Sales Lead Management Today: Rick Cheatham

Change is a risky proposition for sales organizations because change means drops in revenue momentum, confusion, hesitation and chaos as salespeople adjust to it. Change can be new products, new management, territory realignment, changes in sales management, end of life of products, added sales engineers, fewer sales engineers, fewer customer service reps, changed customer service responsibilities. Regardless, abrupt poorly thought out changes can have a huge effect on everyone involved; but Rick Cheatham says it need not be this way.

In the book “Selling Vision” co-author Rick Cheatham takes us through how change doesn’t have to mean several quarters of lower revenue when salespeople adjusts. He discusses how to approach change and not get slammed in the process. The host is Jim Obermayer.

Title: Selling Vision, The X-XY-Y Formula for Driving Results by Selling Change

Authors: Lou Schachter and Rick Cheatham

Publisher: McGaw Hill

Length: 25 pages

Five Parts, 19 chapters

Our opinion: This is a book about a well known issue that everyone accepts as a difficulty of management without addressing a way to change it. Schachter and Cheatham give us a step by step path to accepting and making the most of the changes that stifle growth when growth is most needed.

About Rick Cheatham

RICK CHEATHAM leads the US Sales Practice for BTS. He works with clients such as Google, Accenture, Metlife, and IBM to drive their sales efforts into the future. Rick leads a team of over 20 consultants and conceptualizes many of the BTS solutions deployed in the US.

He is passionate about making work a place where salespeople come to be successful, is totally pragmatic and experienced in getting results through being a purpose-driven leader, and has an uncommon balance between vision and how things really get done.

Prior to BTS Rick was a sales leader for both regional and global account teams. Ultimately he led the sales force of a $1B business unit through a restructuring and shift in how they sold, which has shaped his thinking on how organizations can change what and how they sell faster and more effectively. Rick lives in Austin, TX.

About BTS

BTS is a professional services firm nestled between consulting and training on the strategy execution spectrum. Our focus is on the people side of strategy working with leaders at all levels to help them make better decisions, convert those decisions to actions and deliver results. Rick leads BTS’ Sales Practice, which offers buyer-centric consulting, sales transformation (planning, change management, and training), assessment and selection, and on-the-job execution tools.

This blog is supported by the generous sponsorship of OMI - Outward Media, VanillaSoft and Goldmine CRM Software