Chris Lytle

Those little words, “Hair is not a requirement” did wonders for my self-esteem. I worry that Donald Trump’s self-esteem is tied up in appearances rather than substance.

“Quit making calls.” Not the sort of sales advice you expect from a book that purports to tell you how to sell more. But it’s sound advice. I vividly recall the day I came to that conclusion. I had been retained as a sales consultant for a firm that needed one. I asked to see the systems and tools already in place so I could understand the process already in place. “Here are the call (that word again) reports for last week. My salespeople are making a lot of calls but they’re not closing anything,” the sales manager said with concern. “Maybe I should make them make more calls.” Although making more calls seems to be a reasonable solution to any sales problem, many misguided sales managers mistake a flurry of activity for real productivity. After reading several of the reports the sales manager had received, I came to this entry: The sales rep had entered this description of his latest meeting with a prospect. It read, “Stopped by XYZ Company. Ed (the contact) was out. He was having lunch with a vendor at Happy Joe’s Pizza. Will call again tomorrow.” I read it again in disbelief. I wondered, why document something that did nothing to advance the sales process? When I asked the salesperson why he had taken the time to document what clearly was a wasted effort, he said, “We are required to make a minimum of five calls a day and that was one of them.” By calling everything he did a call, he was fooling himself and his manager into thinking he was doing his job. Another salesperson in this same company had entered into her call report, “Dropped off coffee mug as a gift.” Chalk up another “call.” Only four more to go and she could go home feeling good about how hard she ... Read More