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 29, 2016 | Real Stories
Business value important? Of course! Personal value addressed? Imperative!!!! Back in 2000, as there are today, there were several larger than life Silicon Valley personalities competing for the limelight. For this story, the players are Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun...
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...
