What is your top concern in managing a sales team?

Brent Mellow (Helping businesses improve their results with salesforce.com and the Force.com cloud platform.) asked the following question on LinkedIn:
What is your top concern in managing a sales team?
Here is my response:
Hi Brent,
My top concern in managing a sales team is always getting the team to  effectively maximize their selling time.
By spending more time in front of [...]

Motivational Quote: Getting Noticed

“The public is a parade walking past you. Unless you get them to turn their heads and look at you, they will simply walk on by.” – P.T. Barnum, 1890’s Business Tycoon

How to Avoid Losing Customers and Killing your Career

There is a thought in sales that in order to have a happy customer, you need to under promise and over deliver.
The problem is that in order to obtain the business many salespeople over promise or over sell and then can’t deliver on what they promised.
Doing this is a real short term strategy, and usually [...]

How can these two concepts can change your life

You never know when a message will hit you between the eyes.
Today I visited my family at a birthday party for my neice, (Happy Birthday Sarah) and as I was entering the washroom of her house I noticed a sign on the counter.
It was one of those signs that look like they are made out [...]

The Ultimate Leadership Opportunity

Looking for the ultimate opportunity to flex your leadership muscles?
Looking for the ultimate opportunity to influence and shape the future?
Looking for the ultimate opportunity to make your mark on the world?
If you answered yes to any one of these questions then read on.
Yesterday a friend of mine received his dream job.
The  job that he will [...]

How the words you choose make a difference in Sales

Imagine…  you are thinking of buying a car and you are sitting across an automotive salesperson and you are thinking of buying a car at his dealership.
The car is exactly what you are looking for.
The price is within your price range.
And you can see your showing off  your new car to your family and friends.
With [...]

The Upside to Dating a Salesman

The following blog post written by Dating Goddess http://www.datinggoddess.com/ on June 24, 2009  talks about why she loves dating men with a sales background.
Does he know how to close? by Dating Goddess  June 24, 2009

I love dating men with a sales background.
Why?
Because they know how to close. How to ask for the order. How to pursue. How [...]

The 7+ Habits of Highly Effective Husbands – Habit #5: Use the Right Currencies

There are many different ways that you can show your wife that you love her.
In his book “The Five Love Languages” ( a book that I think should be required reading for any couple) http://www.fivelovelanguages.com author Dr. Gary Chapman describes 5 different currencies (or ways) people give and receive love.
They are:
Words of Affirmation, telling her [...]

The 7+ Habits of Highly Effective Husbands- Habit #4: Never Stop Selling

In my work as a Sales Trainer, I am known at “The Sales Dating Guy”  http://www.RichardElmes.com because when I teach Selling Skills, I use the analogy that Selling is like Dating and Customer Service is like a Marriage.
I also teach a Professional Selling class at Conestoga College http://www.conestogac.on.ca .
One day one of my students asked me [...]

The 7+ Habits of Highly Effective Husbands

Since most couples spend countless hours preparing for their wedding, and not much time preparing for their marriage, and since most of the focus at the wedding is on the bride and not so much on the groom, I decided to create a handy guide that can help any guy become a Highly Effective husband.
My original [...]