Trust- The following comment was published in the September 2009 Harvard Business Review: Read more

When it comes to understanding the role of sales and how to maximize sales performance, not too many business cultures “get it”.  Read more

The cover of the Harvard Business Review is titled, “Rebuilding Trust”, and is chock full of articles about what executives have to do to learn and earn trust. In Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, the (then) new General Manager of the Oakland A’s, Billy Beane, and some of his old school scouts disagreed about whether or not to pick a baseball prospect because the player had great athletic ability, but wasn’t a good hitter. The discussion went like this: Read more

How do we know our salespeople are out there selling everyday for us?
In the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, J.A. Sexauer used to require that his salespeople fill out a daily call report log and mail it in to his office in New York. Then, he expected a weekly summary report.
In the late 60’s, he stopped requiring the daily reports because his 75 salespeople were apparently out selling- and he could tell by the continuously growing sales numbers. Read more