My wife and I add plants to our perennial gardens each year. She chooses the plants and decides where they should be placed, and I have the important job of digging holes. One thing I have excelled at in my hole digging responsibilities is cutting into the coaxial cable that makes up our dog’s invisible fence, rendering it useless each time. As long as I know where the break is, I can splice it back together again.

Transitioning from a top salesperson to an effective sales leader is more than just a promotion—it's a significant step up that demands new skills and perspectives. And it’s risky. Elevating top sales performers into sales leadership roles doesn’t naturally make them effective sales coaches. They may not possess the skills or desire to transition into leadership roles, potentially leading to misalignment and dissatisfaction.

Successful salespeople possess many skills. They need the confidence to present sales pitches, the motivation to increase sales for their organization, and the passion and knowledge to promote your product or service. However, their most essential skill may be emotional intelligence. High-level sales involve emotionally connecting with customers. Creating genuine connections means understanding and harnessing your own emotions as well as your prospects’ and customers’ emotions.

If you've ever worked the front lines, where you're directly dealing with customers, you know that sometimes, a customer can't be satisfied. It's always a challenge dealing with a difficult customer, but many times, companies have hard and fast rules for how to engage with these customers, leaving employees in the position of facing anger, frustration, yelling, and even sometimes rage.

As a leader, one of the most significant challenges you face is managing your time effectively. With countless demands on your attention, it’s easy to get caught up in the urgency trap, where you find yourself constantly putting out fires and neglecting the truly important initiatives that drive your organization forward. To overcome this challenge, you need a powerful tool that can help you prioritize your responsibilities and stay focused on what matters most.

BambooHR recently released its quarterly Employee Happiness Index report, showing employee happiness is down 5% year over year, hitting a four-year low. The survey revealed some bright spots, with construction remaining the happiest industry and education achieving the highest June scores the sector has seen in four years. Still, the results raise concerns, given the steady decline in employee satisfaction since 2020.

Although there is an endless list of leadership habits that differentiate high performers from the rest, some of the most wildly celebrated traits in popular articles rarely move the needle according to science. There is often a direct contradiction between the leadership attributes we celebrate and those that actually contribute to leaders’ success.

When it comes to the stuff that strong relationships are made of, there is no more precious commodity than trust. It takes time to establish and can be broken in a heartbeat. But those who achieve the highest levels have demonstrated over and over again the same patterns of behavior that make building trust look easy. Be reliable. Fundamental to trust is reliability. If you say you'll do something, you'll do it.

True story: Recently, my daughter was at a major brand car dealership with her boyfriend, intending to purchase a pre-owned car. Note I made up the numbers for the sake of my daughter's financial privacy, but the takeaways are still the same. The dealership asked for, let's say, $26,000 "all in" for the car, but my daughter had already decided that $20,000 was the most she would pay.

Prospects — the potential customers you want to sell to — are the fuel for the sales pipeline. Every prospect represents a possible deal. Growing your base of sales prospects and working to nurture them will grow your revenue. Even though sales prospecting is important, it may sometimes feel like you’re just wishing and hoping the right people will show up.

Today’s business landscape is ever-evolving, with market disrupters, automation technology, and global economic uncertainty putting businesses under pressure. That’s why achieving peak performance in sales isn't just a goal—it's a necessity—and your sales team constantly needs to find ways to boost productivity. Proven sales processes, like the Miller Heiman sales methodology, can transform your team’s productivity and drive sustained success. 

AI for sales outreach sounds great in theory. I know. I thought the same thing 15 years ago. For 10 minutes. Until I really thought about it. Then I laughed and went on to the next thing. Then last month, I wrote a controversial column called "We All Know AI Can't Code, Right?" in which I argued that while generative AI is good at creating compilable syntax

our speed at work might be hurting you more than you know. Do you know the difference between speed and velocity? Many of my clients use them interchangeably, but there's a critical distinction that can significantly impact your productivity and your ability to manage through uncertainty, disruption, and rapid change. Most business owners operate in a fast-paced, high-pressure, results-oriented environment.

All of us have heard guidelines about how to be physically healthy—eat well, exercise, wash your hands, get plenty of rest. But how many of us have thought seriously about our social lives—the strength of our relationships and our sense of belonging in a community—as key to staying healthy?

More than ever, today’s employees long for purpose, a sense of belonging, and opportunities to grow. This means workers are ready to roll up their sleeves and make things happen. And yet according to the American Psychological Association’s recent survey, employee happiness is down while burnout remains high. In fact, the survey found that 77% of U.S. workers said they experienced work-related stress,

What does your leadership canvas look like so far? Is it full of powerful images or is it quite sparsely populated so far? Is it mainly positivity and light, or is there some negativity and darkness that is in urgent need of being surrounded by something more hopeful? We’re going to add some broad brush strokes to your canvas in the form of a series of related questions.

To convert buyers and investors, sharing product knowledge is important, but you need more. Sure, you have to know the products and services you sell in detail. But product knowledge alone is useless, and that is where many marketing plans run afoul of the first law of marketing: Put the Customer First. Customers don't buy products or services. They buy solutions to problems, relief from an itch, satisfaction of a felt need. In short, they buy benefits.

One of the most important skills I learned growing up came from martial arts -- stay liquid and fill the gaps. Being flexible will give you an edge in winning any match, whether you're fighting an opponent or brokering a deal. When I was a kid, I learned this the hard way. I was tiny and looked wimpy. I got picked on, beaten up, and mugged. So Ma enrolled me in martial arts at the community center. We went there almost every night to take classes and use the showers.

Aggressive salespeople are no more effective than passive salespeople but if I had to choose one over the other I would take my chances with the aggressive salesperson and attempt to get them to tone it down. While the challenges with passive salespeople are obvious, there is one mistake I consistently observe being made by aggressive salespeople and wouldn’t you know it, the salesperson approached us and made the mistake. That made me want to sit in a messaging recliner to get the stress out.

When you’re looking to grow your business, your sales teams are more important than ever. These three strategies could give your sales teams the edge they need to help you meet your organization’s growth objectives. Invest in your sales leaders - Align your sales process to customer needs - Motivate people with the right compensation strategy. Read on to find out how.