Tag: BJ Anderson
Sales: Practice skill building
August 11, 2026BJ Anderson
Q. Am I coaching my reps or correcting them?
A. Most of the time, it’s correcting. This manifests when the sales leader “takes over” calls when they see the rep have a misstep, or while debriefing a call they list what the rep should have said instead. This is reactive and directive behavior. And it’s probably just a reflection of how they were “coached” themselves.
The job as coach is to change the behavior of the rep over time through learning, measured...
Sales: Organize a strategic plan
July 6, 2026BJ Anderson
Q. Why do my reps keep visiting accounts that never grow?
A. They spend more time with these accounts because the fear of loss is greater than a potential reward. This fear compounds when the rep is on commission. They may protect their income and the “cash cow” feeding it.
They don’t ask for additional lines of business because “it would risk my relationship.” It’s a productive account, but it doesn’t require this much time.
Territory reps get sucked...
Sales: Install productiveness – not busyness
June 10, 2026BJ Anderson
Q. Are my territory reps busy or productive?
A. Probably busy and not as productive as you’d like. At the end of each month, a sales rep explains all the calls they made, time they spent driving and money they spent on in-services – they were definitely busy. But how did that equate to productivity?
There is a missing factor in this equation. We should be looking for busy, focused and productive reps. All sales reps are busy. Some reps are busy and focused. High performers are busy,...