The Rainmaker Blog – Building People, Leaders, Teams & Economic Moats

The Key To Scaling a Company is CEO Critical Self Awareness

You Are the Bottleneck: Why Critical Self-Awareness Is the CEO’s Most Underrated Performance Tool

Apr 22, 2025

Executive Summary: Most founders obsess over fixing their team — better hires, tighter meetings, clearer KPIs — but ignore the biggest leverage point: themselves. This piece makes ...

Get rid of the elephant in the room with The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Scaling Up

About Your Elephant in the Room: Why Teams Fear Real Conversations

Mar 19, 2025

"Why was this not brought to my attention sooner?" Recently a Client I have contact with once every year or two called me and said, "Chris, I believe I have a problem..." He then ...

Gapology - mind the gaps in your business model

Gapology: The Missing Link for Scaling Companies

Mar 15, 2025

Scaling a company is not just about increasing revenue, adding employees, or expanding into new markets. It is about eliminating the barriers that slow growth, erode efficiency, ...

Stop fooling yourself - build and scale a team that wins

Scaling Up

Hire, Develop, and Scale Like You Mean It

Mar 13, 2025

Stop Fooling Yourself If you expect to scale your business model, nothing and I mean NOTHING matters more than having a mission, vision, values (purpose) coupled with the right ...

Scaling Up

Are You Lucky or Are You Good?

Mar 11, 2025

Luck Is Not a Strategy Success in business is often attributed to a combination of skill, strategy, and timing. However, there is an uncomfortable question that every founder and ...

High-performing teams row with discipline

Scaling Up

The Secret to Building High-Performing Teams.

Mar 6, 2025

The Secret To Building High-Performing Teams Is DISCIPLINE. High-performing teams do not occur by accident. High-performing teams are thoughtfully designed and built through ...

Scaling a business requires scaling the executive team intentionally seeking more flow - less friction

More Flow, Less Friction: Scaling with the Right People in the Right Roles

Mar 4, 2025

Friction vs. Flow: The REAL Difference Between Struggling and Scaling Scaling anything is challenging.

Company founder mode leading their team through challenges

Understanding Founder Mode As An Employee: How to Thrive in a Founder-Led Startup

Feb 17, 2025

Are you experiencing Founder Mode? If you work for a founder-led company, it is almost a certainty that you are experiencing Founder Mode—that intense, high-stakes mindset where ...

Leaders engaged in productive ideological conflict to get to the best ideas and outcomes

Team Effectiveness

Is Your Leadership Team Stuck in Agreement Mode?

Feb 4, 2025

The Fine Line Between Consensus and Productive Ideological Conflict The fine line between consensus and productive ideological conflict is a critical area for leaders to ...

A-Players are the lifeblood of your company. Never hire sheep.

Mindset Scaling Up

People – Your Most Important Scaling Up Decision

Feb 4, 2025

Do you hate losing more than you love winning? Ditto. Get to know me and you will quickly learn that I hate losing more than I love winning. There is no need to reinvent the ...

The 20 Mile March requires disciplined people, thoughts and actions

Scaling Up

Meeting Rhythms - THE Backbone of Your 20 Mile March

Jan 29, 2025

As a Founder or CEO, you are well aware that success in business is rarely about dramatic leaps forward. Success in anything - especially building and scaling a business is about ...

Mindset

Your Team’s Mindset: The Hidden Force Behind Scale

Jan 11, 2025

Your Team's Mindset Is Your Greatest Asset Your greatest asset is not your people... Your greatest asset is how your people think - their Mindset. Most leaders fail to see the ...

Employee KPI Dashboard - The Rockefeller Habits from Scaling Up

The Power of Knowing: Why Rockefeller Habit #9 is a Game-Changer for Your Team's Performance

Jan 8, 2025

Do you really know how your team is performing? Imagine walking into your office and knowing, without ambiguity, whether your team had a productive day or week. More ...

Extreme Accountability: The Key to Scaling Your Business

Dec 15, 2024

Just how serious are you about scaling your business with less drama and friction? Scaling a business is not for the faint of heart. It requires a relentless commitment to ...

Thriving in a VUCA business world requires Business Acumen Capacity

Scaling Up

Business Acumen Capacity: The Essential Skill for Rapidly Scaling Businesses

Dec 8, 2024

Business Acumen Capacity is Rocket Fuel for Scaling Businesses Scaling a business is a high-stakes, high-pressure endeavor where the ability to anticipate what lies ahead—what I ...

Knowing how your people think can be your superpower

Leadership

Knowing How Your People Think Is a Superpower

Oct 23, 2024

Think you know your people? Think again. Talent misalignment is costing you millions—maybe more. Let’s get straight to the point: if you are leading a team without understanding ...

Scaling Leaders face the brutal facts and confront hard truths

Leadership Scaling Up

Comfort is the Enemy of Growth - Why Scaling Leaders Confront Brutal Facts

Oct 20, 2024

Scaling Leaders Do Not Dodge Uncomfortable Realities. What if I told you the biggest threat to your company’s growth is not your competitors, but your refusal to confront the ...

Find the most believable people possible who disagree with you and try to understand their reasoning." - Ray Dalio

Leadership

Unleash the Power of Your Team: Why Smart Leaders Mine for the Best Ideas, Not Their Own

Oct 13, 2024

The best ideas win. Let us cut through the noise and get to the heart of what it takes to win. Founders, CEOs, and leaders who believe that their vision alone is enough to drive ...

The Fifth Rockefeller Habit - Engage employees for feedback

Rockefeller Habits

The Rockefeller Habit #5 - Employee input is collected to identify obstacles and opportunities.

Oct 3, 2024

The Fifth Rockefeller Habit - Knowledge is Power In the high-stakes world of business leadership, knowledge is power, and one of the most valuable sources of knowledge is right ...

Rockefeller Habits

The Rockefeller Habit #6 - Reporting and Analysis of Customer Feedback Data is as Frequent and Accurate as Financial Data

Oct 3, 2024

You Are Ignoring Your Most Valuable Asset: Customer Feedback If you are treating customer feedback as an afterthought, you are already losing. Stop. The harsh reality is this: ...

Scaling Up

Scaling Fast? Why Transformational Leadership is the Only Path to Sustainable Growth

Oct 1, 2024

The clock is ticking. Your company is growing fast, but let me ask you this: do you have the right leadership framework in place to sustain this growth, or are you relying on ...

Adoption of the Rockefeller Habits is your key to operating in Founder Mode

Rockefeller Habits Founder Mode

Unlocking Founder Mode: The Rockefeller Habits You Must Master to Scale

Sep 26, 2024

The data does not lie. Fortune recently published Is 'founder mode' or 'manager mode' better? Here's what the 22 Fortune 500 companies still run by founders show The data screams. ...

Reduce friction and drama in your team through Behavioral Style and Driving Forces Awareness

Mindset Team Effectiveness

How to Mitigate Unnecessary Team Drama Using Psychometric Assessments

Sep 24, 2024

Show me a team that is unaware of one another's personality styles and I will show you a team with unnecessary friction and drama. There is a "personality storm" brewing in every ...

The key to scaling up is hiring only A Players - the top 20 percent who produce 80 percent of the results

Scaling Up Team Effectiveness

Scaling Up: Pareto Optimality and The Power of Building an A-Player Team

Sep 20, 2024

Those who command the best talent dominate the market. The war for talent is relentless, and the stakes could not be higher. You cannot afford to simply have a team of ...

Founders need to operate in Founder Mode

Scaling Up

The Loneliness of Vision: Understanding Founders in Founder Mode

Sep 14, 2024

Being a Founder is much, much more than just a job Being a founder is not just a job. It is a way of being, an unrelenting pursuit of a vision that others often cannot see—much ...

Steve Jobs - The key to innovation - May the best ideas win through idea meritocracy.

Idea Meritocracy at Apple: How Steve Jobs Fostered a Culture of Innovation

Sep 12, 2024

Steve Jobs' leadership at Apple provides valuable lessons on idea meritocracy The concept of idea meritocracy is something I have encouraged my Scaling Up Coaching Clients to ...

Super heroes scaling-up their team and business through Extreme Accountability

Team Effectiveness

Why Extreme Accountability Must Be Your Team's Superpower

Sep 10, 2024

The Case For Extreme Accountability In the contemporary business landscape, where competition is fierce and market dynamics evolve rapidly, one principle stands out as a ...

Rockefeller Habit #4 - Scaling Up Strategy is all about accountability

Rockefeller Habits

The Rockefeller Habit #4: Establishing Accountability Across Your Organization

Sep 10, 2024

In the great game of business, where success is measured by the consistent achievement of goals, accountability is the cornerstone that literally holds everything together. ...

Scaling Up

Founder Mode: The Entrepreneurial Mindset That Separates Visionaries from Mediocrity

Sep 8, 2024

Founder Mode and Scaling Up a Business Successfully scaling up a business requires much more than just hiring well, trusting processes and keeping employee team members happy. ...

Team Effectiveness

The High-Stakes Game of Team Dynamics: Why Understanding Working Styles is the Key to Unstoppable Success

Sep 7, 2024

Building an high-performing team requires a strategic, ongoing investment in understanding Working Styles - awareness of how people think, act, and collaborate. A high-performance ...

Companies that communicate with discipline pulse and grow faster

Rockefeller Habits

The Rockefeller Habit #3: Establishing a Communication Rhythm to Propel Your Organization Forward

Sep 5, 2024

Communication Rhythm Code - Those who pulse faster, grow faster. In the unforgiving world of business, where speed and precision often determine success or failure, the rhythm of ...

Bold leadership requires strategic teaming

Team Effectiveness

How Bold Leaders Forge Unstoppable Teams Through Strategic Teaming

Aug 29, 2024

Teaming: The Non-Negotiable Imperative for Founders and Leaders “Notfinance.Notstrategy.Nottechnology.Itisteamworkthatremainstheultimate ...

Scaling Up

Cultivating Idea Meritocracy: Why Diversity Beats Validation

Aug 27, 2024

None of us is as smart as all of us.

Rockefeller Habits

The Rockefeller Habit #2: Aligning Everyone with the #1 Priority This Quarter

Aug 22, 2024

Ask a leader / manager if they are playing to win or lose and you will get a look on their face of "Excuse me? Are you seriously asking me this question?"

Scaling Up

Facing the Brutal Facts: Overcoming the Icarus Syndrome in Rapidly Scaling Companies

Aug 20, 2024

There is perhaps no better legal high than riding the trajectory of a rapidly scaling company. On its surface, it seems that one can do no wrong. Everything that gets touched ...

Building a plane while it is flying is like growing a business

The Power of an Idea Meritocracy in Rapidly Scaling Companies

Aug 13, 2024

Imagine building an airplane while it is already in flight. The airplane MUST remain in the air. EVERY component is essential, and EVERY adjustment must be precise, all while ...

Team Effectiveness

Building Vulnerability-based Trust as a CEO: Crafting a Culture Code for High-Performing Teams

Aug 6, 2024

A High Trust Culture is Simply Not Enough. In today’s hyper-accelerating world of AI-driven innovation and enhanced decision-making, trust is no longer enough. You and your team ...

Scaling Up

Scaling Your Business in a VUCA World.

Jul 30, 2024

You and your team / organization are either riding and exploiting VUCA – or VUCA is riding you. Originating from the U.S. Army to describe the post-Cold War world, “VUCA” is an ...

Mindset Leadership Culture

Your Personality Is Someone's Experience

Apr 16, 2024

How others experience your personality not only impacts your overall leadership effectiveness, how others experience your personality has the potential to profoundly impact the ...

A race between the fox and the hedgehog concept

Scaling Up

Unleash the Power of the Hedgehog Concept

Feb 11, 2024

If you are like me, you have read Good to Great by Jim Collins multiple times. Chances are you also have a special place on your bookshelf reserved in perpetuity for this great ...

Executive team is healthy and aligned as a First Team

Team Effectiveness

Mastering the 'First Team' Principle: An Essential Guide for Leaders Serious About Scaling Their Business

Oct 24, 2023

Scaling is not negotiable. Your business is scaling or it is not. Business leaders, entrepreneurs, and those in the C-suite must pay attention. The 'First Team' concept from ...

Mindset

The Best Is Yet to Come: Embracing Optimism & Gratitude with Stoic Realism

Oct 17, 2023

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton Truer words have never been spoken. One of my "pillar mentors" - the late Bill Bonnstetter - ...

Scaling Up a Business Requires a Healthy and Aligned Executive Team

Scaling Up Rockefeller Habits Team Effectiveness

Rockefeller Habit #1: Is Your Executive Team Healthy and Aligned?

Oct 3, 2023

Think back to a time when an executive team you were a part of or worked for was not healthy and aligned. The greater the disease and misalignment in your executive team, the ...

Discipline is the key to achieving results.

Scaling Up

A Culture of Discipline: Ignition Points for CEOs Serious About Scaling Up Their Business

Sep 12, 2023

Prelude: Scaling Your Company Is NOT a Sideline Strategy If you are the Founder / CEO of a business venture and obsessed with scaling your Company, this is your zero hour. Forget ...

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Workshop / Training 5

Team Effectiveness

What are the Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Why Do They Matter?

Feb 16, 2023

Let's get real. Most teams are not operating anywhere near their true potential. Vulnerability-based Trust is lower than it should be. Productive, ideological debate is not ...

Scaling Up

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits

Sep 13, 2022

As a management consultant, trusted advisor and coach to those I am privileged to serve, I help guide my Clients in designing their path to a better future. As an outsider ...

Scaling Up

5 Answers to Your Scaling Up Questions

Sep 13, 2022

Over the past couple of decades, I have had the privilege or reading a LOT of books and attending many seminars / workshops / retreats. Precious few have had the impact on my ...

Scaling Up Blue Ocean Strategy

How to Apply Blue Ocean Principles to an Existing Business

Sep 13, 2022

Sure, you may understand the difference between a blue and red ocean, but it may feel like a lost cause if you’re already operating in a red ocean. It’s not hopeless though. It is ...

Concerned businessman looking at piece of paper

Leadership

6 Ways Leaders Fail During Scaling Up Implementation

Sep 13, 2022

I first learned about Scaling Up when I brought in a consultant to evaluate my business several years ago. My consultant introduced me to several strategy methodologies. One was ...

Mindset Management Employees Ray Dalio Culture Principles

5 Principles Your Business Needs for Success

Jul 29, 2022

Why should you care about what Ray Dalio thinks… I hate losing more than I love winning. In fact, I refuse to lose for the same reasons twice. If you are like me, you play-to-win. ...

Sales Management Leadership Scaling Up

Your Guide to Implementing the Rockefeller Habits

Jun 28, 2022

The more measurable a plan is, the better it will be executed.

Sales Culture Sales Strategy

Rockefeller Habits Summary

Apr 20, 2022

Businesses fail. Often. Failure is obvious. What is less obvious is the degree businesses are not optimized to the level they could and should be. Businesses that are not ...

Sales Management Leadership

Five Dysfunctions of a Team Activities / Info

Apr 14, 2022

If you and your team have recently completed The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Workshop with an experienced facilitator, your work has just begun. Words of Caution - If you and your ...

Leadership

Five Dysfunctions of a Team Conflict Resolution Model

Feb 24, 2022

How comfortable are you and your team members engaging in conflict? Chances are, the comfort level is mixed. And chances are, you and your team are not on the same page about how ...

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Workshop and Training Group

Leadership Team Effectiveness

Five Dysfunctions of a Team Character Analysis

Feb 2, 2022

Teams are inherently dysfunctional. In fact most Teams are not operating anywhere near their true potential. We guide leaders to navigate The Five Dysfunctions of a Team through ...

Leadership

Five Dysfunctions of a Team Foundation

Jan 26, 2022

In Patrick Lencioni's powerful book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he outlines the five core causes of dysfunction that can hold a team back from reaching its true potential. ...

Leadership

Five Dysfunctions of a Team Exercises

Jan 18, 2022

Just how important is it for your executive team to be healthy and aligned? It is ESSENTIAL. It is so essential that The Rockefeller Habits Checklist (™) has it first in their ...

Leadership

How to Overcome the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Dec 29, 2021

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team explores the primary challenges all teams have at some level.

Leadership

5 Quantifiable Characteristics of High Performing Teams

Nov 23, 2021

High team performance does not have to be abstract or relegated to the realm of speculation.

Sales Selection

Is Your New Sales Wolf Destined To Leave You?

Nov 12, 2021

Too much of a good thing may eventually work against you. Think about the sales wolf who left you before you could clone them. You poured your heart into them. This sales wolf ...

Colleagues smiling during meeting at table

Leadership

How to Build a High Performing Team

Nov 4, 2021

Talent is an organization's most valuable asset. Yet in most organizations, the untapped performance potential of teams is profound.

Team of colleagues with hands in center of circle

How to Action Your Five Dysfunctions of a Team Assessment

Nov 2, 2021

What gets measured gets improved, and when you measure the Five Dysfunctions of your Team through the Five Dysfunctions of a Team Assessment, you have the ability to improve your ...

Leadership

Leadership Communication Training: Expectations v. Reality

Sep 22, 2021

Smart CEOs, managers, and leaders are relentless in improving their team’s communication skills because they understand the value of strong team communication including higher ...

Group of colleagues sitting relaxed at coffee table listening to boss

Leadership

A Productive Rant About Leadership and Organizational Development

Sep 16, 2021

I have a healthy respect for the ideas of Simon Sinek (and other leadership gurus like him). A clearly well-spoken and self-described optimist, Sinek without question is ...

Buying groceries in the COVID-19 crisis.

Sales Culture Sales Strategy

The Opportunity to Slow Down and Straighten Everything Out

Apr 22, 2020

How do you buy your milk? Thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, we no longer buy our milk in a grocery store. Entering a grocery store represents an unnecessary risk.

Wolf Class CEO Leader of the best Salespeople - Sales Wolves

Mindset

Are you credible, candid, confident, a believer and a hustler?

Apr 14, 2020

Definition of a Sales Wolf. A Sales Wolf has the capacity - the experience, background, education and MINDSET to consistently perform in the top 20th percentile of all salespeople ...

Confident business saleswoman modeling personal accountability

Mindset

Action Defeats Victim Thinking

Apr 9, 2020

No better high and (sometimes) no worse low. The sales profession is a mental "grind" filled with rejection, setback and disappointment. Winning is the ultimate mindset recovery - ...

Mindset

Black Swan Events Require Bold Action

Apr 7, 2020

Welcome to your Black Swan Event. According to Investopedia: A black swan is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially ...

Scaling Up

The Fifth Essential Competency Every Sales Wolf Must Master

May 9, 2019

Time and Priority Management. Time and Priority Management is the fifth essential competency every Sales Wolf must master. After grad school and a stint as a commodity trader, I ...

Sales Management Sales Culture

When salespeople fail to live up to the culture code

Apr 24, 2019

How would you define your company culture? Your sales culture? Often, a company’s culture consists of a carefully-contrived paragraph of corporate speak that does not actually say ...

Sales Performance Sales Strategy

Types of Sales Wolves: The Hunter Sales Wolf and the Farmer Sales Wolf

Apr 16, 2019

The level of quality within your sales talent is one of the only factors that can dramatically alter the success of your organization. Use a hiring scorecard and strategic ...

Sales Culture Scaling Up

Why sales coaching is ineffective and what to do about it

Apr 10, 2019

Depending on the length of your sales career to date (as well as your title), you have probably either initiated or solicited sales coaching. Most typically, sales coaching occurs ...

Sales Selection

What Sales Wolves Deliver

Apr 4, 2019

The quality of your sales talent is one of few elements to profoundly impact the long-term success of your business. Yet, few organizations have the recruiting structure in place ...

animal-animal-portrait-animal-world-682361

Sales Selection

Is the ideal sales team comprised of all Sales Wolves?

Feb 26, 2019

I spend a great deal of time writing about Sales Wolves. What defines a Sales Wolf. How many organizations lack them or once they have them, fail to nurture and retain their ...

Sales Selection

Sales Wolves Do Not Always Interview Well

Feb 6, 2019

When a person is purchasing a sports car, they do not go to the dealership and randomly test drive every single car on the lot until one feels right. They do not test drive a ...

Sales Management Sales Culture Sales Strategy

How to Turn Around a Sales Team

Dec 19, 2018

Is your mindset one that is reactive or proactive? For most CEOs and sales leaders, turning around a sales team is a reactive, futile effort that occurs ONLY when the sales team ...

Sales Management Sales Culture Sales Strategy

Building a Sales Team From Scratch

Dec 5, 2018

You only have one chance to do this the right way. Building your sales team will define the short- and long-term success of your business. You only get one shot. When your company ...

Sales Strategy Sales Selection

Run Away From Sales People With These Traits

Nov 28, 2018

Few decisions impact a business model more than the quality of sales talent hired to represent a company. It happens all the time. Sales hiring managers predicting strong sales ...

Many salespeople are not sales wolves - they are imposters

Sales Strategy Sales Selection

Why Your Top Salespeople Aren’t

Nov 20, 2018

...what?

Sales Strategy Sales Selection

Why Your Job Interviews Bring in Crappy Sales People

Nov 14, 2018

Most sales job interviews are meaningless.

Complacency starts with the CEO and destroys sales performance and shareholder value

Mindset

Why Your CEO’s Mindset Kills Sales

Nov 6, 2018

“Nothing happens in business until something gets sold.” - Thomas J. Watson, IBM Chairman and CEO, Called “The World’s Greatest Salesman” All of our business successes hinge on ...

Mindset

When Salespeople Lose Their Mojo

Oct 24, 2018

Have you ever seen a star pitcher or quarterback just lose their IT factor in the middle of the season? Their mojo is gone. They can’t score a touchdown or strike out a guy for ...

Mindset

What Scott Adams can show you about sales productivity.

Oct 23, 2018

You’ve heard of Scott Adams. You’ve inevitably seen his work posted around your office. No, we’re not talking about those insipid motivational posters that show a soaring bald ...

Mindset

Why Mindset is Essential in Sales and Sales Leadership

Oct 11, 2018

The pattern of your thoughts shapes your future reality -- individually and collectively. Mindset is one of those topics that is very “buzzworthy” among sales leaders. It has ...

Focused and successful female business woman does Deep Work

Mindset

The Critical Habit That Separates the Best From the Average

Oct 4, 2018

How many times have you experienced this scenario? You walk into your office, eager to get the day started and excited about an important project. You sit down at your desk, fire ...

Sales Performance

Do you need to compromise your integrity to close a deal?

Sep 19, 2018

Do you need to compromise your integrity to close a sale? “Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.” Franklin Roosevelt

Bold Rock Climber knows how to hire the best salespeople

Sales Strategy

2018 Sales Are Baked In

Sep 18, 2018

The final quarter of 2018 begins in a few days. For all intents and purposes, 2018 sales performance is baked in. There is little you are going to be able to do right now to level ...

Sales Performance

The pace of the leader is the speed of the pack

Sep 5, 2018

Where there is smoke, there is fire. Mindset toxicity among your sales leaders will destroy your sales performance. No excuses. No second chances. Sometimes organizations are in ...

Sales Selection

Do your salespeople believe?

Aug 28, 2018

Believers sell value. Your salespeople either believe in selling value or they do not. There is no "in-between". Non-believers possess and model a mindset focused on "saving" ...

Stop hiring salespeople who cannot sell.

Sales Management

Avoid repeating sales hiring sins of the past.

Jul 31, 2018

Hope is not a strategy. Hope without meaningful action is insanity. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” - ...

The coming economic recession is an opportunity for prepared sales teams

Sales Strategy

Is your sales team prepared for the coming recession?

Jul 19, 2018

Long story short. A strong economic storm is brewing. The second longest economic expansion in US history is about to end.

Memo to CEO - You don't have the influence you should have.

Jun 28, 2018

Dear Ship Captain... As CEO or VP of Sales of your company, who possibly could have more influence than you in shaping the future of your company? One or more of these folks: HR. ...

F1 Race Cars - Nothing is sacred to improve sales performance

Mindset

Five powerful mindsets that drive sales

May 14, 2018

What gets in our way. It is no wonder we struggle. We get in our own way. Our mindsets, our mental models, our past experiences, our habits, our perspective, our biases and our ...

Sales Culture

Why we don't use ghostwriters.

May 1, 2018

Long story short. It's not right to pay someone else to develop content and then represent it as original. Longer story. I have often marveled at how some consultants seem to be ...

Team of salespeople running across the finish line

Sales Strategy

How to Achieve Peak Performance Mindset in Sales

Mar 10, 2018

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning ...

Sales Culture

5 Signs your Sales Culture is a Dumpster Fire

Mar 9, 2018

Merriam Webster formally added "dumpster fire" to their online dictionary this week.

Apple Store - Manhattan - April 10 2015 NYC.jpg

Sales Strategy

Be like Apple.

Mar 1, 2018

Full disclosure. I am an Appleholic. I love, love, LOVE EVERYTHING Apple. Apple's products and ecosystem are simple, elegant, intuitive and productivity magnifiers. And in case ...

Mindset

Do Your Salespeople Sense Care?

Jan 25, 2018

You are a working sales manager. Your salespeople see you in the trenches right by their side. You hustle and grind with them. You are flexible and perhaps even benevolent. You ...

Sales Culture

Make 2018 The Year of Proper Form

Jan 9, 2018

The 2018 sales sprint begins! Is your mindset ready? How about the mindset of your sales team? Are you and your sales team taking the necessary actions that will crush 2018? Are ...

Mindset

The Ultimate Sales Performance Turbocharger

Dec 14, 2017

Resilience - the ultimate sales performance turbocharger. Salespeople with resilience achieve greater and more consistent periods of sales performance than those without. ...

Sales Strategy

Use Daylight Saving Time To Jumpstart Your 2018 SALES MINDSET

Nov 5, 2017

The end of Daylight Saving Time is upon us once again. Many view Daylight Saving Time as an extra hour of sleep, working out or playing Call of Duty. Daylight Saving Time is your ...

Smart companies use a science-based sales personality test to hire only the best salespeople

Sales Selection

Most companies don’t understand us, until they need us

Nov 2, 2017

From the outside looking in. I recently woke up in the middle of the night with the title of this article in my mind. When I began working with The Rainmaker Group, my biggest ...

the pig is committed while the chicken is interested.jpg

Sales Selection

Your Sales Team's Mindset: Your Most Valuable Asset

Oct 26, 2017

Your most valuable asset is not your equipment, nor your real estate, nor your trademarks nor your intellectual property. Your most valuable asset is the mindset of your sales ...

Order-taker salespeople must master listening as a skill

Scaling Up

Listening - The ESSENTIAL selling skill for order-takers.

Oct 5, 2017

Long story short. If you are like me, you are never satisfied with the status quo. And chances are you do not do well with "happy talk". "Happy talk" is what well-meaning sales ...

Private Equity Firms are losing money because they fail to centralize sales hiring and personality tests.jpg

Sales Selection

Private Equity's Huge Sales Miss

Sep 21, 2017

Long story short. Private Equity (PE) Firms are failing to optimize their sales teams from the very beginning of ownership. It seems that PE Firms fail to grasp that the Net ...

Most salespeople lack the sales personality to sell value.jpg

Sales Selection

Why most salespeople cannot sell value.

Sep 12, 2017

Long story short. Most salespeople cannot sell value because they lack key "sales personality" elements that drive them to understand and sell value. If salespeople lack the ...

Frustrated assistant researching sales personality testing online.jpg

Sales Selection

Your Assistant Is No Longer Welcome Here.

Jul 26, 2017

It's a well-known fact: a good assistant is worth their weight in gold. The value of a good assistant is maximized when they complete the tasks they are most-qualified to handle. ...

How many salespeople do you have that are sheep instead of wolves.jpg

Sales Performance

What You Must Learn From Your Adapted High Performers

Jun 6, 2017

Sales efficiency is the objective. When you have maximized sales with minimal friction and cost, you will have achieved sales efficiency. Sales efficiency is diminished when: ...

The key to building mental toughness in sales is talent

Sales Performance

The Key To Building A Mentally Tough Sales Team

May 18, 2017

Mental Toughness requires... The best sales talent coupled with solid Mindset habits. We call the best salespeople, "Sales Wolves". "Sales Wolves" have the Talent AND Mindset ...

Salespeople need to be unafraid of making mistakes that lead to failure.jpg

Sales Culture

Your Sales Team Has a Failure Problem

Apr 20, 2017

"Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan." - Count Galeazzo Ciano (1903-1944), The Ciano Diaries, 1939-1943, Vol. 2. Long story short. Everyone loves winning but few ...

Sales Selection

The Best Salespeople are Born AND Made

Apr 13, 2017

The short answer is, "Both." The best salespeople are born AND made. I have been in sales for 40 years. I have sold door-to-door as well as complex, long sales cycle solutions. ...

Sales Performance

Conversations, Combat and Happy Talk

Mar 21, 2017

Sales Wolves embrace conflict. Ever heard a salesperson get into a combative discussion with a prospect? Frightening, right? If you are frightened by this thought, please go here. ...

Sales Selection

The Painful Truth About Your Sales Recruiting

Mar 14, 2017

You do not have enough resources committed to sales recruiting. The painful truth is you do not have enough resources committed to sales recruitment. The painful truth is your ...

The Alternative Facts of Bad Sales Hiring

Feb 9, 2017

Unless you have been under a rock the past few weeks, you have heard the phrase, “Alternative Facts.” Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President, coined this phrase when she ...

Lead the mindset of your sales team like Tom Brady.jpg

Sales Management

The Sales Management Lesson of Tom Brady

Feb 6, 2017

Mindset leadership is what separates winning sales teams from the rest. The mindset of any team reflects their collective talent and belief. Ever notice how some teams throw in ...

Sales Culture

Five Reasons Why Sales Wolves Hate Your Culture.

Jan 26, 2017

Is your sales culture worthy? Is your sales culture worthy of the love from the best-of-the-best sales professional, the Sales Wolf? Not so fast... Don't assume you have a Sales ...

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Sales Selection

What You Must Do When a Salesperson Is Terminated

Jan 19, 2017

Now is the time for reflection and pain. Somewhere or perhaps everywhere, you screwed up. You could ignore the circumstances and hope history does not repeat itself or your can ...

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Sales Management

Seven Sales Manager Habits That Sabotage Success

Jan 10, 2017

All problems start at the head. A strong sales manager will propel your sales team forward. A lousy sales manager will destroy sales potential. The sales manager sets the tone. ...

Scaling Up

It Takes More Than Training To Make a Challenger

Nov 22, 2016

A recent post written by a self-described "writer and content marketer" caught my attention. In the post, the author shared their Three Step Guide to Becoming a Challenger ...

Sales Culture

Wells Fargo Just Set the Sales Profession Back 20 Years

Sep 20, 2016

"I would do anything for love, but I won't do that..." As a young entrepreneur I loved to hustle. I delivered newspapers, babysat, mowed lawns and painted houses. I never, ever ...

Are Your Salespeople Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Aug 30, 2016

Blind faith is not a strategy. Do you know, I mean really know just how hard a particular salesperson is working? Or does making quota serve as a proxy that your salespeople are ...

Beware of The Sales Experience Trap

Aug 23, 2016

Show me two salespeople... Show me two salespeople with seemingly the same required two years of sales experience on paper and it is very likely that one will be far more ...

Sales Management Sales Culture

Get Rid of Your Backup Plan

Aug 14, 2016

Hernán Cortés began his impossible conquest by burning the boats. For more than 600 years conquerors had unsuccessfuly attempted to colonize the Yucatan Peninsula. What seemingly ...

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Sales Management

Why 90% of Decision Makers Never Answer A Cold Call

Jul 8, 2016

In short. 90% of decision makers will never answer a cold call because the salesperson attempting to sell to them cannot sell and / or the decision-maker lacks the capacity to ...

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Sales Management

On Target Personas and Never Gonna Get Its

Jun 30, 2016

In God we trust. Everyone else bring data. There was a time I believed that all I needed to be successful in sales was to offer the best product / service solution backed with ...

Sales Management

How To Multiply Sales Without Adding A Single Salesperson

Jun 28, 2016

"What percentage of time should a salesperson be selling?" Oh how many times I have heard this question. A salesperson's job is to sell. I can't believe I am actually saying these ...

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Is Your Sales Team Evolving or Dying?

Jun 23, 2016

If you are not evolving, you are dying. Dear CEO / VP of Sales / Sales Manager... Your salespeople do what you do. You are either evolving or dying; one or the other. Be the ...

I Do Not Choose To Be A Common Man

Jun 14, 2016

Bill Bonnstetter was uncommon. The world recently lost an uncommon man, Bill Bonnstetter. I only wish I could find the words to adequately describe Bill's impact on my life and ...

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Sales Culture

Are You A Competitor From Hell?

Jun 2, 2016

I recently invested in a new vehicle. It was our fifth from the same dealership in 15 years. They do business the way I would if I ran a dealership. They are very fair and do not ...

Sales Management

The Real Reason Why Good Salespeople Often Turn Into Mediocre Sales Managers

May 25, 2016

Sales managers fail because of you. Let's assume you did everything right. You didn't guess in the promotion of a good salesperson to sales manager. You used a valid multi-science ...

Sales Culture

What the Best Salespeople Have In Common With Carson Wentz

Apr 29, 2016

Today is a proud day for my fellow North Dakotan's and North Dakota State University Alumni (Go Bison!). Carson Wentz just became the number two 2016 NFL draft pick. ...

Sales Strategy

The Fourth Challenge With Challenger Selling

Apr 20, 2016

If you have not read The Challenger Sale, you need to. If you have yet to read Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, I highly-recommend you put this powerful sales ...

Sales Selection

Which Is More Important in Sales - Talent or Tenacity?

Mar 24, 2016

Bob was my third and worst hire ever. In 2000 I was responsible for building the sales team for an online learning start-up. Bob was my third hire. He was a referral from a ...

Sales Culture

Hail Mary Cold Calling Is Dead

Mar 1, 2016

"May I speak with the business owner?" The number on my cell phone screen suggested the call was local. When I answered I was met by a long period of silence. Just as I was about ...

Sales Selection

The HBR Advice You Need Your Competitors to Follow

Feb 5, 2016

Astonishingly mediocre advice. In their February 1, 2016 article on HBR - Hiring Star Salespeople Isn't the Best Way to Grow, Frank V. Cespedes and Jacco van der Kooj ...

Sales Management

No More Half Measures

Jan 27, 2016

I binge-watched the hell out of Breaking Bad. I stayed up way too late when I shouldn't have. Now I am sometimes find myself muttering, "Yo, yo, yo." It's my colleague Joe's ...

Sales Selection

The Ugly Truth: The Real Costs of a Bad Sales Hire

Jan 19, 2016

Hiring costs are just the tip of the iceberg. Ask most people about what a bad sales hire costs and they immediately fixate on the hiring costs including recruitment, training, ...

Sales Management

Your Company Has a Prospecting Problem

Jan 14, 2016

How many of your salespeople are really order-takers? Recently a Client requested sales personality assessment codes to assess sales candidates. In our conversation they shared ...

Sales Selection

The ROI of Hiring Only the Best Salespeople

Jan 7, 2016

If you replicated your best salespeople, how much would you increase sales? Chances are the sales increase would be significant. What are you waiting for? Have you heard of the ...

Sales Performance

It's Too Late To Dramatically Improve Sales In 2016

Dec 29, 2015

Now is the time to shape 2017. Unless you have already made significant ongoing improvements to your sales talent, systems, and culture, there is little you can do to measurably ...

Sales Culture

The Best Christmas Present You Can Give Your Sales Team

Dec 21, 2015

Is radical candor. Right now you may be thinking, "Chris... How do "candor" and "Christmas present" fit together?" Aside from the obvious spiritual meaning, I like to believe the ...

Sales Management

Do You Have Your Sales Team's Back?

Dec 9, 2015

Dear CEO... Sales management incompetence destroys your sales team's confidence in you. And you must have their confidence. Your reputation is directly reflected through the ...

Sales Selection

How To Implement A Moneyball Sales Hiring Program

Dec 2, 2015

What will your legacy be? Your proverbial "fork in the road" is immediately ahead. Will your legacy be one of zealous guarding the status quo or one of a never-ending quest to ...

Sales Selection

Where To Incorporate Sales Personality Testing In Your Hiring Process

Nov 5, 2015

Long story short. The earlier valid sales personality testing is implemented in your sales hiring process the better. Two primary issues with sales personality testing. The ...

Sales Selection

Past Sales Performance Is Not Necessarily Indicative of Future Results

Oct 22, 2015

A typical financial investment prospectus will contain the following warning. Past performance does not necessarily translate into future performance. The message is clear. Be ...

Sales Selection

The "New" Killer Sales Interview Question You Must Ask

Sales Performance

Are You Prepared For The Coming Hurricane In Sales?

Sales Performance Sales Selection

What Bad Sales Hiring Decisions Really Cost You

Jan 23, 2015

What gets measured gets improved. When I ask executives what they believe the cost of a bad sales are, most focus on turnover costs. The truth is the real costs of a bad sales ...

Just Do Right

Jan 18, 2015

These are the three most powerful words I have ever heard in leadership. I remember the first time I saw Dr. Maya Angelou on Oprah many years ago. Her soulful words hooked my ...

Sales Culture

Why Sales Welfare Pisses Off Your Best Salespeople

Jan 16, 2015

Top performers hate your sales welfare program "Sales welfare" is the transfer of wealth from top sales performers to your low performers. Practically every company has what I ...

Sales Management Sales Performance

Stop Selling To Never-Gonna-Get-Its

Jan 8, 2015

Stop the sales madness. I have been in sales for over 25 years. If I could go back in time, I would do some things differently. I would hire the alpha sales wolves, challenge my ...

Sales Selection

[Video] Desiring A Thing Cannot Make You Have It

Jan 6, 2015

I recently saw the movie, The Gambler. In an early scene, Mark Wahlberg's character (Jim Bennett) shares his perspective regarding talent and desire with his university class ...

Sales Selection

Ten Powerful Ways To Dramatically Improve Sales Hiring in 2015

Jan 2, 2015

We are deep into 2015. You have several months left to make 2015 great. What will you do with it? Unless you change what you are doing right now - you will be lucky to continue ...

Sales Management

The Leadership Boom Is Making Sales Managers Stupid

Dec 17, 2014

Tim Sanders recently penned a piece titled, Is the Leadership Boom Making Us Bad Managers? Tim writes... "Over the last fifteen years, leadership programming has dominated ...

Sales Management

Keep Tabs On Your Top Performers

Dec 5, 2014

Are your top salespeople quietly unhappy? Do you have a star performer outside of sales considering a move where they will be loved more than they are currently? Tasha Eurich's ...

Sales Performance

How The Best Salespeople Sabotage Their Own Potential

Dec 2, 2014

The best salespeople often sabotage their own potential. If you are like me, you play to win. It is hard-coded in your DNA. Losing is not something you take lightly. Do you use ...

Sales Performance

Are Your Salespeople Motivated Like Don Draper? (Part 3 of 5)

Nov 20, 2014

This is part 3 of a 5 part blog series on How to Know If You are Hiring A Don Draper Salesperson. My first 100 sales hires sucked Do you ever recall the past and remember things ...

Sales Culture

Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser

Nov 13, 2014

Vince Lombardi said it best... "Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser." Losers are brilliant at losing. They take it in stride. They expect to lose. Keenan - A Sales ...

Sales Selection

Do Your Salespeople Behave Like Don Draper? (Part 2 of 5)

Nov 5, 2014

This is part 2 of a five part blog series on How to Know If You are Hiring A Don Draper Salesperson. Posers lose when they compete against real Don Draper salespeople. A couple of ...

Sales Selection

How to Know If You Are Hiring A Don Draper Salesperson

Oct 24, 2014

Love him or hate him, Don Draper can sell like few others. His character represents selling excellence - the embodiment of true freak-level selling ability. and while Don Draper ...

Sales Management

Steve Jobs and the Power of Focus

Oct 16, 2014

If I am to be the artisan that I intend to be, I must become focused. Not more focused, but FOCUSED. Steve Jobs considered Jony Ive to be his "spiritual partner at Apple." Ive was ...

Sales Selection

Why The Wolf Of Wall Street Is Dead Wrong About "Sell Me This Pen"

Oct 8, 2014

Martin Scorsese's 2013 black comedy, "The Wolf of Wall Street", featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as the infamous stock-broker and salesman, Jordan Belfort, contains a classic "Sell me ...

Sales Management

Stop Being A Pinocchio Sales Leader

Oct 2, 2014

Are you a "Pinocchio Sales Leader", wasting time, energy, and resources due to your belief that every salesperson has potential? Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to observe ...

Sales Culture

Should Your Problem Child Salesperson Work For Your Competitor?

Sep 26, 2014

Many companies hold on to their "problem child" salespeople for far, far too long. And I have heard many a "problem child" salesperson directly threaten or imply, "If I am not ...

Sales Management

The Worst Thing You Can Do to a High Performing Account Manager

Sep 9, 2014

The worst thing you can do to a high-performing account manager is promote them. Have you ever promoted a rock star account manager to outside sales only to see them crash and ...

Sales Culture

Don Draper's Four Rules of Selling

Sep 5, 2014

Mad Men's Don Draper is a "get its, get it". Thanks to Oren Klaff's brilliant book, Pitch Anything, I am now a fan. If you have yet to read Pitch Anything, I HIGHLY recommend you ...

Do You Really Want A High-Performing, Winning Sales Culture?

Aug 19, 2014

This question is directly aimed at you CEOs, Owners, Sales Managers trolling the internet trying to fix a sales culture that is broken… “Do you REALLY want a high-performing, ...

Sales Management

THE RAINMAKER