Displaying the most recent of 20 posts written by

Mark LaRosa

Your Sales Manager is a TOOL

There is a big difference between being a salesperson and being a person in sales. What actually makes you a salesperson instead of just a person in sales? You CLOSE deals.

A true salesperson does what needs to be done to get the deal done. Sometimes that means sweetening the offer. Sometimes it means dropping the price. Sometimes it means explaining the benefits better, or comparing yourself against the alternatives. But a good salesperson always figures out whats holding up a deal and then looks for ways to overcome that obstacle/objection and get the deal done.

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Sales Lessons from the Grand Bazaar

One of the nicest things about being in sales is getting to travel to interesting places that you probably wouldn’t go to normally.  In my career, I’ve seen nearly the entire US and several countries.  Last week, I got the opportunity to travel to Istanbul and it was an amazing experience.  I am very intriqued by historic sites, and in particular the events that shaped the world we live in today, but actually planning a trip to Turkey wasn’t high on my list.  My family would much rather travel to more relaxed and vacation sites that require less thinking.  And… as a salesperson that travels, we are often at the mercy of where our families want to go when we do get fun travel.

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Don’t Declare Sales Victory Too Early

Sales is hard.

Anyone who has done sales in a start-up can attest to that fact.  Great salespeople make it look easy – or at least hide the struggle well from non-salespeople.   Once a great salesperson builds their pipeline, gets down their pitch and starts rolling with it, they can easily bring companies on the pipeline, and move them through, and can often do it with, what looks like, ease and finesse – and often with amazing predictability.

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The Murder Board

The essential but horrible sounding named murder board.  Every time I bring it up with a new person, I get confused stares – yet I think its an essential tool for both salespeople and entrepreneurs.

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