Who are your mentors and why?
Neil Rackham was a mentor in my early career. His research on sales questions had a profound impact on my sales success. Then later, in SPIN Selling, I used one paragraph on new product launches to create a consulting practice in the field.
Today my mentors are the social media people; those who leverage online content strategies to attract prospects into their world.
What is the most helpful advice you've received to improve your business?
Focus on your passions. When you love something, you invest tons of time learning about it, researching, studying, experimenting and more. Ultimately, this leads you to become an expert in your field. And, in today's business world, expertise matters.
What is the most helpful advice you can give to help others improve their businesses?
Create rock-solid educational content. This does multiple things for you:
1. It demonstrates your expertise to people who don't know you.
2. It attracts your best prospects - those online seekers who are searching for answers to problems you can solve.
3. It's viral. If it's good, others will share it with their colleagues.
4. It can be used over and over again, in multiple venues: other people's ezines, magazines, ebooks, etc.
5. You discover how much you really do know.
6. You become ubiquitous.
How do you give back to the professional community?
Writing: Bi-monthly newsletters, blogs, and tweets featuring sales advice, ideas and insights. Created the Sales SheBang, a professional development community to provide female role models for women in sales and feature women sales experts: www.salesshebang.com
Created the Get Back to Work Faster initiative for job seekers. I'm giving away my Get Back to Work Faster book for free as a PDF, plus offering free monthly webinars.
Support my colleagues in their initiatives.
What is your favorite business book?
"Selling to Big Companies"
Which 4 basic skills or process steps do you recommend?
This is what I focus on in my newest book, SNAP Selling. As a seller/marketer, you need to follow the SNAP Rules.
1. Keep it Simple.
2. Be invaluable.
3. Always Align
4. Raise Priorities
In your opinion, the best book on marketing is:
New Rules of Marketing & PR
Your reasons for choosing this book are:
It's a game changer. The old ways of marketing are becoming obsolete and the faster you figure out what it takes to be successful in the new paradigm, the more successful you'll be.
If someone wants to nurture sales inquiries what process would you recommend?
Always be educational; offer relevant content that's aligned with what you know about their interests and needs.
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