Dave Tear

There’s not a salesperson or sales manager reading this blog that will ever admit that they give the impression that they are a peddler — as opposed to a professional salesperson. Not a chance. But some of you do. Peddler: a person who goes from place to place selling goods. Professional Salesperson: a person who solves […]

As a sales coach, you can imagine the number of times I have heard a VP of Sales say to me “We need help closing more business.” Or a Director of Sales asks, “Can you help us with our closing?”  It’s common. In the words of Arnold in Kindergarten Cop, IT’S NOT A CLOSING PROBLEM!”

  When was the last time your prospect said, “We’ll probably go with you”?  How many times have you heard, “There is a good possibility we will give you the business”? What about, “Your solution looks good”?  Things like this sound pretty good, right? Fred the fictitious salesperson hears this and runs back to his

  We’ve all heard the phrase, There is no hope. We’ve also heard; hope is not a strategy. Serious sales pros know hope is a brutal strategy for selling. Yet many salespeople eke out a living by quoting and hoping. They do. You may know a few of these salespeople. If you aren’t committed to

You’ve heard of the “school of hard knocks”: The (sometimes painful) education you get from life’s usually negative experiences, often contrasted with formal education. It’s reality. It’s when your mom & dad used to say, “Welcome to the real world.” There are few professions other than sales that experience this “school” every single day – &

Things to look out for if you think you’re being lied to Ok, so “lying” is a strong word. Shall we say misled? Perhaps “mis-truthed”? Whatever you want to call it — it doesn’t feel good. In all my years in Sales Training & Coaching, not one single person has ever told me they like

An effective way to build credibility and mend a bad relationship in sales   Fall on Your Sword: Definition: To voluntarily take the blame or responsibility for a situation. Here’s the Scenario: A customer or two is singing to a different sheet of music than you are. Maybe it’s the way they resent your pricing. Could be

  A great question to ask yourself: If I am not the best thing my prospects & customers have ever seen then why do they need me? Fact is, they don’t. In July of 2016 (right now) your products & services are better than ever. Technology is faster than ever. Quality is top-notch. Engineers are

  A common thing to say in sales is, “People buy from people they like.” True. Another over-used phrase: “People buy from people they trust.” Can’t argue that. Like and trust are important things to strive for in sales. They are good end game goals. But you don’t start there. You start by helping people

Every once in awhile, it’s not what you say that matters – it’s how you say it. Then there are times when what you say matters – really matters. Sometimes you know it immediately, “Oh no, shouldn’t have said that.” “Why did I just say that?” “Uh oh, I can’t take that one back.” A