“Driving home, I started to think about the discontinuity in the graph of salespeople. Discontinuities are interesting, because that’s where you can see how a system works. In this case, it’s obvious that a great salesperson is going to sell far, far more than a good one. Nine women working together can’t have a baby in one  month, and ten good salespeople still aren’t going to close the account that a great one could. That’s because it’s not a linear scale. The great ones reach out. They work the phones when they’re not first in line. They understand what a customer wants. They’re not just better than good. They’re playing a totally different game.”

We are very proud to be mentioned in Dave Kurlan’s great new book, Baseline Selling: How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball (Kurlan talks about XPLANE as a great resource for marketing and sales professionals on pages 108-109). Here’s what people are saying about it: “Every sales manager committed to creating a no excuse, high performance sales cultures needs to read this book. There are valuable insights for coaching both the novice salesperson as well as the seasoned professional.” … “Sometimes you just need to be reminded about the basics, and Dave Kurlan does that very well. His comparisons to the game of baseball are brilliant. For instance: every year, at the beginning of each season, even Major League players go to spring training, where they are schooled–again–on the fundamentals of the game, and they get in shape. Similarly, sales people–from ‘rookies’ to veterans–also need the same things.” –Reviews from Amazon.com. Check it out!

“Want to know the secret to getting your customers to buy? It’s simple–just ask!”

“Selling is Dead is a strategic book [and weblog] that examines why salespeople and selling teams must re-define their roles and adopt new selling frameworks — or risk obsolescence… For Senior Executives, Sales & Marketing Managers, Salespeople, Account Managers and Students who want to learn at THE BLOGGING EDGE OF SALES.”

“Coming up with good ideas is hard enough, but convincing others to do something with them is even harder. In many fields the task of bringing an idea to someone with the power to do something with it is called a pitch: software feature ideas, implementation strategies, movie screenplays, organizational changes, and business plans, are all pitched from one person to another.”

“The MLC states that the cost to produce the early units of a new product normally is high, but over time, as the production team learns how to optimize manufacturing and wring-out costs, volume increases and per-unit product costs decline sharply. When we apply the MLC to sales, we come to the following conclusion: The time it takes to achieve cash flow breakeven is reasonably independent of sales force staffing…”

“Secret #1 � Give your customers something absolutely free of charge. This makes them appreciative and brings about a feeling of good will. It can be free useful articles, a free ebook, a sample or trial� anything free.”

“Do you hate consumer culture? … Well, join the club. Anti-consumerism has become one of the most important cultural forces in millennial North American life, across every social class and demographic. …look at the non-fiction bestseller lists. For years they�ve been dominated by books that are deeply critical of consumerism: No Logo, Culture Jam, Luxury Fever and Fast Food Nation. You can now buy Adbusters at your neighbourhood music or clothing store. Two of the most popular and critically successful films in recent memory were Fight Club and American Beauty, which offer almost identical indictments of modern consumer society. What can we conclude from all this? For one thing, the market obviously does an extremely good job at responding to consumer demand for anti-consumerist products and literature.”

XPLANE founder Dave Gray will be speaking at an IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) luncheon Thursday, December 16, in St. Louis, Mo. The topic is effectiveness in business communication. “Selling as a discipline does have informal communities of practice, from which there is much we can learn. I will be talking about how these lessons can be leveraged in other business areas, such as marketing, crisis management, change management and continuous improvement, not to mention your own career development and social skills.”

“This method of establishing a sales force is called the sales learning curve (SLC). It’s a concept adapted from the manufacturing learning curve (MLC), which is widely accepted in the manufacturing sector. The MLC states that the cost to produce the early units of a new product normally is high, but over time, as the production team learns how to optimize manufacturing and wring-out costs, volume increases and per-unit product costs decline sharply. When we apply the MLC to sales, we come to the following conclusion: The time it takes to achieve cash flow breakeven is reasonably independent of sales force staffing.”

“Warning: Never say, “I know how you feel.” As soon as you do, the prospect will reflexively think, “You don’t have the foggiest idea how I feel!” and immediately stop listening. No matter how clever your patter, the connection will be damaged, so watch your words carefully.”

“Is your business anchored down by a stale sales plan? Learn how to navigate the 5 biggest sales challenges facing entrepreneurs today, and get back on course.”

“For many entrepreneurs, making their first sale is a monumental task. A million questions pop up, such as: How can I make my product stand out from those of my competitors? What types of questions should I ask? How do I handle objections? How should I ask for the order? For the answers to these and other sales challenges, we’ve asked five nationally known authors of sales books and audio tapes to share their sales secrets. Here are their 25 secrets for sales success.”

“Do you take the ‘our product/idea/meme/service/etc is the best and the rest are crap’ point of view? Or do you take ‘I’m an authority on this topic and I’m looking out for your best interests’ point of view? Which is more likely to persuade you to change your mind? Are you also looking to help customers become so passionate about your company and your product that they’ll do a better job of selling your ideas/products/company than you ever could?”

“At Apple Computer in the early 1980s, Guy Kawasaki and his marketing team didn�t just sell computers with an easy-to-use user interface. Instead, Apple sold the Macintosh dream: to improve productivity and creativity, and to resist the IBM ‘clone,’ literally.”