Seven Personality Traits of Top Salespeople - Steve W. Martin by Steve W. Martin | 9:10 AM June 27, 2011 If you ask an extremely successful salesperson, “What makes you different from the average sales rep?” Over the past decade, I have had the privilege of interviewing thousands of top business-to-business salespeople who sell for some of the world’s leading companies. The personality tests were given to high technology and business services salespeople as part of sales strategy workshops I was conducting. The test results from top performers were then compared against average and below average performers. 1. Selling Style Impact: Team Orientation. 2. Selling Style Impact: Account Control. 3. Selling Style Impact: Political Orientation. 4. Selling Style Impact: Inquisitiveness. 5. Selling Style Impact: Dominance. 6. Selling Style Impact: Competitiveness. 7. Selling Style Impact: Aggressiveness. Not all salespeople are successful.
5 Productivity Myths That Need to Be Busted Your Career >> Browse Articles >> On The Job/Office Politics Featured Author: Dumb Little Man Jay White is in Enterprise Sales at a Fortune 100 technology company and a father of two great kids. With the time in between, he started Dumblittleman.com, a site that quickly became on of the most read productivity blogs on the internet. When there is so much advice and information on productivity floating around, it is obvious that not all of that is worth paying heed to. This article talks about five productivity myths which the sooner you come to know about and understand, the better. 1. We’ve already published how mono-tasking is better than multi-tasking, and why this might be the age of uni-tasking. 2. Sometimes, it’s important to take a step back, relax and just ignore what you do every day. 3. Sometimes, just 5 or 6 hours of work each day can get you results. 4. Since no two people are same, the same productivity system might not work for them. 5.
4 Steps to Becoming a Self Starter on Shine In a perfect world, we'd all wake up early, go on a run, eat a healthy breakfast, and then head into work to tackle our next big project. As self-starters, we'd be brimming with energy and enthusiasm and wouldn't even consider procrastinating before a deadline. In the real world, however, we don't always live up to our highest ambitions. But just because we don't always do something, doesn't mean we can't ever do it. To help you along the way, we've outlined four steps to help turn you into a self-starter instead of a self-stopper. Stay Ahead of Deadlines. Do your work early, do your work often. Tackle One Piece of the Puzzle at a Time A big project is overwhelming. Don't Call it Work, Call it Banking on the Future Reframe the task at hand so you can focus on the benefits it provides instead of the annoyance it brings. If you want money for a nice place to live, nice clothes, nice things, and good food, you'll probably need to work. Don't Be Afraid of Failing In life, we get caught in ruts.
The Worst Question a Salesperson Can Ask - Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson | 8:06 AM October 7, 2011 This post, the second in a four-part series, is also part of the HBR Insight Center Growing the Top Line. “What’s keeping you up at night?” This one question is probably asked by more sales people in a given day than any other. To understand what makes this question so destructive, we need to first understand where it comes from. As a result, companies have poured money into teaching their reps to ask better questions. But what if customers don’t know what they need? In our previous post we described a type of rep we call a Challenger. What does this sound like in practice? Today, a conversation with a Grainger rep is very different. No supplier wants to be in the business of free consulting — and Grainger is no different. These conversations aren’t happenstance. Done well, this sort of sales approach creates a powerfully differentiated interaction for customers because it leads with insight, not tiresome questions.
Why I Hire People Who Fail - Jeff Stibel by Jeff Stibel | 1:32 PM December 9, 2011 A few weeks ago, I wrote about avoiding social media failures. I briefly mentioned our company’s “Failure Wall” and was surprised by the number of comments and questions I received about it. What’s the purpose? The failure wall was part of our efforts to create a company culture where employees can take risks without fear of reprisal. “Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill“I have not failed, I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison“Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.” – Sophia Loren One random Thursday night, I returned to our corporate headquarters afterhours with a bottle of wine and a box of acrylic paints. After we finished painting around 1:00AM, we fastened a dozen Sharpies to the wall alongside these simple instructions: (1) describe a time when you failed, (2) state what you learned, and (3) sign your name.
Be a better boss: 12 tips to help you encourage innovation Many entrepreneurs dream of starting their own company so they can be their own boss, call the shots, get the corner office nicest table in the co-working space. Turns out, being in charge is a lot harder than just ordering people around and having someone fetch your lattes. To make a startup successful, you have to encourage an atmosphere of constant innovation. We asked these upcoming entrepreneurs for their best tips on how to be a boss boss. Allow for change and spontaneity Working hard to keep your company from becoming rigid helps keep innovation flowing. Caitlin McCabe, @caitlinmc, Real Bullets Branding Be hands off Hire great people and give them responsibility. Lisa Nicole Bell, @LisaNicoleBell, Inspired Life Media Group Budget for innovation No one likes to ask for money, but when they have money as an available option, they are willing to go ahead and spend it on things they think will be worthwhile. Danny Wong, @blanklabel, Blank Label Group, Inc. Flat organization Expose yourself