Sales has a seriously bad rep. Just saying the word “sales” will likely evoke instant images of men with slick hair and Bluetooth headsets glued to their mouths or “Boiler Room”-esque scenes of ruthless desperation. None of which will be remotely favorable. The problem is, this public perception of sales is outdated, inaccurate, and, most […]

Last week we discussed why to never email proposals and how walking people through your plan will dramatically increase your close rate.  This week we will cover the content — what you should provide your prospects with and how to walk them through it to close that deal. An important point to keep in mind is that most […]

Have you ever heard someone share the number of hours they worked this week, as if it’s some kind of competition? “I haven’t been to the gym in ages. I worked 80 hours last week. How could I?” Then, they wait — hoping for the validating reaction of, “Wow, you work too much!” To which […]

0 Must Read Sales Leadership Books Experience is the most reliable way to become a better leader and salesperson, but relying on your own experience will only give you half of the picture. I read 20 to 40 sales and leadership books a year because I believe that learning different perspectives is the best way […]

There are so many facets of launching a business that need attention when launching a startup. As a result, sales is often seen as a final step — something that can be put on the backburner until everything else is sorted out. To simplify matters and make sales something that startup founders can appropriately tackle […]

We’d all like to see that swooping, hockey stick incline in revenue when we’re ramping up our startups. But more often than not, the hockey stick breaks, and revenue stalls at some point in the growth process. This trend is a daunting reality for startup founders, and one that they would obviously like to avoid. […]

It was about this time last year, Eric Paley of Founder Collective took the time to warn me about specific challenges in scaling a people business. The cyclicity of early stage consulting firms was something I had to consider as I prepared to launch Skaled at the time. He advised me to beware of ramping too fast, as that […]