Congratulations Florida - NCAA Champs! AGAIN? I had to write the same thing last year - it's a bitter, bitter pill. If you watched the game (football or basketball), Florida never let up. They maintained their intensity the entire game(s). Do you focus that well on your deals? Or, do you go into a deal firing on all cylinders but allow your tenacity to wane as the sales cycle protracts? If you feel like you are continuously covering the same ground while waiting for the deal to close, you might be playing all your cards too early and relegating yourself to spectator instead of influencer. Think about holding a few selling points or solution considerations for later in the sales cycle to keep pressure on the competition, keep your prospect thinking about the depth of your capabilities, and give yourself conversation opportunities to keep the process moving forward. Obviously, this doesn't mean key functionality elements or the like. It is a delicate balance between staying a step ahead and playing catch up from a step behind.

On the Hunt: I cannot emphasize this enough - what ever fear you have, check it at the door when you leave the house. Fear almost always becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It does not matter if it is a fear of losing a deal, hacking off a prospect, losing your job, disappointing your boss, inadequately defending a weak pipeline, or anything else. FEAR puts you at a huge disadvantage in selling. This isn't rocket science. God gave animals the ability to sense fear. Why? Because animals inherently know a scared animal is unpredictable and that makes them dangerous. Same with prospects. When the prospect senses fear in the sales person, they wonder if the information they are getting is accurate, if the commitments being made are going to come through, if the sales person really even knows what they are doing. And, nothing says "Fear to a prospect like Mamby-Pamby questions. Confident, capable, dependable sales people ask direct questions that move the conversation toward issue identification, solution visioning, and relationship consummation. Weak sales people are afraid their questions might dig too deep, that they might uncover information they don't want to hear, or some flaw might be exposed.

What's the difference? Value perception. Because good sales people are very clear that their time is valuable, they won't work bad deals, they expect to be treated as professionals, they are not going to grovel for business, they are not afraid of your concerns and even want to hear them, prospects figure there must be something the sales person offers that they should want. On the other hand, weak sales people give the prospect the impression that the prospect can do whatever they want because that desperate sales person will always be there as a fall-back. The desperation is clear. If the sales person doesn't dig deep, they must not know enough to ask the probing questions. If they don't ask tough questions, they must pretty "junior" and thus can be used for column fodder. If they don't clearly work toward consummation with probes about concerns and decision milestones, the customer is fine with that because there is no pressure and the competition is happy because the sales person knows virtually nothing about the true status of their deal.

Productivity: The buzz word of the last 15 years has been Multi-tasking. The idea being that you can maximize your productivity by doing several things at once. Since we can really only do one thing at a time, other than the really simple - like walking and talking - multi-tasking is not simultaneous efforts but alternating efforts in short increments. In a recent article on Yahoo, researchers point out that it might not be as effective as one would think. Think about it. Interruptions not only wreck the momentum of a task, when you multi-task the interruptions are doubled. Plus, quality can suffer on both sides. Try this, dedicate some time and group similar tasks. Be deliberate, guard your time, and control your technology instead of allowing it to control you - (you might want to sit down) that means turning off your Blackberry so that it is working for you not against you.

Many of you who receive this newsletter focus on selling into the insurance vertical; however, there is still applicability in this paragraph for those of you who call on other industries. If you haven't done the math, the Baby-Boomers will start to retire in 2008. One prediction I have seen is that this mass exodus from the workforce will create a middle management and skilled worker void of 14 million people. According to Deloitte, the Insurance industry will be short 109,000 underwriters and 308,000 claims adjusters by 2014. Add globalization, alternative distribution channels, regulatory pressure, etc., and there is tremendous pressure to do more with less. This pressure will grow and insurers will be looking for innovative ways to thrive. Who will they turn to for help? Those they know. Keep this in mind as you plan your strategy for your next conference. Sure, most software companies are driving for quarterly performance, but great sales people keep one eye on this quarter and one on the future. They build relationships for the near AND long terms. For the Insurance-focused, the next relationship-establishing opportunity is the ACORD/LOMA Forum and IT Expo. By the way, William Shatner is the keynote speaker. Anyone who has seen how lightly Shat takes himself, knows that ought to be worth the price of admission by itself. Check them out on the web: www.acordlomaforum.org.

Separating Yourself from the Pack: Do you seek steering from your prospects? Your prospects will often help you look your best. If they won't, it should be a pretty strong indicator that you might not be one of the leaders in the competitive mix. Start really seeking guidance from your prospects, the responses will tell you quite a bit. Share with them ideas during the sales cycle and then ask for their opinions. "Mr. P, we were exploring the idea of including our BI module as a solution option because we see..., what are your thoughts on how that might enable you to...?" The prosepct hears you are thinking about them, their issues, their business, their opinion. Strong sales execs are asking these throughout the sales cycle because they can then make sure they have a winnable opportunity and are focusing on what the customer wants.

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