James B. Lee was a legendary Wall Street banker and one of the world’s greatest dealmakers. Called “Jimmy” by those who knew him, if you were to read his resume or review his accolades you might expect a real-life version of the infamous movie character Gordon Gekko. For example, he combed his hair slicked back …
Continue reading “3 Things I Learned From Wall Street’s Most Successful Dealmaker”
According to behavioral psychologists, rewards are more attractive to us the closer we are to receiving them. Further, humans have a tendency to “discount” equal or even greater rewards when not available until the distant future. Why does this make sales hard? Because especially in many instances we are asking our prospects for immediate sacrifices, …
Continue reading “How The Psychology of Rewards Impacts Our Success In Sales”
After reading the title of this post you might be thinking, “Sounds easy” or “I already do that”. Present some impressive sounding numbers about ROI or COI so the people making the decision can understand the value, right? Wrong! According to the Karla Starr and Chip Heath, authors of “Making Numbers Count”, simply sharing numbers …
Continue reading “Want To Close More Deals? Make Your Numbers Count.”
After starting a new B2B enterprise sales role I was pleased to discover three great new books on the topic. “Selling Above and Below the Line” by Skip Miller, “Selling Is Hard. Buying Is Harder.” by Garin Hess, and “Mega Deal Secrets” by Jamal Reimer each take a different approach to navigating a modern enterprise …
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In his recent work “Charisma, The Microsociology of Power and Influence”, sociologist Randal Collins provides a fascinating analysis of what makes someone truly charismatic.
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If you negotiate right, you can be the most powerful person in a discussion. But traditional schooling does an awful job showing you it’s possible.
I’m excited to share this new interview with Kwame Christian on Negotiate Anything, the top Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Podcast in the world, also ranked #6 among all management-related shows on Apple Podcasts.
It’s easy for management to blame salespeople when negotiations conclude with value left on the table. But what they often fail to realize is that selling and negotiating are fundamentally different skill sets requiring fundamentally different behaviors.
Much has been written about the power of emotional intelligence, including popular works by various experts such as Daniel Goleman, Chris Voss, Travis Bradberry, and others. Further, according to a 2013 study on the topic of emotional intelligence and sales, strong emotional intelligence is a trademark characteristic of high performers, especially those who can combine …
Continue reading “Want better E.I.? Start by understanding emotions”
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