Sales and Service

In planning for an event where I was speaking to a group of owners, I had been talking with several CIOs, IT decision makers (Professional IT Buyers) and doing a lot of research on their likes and dislikes about sales and marketing approaches. I was overwhelmed with some rants Read More

As the title of this article implies, the best Managed Print Service (MPS) reps are built not found.  As MPS gains more exposure, acclaim and momentum, more dealerships are looking to jump on the bandwagon. As with all other programs in your dealership, your level of MPS success Read More

There may have been a time when a salesperson simply needed to know the product in order to succeed. That time is no more. Today’s sales professional must understand their prospective client’s business in order to effectively communicate how their own products and services can Read More

Many companies struggle to be efficient and effective in implementing new strategies, approaches, and initiatives. Companies faced with increasing customer requirements, multi-product and vendor proliferation, shorter product lifecycles, increasing customer buying cycles, and Read More

Why do you need to change?  Because sales leaders that are field facing and front line sales professionals in the trenches know that using past approaches – approaches that may have been successful before – will no longer work in today’s selling environment. Given many factors Read More

A few days ago my wife came to me asking for suggestions to improve her organization’s success rate in hiring qualified candidates for her emergency physicians group.  I have to admit I am a little gun shy whenever she broaches any of her work topics because I am extremely Read More

Before joining Strategy Development I worked for two big companies. During my tenure with the first, I was young, naïve and clueless about the fact that politics were even a part of the fabric in corporate America.  It was at the second company, where once I got to a senior Read More

Measuring and driving performance is something that I see in sales departments but not in most service departments. However, I can tell you that the most profitable and successful dealers track and drive production in all areas of the dealership. As consultants we work with Read More

One of the initial questions I field with every newly retained client engagement is which CRM we at Strategy Development recommend?  Typically they are asking this question due to the fact that their current system is not being utilized by their sales force.  My first question in Read More

When Michael Jordan came out of retirement for the second time, he said he needed the competition — the chance to prove himself against younger players — more than the money.  I know what you are saying, “Anyone can say that who earned 25 million a season.” That said, Read More

I had this experience during an account planning session (APS) with a client and one of his sales people this week.  The session wasn’t going well, one, because the rep showed up unprepared and didn’t have his information and two (and really the root cause of the problem,) Read More

Conflicts between sales and marketing can become so severe that neither department is able to function optimally. The source of this conflict usually stems from the fact that sales and marketing fail to agree on a clear definition of an inquiry versus a lead, which too often Read More

(Editor’s note: Although this article targets office supplies dealer, it should be of interest to any dealer selling supplies in addition to imaging technology.) I know. It’s a slow recovery, but the worst is over. Business is coming back and a double dip is unlikely. Independent Read More