In Arthur Miller’s 1949 play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman embodies the common American salesperson of his time. Much has changed since Miller brought this character to life, yet the overly macho way people talk about sales remains the same—and it’s time for a change.
Topics: sales enablement, selling skills, sales mindset
The following is adapted from Moving from Models to Mindsets.
Topics: trust, sales, sales enablement, selling skills
The following is adapted from Moving from Models to Mindsets.
Topics: sales, selling skills, curiosity
Preschool kids ask their parents an average of 100 questions a day. By middle school, they’ve basically stopped asking questions.[1] Curiosity is a lost superpower.
Topics: training design, sales, sales pipeline, sales enablement, selling skills
Almost every conversation is an opportunity to build rapport. To do so requires the salesperson to listen harder for rapport cues.
Topics: trust, cooperation, conversation, mindfulness, sales, relationship, sales enablement
The following is adapted from Moving from Models to Mindsets.
Topics: sales, relationship, sales enablement
In sales, storytelling is all the rage right now. In fact, from what we’ve seen, teaching storytelling to salespeople has significantly increased in the last five years. We all know there is power in stories, but did you know that listening to someone share an engaging story releases a chemical called “oxytocin” in your brain? Oxytocin is a chemical that relaxes a person and shows up “when we are trusted or shown a kindness, and it motivates cooperation with others,” (Zak, HBR “Why Your Brain Loves Story Telling” 2014). Since trust is critical for sales and storytelling builds trust, it’s natural to assume a link between storytelling and generating a sale.
Topics: sales, relationship, storytelling, sales enablement
Many training companies begin with a book. A thought leader, a researcher, someone with passion and dedication takes their energy and writes a book. They focus on dysfunctional teams, leadership principles or driving sales performance. So far, so good.
Topics: high performing teams, insight, training design, learner engagement, curriculum design, training book, learner-centric
Empathy has been a hot topic. Wherever you go in the learning space—from preschool to the boardroom—teachers and leaders are stressing the importance of empathy. The growing number of millennials in the workforce have changed the emotional make up of our corporate world. They are, rightfully, pushing for greater authenticity, meaning, and transparency from the companies they work with. This renewed focus on empathy, however, falls short of its optimistic intentions.
Topics: brain science, coaching, communication, leadership, change, resilience, trust, teamwork, vulnerability, high performing teams, cooperation, understanding, mindfulness, relationship
I met with a newly minted leader and long-time colleague, who is both highly collaborative and highly engaging. He cares about his people in a visceral way. I congratulated him on his promotion while warning him that there was the potential for him to fail due to a blind spot in his approach. I stated that he may fail the eat the oatmeal or like the oatmeal challenge.
Topics: brain science, coaching, communication, leadership, trust, teamwork, high performing teams, cooperation, understanding, learner engagement, sales, relationship
