Brave New Sales

Sell With Your Head High: Differentiation

Stop Pitching Away Your Assets For Free

I just saw this post, To Hell With The Sell by Blair Enns via my great friend Ken Jacobs who helps PR agencies grow business and develop staff.

This post resonated with me because, I have to admit, it aligns with some of the material in my book, Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop, particularly the second, third and fourth points:

• We will replace presentations with conversations;
• We will diagnose before we prescribe; and
  
• We will re-think what it means to sell.

That last point resonates because it reinforces a timeless adage that great salespeople do not push their product, but instead facilitate the buying process; they help the buyer buy.

 

We Shall Hold Our Heads High

Following that, Blair moves into high gear with respect to communications and ad agencies.

The overriding theme is that if you don't differentiate, and if you don't proactively lead conversations, you will find yourself playing "against" your prospects as foes... and on a slanted playing field, at that.

While Blair and I define pitches a little differently, our approach is aligned.  In my book I actually say that the paradox of a pitch is that it should not feel pitchy. In early-stage opportunities, whenever you can move away from your presentation toward a customer-focused conversation, you should "ditch the pitch!"

So definitions aside (and Blair does use "pitch" in many other blog posts), I highly endorse Blair's book, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto.

As salespeople in the B2B world, we really should hold our heads high. We should consider ourselves experts in a field where we can best help clients if we take control of the selling process, and don't chase low-probability and low-profitability RFP's.

Awesome stuff, Blair. You're probably not winning all your pitches, but I bet you're winning a healthy portion of those that are more profitable to operate and more exciting to work on!

 

Photo/Illustration of Blair Enns from his website, link above.

 

The Book: Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop

Now available on amazon!

In a B2B pitch, you're not there to close a deal, you're there to open a relationship. The three objectives of a pitch, therefore, are to Snap, Crackle 'n Pop: stimulate interest, start a customer-focused conversation and build trust.

If you achieve these three objectives, your prospects will not see you as another vendor, but rather as a trusted advisor.

Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop shows you how to achieve this in straight-forward and sometimes hard-hitting language.

Dr. Tobias Kiefer, Global Learning & Development Head at Booz & Co says, "Jack slaps you in the face with best practices and makes you laugh...

Another Killer Question

Three Things To Improve?

I had a great time chairing the Enterprise Marketing 2.0 Conference last week in Amsterdam, organized by KGS. Many of the speakers I introduced over the two days were leaders in social media and inbound marketing, so I learned a lot of relevant stuff!

When the conference was over, I was asked to present at a Meetup.com event, Influence Ecosystems, where I could discuss some of my own mojo.

So I highlighted my upcoming book, Sales Pitches That Snap, Crackle 'n Pop, because I firmly believe that as valuable as online marketing is, ultimately you have to get in front of prospects, physically, that is, if you're going to sell anything of significant value.

It led to an open, group conversation about face-to-face selling.  The topic of the killer question came up; that is: What are the best questions that a salesperson should ask a qualified buyer?

The answer is, it depends. It depends where you are in the sales process or, better yet, where the buyer is in her buying process.

One question I particularly like is, "What three things would you like to improve here?"

Of course, any such question should be within the scope of your product or services, as well as within the context of the conversation.

Asking for three things is effective because it's not too exhaustive, on the one hand. On the other hand, the answers could provide you a range of issues, allowing you to align at least one of them with your offerings.

Another benefit is that you might prompt the prospect to think in new areas and, consciously or unconsciously, she will feel that having you around is a benefit, that you are a resource.

Such questions also position you as the go-to partner instead of just another vendor. They earn you the subliminal title of trusted advisor.

Prepare questions like this as you prepare for meetings with prospects. Then use them as and when they fit into your customer-focused conversations.

What's Your 9-11 Story?

I've yet to meet anyone...

... over 15-years-old who doesn't have their own, personal story of 9-11.

Perhaps they didn't know anyone who was killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Perhaps they didn't know anyone who cancelled a meeting in the World Trade Center that day. But they can tell you what they were doing when they heard the shocking, near surrealistic news. Many can tell you how 9-11 changed their lives in some way.

What's your story? 

 

My 9-11 Story

I had been living in Europe for years when two hijacked planes took down the World Trade Center, another slammed into the Pentagon, and another fell into a field in Pennsylvania while its hijackers were reportedly going for the White House.

At first I was numb. Then I became angry. Then I became confused.

Then, two months later, I flew to New York's JFK Airport and drove a rented directly for my hometown, two hours north. I arrived home just in time for Thanksgiving, the most American of holidays, and this year, my homeland was feeling a lot of patriotism and going through a lot of reflection.

The purpose of my trip was really business, and on Monday morning, I took an early train back into Manhattan for meetings, arriving in Penn Station, like I had so many times before.

But this time it was different

Yeah, sure, my homeland had been hit by terrorism like never before. Yeah, sure, it had been a prolific Thanksgiving holiday with lots of thanking and questioning. Yeah, sure, everyone everywhere was talking about the tragedy.

But now I wasn't just in my homeland. I was in the epicenter of 9-11. I was in New York City. Manhattan.

All around Penn Station, wherever there was a bare space of wall, even where there wasn't, even over paid advertisements, there were flyers... posters... of the missing.

People had posted these flyers. Human beings... who were holding out hope that the loved ones they lost in the World Trade Center that otherwise gorgeous September morning would still be alive... that they would miraculously and literally surface.

I had seen these flyers on news reports. But now I was really seeing them. Everywhere. As far as the eye could see, accompanied by a strong smell of burned wire.  You could smell Ground Zero here in Penn Station, a couple of miles away.

Something took the wind right out of me. I burst into tears. And not quiet tears. I was sobbing out loud. This was just overwhelming and I just hadn't anticipated it!

You think New Yorkers have a tough shell?

Well inside, they're human and they're soft. They're cream puffs, in fact.

As I pulled myself together, I realized that a stranger, a cream puff, had his hand on my shoulder. It was there for what seemed a minute, yeah, a real minute, 60 long seconds, when I cleared my eyes, and said, "Sorry. Shit, I'm sorry." I didn't ask him why he stopped, or why he dared touch me. It was ok. It was... human. And New York City was more human than ever.

"Did you lose somebody?" he asked.

"No. Nobody... but this is my homeland... and I've been living outside of the country... and this is the first I've experienced this... and I can't believe how deep the pain is here... and how wide. That's all. I was numb. And now, even my pain is small. But everyone else's? Shit!"

Cream Puff smiled. "You're ok, then?"

"Oh yeah. I'll be fine. But all these people?" I motioned at the flyers.

"Yeah, they had a really bad day," Cream Puff said. "But the people who put these flyers up? They're the ones still living in hell."

I was speechless.

"God bless," Cream Puff said. He smiled and started away, back to his somewhat normalized New York pace.

"I don't know if I believe in God," I shouted.

"You will now," he said. "And it won't be in the way someone else defined it for you when you were a kid, either. But you're gonna' start asking a lot of questions. Namaste."

 

He was right

I started asking a lot of questions, and I still ask those questions.

No, this is not a blog about religion, and it's not going to become one now.

But this is a blog about the human side of sales. Selling requires that the buyer does something different as a result of you framing things in the right context. Stories are a powerful way to put things in context, to impact people so deeply that they change behavior.

So here comes my change in behavior, followed by moral of the story. Here comes the essence, which is what a good story must have if it's going to have any chance of changing the buyer's behavior.

 

So what changed?

September 2001 changed my life. But so did November 2001. So did New York. So did Penn Station. So did Cream Puff. So did the questions.

Later that November afternoon in New York, after my meetings, I was on my way to the hotel and I passed a bookstore. I stopped dead in my tracks, then bolted inside.

For the first time ever, I found my way to the Religion & Spirituality section. An hour later, I left with two books, Religion For Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide To World Religions, and a mental list of more books to buy in the future.

Until that moment, I was a dummy, a complete idiot, on the topic of religion. Here I had considered myself a culture and geography buff? How can one really know world cultures if one does not know the world's religions?

In the following two years, I read about 30 books on religion and spirituality. Whether or not I became religious or spiritual is not the purpose of this blog, either. That's a pretty personal thing, and it's my own business, thank you.

What I will share with you is the fact that, on a mental level, on an intellectual level, I love the topic of religion. I love how my knowledge of the world's religions complements my knowledge of geography and culture... so profoundly that I now see the world with different color lenses.

Something changed in me that cold November morning in Penn Station. Something persuaded me to do something differently that afternoon. Something sold me on the need to learn more about humanity, my fellow human beings.

And I'm still learning.  And I'm still asking questions.

What's your 9-11 story?

I'd love it if you could write a few lines below, or on my Facebook page, on how 9-11 impacted you.

TED, Free... and Your Business Model

TED's Bold Decision

I just read on my friend John Zimmer's blog that TED is celebrating a big anniversary today.

It's not an anniversary of its founding or anything like that... but rather of a decision.

Five years ago, TED decided to make its TED Talks free for public viewing.  And as John points out, TED has enjoyed over 500 million video-views since then!

That's a lot of views!

As TED's European Director, Bruno Giussani (pictured right) explained to a group of broadcasters at the Eurovision TV Summit in Luzern a month ago, TED made two huge-but-then-considered-risky decisions that increased its relevance and appeal to a much wider audience.

1. The first one, as mentioned, was allowing public access to TED Talks online, free.
2. The second one was creating the TEDx, where x = independently organized TED events, and where independent organizers could gain a license to organize such an event, free.

 

Free?

Yep.  Both of these decisions involved providing something for free.  Go to TED's website and you can see nearly 1,000 inspiring videos of superb speakers, absolutely free.

If you want to organize a TEDx event, you can secure the license free-of-charge.  I know.  I myself have organized TEDxZug and TEDxLuzern.  You do have to commit to measurable levels of quality in organizing your TEDx event and, of course, making quality video recording of your TEDx Talks available online... free.

You might think that this is a crazy business model.  Or the astute reader might note that TED is a non-profit, after all.

Right, but TED does boast an impressive top-line in revenue generation, and this might be an approach for your start-up or entrepreneurial venture.

 

A Radical Price

Former Managing Editor of Wired Magazine, Chris Anderson*, provides numerous examples of this in his book, "Free - The Future of a Radical Price."  Take Gillette's approach a century ago: "Give away the razor, then sell the blades."

So along comes TED, with a cult following of paid subscribers and its funky-but-not-really-mainstream conferences.  TED decides to provide its TED Talk videos for free, and wham!  It goes viral.

They then decide to let independent enthusiasts organize TEDx events.  Waddya'know?  These enthusiasts essentially spread the gospel of the TED brand.  Evangelists around the world, spreading the TED faith... free.

 

What Goes Up Must... Bring Revenues With It!

And what happens to the demand for TED's main conference in California each winter, as well as its European event TED Global in the UK each summer?  It skyrockets.

If you want to go to TED Global in July, apply now... for 2012.

And be ready to pay a fair penny.  From what I hear from TED-sters even more passionate than I, it's worth every penny.

Indeed, TED attendees are beyond faithful... as most evangelists are.

That's a great way to build a brand, and that's a great business model.

And Your Business Model?

Think about your business, goods and services.

Can you give away something of nominal value that leads to customers buying your real mojo at a premium price?

How can you create demand by building the "Free" concept into your business model?

*Interestingly, Chris Anderson, the author of "Free," shares the same name as Chris Anderson, the Curator of TED.

Hangin' Out With Chris Brogan and The Social Media Crowd

I just returned from the best conference I've been to in a long time, Next Generation Marketing in Berlin.

I learned a lot and hung out with some of the thought leaders in social networking, including keynote speaker, Chris Brogan.  Chris is a prolific blogger, co-author of the best-seller "Trust Agents", and advisor-not-expert on social media.

"Oh, no," he shudders.  "I don't like that word, 'expert'."

He liked the quote I often cite, "The true master is an eternal student."

It's apparent that Chris is brilliant.  It's refreshing that he doesn't need to prove it.  Instead, he makes you feel comfortable and listened to, which is one of the driving themes in his blog, books and keynotes.  So he practices what he preaches.

He'll be the first to tell you we were surrounded by a lot of brilliant people, conference speakers and attendees alike.  (I wish I could mention them all and keep this post in context.)  Chris is happy to share his knowledge, online and in person, but he's also a sponge.  In a kind of youthful curiosity, he keeps his eyes and ears open.

And that's where I want to go now (after burying my lead with "I'm in with the in crowd").

A common thread running throughout "Next Generation Marketing" was that the first objective for marketers using social media platforms is to listen.

Even the once-traditional Kodak, which has seemingly resucitated itself from the Ashes of Analog, puts listening first in its own five-pronged approach to social media, as Madlen Nicolaus, Head of Social Media EMEA outlined.  Kodak social media strategy is designed to:

• Listen
• Engage
• Be Real
• Measure
• Iterate

This is what I find exciting about next generation marketing generally and social media specifically:

The emerging tools for social media excellence parallel the time-tested tools for sales excellence.

The tools are different, revolutionary, but the spirit is timeless.

In the past, mediocre salespeople could survive by pitching first and trying to get to close as soon as possible, but the best salespeople never did.

In the Brave New World, there is no room for it.  "Pitchers and closers need not apply."  Today, it's about listening, diagnosing, building a solution, and agreeing ways to move forward.

Likewise, the days of broadcasting your product's attributes -- and even micro-casting them -- are waning.  Consumers don't want it, and corporate buyers don't have time for it.

So, can the marketing departments and the sales departments of today function in silos?

I don't think so.  Not if they're going to gain a strategic advantage through their commercial processes per se.

Rick Segal, Worldwide Head of Gyro HSR, said something I hadn't quite heard before, but being a Seamless Advocate, it resonated with me the moment he said it.  "Salespeople are out managing focus groups with customers every day.  If the marketing department isn't paying attention, well, they're squandering a built-in research tool."

This is where we need to be as scrappy consultants, independents and start-ups, in both our marketing and our selling.

It takes a a lot of energy for major corporations to improve their macro-listening while making each customer feel special.

But if major corporations can do it, Brave New Entrepreneurs can do it, too.

 

Photo: Chris Brogan on left.  Irina Kremin, founder of conference organizer KGS, center.  BraveNewSales Advocate on right, hanging out with the #B2BEU Crowd.  Man, did I learn a lot.  (Man, do I have a lot of work to do!)

Sneak Peek: "Selling in the Brave New World"

Here's a preview of the sales workshop I'll be leading this Sunday at the Expat Expo in Zurich.

Special thanks to the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce for making it happen.  More on BSCC and the event below.

+   +   +

Selling in the Brave New World

Technology and economics have impacted everyone's life, and nowhere is this more true than in the business world.

While technology has shifted the balance of power from seller to buyer over the past 20 years, the global financial crisis has made everyone more fearful!

In the Brave New World, just about every sale is a complex sale: long deal cycles, multiple decision-makers, changng criterion, unforeseen difficulties.

Buyers simply don't want you pushing your glorious, sexy products in their face.  Think about it: when you buy, do you like to engage with a salesperson who you know is motivated solely by closing a deal?

"Closers" need not apply.

"Trust" has become the biggest word in sales.

In fact, buyers will pay a premium for trust.

And the way to earn trust is through "customer focus."  But customer focus must not only be top of mind, it must be deep in spirit.  It must be backed up by behavior and actions, to the point that today's successful salesperson thinks less about the sales cycle and more about the purchase cycle.

When you first make contact with prospects, where are they within their purchasing cycle?  Is the organization aware it has a need?  Are they researching many offers?  Do they understand the implications of doing nothing?  Are they moving too fast?  What kinds of questions are you asking them?

If you're too busy pitching, you're not listening.  You're not exploring with the buyer.  You're not forming a trusting partnership.

In the Brave New Marketplace, more people are selling than ever before.  Many of them are independent consultants, start-ups and entrepreneurs who are experts in their fields.

Even gamefully employed salespeople often earn their positions through technical expertise... but surprisingly few of them have the tactical tools to truly be customer-focused in an environment where buyers have more information than ever, and often more fear, too.

They need help, and opportunity knocks for the true sales professionals.

+   +   +

This Sunday at Expat Expo Zurich, I'll be leading an interactive workshop offering a sneak peek at my upcoming release, "Selling in the Brave New World."

It's part of the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce's business seminars entitled Professional Insights to Success in a Tough Climate and it's free-of-charge.

We'll look deeper into what makes today's buyer "tick," and we'll discuss a few tools for how to "click."

Expat Expo Zurich will run from 11.00 to 17.00 Sunday at the prestigious Kongresshaus one block from the lake.

"Selling in the Brave New World" will start promptly at 12.00, adjacent to the Gartensaal.  Hope to see you.

FIFA: Mind The Gap!

FIFA has certainly had a rough week.

The whole world took aim at football's governing body and owner of the World Cup property, as FIFA staunchly defended its postion not to modernize the game's officiating with technology.

But the core of FIFA's woes go beyond its resistance to innovate.  The gap -- between technology exposing referee errors and being used as a tool for effective officiating -- is actually a chasm.

And, in the Brave New World of transparency, one gap usually creates another one.

Sadly, for people like me who love the game and love World Cup, and who also know how difficult it is to initiate change within sports governing bodies, FIFA has become a case study in "the brand-product gap."

FIFA's core brand value and its product are out of alignment.

A few years ago, a self-appointed branding guru tried to convince me, "Products are secondary to brands.  Stop focusing on the product."  He insinuated that brands were for the hip, and products were for the dweebs.  I almost lost my lunch on his expensive shoes.

Entrepreneurs and start-ups in the Brave New World must not heed such unwise advice; we can not afford such gaps.  If we make a brand claim and then our product does not deliver, trust will be breached.  As a not-so-guruesque-but-much-more-disciplined brand manager told me 20 years earlier, "When it comes to branding, it's easier to give birth to a baby than it is to wake up a dead man."  Trust is a hard thing to re-build.

FIFA's inability to change ("Change?  Life is good!") has unfortunately brought the attributes of the product face-to-face with the cornerstone of the brand: "Fair Play."  The brand-product gap strikes at the heart of sportsmanship.  It begs the question, "Is 'Fair Play' just a slogan?"

Fortunately for FIFA, it's in the comfortable position where such gaffes won't cripple it.  A few million angry fans won't stop the vuvuzelas, the samba, or the music.  Angry as they are, most of these fans will be watching World Cup 2010's final match, and everyone of them will be back four years from now when World Cup moves to Brazil, especially if "their tribe" qualifies.

Simply put, FIFA is the only game in town, and not even Brussels can do anything about it.

Its fan base is a gift from generations past and irrational tribalism.  Last century, the world listened to World Cup on radio, then watched it on TV... and sponsors/advertisers have astutely filled their boots ever since, while filling FIFA's coffers.

FIFA's success is almost situational.  Let's de-mystify it.

1. Sports is intellectual property.  Sports properties are like Mickey Mouse.  Why did Disney buy U.S. sports broadcaster ESPN way back when?  Disney understood broadcasting, of course, but it also understood intellectual property.  Sports, however, has two more inherent forces of gravity that many IP owners would die for...
2. Sports is tribal.  It's irrationally feudal.  My tribe is better than your tribe.  My team is better than your team (even if my players grew up in your city.  How irrational is that?  And this built-in gravitas gets even sweeter for FIFA World Cup, in which, "my players actually grew up in my country/tribe."  If you love Italy, your beloved players come from Italy.  "Friends, Romans, Countrymen.  Off to the Colosseum.  Viva il imperio!")  I'm going to defend my tribe!
3. No one knows the ending.  See ET once, and you might buy the DVD for your kids a generation later.  But you won't be flocking to the stadium the following Sunday, and huddled in front of your TV the Sunday after that when ET plays away.  You've seen the ending!  In sports, however, there's a new script every week, and not even the actors know the ending.  I'm going to defend my tribe until the very end... and next week, too!

If you couple tribalism and an exciting plot to which no one knows the ending, you will have passionate followers, in spite of a few gaffes.

If only it were that easy here in the trenches!  Most companies have to watch their product's performance in view of their brand claims every minute, especially in the Brave New World in which opacity is not an option.

Computer manufacturer Dell learned this lesson the hard way.

In 2005, a journalist by the name of Jeff Jarvis bought a Dell laptop.  The laptop was hardly out of the box and Jarvis reportedly experienced one technical problem after another.  While it was easy to buy from Dell online, it was nearly impossible to get service from Dell online... or on the phone.  Talk about a brand-to-product gap!

So Jarvis started a blog called "Dell Hell," and he ripped the computer manufacturer to shreds.  It spread like wild fire.  Within days, "Dell Hell" was being forwarded to tens of thousands of techies and laymen alike.  Everyone joined in the conversation... and Dell was hardly aware of it.

Dell became the poster child of an out-of-touch IT company at the very time that technology was enabling brands and consumers to connect almost intimately.  To little surprise, Dell's market share steadily dropped, whether because of Jarvis, the blogosphere at large, or because everybody discovered the gap on their own.

Michael Dell did have the courage, however, to face the problem head on.  When he pulled his proverbial head out of the Web 2.0 sand, he actually hired Jarvis as a consultant to handle the company's Web 2.0 strategy.  Together, Jarvis and Michael Dell took the company's marketing and PR way beyond Web 2.0.

First they apologized.  But not one quick apology and everyone back to work.  They advertised their apology, internally and externally.  They then morphed the brand experience into one of transparency and "being in touch."  Of course, the product... and the service... then had to deliver.  It worked.  Dell came back from the brink of... hell.  As Michael Dell learned, brands and products are inextricably linked.

In the Brave New World, say one thing and do another, and you'll pay dearly.

And herein lies the lesson for entrepreneurs, start-ups and scrappy consultants like us.  Transparency rules today.  Brands can not be seen as mere window dressing.  The attributes of your product have to align with the values and expectations created by your brand.

Brave New entreprenuers can ill-afford to brush off this gap.  We have to be responsive and fast.  If not, we'll either lose market share or become the dead man.

For good or for bad, welcome to the Brave New World.

Post Script:  Fast Company is among the many with recommendations on How FIFA Can Kick Bad Calls.  As always, they're spot on.  It must also be mentioned that FIFA kept the wolves from the door earlier this week by announcing that they will "review" goal-line technology after the tournament.

And what about diving?  Unfortunately, no mention has been made of the most glaring fairness gap of all: "diving," in which players try to gain an unfair advantage by pretending to have been fouled or exaggerating the severity of body contact, sometimes with Hollywood antics that spectators and viewers see clearly, while distracted referees don't.  All too often, gullible refs see a diver (cheater!) on the ground in feigned pain and then penalize an "innocent bystander" opponent.

So in reality, these cheaters are often rewarded for their diving, and they are never penalized for it.  ("Hello?  Can I speak to Fair Play, please?  She's not home?  When will she return?")  The reality is that virtually everyone laughs at the absurdity of diving, everyone is joining in the Web 2.0 conversation like this one, while FIFA does nothing.  Even Yahoo! has something to say about Soccer Cheating That's Really Unsportsmanlike.

If football is to close this gap and really become a model of Fair Play again, FIFA must tackle the diving issue before even that of goal-line technology.  How often has the goal line really been a problem?  But diving is an epidemic!!!

It would only be fair for divers (cheaters!) to be yellow-carded, even if it's after the match.  (How difficult  would that be?)  And any innocent player that has been the unjust victim of a diver (cheater!) should have his card withdrawn.

After all, Fair Play is... fair play.

Love 'Em Like Diego. (Sales Teams Need Love, Too)

I rarely change my opinion of superstars from one day to the next.

But yesterday it happened in a New York Minute... or maybe, in a Maradona Moment.  My attitude toward Diego Maradona changed in the course of two or three minutes.

I had really come to dislike Maradona over the years.  He had decayed from a superstar to an insulting, drug-abusing slob.  Cameras, microphones and high-profile moments be damned, loud-mouthed Diego is going to give you a piece of his mind.  (Shall I mince my words?  Nah.)

One word you would not associate with Maradona is "discipline," and that is a word I associate with high-performing sales managers and team trainers alike.

So it was with a chuckle that I learned that Diego Maradona would lead the Argentine national team as its trainer in FIFA World Cup 2010.

I can still hear the cynical voice within: "Maradona?  Hah!  Argentina doesn't stand a chance!"

Then World Cup started and los Albicelestes looked solid in their 1-0 win over Nigeria.  But my "Maradona Moment" was still waiting to happen.

Yesterday afternoon, when the Argentina-South Korea match coverage started, Maradona came out of the team locker room and stood in the narrow passage way leading to the pitch.  He looked understandably nervous before his team's second World Cup match, and uncomfortably overweight in his tailored suit.  He paced back and forth for a full minute before his players came out... one-by-one.

And one-by-one, he hugged them... and kissed them.  And they hugged him... and kissed him.  A few of the players put their foreheads against his, closed their eyes and meditated for a moment, then walked toward the pitch.

Hey, I'm totally comfortable with the whole latino thing of men hugging.  That's not the point.  This was almost... spiritual!  (Maybe it was entirely spiritual, Buddha, and I'm still wrestling with my own enlightenment.)  One thing was for sure.  It was... profound.

Of course I've seen coaches hug players before -- usually at the end of a game, after an exciting victory or a disappointing loss.  But I've never seen this much... love... before a match.

And so the match started.  And Argentina played brilliantly.  As one reporter put it, "Argentina were smoothly into their smooth-passing style, switching the ball quickly to their creative talents."

What's this got to do with selling?  Nothing.  Sales management?  Everything.  It's all about talent management and performance.

In his book, "The Zero Turnover Sales Force - How to Maximize Revenue by Keeping Your Sales Team Intact," Doug McLeod writes that the highest performing sales managers are honest, supportive, respectful and attentive to their team.

"As sales managers, do your salespeople like you?" McLeod writes.  "Be a leader, not a manager.  Be sincere.  Develop and maintain meaningful relationships.  To gain your salespeople's respect, show that you respect them."

An old sales and marketing guy once told me that his greatest leadership experience -- and his greatest sales management accomplishment -- was around a grueling project in which the small team had to pull together, negotiate with common interests and close high-ticket deals.  They all grew very close.  They all knew and respected each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Years after the project had finished, the old vet was having a drink with the youngest member of his former team and the latter's fiancee.  They got talking about the special vibe the team had, and the word "love" came up more often than would make many sales managers comfortable.  Maybe it was because the fiancee was there and their wedding was approaching, but that vibe filled their corner of the bar again as they reminisced.

While you may not have a love fest with each of your salespeople, you can certainly get more out of them by building your relationships.  Hire good people, then nurture them.  This is true in any team's performance.  "Tough love" can go a lot further than pressure, pressure, pressure, which often leads to burn-out.

Maradona will still have his bad-mouth moments.  He may forever lack the social graces of many managers and even decent human beings.

But he's got a deep connection with los Albicelestes.  He's managing their talents, and he's getting exceptional performance.  While it's still too early to predict which nation will go home with the World Cup, Diego Maradona has found his groove in leading a team, even if it is for a moment.

Prospecting: Are You Too Promiscuous?

I used to work along side a salesman who used the "spray and pray" approach to prospecting.

He would get lists of companies, call the receptionists, find his way in to the marketing departments, and follow-up with a fax that was customized to the extent of "Dear Ms. Whatever-Your-Name-Was."  Company after company.

To this day, I admire the guy for his fearless approach to cold-calling.  On the other hand, he was "a mile wide and an inch deep."  He was like the creep at the bar hitting on everybody, with the reputation to go with it.

I often wonder how this guy is doing today with the advent of the internet and email.  Maybe I should check my spam filter.

Prospecting should not be seen merely as "a numbers game."  As Jill Konrath writes in "Selling to Big Companies", don't be too promiscuous in your prospecting.  You will be more successful -- and motivated -- if you focus on, say, a dozen companies in a given month.  Research them.  Try to find what types of challenges or opportunities they face in areas where you're an expert or can provide value.  Prospecting is also "a quality game."

Identify good targets.  Good = quality.  Maybe, quality targets are multi-national companies within 30 minutes of your home office.  Or maybe it's a certain industry where you have deep expertise.  Or maybe... you get the point.  Be selective.

Sure, the more cold-calling you do, the more initial contacts you'll make.  But will this turn in to a deep love affair. e.g...