Posts by David Varner

I’ve been in the sales training industry for the better part of 20 years, and I’ve observed countless companies re-implement their sales training or pursue the latest shiny new thing. I’m not talking about ongoing sales skills development and optimization. I’m talking about the belief that their overall sales process isn’t yielding enough conversions to…

I noticed organizations continually invest time and money to improve sales team effectiveness, but which one? There are hundreds of sales training companies offering thousands of programs in all aspects of selling: call planning, presenting, negotiating, managing key accounts, questioning and more. I concluded they didn’t scratch the itch. There had to be a better,…

Overview Selling in the industrial marketplace presents many unique challenges.  Salespeople are required to have a high degree of technical skills. My first sales position was as a sales engineer for a machine tool and robotic systems company.  I had been an engineer until they put “sales” in front of my title.  To be effective…

Why do so many sales calls not go as planned? The poet Robert Burns wrote, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” He could have just as easily been talking about B2B sales calls. No matter how well something is planned for, things can still go differently than planned or anticipated. During…

Why is Asking for what we Want so Difficult? Asking is a critical skill for anyone to have – especially salespeople.  When we plan a sales call, presentation, or meeting, we do so with the goal of obtaining a specific action.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Why then is it so difficult for us? Let’s look…

Why does it matter? “Asking” and “questioning” are two different skills that are essential for every salesperson and sales team to master. Although they are two dramatically different skills, most individuals view them both as questioning: “What questions are we going to ask?” Or, “What are we going to ask?” In the next 2-minutes, you’ll…

Company leaders spend thousands of dollars per year on training their salespeople. They invest in all types of training to improve their teams based on metrics, gut feelings, and observations of their team’s performances. These investments include, but not limited to… Presentation skills Negotiation skills Key Account Management Sales Processes Sales Methodologies Customer Service skills…

Every salesperson wants more referrals, and ALL sales leaders want their people asking for referrals consistently and confidently. Asking for a referral seems simple, but isn’t always easy. We seem to follow the path of least resistance and ask in an indirect way or procrastinate altogether. In Susan Ward’s article, How to Ask for Referrals and…

Subscribe to our newsletter HERE

Much is written about “The Buyer’s Journey” these days; it’s one of the next shiny things. What is it? It’s the active research process that buyers go through that culminates in a decision to make a purchase, or not to.  The theory is that today’s buyers go through a significant part of this journey before…