference for roughly 150 executives from the home furnishings industry, including manufacturers, designers, import/export specialists, and retailers. We talked about the state of the economy, the mood of consumers, and the challenges that lie ahead.

I bet you're thinking what does the phrase "don't give up" have to do with Elvis and what could this possibly be doing on a blog about Sales Strategy!!! Great questions, and in a second, I think it will all become very clear. Turns out, that Jerry Weintraub (Legendary Hollywood producer and promoter) practiced a principle that we talk about a lot at The Center: Don’t Give Up!

It's not often that you will see us post someone else's work on our blog but this one we could not pass up…. our good friend Dana VanDen Heuval has written a sensational article that is certainly worth sharing. In his post, Dana says, "We’re often advised to ‘work on our elevator pitch’ for the business, yet I can’t recall ever making a purchase decision, or purchasing anything from anyone where their elevator pitch actually had an impact on me. Now, I’m not saying that having a concise and descriptive phrase to explain your business in a few seconds isn’t worth having, it absolutely is, but in a world abound with perceived commoditization around every corner, it’s critical to establish as many points of differentiation as possible to set you apart in a field of sameness."