Sales Managers:  Are you the Apple Genius Bar, or an Answer Bar? Like most people, I don’t go to the Apple store because I enjoy being steered around from one headset wearing hipster to another, but because I need help from…must I say it? The Genius Bar. One approaches the Genius

I watch the Oscars with a seller’s eye: Who is really connecting with the audience? Who is surprising us? Who seems like they just got the invitation that morning? True to form, this year’s Oscars provided many gems, some brilliant (three words: Neil Patrick Harris) some typical (really Patricia Arquette,

In an informal survey from coaching 1000+ sales presentations, care to guess what the most common first word was?   I? We? The? Thank you? (Sorry, that’s two, you’re disqualified!)  Would you be surprised to learn that is in fact  (drum roll please)  “So?”  This tiny two letter word is wildly

Can you name your direct competition? Of course you can. In fact, you can probably tell me all about them. But what if I asked you to name your invisible competition?  What’s your invisible competition?  The scores of people who also want or need something from your prospect: vendors from

Many people think presence is something you’re born with, but as a performer I learned that presence can be developed. If you’re alive and taking up space, you have some presence. The question is, how much? Enough to engage one person? Ten? Twenty? And for how long? Five minutes? Fifteen