Posted by Tom Callinan on Monday, April 8, 2013
I get asked all the time, “Can you help my team close more sales.” When I then ask the person to tell me what they are looking for the emphasis is always on closing as an event. This belief would lead the average business owner to believe there exists a superstar closer; you simply “wheel them in” when it’s time to close the sale and you are guaranteed to be booking revenue.
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Posted by Tom Callinan on Monday, August 27, 2012
There have been numerous commentators providing opinions as to Sharp’s future in the copier business. An article by Nikkei suggested that Kyocera was in discussions to buy Sharp’s copier business. Sharp US has stated that the article is not accurate and that Sharp is not currently in discussions to sell the copier division. Commentators have focused on the fact that the copier business is one of Sharp’s more profitable businesses. That is the correct focus but I think the commentators arrived at the wrong conclusion.
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Posted by Tom Callinan on Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Three weeks back I was at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC). My desire to get more educated in the “IT space” started about a year ago when many of our clients started asking about entering the IT space.
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Posted by Tom Callinan on Monday, April 2, 2012
If there was a single area I find most entrepreneurs spend too little time on, it's planning. Because they don’t spend the time on planning they spend even less time on research, a necessity of planning. The fact that prints are declining across the business segments of the industry is no surprise to anybody at this point. I’ve been speaking about it for four years now. Some providers have entered the MPS space, albeit with limited success.
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Posted by Gary Schwartz on Monday, March 5, 2012
Performance management has gone by many names over the years: ‘On Plan,’ ‘On a Letter,’ ‘Written-Up’, and the most morbid ‘Produce or Perish’ just to name a few. Performance management is one of the key elements of the sales management process. Unfortunately, most managers do only half the job.
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Posted by Guest Blogger on Thursday, December 22, 2011
By Scott Cullen
When fast isn’t good enough, outside experts can help expedite desired results. That’s exactly what NEP in Appleton WI wanted to accomplish in order to expand their impact in the MPS arena. By contracting with Strategy Development, they were able to refine their sales processes which were adequate but required some tweaking for added effectiveness.
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Posted by Guest Blogger on Friday, June 24, 2011
By Scott Cullen
Ken Copeland has been in the copier business for 25 years, 21 at the helm of ASI Business Solutions, a Dallas/Fort Worth dealership. He knows how to sell copiers. He also knows he can’t continue to approach the copier business the way he did for most of those 25 years if he wants to remain profitable and stay in business.
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Posted by Ed Carroll on Sunday, June 19, 2011
The methods for evaluating sales performance can take many different forms. You can look at performance on a company basis and compare it to the previous year (hopefully your revenue is growing). You can look at sales performance on segment basis and compare it to a plan. If you are looking at resource performance you can look at the sales team performance to quota. And you can drill down to an individual level to measure how individuals are doing compared to quota.
All of the methods mentioned will allow you to measure sales performance. And depe
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Posted by Tom Callinan on Monday, May 2, 2011
Many of you want to speak to the “C” level so you had better know what they think about. In a recent issue of CFO Magazine (yes, I read that too…..holdover from my time in CFO role) poll results detailed the top five concerns of CFOs. There are actually eight due to ties. Who ever said CFOs could count!
#1 Ability to maintain margins
#2 Ability to forecast results
Cost of healthcare
&
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