Negotiation skills play a crucial role in professional sales. Expertise in negotiation is a skilled practice. While some individuals are naturally strong negotiators, the best ones learn and work hard to strengthen their knowledge and learn new techniques– and they continually practice perfecting their approach.

Losing customers without understanding why can be incredibly frustrating and damaging for a business. As much as we like to think we know our customers and have our fingers on the pulse of their needs, there are often hidden reasons behind losing customers that catch us by surprise.

You walk into your general practitioner's office. You have some pain in your knee from an old sports injury and it's starting to cause concern. When the doctor comes in, she doesn't start by asking questions about your condition. Instead, she hands you a short survey with some broad questions -- including things like, "When it comes to selecting a heart medicine, what do you look for?

“Procrastinators of the world unite!… Tomorrow.” This pithy saying appears on novelty t-shirts all across the internet. But behind the joke, it hints at a major habit haunting millions of adults today – the habit of putting off until tomorrow, or the next day, or someday soon, what can be done today. From the Latin pro, meaning “forward,” and crastinus, meaning “of tomorrow,” the practice of procrastination has plagued humankind for centuries.

Many global organizations are looking to Asia as the center of future growth. The International Monetary Fund forecasts real GDP growth of 6.5% in India and 4.1% in China in 2025, and more than half the world’s consumers live in Asia. The region also has an outsized proportion of future talent, with 60% of the world’s youth. According to Rupali Gupta, a Korn Ferry Senior Client Partner based in Singapore, this is an opportunity for global companies to leverage the innate (and sometimes undervalued) strengths of the region’s leaders.

Back in the late 1980s, when I was in the early stages of establishing my advertising agency, an invitation came my way to speak at a Chamber of Commerce event in Upstate New York. I turned it down. At that moment, the idea of declining might have seemed counterintuitive, especially given my aspirations to grow my business. The reason? I was afraid. Fear held me back from seizing an opportunity that could have propelled my agency forward.

When someone rises to a leadership position, they are often expected to have both technical expertise and the ability to think strategically. However, what happens when an individual becomes a leader without demonstrating essential people skills? A leader who lacks soft skills can inadvertently lower team morale and damage interpersonal relationships, ultimately hindering productivity.

If you're a sales professional, prospecting is a skill you need to perfect—and with the start of a new year and a brand-new quota, that comes into sharp focus. With a low percentage of sales reps consistently hitting quota, according to several surveys, it’s time to pay close attention to prospecting and avoid these common mistakes.

Reps spend only 28% of their week actually selling, according to the State of Sales Report. What’s more, 69% of sales professionals agree their jobs are harder now. And yet, they’re under enormous pressure to hit their targets. That means sales teams need to hone in on the highest quality leads to make their numbers. That’s where lead qualification comes into play. Let’s talk about what it is and how to do it right.

As the business world evolves at lightning speed, shifts in B2B buying behavior have revealed a significant disconnect between what modern buyers expect and the ability of go-to-market (GTM) teams to meet these expectations. Consider today’s B2B buyers: They are savvier than ever, performing as much research as they can before talking with a sales rep. And even then, they prefer digital interactions.

The skills-based revolution isn’t the future, it’s already here: It’s been over a year since major employers like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple, eliminated their long-held degree requirements for jobs to remove barriers to entry and recruit more diverse talent—much to the dismay of those who have splashed out thousands on a college degree. Now, LinkedIn has put the final nail in the coffin for those hoping that a stellar education alone is enough to land you a killer job.

In the high-stakes world of professional sports, I've often seen leaders feel the pressure to present themselves as infallible, unerring, and flawless. I've seen coaches act as if they needed everyone to know they hold the playbook for every possible scenario, and athletes constantly feel the urge to justify their mistakes, not to have to accept their imperfections.

Effective leadership extends beyond simply completing rote management tasks: It requires a high level of emotional intelligence (EQ). This crucial skill, encompassing the ability to understand, manage, and express one’s emotions and handle interpersonal relationships ethically and empathetically, has become essential to leadership success. EQ is not only about being aware of your emotions, but also about using that awareness to lead, inspire, and positively impact your team and organization.

Over the last twenty years, I've coached and trained hundreds of leaders to be more effective on the people side of the business. Observing middle and senior-level managers overcome their limitations and develop greater emotional intelligence to become better leaders has been an immensely gratifying experience.

In the ever-evolving realm of sales, the conventional pursuit of securing a "yes" may often lead to frustration and missed opportunities. This article focuses on the art of analyzing prospect responses and bringing a new meaning to sales success. You’ll learn why there's value in a "no" and how to reclassify a successful pitch with receiving an answer rather than just a "yes”.

Knowing how much revenue a potential client could generate is helpful when qualifying a sales opportunity. Knowing their sales potential lets you better assess if that company can afford your offer. If you're dealing with an existing client, understanding their total revenue potential can also help you better assess if there might be additional upsell potential. If you're in the market to buy a company, you might also want to estimate their sales.

In the world of sales, there is a time-tested secret weapon that has the power to make or break deals—the recommendation. A recommendation is a powerful tool that can have a significant impact on a customer's purchasing decision. It carries the weight of trust, credibility, and social proof, making it an invaluable asset for businesses looking to boost their sales.

Exceptional salespeople don't separate themselves from the pack by doing what everyone else is doing and hoping for the best. They go above and beyond, and you can't do that if you lean exclusively on conventional sales skills. No, the best reps demonstrate advanced sales skills — ones that can help frame you as an authoritative, helpful, empathetic guide with expertise relevant to your prospect's circumstances.

At a time of extreme political polarization, heightened racial tensions, and cross-cultural conflicts in the United States (and beyond), how can we encourage Americans to build relationships with—or even just try to understand—people who have different backgrounds or views from their own? And how can scientific research help us chart a positive path forward for our multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy?

Saying yes to every opportunity that comes up can help you achieve a certain level of success. However, continuing to operate from a place of automatically saying yes can often hold you back from achieving your next level of success, whether that be climbing the career ladder or running a successful company.