Mike was in awe, that much he knew. But he wasn’t sure why. On the surface, everything he had seen and heard during the morning’s sales call was perfectly familiar. Tony had followed the steps of the Action Selling ® system, just as it was taught....

By the time the plane reached cruising altitude, dawn had broken. The passenger in seat 2-A turned his attention from the window and asked the flight attendant in the first-class cabin for another cup of coffee....

Like any business owner, I shop among various vendors for most of the goods and services my company needs. Salespeople who can offer higher quality, better service, or a lower price often find me a willing listener—at least until they, themselves, do too little listening and too much talking....

The Commitment Objective concept was the first thing that really leaped out at me when I happened to pick up the book, “Action Selling ®: How to Sell Like a Professional Even If You Think You are One.” That was almost two years ago now. It was the first step on a journey that has completely ...

I knew Darrel Sharp as someone to say hello to at the Black Bear Yacht Club. I even recalled somebody mentioning that his company, GoTeam, had recently become a much hotter player in its industry. But he’s a golfer while my passions are sailing and tennis, so we don’t run into each other a lot....

Needless to say, Ron Jensen impressed me with his first phone call, when it turned out that he knew more about Amstand than I did. At least, he knew more about the underlying problem that explains why I got this job: the little matter of our lagging organic growth rate, which my CEO, bless his heart...

When we introduced the Action Selling ® system at GoTeam two years ago, a lot of attention was placed on the concept of “orchestrating your resources,” especially in a complex selling situation. So far, I think our orchestration in the Amstand deal deserves an A....

Everyone who has spent much time in a sales role has heard plenty of stalls and plenty of objections. Every sales training course you’re likely to encounter offers advice about how to overcome them. The trouble is, almost all of that advice is wrong....

In my 37 years as a salesperson, sales executive and sales trainer, I have known thousands of wonderful salespeople. But in all that time I have met only a handful whom I would consider naturally excellent at sales strategy. I can literally count them on one hand....

On August 1, 2007, the heavily trafficked I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed and fell into the Mississippi River. When the initial shock of the tragedy wore off, the Minnesota Department of Transportation hurried to replace the bridge. The contract to construct a new one went out to bid....