Owner: Steak or Bologna URL:www.steakorbologna.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:51:21 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: This blog is meant to be a realistic – and therefore humorous – look at life as a “road warrior.” I sell multi million dollar software packages, and am the author of the soon to be released book on selling called, Think Like a CEO. Site statistics:Click here
The real me is spending time with m... 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The real me is spending time with my family. My wife claims that I have more pictures of my German Shepherd than I do of my kids. I say, "Well...it IS my dog, right?"
Ten Things You Will Find in My House 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Electric GuitarGerman Shepherd DogCrucifixSnowboardPicture of Ronald ReaganGuns, lots of guns (in a gun safe)Cowboy BootsArtworkLots of kids toys on the floorThe most beautiful woman in the world (Yea, I know I'm lucky!) Read more:House
Meet the new year. Just like the old year. 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Once again, we face a new year in the same environment as the last year. And the last one, and maybe the one before that. You probably have a strong pipeline, a deal that pushed from Q4 of last year that you are trying to close now, and a company reorganization that either gave you more responsibility, or took away territory.Now is the time to make that salesperson New Years resolution. Promise yourself that you will make a change. You will do something different to improve your effectiveness in the sales organization, whether you are a salesperson, or an executive in the sales organization. If you don't change your tool set, don't expect the results to be any different. Remember - every time Charlie Brown lines up to kick that field goal with Lucy holding the ball, he tells himself, "this time it's going to be different."Later this year Think Like a CEO will be published, and it will provide you with a great way to make sure that 2007 really is different!
Q4 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Despite reading all the negatives about how American business is focused on quarterly numbers almost every study shows that American businesses outperform their competitors. I am in the midst of trying to bring in my sales for this quarter, while not using the "All American" way, discounting the sales price. I am selling value in such a way that by now, the executive team sees my solution as critical to achieving their Profit Strategies. Still, this means lots of trips to see the executives in the companies that I have sales cyclesgoing. I know that there are many other "road warriors" like me out there.Good luck to us all!Sketch (C) Think Like a CEO by Mark Kuta
Six Days on the Road 2007-03-24 03:52:00 Well, I just spent a whole week "baby sitting" one of my Q1 deals. After client meetings, and plenty of phone calls from my desk at the Fremont Marriott, we finally got word that the T's and C's were signed, and a PO was issued. This particular sales cycle started in late August, and closed in 7 months, a remarkable time for a multimillion dollar software deal.Oh, the way I heard about the deal? The business sponsor called me - AFTER calling the VP Sales - who I report to. What? Yea, I let him know that wasn't the way to get the best follow on deals. The company team on this project was nothing short of amazing, and I'm sure that in your organization you have supporting staff that help you drive your sales, too. Just like John Elway needed a good team around him to win those two Superbowls, us salespeople need a strong support staff to get our deals done, too. Read more:Six Days
Hitting the Lottery 2007-03-30 20:49:00 THEM: Iran kidnaps sailors on the high sea, and then parades them in front of TV viewers so that they can apologize for entering Iran, and denounce their country and praise Iran. This has happenned in an untold number of foreign countries against Amercians, and all of us who love and fight for FREEDOM.US: We capture terrorist assholes, and provide them a high priced lawyer that my tax dollars pay for, and then let him or her get on TV and tell the world how innocent the terrorist is, and how bad the USA is. And some American schmucks, usually of the variety that didn't finish high school, and pays tons of money for new fads (remember coffee enema's?) and go through marriages like they were automobile leases buys into it, and repeats some mindless drivel.THE REST OF THE WORLD: Since they really, deep down can't stand the fact that everything from airplanes to computers to medicines to finance generally is started, innovated, and/or dominated by us tend to see us as the aggressors, an Read more:Hitting
, Lottery
Where to find informaion on your prospects 2007-05-01 21:15:00 Ever since Al Gore invented the internet, you can gather the background you need on companies in less time than it takes to make a cup of coffee. You just need to know where to look. There are a few key things that you should do anytime you are going to call on a senior level executive. 1. Get the latest information. Since May of 1996, all US publicly traded companies have had to file their annual and quarterly reports electronically. Go to www.sec.gov and pull down their 10-Q’s and 10-K’s prior to making that phone call. 2. Practice Fundamental Football. Use the information you gather to understand your prospects industry and its competitors. Using a concept called the Fast Five, you can, in the course of about five minutes, uncover the key metrics you need to accomplish this understanding. Some examples of what you are looking for in these metrics include trends in net working capital, Cash2Cash cycles, and efficiency metrics like revenue per employee and asset turnover. 3. Uncov
Sell to the C-Level 2007-08-03 23:26:00 Well, I am proud to say that later this month I will have knocked off another goal of mine. I’ve always wanted to write a book, and for the last four years I’ve used the time I spend traveling putting down my thoughts on selling to C-Level executives, also known as CEO’s, COO’s, CFO’s, and President’s and Executive Vice Presidents. The book took me four years to write, and about 18 months to get published. I used the time that I spend on the road to write. I would work prepping for my clients on the trips out, but the trip back was always devoted to Think Like a CEO. While everyone around me read bestsellers, I had the computer out and plugged away. And during the evenings, rather than watching ESPN, CNN, or anything in between, I sat at the computer and pounded the keys. I’ve been very successful over my career at selling to these senior executives, and so I wrote the specific methodology that I use – and that you can use – to do the same. The methodology, which I
The $100 Million Challenge 2007-08-24 23:54:00 While most authors judge their success by book sales, I am going to judge the success of my new book, Think Like a CEO, in another way. The figure I had in mind is one hundred million. Dollars. I am confident that this entry into the business book market can increase the sales revenues that salespeople are responsible for delivering. The methodology that is outlined in the book, called the Wall Street Selling Methodology ™ has been proven in various industries. If you can quantify your prospects Profit Strategies, and then align your value proposition to it, the senior executive you are selling to will realize that your product holds the key to his success. Listen to what Justin Doster, an executive with IBM said after reviewing the book. “How many times have you heard that to sell to the CEO you have to become a “trusted advisor?” Think Like a CEO gives you the roadmap to become that trusted advisor,” says Doster. I am going to track my objective by asking my re Read more:Challenge
Early Adopters - Don't be a Pioneer! 2007-09-27 08:44:00 You know the business adage about a pioneer – a settler laying face down in a puddle with an arrow in his back. The question is, how from a sales perspective can you become an early adopter versus a pioneer? That’s a key question. The issue with messing with your sales is that if what you change doesn’t work…you fall off the cliff. So what to do? First of all, listen to the people on the front line. They know the market and will be able to let you know where it’s heading. I remember when I was working for a software company that will remain unnamed, and while the CEO was pitching an industry wide value proposition the sales teams clients were asking about factory specific software. Your sales “eagles” that is the 20% that books the 80% of revenue generally have some of the best advise from those front lines. In addition to listening to the sales team, the executive team should provide leadership. You should always look for leading edge methodologies that will m Read more:Early
, Pioneer
Pieces of the Puzzle 2007-10-08 23:34:00 If you are like most of us, you have, at least occasionally, asked yourself the question, what if? What if I would have done______ (fill in your own blank) differently? What if I had gone to B-School somewhere other than Colorado? Would I have skied all of that vertical powder? What if I took that job with that closely held company that is now a Fortune 500? If I hadn’t gone into consulting, would I have earned all of those frequent flyer miles and then vacationed down in Rio de Janeiro, where I ended up meeting my sapa? Want to go even crazier, ask yourself what if THEY would have done something differently? A decision here, a decision there, a yes instead of a no, and who knows? I have to smile when I ponder those questions, and not just because they are non value added to anyone except the born romantic who’s writing this post. You see, with all the good fortune that has arrived at my doorstep, I’m convinced that all of those actions, decisions, and happenings are all just pie Read more:Puzzle
Think Like a CEO wins 2008 Axiom Business Book Awards GOLD MEDAL as Top Sales Book 2008-03-15 16:45:00 I am pleased to announce that Think Like a CEO - Sell to Any Company in Any Industry...Better and Faster than a Harvard MBA was awarded the Gold Medal as the Top Sales
Book of 2007 at the 2008 Axiom Business
Book Award Celebration in New York on March 10th. I brought the whole family to the ceremony, hoping to build a good memory for my kids. We tell them that they can achieve anything in life, as long as they want it badly enough and work hard enough at it. Hopefully, they will put that mantra together with their dad's award. Anyway, here is what is unique about the book: it focuses on teaching a strategy for selling at the highest levels of an organization, called the "C-Level." Many buyers of the book have emailed me telling me how much they like the book, so it is really an honor to Read more:Awards
Study Quantifies Value in Selling High 2008-03-27 23:25:00 All of us in sales intuitively know the value in selling high. We’ve called on C-Level executives, and if we didn’t blow it, have had our deals passed through much more smoothly. I have the results of a recent study sent to over 150 C-Level executives throughout the world, and the results are even more compelling. For example, fully 73% of the respondents said that selling high will impact sales by over 20%. Increasing ASP – or Average Selling Price – is also impacted if you can sell high, as 100% of the senior level respondents said that the sales team can drive 10-20% greater ASP. The issue of selling price – which affects a company’s Gross Margin, is huge, as 55% of the respondents said that getting to the C-Level to sell will drive ASP’s more than 20%. Just like Read more:Study
, Value
Competitive Distancing...Early in the Sales Cycle 2008-05-06 23:15:00 The Situation: You have a phone call in 20 minutes with a prospect and you can’t find any information on them. The Solution: Start out your sales cycle differentiating your sales team from your competition. I received an interesting email recently. It described an actual case study of how a reader of Think Like a CEO used the different set of tools outlined in the book to start off his sales cycle the right way. Differentiating himself from his competition. Here is the situation. He was calling on a company in 30 minutes, and couldn’t find any information on them. Luckily for him, he read Think Like a CEO, and taking 5 simple steps, was able to prep with 5 minutes left before his call. The Result: During the meeting, rather than ask about markets, revenues, and challenges, th Read more:Cycle
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