BLArticle®
The personal touch of a blog; the informative touch of an article.
Beware Of The “What If’s”
Let me set the stage for you… You’ve mustered up the courage to take a different path. Maybe you’re attempting a new skill. Perhaps you’re meeting with a new prospect or client. It could be you’re attempting to do something that involves a higher degree of risk...
Seller’s Remorse
At some point in our lives, we’ve all experienced the dreaded, “Buyer’s Remorse.” Quite frankly, I think it’s more of an anomaly to not feel some sort of remorse after a difficult buying decision. Usually, the larger the decision, the greater the feelings of remorse...
Your Slide Deck Tells A Tale
At the risk of sounding a bit arrogant, I’m going to make the following statement: All I need to see is your slide deck, and I will learn what I need to know about your presentation and how you’ll do as a presenter. I told you I might come off a little boastful, but...
A Rate Book and a Yellow Pad of Paper
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” - Albert Einstein I was twenty-two years old when I graduated from the University of Maryland. Within two weeks, I found myself working as a salesman for the New York Life Insurance...
The Detergent That Destroyed A Sales Process
I’m sure I spend too much time singing the praises of Xerox, but decades ago, there was no other company that could touch the quality of the sales training they offered. Xerox seemed to have a process for everything; how to open a call, how to close a call, how to...
How Do You Talk To You?
Take a moment and think about the last time someone you knew well mustered up the courage to ask you for help. No doubt, you displayed kindness, and probably empathy as well. As a matter of fact, my guess is that these behaviors came naturally to you because you...
The Truth Behind Sales Scripts
The use of scripts is one of the oldest techniques taught to sales people in how to sell. In my sales career, I had to learn three scripts. The first was a fairly short, punchy one from New York Life called, “The Hundred Man Story.” It tracked the typical...
The How And Why To Sell To Friends
In sales, it seems the toughest prospects are the ones we know best. Have you ever wondered why? It might be because we think we’re overstepping the lines of friendship. When we know someone well, we never want that friend to question our motives for the...
What Song Will They Sing?
Once upon a time, I dreamed of being an actor. This dream was fueled by a steady diet of watching war movies at home with my dad, going to movies with my brother and watching Lewis Martin movies alone. The first job I ever had was working as an usher at a movie...
Can You Sell And Problem Solve?
The title of this Blarticle® poses a great question, and I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Aetna Insurance Company for teaching me the answer… quite by accident. Aetna had signed up for Xerox sales training and I flew off to pilot the training in their...
Thank Goodness It’s… Wednesday?
As a kid, I remember looking forward to Fridays. Although you had to work your way through the day, you knew that, at the end of that day, the weekend would begin! I think I probably had a kind of pep in my step, since I knew that fun was only hours away. ...
To be clear, asking for directions has never been my strong suit. This could be the result of my male upbringing, my male stubbornness, my male pride… or perhaps, my wife! With the emergence of any number of navigators available to us all now, from time-to-time, we...
Motion Is Lotion
Although I liked playing in pools, I never took swimming all that seriously until I entered my 30’s. At that point, I fell in love with swimming long distances, and did just that week after week, month after month, and year after year. I never swam less than a mile...
Not Only Do Opposites Attract…
… They Must Attract I’ve always loved the game of basketball. I played the game at a pretty high level as a kid, coached kids when I got older, and even played in a handful of adult leagues. Strangely enough, it was the last league I played in that made me a more...
Don’t Give Up On The Obvious
I always get a kick out of watching my wife go about looking for lost items. To her credit, like most of us, she always starts in the most obvious places. If it’s lost keys, she looks in her purse. If it’s a lost cell phone, she’ll look on her desk. If it’s lost...
The Dreaded Monotone Face
I’ve been noticing a new, rather disturbing phenomena that seems to be settling in on many of my virtual conversations. The sound is good, the camera is sharp, the connection seems adequate, and the lighting is generally fine. In our race to master this unique form...
When Questions Become Conversations
It seems basic to be told, taught, and monitored to ask questions when we communicate with clients. I can’t imagine anyone who has been trained to sell who has not been taught this lesson… and taught this lesson multiple times. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s...
Backed Into A Confrontation Corner
About nine years ago, I wrote a four-part BLArticle® miniseries dedicated to dealing with how to handle difficult behavior without direct confrontations. There are a handful of ways to professionally avoid confrontations… but that doesn’t mean there’s never a...
The Agony of Default
default: a selection made usually automatically or without active consideration. I think we all have a love/hate relationship with the default settings within our computers. In theory, these settings are designed to make our lives easier, and to help us do our jobs...
The Danger Is At The End – Not The Beginning
A few years ago, I was invited to go on a Segway tour of Washington, D.C. Having never been on a Segway before, I was a bit anxious, but I didn’t really have a choice. I had auctioned off the ten-person tour for a charity, and part of the package was for me to...
“Rob is an expert not only in the art of influence,
but also in human nature.”
~Ken Blanchard,
coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Trust Works!