Beyond Snake Oil

What’s The Most Important Thing In Sales?

admin — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:00:48 +0000

An exercise in brevity:

Leave comments and I’ll compile for a future post.

Interview with Umberto Milletti, CEO of InsideView

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:00:16 +0000

Friday, after Web 2.0 Expo, I had the opportunity to sit down with Umberto Milletti, the CEO of InsideView.

During the meeting, we talked about the history of InsideView and the driving forces behind the founding of the company, his upcoming Sales 2.0 Executive Series & selling in the current economic climate.

It was a lot of fun meeting Umberto and you can see his fun personality come out in this video.

If you’ve got a cool Sales 2.0 product and would like to be interviewed, drop me a note or give me a call.

Interview with David Thompson, CEO Genius.com

admin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 06:10:33 +0000

I spent the afternoon chatting with David Thompson, the CEO of Genius.com. Aside from having one of the best URL’s in the world, David also has a great product and has been building a really impressive business with both Sales Genius and Marketing Genius.

In the meeting, which starts with me fumbling my camera during the introduction, David & discuss Genius, Sales 2.0 & the current economic crisis and how sales people can still thrive in this environment.

Unfortunately, I got a few tweets too late to ask in the meeting, but I’ve asked David to respond via email. When he does, I’ll post here.

Got a suggestion (and an intro) for who I should talk to next? Want to be met with? Drop me a note.

12 Tips To Tap Your Creativity - Episode 19

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:23:26 +0000

The Tim Sanders post I mention about taking a hot shower is here.

Disqualifying Accounts - Episode 18

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:43:08 +0000

I got hit pretty hard today by an account that I should have disqualified a long time ago. I talk about that tonight.

Links I mention:
Brad Feld on Failure

Rocking Your Calendar - Episode 17

admin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 07:51:26 +0000

I’ve been taking my calendar and blocking out hours at a time to focus on calling on a specific campaign. I’ve been doing it for a week now and it has proven effective to the point where I’ve uncovered a six figure deal that could possibly close this quarter. Not too shabby.

The message is to pick a handful of campaigns, turn everything else off and call them like crazy. Not rocket science, but in the interrupt driven world of sales, it is a great way to be significantly more productive.

What are you doing different to be more productive? Let me know in the comments.

Using Twitter as a Sales Tool - Episode 16

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:07:51 +0000

There is some discussion out there whether or not Twitter can be used as a sales tool. My thoughts.

Get Your Social Media Groove On - Episode 15

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 06:25:57 +0000

Things Mentioned:

Susan Mernit’s Post

Dave McClure’s Post

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, My Blog, Seesmic

Does Your Candidate Match Your Selling Style? - Episode 14

admin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:46:25 +0000

I have a bet with a friend. I’m betting that your selling style, when you do some introspection, closely matches that of your candidate for president. I’ve done this informally and the people that I know that support Obama, tend to sell like Obama. The people I know that support McCain, tend to sell like McCain.

Tell me about how your selling style matches that of the candidate that you plan to vote for in November. Leave me a comment.

Also, check out my friend Jeff’s band, Dag Nabbit Stubbs.

Travel Healthy - Episode 13

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:34:19 +0000

Eat right, don’t drink, exercise, use Purell. Stay healthy when you travel.