top of page
Four Modes of Negotiation
Looking for a magic bullet to become a great negotiator? Good luck! The most challenging thing about negotiating is that it depends on...
11 min read
The Hidden-Gem Hiring Process
The other day, I was talking with an old friend about the challenges he was having hiring the right salespeople for his team. He said:...
15 min read
Demos: Principles for Structure and Impact
Years ago, I worked with a sales rep who said he was reluctant to do software demos. I asked him why. After all, a good sales-oriented demo can persuade prospects to engage in a full evaluation process by showing them how the product can help them. His answer got to a key problem in executing an effective demo: He felt like they always went down a rabbit hole. The prospect would ask about this button and that button and then tell him to click here and click there. The result
9 min read
Good to Great: How to Make the Leap (Book Digest)
Good to Great argues that many of the conventional paths to building an outstanding company are dead ends. Jim Collins and his team identified companies that made the leap from average performance to exceptional results sustained over fifteen years and looked for what set them apart from similar companies that didn’t achieve greatness. They found that building a great company isn’t about bold strategies, charismatic CEOs, motivational visions, or technological transformation
7 min read
Understanding Michael Porter: How to Develop Effective Competitive Strategy (Book Digest)
In Understanding Michael Porter , Joan Magretta synthesizes Porter’s theories to explain why some companies consistently outperform their rivals. Porter's central insight is that competitive advantage comes not from trying to be the best, but from making deliberate choices to be unique. Good strategy requires creating a distinctive value proposition and tailoring your entire value chain to deliver it in a way that competitors cannot easily copy. Porter's view is that profitab
6 min read
Obviously Awesome: Effective Product Positioning (Book Digest)
Obviously Awesome provides a systematic approach to product positioning, which is the art of deliberately defining how you are the best at something that a defined market cares about. Author April Dunford argues that positioning is the foundation for all marketing and sales efforts, yet most companies struggle with it because they've never been taught a practical method for doing it well. Positioning is context setting for products. When customers encounter something new, th
6 min read
Sales Fundamentals
Too many promising companies never realize their potential because they never figure out how to prove their product’s value. Founders give demos that don’t progress to next steps. Companies hire sales reps who don’t sell anything. Most companies think their sales challenges are caused by insufficient activity: "Send more followups, go visit more customers, and follow the process we've given you and all will be well." But the truth is that most sales teams are working hard. Th
15 min read
Revenue Strategy and Planning
When revenue planning goes really wrong, it’s usually not because of bad math. It’s because of bad judgment. Companies often start planning too late, failing to take account of the lead time they need to get ahead of their sales cycles. Startup founders used to acting fast and driving quick results need to adjust to a world where today’s outcomes have a lot to do with moves they made six months ago… or even longer. What’s worse, it’s easy to be in denial about the challenges
37 min read
The JOLT Effect: A New Playbook for Overcoming Customer Indecision (Book Digest)
In The JOLT Effect , Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna highlight a critical barrier to purchasing decisions: customer indecision. 40-60% of deals end in "no decision" limbo in which customers express the intent to purchase but never buy. Why don't those deals go through? Customers fear messing up more than missing out. In other words, they may agree that they should change but they fear the negative consequences of making a bad decision. The book introduces the JOLT method—a fr
4 min read
The First 90 Days: Succeeding as a New Leader (Book Digest)
Leadership transitions are among the most critical periods in any career: Your first few months strongly predict your overall performance...
6 min read
Top Business Blog Posts
We tell our sales reps to "level up" their conversations so they can persuade executives to make a purchase. But what do we train them on? Product demos and competitive battle cards. In other words, we fill their heads with features and then wonder why they can't engage effectively with executives who care about business outcomes. Let's give our reps the business background they need to persuade serious decision makers. This collection of blog posts will help AEs understand t
9 min read
P.S.I. Selling Presentation Summaries
This article contains summaries of the videos on the P.S.I. Selling Presentations Page . Together, they provide an overview of the the core of the P.S.I. Selling methodology. Each entry below can stand on its own as an introduction to the topic or as a way to quickly review the material in the video. You can also review them all in a series to familiarize yourself with the entire methodology. Below is a table of contents with clickable links that will take you to each of the
47 min read
Persuasive Sales Writing
Being a good talker isn’t enough to win complex deals. Prospects usually make their decision during an internal conversation when you’re not in the room. Your champion might meet with their VP and their CFO to make the case for a purchase. If you can’t influence that conversation, you’re leaving money on the table. So how do you influence it? Start by mastering persuasive sales writing. If you write well, their executives will engage with your written materials when they mak
20 min read
The Storytelling Approach to Sales: What Great Salespeople Do (Book Digest)
"What Great Salespeople Do" argues that sales is fundamentally emotional rather than logical. Traditional approaches that rely on ROI...
4 min read
High Output Management: Engineering Principles for Effective Leadership (Book Digest)
Andy Grove's "High Output Management" applies engineering principles to management, creating a framework that helps leaders prioritize...
4 min read
The Sales Acceleration Formula: A Process-Driven Approach to Sales Success (Book Digest)
Mark Roberge's "The Sales Acceleration Formula" offers a comprehensive framework for developing and scaling effective sales teams....
4 min read
Getting to Yes: A Guide to Principled Negotiation (Book Digest)
The conventional model of negotiation is a test of wills: Each side starts with an extreme position and then digs in, trying to concede as little as possible before a deal is reached. "Getting to Yes" introduces a different approach called principled negotiation. It involves reaching mutually beneficial agreements based on objective criteria rather than power dynamics. Principled negotiation requires addressing the parties' underlying interests rather than their surface-lev
4 min read
Required Reading for Salespeople
Want to master some of the best sales ideas out there and some of the business concepts that SaaS salespeople need to know? These digests will get you up to speed quickly. Where should you start? These my are top three recommendations for sales reps: SPIN Selling The Challenger Sale Strategic Selling Sales Reading The resources below will help you master the fundamental ideas of effective selling. SPIN Selling : Learn the art of effective discovery that helps you uncover need
3 min read
The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth (Book Digest)
"The Innovator's Solution" by Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor lays out a framework for understanding disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovation creates both tremendous opportunities and existential threats for companies, making it one of the critical concepts driving modern corporate strategy. Salespeople who understand disruptive innovation can position their product as a way to drive strategic success, enabling them to attract interest from senior decision makers
4 min read
SPIN Selling: The Art of Effective Questioning in Major Sales (Book Digest)
In SPIN Selling, Neil Rackham argues that sales success requires building the customer's perception of value through effective questioning early in the sales process. He disagrees with conventional wisdom that argues that selling is about handling objections and deploying closing techniques. Rackham recommends that reps ask several layers of questions about the customer's problems and get the customer to articulate the importance of solving those problems. This book is valua
3 min read
bottom of page