Rural Strategy

Research shows that the average sales rep turnover of 34% is twice that of any other career discipline (15%). Sales can be brutal on the frontline so this makes sense. But continual turnover can [...]

When rural companies proudly tell me they rely on word of mouth referrals, I think how much money they are missing out on. The problem is referrals – whilst the best kind of lead – [...]

When you don’t have any leads it’s because of what you didn’t do 3 months before, not what you need to do now. If you know your sales cycle well, you’ll know that it takes [...]

I often hear this veiled cry of desperation from rural marketing departments or uneducated sales people. My challenge is always: awareness of what? The question is designed to get you to think [...]

Sales management is so last century. Stop telling and start asking. Telling your reports what to do means you lose valuable learning opportunities. The whole point of leader is to create more [...]

I’m noticing a disturbing trend: an increasing tolerance of underperformance by underperforming leaders who have have sat in their jobs for too long. It’s not just in sports or Ian [...]

Being counterintuitive is a hidden super power when it comes to rural sales. Counterintuitive questions work so well because your prospect doesn’t expect them and it breaks their automatic [...]

When your rural sales reps say this they can’t close. Instead of focussing on the close, they need to be focussing on the conversation. This is because all meaningful high purchase sales [...]

I want you to ban the word Marketing in your rural business and call it Sales Support instead. Brace yourself for the howls, complaints and massive amount of crap you’ll get when you put [...]

“Everything that needs to be said has been said already. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”  – Andre Gide. Yes, I’m banging that bloody drum again. Why St [...]