When I first published the original blog post almost 2 years ago, it went completely viral receiving over 5,400 views, 52 reshares, 34 comments and 180 likes. You can read the original post here. Clearly, this article struck a nerve which wasn’t a complete surprise.
I recently became familiar with the concept of CMM (the Capability Maturity Model) during an ideation session with a tech-pro friend with whom I frequently collaborate. Maturity Models come from the field of software development, but I immediately began to draw correlations to the wine
The wine business is the most competitive consumer product group in the world. I defy you to come up with a category with more choices and more complexity. Oh, and guess what- every vintage is different! Not to belittle the talent it takes to grow
One of the greatest thrills of a top-performing salesperson comes from hitting their sales goal. Not just once, but consistently. So when you, as a leader, habitually put the targets out of the reach of even your best performers, it’s like shooting yourself in the
Conventional wisdom is a powerful thing but it is also frequently and horribly incorrect. As human beings, most of us are definitely motivated by rewards. But, when it comes to using sales incentives to “motivate” sales people, the misconceptions abound. I’ve written before about the
I’m not sure who would actually want to demoralize their sales team, but I’m sorry to say it happens every day of the week. I mean, everyone wants their sales team to consistently perform at a high level, right? But, like many things in business,
There’s a popular but delusional belief in the wine industry that distributors will build your brand for you. Same goes for spirits and beer suppliers. It seems a reasonable assumption on the surface. After all, that’s how it’s been done since the repeal of Prohibition.
It’s worth noting most people incorrectly quote the signature catch phrase of the movie Field of Dreams as, “If you build it, they will come,” but – as any devotee of the seminal flick knows – the precise quote is, “If you build it, HE
I know of no more challenging aspect of being a sales leader than making good hiring decisions. Leading sales pros requires very different proficiencies than just being a top sales performer in your own right. One of those skills is the ability to assess talent.
Having lead dozens of salespeople and read thousands of sales call reports over the years, I have developed a highly receptive “BS detector.” Effective salespeople typically have winning personalities, which can be a double-edged sword. They have that perfect combination of being great listeners and
