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You’re not bad at hiring salespeople because you lack experience. You’re bad at hiring salespeople because you’re optimizing for the wrong things. You hire for industry knowledge when you should hire for sales DNA. You hire for relationships when you should hire for the ability to have uncomfortable conversations. You hire people who interview well…
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Had a conversation with a client last week that made me want to bang my head against the wall. His sales team was “crushing it” on activity metrics. Calls made. Emails sent. Meetings booked. The dashboard looked beautiful. But their close rate? 12%. When I asked what they were doing on those sales calls, I…
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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD I got a text from a client last Tuesday that made me stop what I was doing: “We hit 94% of goal this quarter. Team’s celebrating. But honestly? I’m frustrated. We should be crushing these numbers, not barely hitting them.” This CEO runs a $30M company with what most would call a…
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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD Hey there… Last week, a CEO called me frustrated. His top performer just gave notice. “I don’t get it, Adam. We pay him well. He’s got great territory. He was killing it.” Then he told me the real story. This rep had been asking for coaching. Wanted help on bigger deals. Kept…
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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD You know that feeling when your GPS tells you to “turn left in 500 feet” but you’re already past the turn? You’re committed to the wrong direction, burning gas, and now you have to figure out how to get back on track. Meanwhile, your passengers are asking “Are we there yet?” and…
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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD It’s July, and college football teams across the SEC are deep in summer workouts. No games. No crowds. No glory. Just the grinding work that determines who wins championships in the fall. I was thinking about this while reviewing a client’s sales pipeline last week. Their team looked busy. Lots of meetings….
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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD I gave a sales team a simple assignment last week: have your managers do goal setting sessions with their people. Help them get clear on what they want to achieve personally and professionally. One of the managers came back to me and said something that should terrify every CEO: “Adam, most of…
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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD You know that scene in Armageddon where Bruce Willis is looking at NASA’s version of his drill? He’s just grabbing parts and throwing them aside like “what is this… we don’t need this… what is this?” That’s your sales process. I’ve worked with over 150 sales organizations, and here’s what I see…
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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD You know the difference between teams that win championships and teams that stay mediocre? It’s not the salary cap. Every NFL team has the same amount to spend on players. The difference is where they spend their money. Mediocre teams blow their budget on big-name free agents and hope talent alone will…
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NOTES FROM NORTHWOOD You know what I love about Texas pitmasters? Everyone thinks their secret is in some magical sauce recipe passed down through generations. But watch a real pitmaster work. They’ll spend 14 hours smoking a brisket, and maybe 30 seconds applying sauce at the end. The real work happens before anything hits the…
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