Your company has announced that it will launch a 6-Sigma program or perhaps it launched such a program a while ago. So what does this mean for Sales?

Q3 is here. We all know that now! So-now what? Business as usual? Well, yes and no. Now is the time that you as sales leaders need to be kicking your teams into high gear (more than before) and thinking about how you will coach and manage them for not only the 2nd half, but helping them get set up for a a strong Q1 2009 start.

There is an ongoing tension in some companies, based on false stereotypes,between the Sales Department and the Marketing Department. Talk to theSales staff and they’ll tell you that marketing doesn’t get them enoughqualified leads. Talk to the Marketing staff and they’ll tell you that they do generate those leads, but sales doesn’t properly follow up on them because they spend most of their time entertaining clients in fancy restaurants and on the golf course…when they aren’t going to the bank to cash their fat commission checks! Remember the false stereotypes!!!

It was one year ago, June 4th, 2007 that we launched the first version of ToddCohen.com. Since that day you have helped make it one of the best places on the web to learn, grow and become part of a Sales Community. We have listened to all of your helpful and positive comments and I am sure you will be pleased with the enhancements to ToddCohen.com. We have added more podcasts, new videos and much, much more. I hope you will spend some time reviewing it, visiting the blog and continuing to be a vital part of the Todd Cohen.com Sales Community!

We are going to be spending time this year having a conversation about great ( and not so great ) sales cultures. I recently asked a group of colleagues and associates from my Linked-In Network and members of the ToddCohen.com sales community “When you think of sales culture, what is the first thing that comes to your mind”? The responses have been very enlightening and I want to share some of them with you now!

We have all been bombarded lately with articles in the press, on the news and over the internet concerning the decline in available talent. Most of these stories convey a similar message; “employers must learn to compete for talent in an ever shrinking pool”. Hiring Managers are beginning to feel the pinch as vacancies remain unfilled for longer periods. All too frequently that “perfect candidate” is snatched up by a competitor, leaving you frustrated and wondering why this happened yet again.

Goodbye 2007! Hellllloooo 2008…

I started my career in sales, so I agree with Todd Cohen when he says that “Everyone is in Sales.” There’s not a day goes by when I don’t use my sales skills: listen to the customer, know your value proposition, meet your customer’s needs, ask for the sale. That last was the most important — if you don’t ask, you (usually) don’t get.

Do you know what your value proposition is? Do you understand what impact a well-crafted and crisply delivered value proposition can have on your pipeline? If you are not sure, let me help you understand first what a value proposition is and then how to best use the value proposition for what you are selling!

A question that I have discussed for years is whether sales people are born or made. In other words, is there such a thing as a natural born sales person? This is a term that has been bandied about for years and I think that a case can be made for both sides of the argument. I have also written in my recent whitepaper, “The Sales Success Triad”, that to be a great sales person, one needs an innate desire to sell. Is this innate desire created or natural?