I had the honor of participating in a webcast on coaching, with Lori Richardson, Jason Jordan, and Mike Kunkle. A question that rarely comes up was, “What do you do if a person is un-coachable?” This is one area of coaching where I tend to be pretty hard-nosed, but I believe the following: If a […]
Dave Brock
“Do As I Say, Not As I Do!”
My parents were core in establishing my values and helping me grow as an individual (my Mom still teaches me lessons every day). They were phenomenal role models for my sisters and me. But I was a bit of a “challenge” to them, particularly to my father. I was very precocious–actually I was an ass. […]
The “New” Onboarding
A few months ago I was speaking with a niece who’s a school teacher. She was entering the school year with a challenge she hadn’t faced. Her school district will, through at least several months, be teaching virtually. We talked about her biggest concerns: “Last year, when we shut down classrooms in March, I had […]
Experience Does(n’t) Matter
Experience is an interesting thing. It is, sometimes, very helpful. But, too often it limits us. Experience can be helpful. As we do our work, our past experience in similar situations shapes how we address current situations. We know how to respond to customers that ask certain questions, or when certain things happen, we know […]
Understanding the Difference Between Good & Bad Revenue
It might seem odd, particularly in these difficult economic times, to talk about the concept of “good and bad revenue.” Some of you may be thinking “revenue is revenue, all revenue is good!” What’s the difference between good and bad revenue? Good revenue has the following characteristics: It generates strong profitability because it is from […]
Are You Asking the Right Questions?
Why, What, How, Who, When, Where We see versions of these words in different contexts. If you’ve ever been a journalist, these are the fundamental issues the journalist must address in any story. If you are a Simon Sinek fan, by now you have internalized his principles of “Start with why.” We don’t talk much […]
Diversity Is Critical, & Not For The Reasons We Think!
This is one of those posts that starts with an apology or a disclaimer. I hesitated writing it, because what I am writing can be so easily misinterpreted, or I may be very naive/poorly informed. (I’m less worried about the latter, I know I need to learn) Diversity is important–it’s critical for our organizations. We […]
Culture and Values Count in Leadership
So many of the discussions on sales and business performance focus on strategies, competitive positioning, product/service superiority, and even customer satisfaction/loyalty. As we talk about how we execute at the highest levels, depending on what a pundit is selling, the “secret” to success is the application of certain technologies, methodologies, training, programs, content, tools, processes. […]
How to Talk About Competitors? You Don’t
Not long ago, I read an exchange about how we should talk to our customers about out competitors. Some felt we should take a “leadership” position offering our views and insights to the customer. Frankly, I was appalled with some of the opinions in that discussion. We have no business talking about our competitors products […]
The Real Future Of Selling, Not What You Think It Will Be
There seems to be wide agreement that the pandemic and related economic and social challenges we and our customers face, will change selling forever (and I think for the good.) The concept of “virtual selling,” seems to be dominating many of our conversations. Digital transformation, more broadly, covering selling, marketing, customer experience, and other parts […]
