Expertise
Linear “Training” vs. Integrated “Solutions”
Brian Dietmeyer - July 22nd, 2008
Most organizations view training initiatives as a “linear” sequence of events. Unfortunately, this perspective fails to address the “interconnectedness” between the process of selling and the process of negotiating. If a sales force requires both sales and negotiation training, the all too typical approach is to first train the entire sales force on selling skills and then circle back and rollout negotiation training as a separate and seeminly unrelated activity.
At the risk of oversimplifying this relationship, selling (opportunity management) is about creating value in the mind of the customer while negotiation is about capturing that value in a deal which benefits both sides. They go hand-in-hand…
Chief Learning Office Article: Is Your Sales Training Effective?
Marie Dudek - June 4th, 2008
by: Lindsay Edmonds Wickman
American corporations invest heavily in sales training, spending approximately $7.2 billion each year, according to the Journal of Personal Selling. However, most organizations don’t know if that significant investment is actually paying off.
“You have to think of sales training differently because it has a different impact on your company,” said Brian Dietmeyer, president and CEO of Think! Inc., a global negotiation strategy consultancy. “You should expect a return on investment [because] sales is the growth engine of any company.”
To read the rest of this article, click here
Think! Audio \ Visual Library
Marie Dudek - April 27th, 2008
Selling Power video series:
Effective Business Negotiation
The Consequences of No Agreement
Prepare, Present and Negotiate to Win
ES Research podcast:
Redefining Business Negotiation
Sant webcast:
Client Result Videos:
The New School of Negotiation
Brian Dietmeyer - March 31st, 2008
You may be making negotiations harder than they have to be!
Negotiating a deal has been made more complex than it needs to be and that’s far worse than confusing, it’s disempowering.
What keep any deal afloat or makes it sink isn’t pulling one perfect response out of an arsenal of a dozen, two-dozen or 200 negotiation tactics. Whether you’re haggling over the price of a flea market watch or trying to close a global, multimillion-dollar deal, every negotiation hinges on only two elements…
Groundbreaking Whitepaper reveals companies don’t know if billions spent on sales training pays off
Marie Dudek - February 13th, 2008
Chicago, Ill. American companies spend $7.2 billion a year on sales training - that’s an average of $347,000 per company according to Selling Power magazine. Yet, most organizations are clueless about whether that investment is paying off, says a just-released whitepaper developed by Think! Inc. in conjuction with Selling Power magazine and the Professional Society for Sales and Marketing Training.
Enable Your Growth Strategy
Achieving ROI on a $7.2B Sales Training Investment
Click here to read the entire press release.
Click here to download the whitepaper
Enable Your Growth Strategy
Brian Dietmeyer - February 6th, 2008
Achieving ROI on a $7.2B Sales Training Investment
Senior executives know that, beyond mergers and acquisitions, a company’s growth is driven one deal at a time by the way direct and indirect sales people sell and negotiate. Why is it that some sales training initiatives are deeply imbedded into the DNA of an orgainization, while others become the “flavor of the month?”
Think! Inc. wondered the same thing and in conjuction with SellingPower and the Professional Society for Sales and Marketing Training just released the details of their research study on this question.
SalesXPress names Think! as third in its top 7 in 2007!
Marie Dudek - January 23rd, 2008
It never hurts to review what you’ve already learned, which is why SalesForceXPress brings you the seven most popular articles from last year’s e-newsletters as determined by click-throughs from readers.
#3 - Simplify Your Sales Negotiations
Negotiating a sale has been made more complex than it needs to be. That’s far worse than confusing, it’s disempowering. When it comes right down to it, says Brian Dietmeyer, President of Chicago-based consultant Think! Inc., every sales negotiation ultimately hinges on only two elements…
Want Negotiation Power? Continuously Expand and Exploit Your Value
Brian Dietmeyer - December 13th, 2007
I turned away a client the other day, the senior vice president of sales for a major manufacturing organization. It could have meant tens of thousands of dollars in potential business for Think!
“You’re problem isn’t negotiation - - it’s a value proposition that’s just too simple. Fix that and most of your negotiation issues will solve themselves,” I assured him. “You’ve got to be willing to find a way to give your customer more than your product’s face value. Otherwise, I can’t help you…”
Manage Smarter Article - The Bottom Line: Redefining Negotiation
Marie Dudek - November 27th, 2007
Keep your sales team from getting eaten alive
By Dave Stein, Founder, Chairman & CEO, ES Research Group
- as published in Manage Smarter, the online home of Sales and Marketing Management Magazine
Any sales manager will tell you that negotiation is one of the required skills for success in sales. Yet few salespeople are equipped to go one-on-one with the increasingly experienced and tough corporate buyers and purchasing officers with whom they must negotiate in order to make a sale.
Even some companies that provide guidance for pursuing the most complex sales opportunities not only leave money on the table, but allow the perceived value of their brand to be whittled away during negotiations.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
HBS Article: Dealing with the ‘Irrational’ Negotiator
Marie Dudek - October 3rd, 2007
- as published in Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge for Business Leaders
According to Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman, chances are the main hurdle to smooth negotiation is behind one of three questions. When you label someone “irrational,” you limit your own options, as they write in Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond. The following except describes strategies and tactics to overcome another party’s counterproductive behavior and keep the deal on track.
These are ideas that anyone can put to use in multiple settings of business. As Malhotra and Bazerman observe, negotiation geniuses are made, not born.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
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