by Bruce Costello | Oct 7, 2016 | Best Practices
Any sales manager worth their salt will only forecast a sale once they are satisfied it’s fully qualified. But what does that mean? Just what is ‘qualified’? At its most basic level we’re taught a few simple acronyms. The first one I was taught was MANT. MANT –...
by Bruce Costello | Sep 16, 2016 | Real Stories
Some 15 years ago I was consulting to a major account sales team who were selling to a large multi-national ($100Bn+). They were a relatively minor supplier to this customer. The incumbent supplier had over 80% of the spend. This comparative split had existed for over...
by Bruce Costello | Sep 7, 2016 | Real Stories
This is a story of woe. Imagine a young salesman. Straight off of closing the biggest deal in his company’s history. $5m of software in 1989. To say I was full of confidence and full of myself would be the understatement of the last millennium. I was working for...
by Bruce Costello | Aug 10, 2016 | Best Practices
That Aristotle was one smart Greek. He wasn’t even thinking about sales people at the time, but he still laid some of the key foundations for successful selling. When we think about Greeks and geometry we might think first about that other guy, Pythagoras. But it’s...
by Bruce Costello | Jul 28, 2016 | Best Practices
As brain surgeons go, I guess I would be far to the left of the 1st quartile of a normal distribution. Translation: You probably shouldn’t ask me to perform surgery. As a professional boxer, not much better. I’d likely need a brain surgeon. As a pilot, I’d hopefully...
