Two Guys Meet, One Gets Sold - Latest Comments

Re: Prospecting is Good for the Soul

Chris Reisig — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 08:56:36 -0000

Great post Mike. Thanks for sharing. The occasional cold call is good for the soul and reminds us how hard our craft is but how uplifting
it can be when that hard work pays off.

Re: Prospecting is Good for the Soul

Craig Hutchinson — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 14:11:39 -0000

Starlet ! What a car !

Re: Prospecting is Good for the Soul

andrewbschultz — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 12:49:13 -0000

Great story Mike! I completely agree - that one hit makes all the misses worth it.

Re: La Machine

Sean O'Shaughnessey — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 19:57:11 -0000

The best solution is the one that serves the customer in the long term (and ultimately serves the selling company in the long run). It is rare that a remote rep working in maverick mode is better than the "local" rep working with the assistance of the "remote" rep.

Reps should respect the lines determined by management and support their fellow reps. Make the introduction to the appropriate rep and help as much as possible. As you said, what comes around goes around and if the distant rep tries to make a play on the account rather than helping the "local" rep close the deal, it increases the chance that the deal is lost and the selling company is eliminated. Win the deal and have the "local" rep owe the "remote" rep a favor for life!!

Re: Slow Down to Speed Up – Part 2

Barry Schaeffer — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 12:40:46 -0000

Mike,

I had the privilege of working with Jack Napoli in Silicon Valley when he first joined PTC. Amazing experience learning about the mechanics of professional sales. Fascinating to see the principles spelled out after having seen Jack doing it in person.

Re: Slow Down to Speed Up – Part 2

mrmcgu — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 13:25:39 -0000

Thanks for checking in Darius. I have a list of topics just not time to write. More soon.

Re: Slow Down to Speed Up – Part 2

Darius Lahoutifard — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 22:59:30 -0000

Fantastic post!. Just came across your blog Mike. Love it, and love the title of the blog even more :)

Re: Slow Down to Speed Up – Part 2

mrmcgu — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 10:56:55 -0000

Hoorah!

Re: Slow Down to Speed Up – Part 2

Steve — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 18:57:00 -0000

Hi Mike - Please join our MEDDIC for sales professionals linked in group - It's me ( Steve Ammann) , Richard Dunkel and Jack Napoli. We are glad to see you writing about MEDDIC! Hope all is well at Smart Bear.

Re: Need to Know

Bart van de Burgt — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 21:22:10 -0000

Hi Mike, that sure looks great! Ultimately, I'm not the decision maker and these changes typically take some time. But will suggest it definitely.

Is there a non automated way to get this going since I can see the benefits of using it asap!

Re: Need to Know

mrmcgu — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 12:56:28 -0000

Thanks Bart. Take a look at www.salesvue.com . Of particular interest is their workflow engine overlay to your CRM.

Re: Need to Know

Bart van de Burgt — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 12:32:10 -0000

Interesting stuff Mike and completely agree! Maybe a more practical question to keeping your target prospecting accurate and up to date as they move from one touch to the other.

Where do you administer which prospect is with what batch? How do you keep track of this? Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Bart

Re: Need to Know

chip greer — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 11:48:55 -0000

nothing like accountability!

Re: Need to Know

mrmcgu — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 11:36:24 -0000

Thanks Chip. I agree with the need for tight integration with marketing but I still like reminding sales people that they own their pipeline, people buy from people and there is nothing like a conversation about a company's needs. Fear the deer!

Re: Need to Know

mrmcgu — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 11:34:24 -0000

You're right Greg. I tried to indicate usage of social (other than phone or email) with the reference to LinkedIn in the body of call plan but I should have been more explicit. Thanks.

Re: Need to Know

mrmcgu — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 11:33:16 -0000

Always great to hear from you John. And great to get a quote from Bump onto Two Guys Meet... Thanks.

Re: Need to Know

chip greer — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 08:40:14 -0000

Great comments, Mike! In addition to the individual sales effort outlined below "Prospecting 2.0" requires tight integration with the marketing team. Definition of the target market, messaging help from product marketing, visibility and education from the social marketers and insight from whomever keeps the combined sales and marketing data on effectiveness all boost productivity, enhance visibility and enforce accountability across the team.

Re: Need to Know

Greg Mooney — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 12:35:38 -0000

Informative article, Mike. Another channel in which to engage that is often overlooked is social media. As you noted, a lot of people just won't pick up the phone. When it is possible, engaging them with a thoughtful tweet for example can be a great way to get their attention.

Re: Need to Know

John Waldner — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 11:03:13 -0000

Great points all around Mike.....and great hearing from you since our days working together at Sophos. As a professional sales person I have noticed three attributes which most uber-successful sales folks possess; 1) they always hunt and 2) they continue to sell even after the order is complete. (The sales guy that disappears after the order is not only leaving money on the table but quite possibly providing bad service to those already sold) and 3)before finishing the day, I have a note over my desk that reminds me "One more thing" - something Craig Bumpus from Nutanix taught me . Thanks for the great message and it is always good to hear from great sales folks. I still remember your "Piece of Great" speech when we were in Berlin. Awesome!!

John Waldner
QRadar Sales - IBM
jjwaldner@gmail.com

Re: Ocam’s Razor

DanMykula — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 08:36:42 -0000

Both!

Re: Ocam’s Razor

mrmcgu — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 08:32:13 -0000

"Simple rules" or "Simple, rules!" :-) Both

Re: Ocam’s Razor

DanMykula — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:41:43 -0000

Great post. Simple rules! It's the most honest and fastest way to get a customers respect, loyatly and the deal!

Re: Verbatim

mdulude — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:01:02 -0000

I was at PTC with Mike during most of those years and was also struck by the power of having us all able to recite the key messages. We also had application engineers go through demonstration boot camps to ensure they could do all the product demos following a script along with picks and clicks. I have reflected often during the rest of my career on the power of the approach. Great reminder.

Re: Verbatim

John Revay — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:06:44 -0000

Suggestion for upcoming post - can you write a post on hiring great sales people ( or possibly hiring in general) ...then maybe retaining them....

Re: The Most Important Meeting

mrmcgu — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:49:55 -0000

Awesome observations Jason. I hadn't thought of phone interactions but this is so true.

All the best,

--
Mike McGuinness
memcguinness@gmail.com
(508) 439-9084
@mrmcgu