Part of what I do in our company is ride around with sales reps on sales calls. The goal is to get market information that isn’t easily discovered – how the prospects view the solution, what degree of buzz words are incorporated, what stalls and objections occur most frequently, etc. You never learn more about a sales position than when you are in the trenches with the salespeople. That being said, I came across this article in SalesHQ.com. The format is a theoretical construction of a mistake-ridden sales call. The article is a bit exaggerated, but not by much. The concluding exchange is priceless: “Well,” Arnie responded, “I understand that… Read More
Continue ReadingMistake-Prone Inspiration
We often tell sales managers to allow salespeople to make mistakes, to stumble through a low value opportunity. These “bloody nose” lessons (as my father calls them) are just as valuable as huge successes. I often learn more from mistakes than successes. In that spirit, I stumbled across this article thanks to the JustSell.com guys. The article details different products that literally came about via mistakes. Some examples – Coca-Cola, Scotchgard, Silly Putty, car tires and many more. This one caught my attention: Yellow sticky notes, officially known as Post-it Notes, got their start in 1968 when a 3M researcher tried to improve adhesive tape. What he got was a… Read More
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