"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself"

...Andy Warhol

Certainly, Andy Warhol has for decades made the opportunity for change a centerpiece of his very being as a spokesperson on culture, as an artist and as an observer of life around us!

My own comment on change and the absolute requirement for consistent education and repeated training in everything we do is....

"At current course and speed, I can tell you exactly what the result will be. If we want to change the result or the velocity of achieving that result, we need to execute on different activities."

• I see this in my best students.  They always remain curious!
• I see this in my best entrepreneurs.  They always ask "why not?"
• I see this in my best managers.  They are just superb coaches!
• I see this in my best salespeople.  They are always stretching for new ideas.

Relationship Selling is Dead

"Relationship Selling" has been around for hundreds of years. 

It's a "nice" to have, but 15 plus years ago, with available time shrinking dramatically on both sides of the Buyer-Seller table, pure relationship selling between friends and lunches finally passed quietly away.  No one has the time for the indirect nature of trying to figure out where the value lies in the relationship. Buyers and Sellers finally said, "Let's just get down to what counts, and it isn't the relationship; it's the value that the relationship provides."

Solution Selling is tired and Intrusive 

"Solution Selling" championed by sales guru, Mike Bosworth, had a great run and sold millions of books and changed the dynamics of the sales game, but it became just that...too much of a game and a process which was primarily one sided.  Today, it's not uncommon to hear from the Buyer's side of the table..."Hey, I don't want to be solution sold".  Plus the solid and innovative ideas from Bosworth were degraded by junk books like "Spin Selling" and "Power Selling" and countless others following in Bosworth's pioneering footsteps largely just to sell books, videos and magazines.

Selling Value Wins All the time

Guys like Mike Kunkle, one of today's high priests of Value Selling and Sales Enablement, along with hard data from companies such as Sirius Decisions, Hubspot and Brainshark, the leader in sales enablement, are perfectly focused on the right side of the sales equation.  That side of the equation always has the simplest of questions that every rep should be asking,,, and, that question is not..."What can I sell them today?"

Rather, that question always needs to be... "What's the value I can bring to my prospect or to my existing customer in the shortest and most effective period of time?"

So, on this Friday morning, with the first month of the most important quarter of the sales year closing quickly behind you, before you just jump into the month of May next week, take an hour this weekend (the leaves in the gutters will wait, trust me) and identify...

• What is it that you are specifically going to do to better identify the value propositions that you are bringing to your prospects?  Are they clear enough?  Do you have proactive statements of value that drive revenue, margin or expenses?  Do you have metrics?
• What specific activities do you have mapped out for May that will change the velocity of the curve of your own sales metrics.  Simple Rule:  None of us can change results; we can only change activities!

Have a great day selling today!   
Me?  I'm hosting Aron Ain, Chairman & CEO of Kronos (Best Place to Work in MA and 15 different countries) today to talk to our students at the Tufts Entrepreneurship Center about creating a winning culture based on caring for employees and customers.  Should be fun...and critically important !

If you want to understand today's value selling

In fact, that's what happens at our upcoming   Sales Management Productivity Boot Camp in mid-June!

Between the end-of-the-day working dinner over case studies on June 16th and mid-afternoon on June 18th. Designed for sales managers at any level, this always-sold-out intense experience is specifically customized to maximize you and your team's performance so that you beat your 2019 Quota! 

Too many details to cover here plus most of the outline is on the site so just click on above.  Much better to just connect directly with me at jack@derbymanagement.com, and we can set up a 10-minute call to judge fit and answer all your questions. 

After many years of doing this with now more than 1,000 sales managers, presidents and CEO's, we just simply guarantee success and very positive results!

 Please stay connected!

Jack Derby, Director, TEC-Tufts Entrepreneurship Center
Cummings Family Chair Professor of Entrepreneurship
Spark-Incubate-Accelerate@Tufts
Come to our Events
Cell:  617-504-4222 jack.derby@tufts.edu  

Advisor, Derby Management, experts in-
-Sales & Marketing Productivity
-Business and Strategic Planning
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