Dave Cooke

I leverage my 25 years experience in sales and marketing to create and implement strategic initiatives and develop educational programs that increase both revenues and profits. I take great pride in my experience in turbulent, chaotic, and transitional work environments. It is from these experiences that I have developed my commitment to collaborative teams, strong internal and external relationships, effective communication, decisive leadership, and a cohesive, collaborative strategy as keys to sustainable revenue growth.

A Sure Fire Hiring System

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Posted on 2012-02-16

I was recently asked about the personality and behavioral profiling tools people use in the hiring process and which one I recommend. I have come across a wide variety of capable programs and systems. While they are tools that can assist in the hiring process there are none that are a sure-fire panacea for improving the hiring results. While these programs provide a variety of helpful insights, they are simply tools and are not a predictor, indicator, or prognosticator of any assured successful outcome.

While there are many processes, programs, and approaches designed to assist in identifying and selecting the best candidate for open positions, there are no guarantees these decisions will be successful. Quite frankly, no program in itself is going to improve or increase the odds of success.

One need look no further than the...

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Selling is a Team Sport

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Posted on 2012-02-03

A few weeks ago, I jumped into the compensation discussion with a post about commissions. My opinion is that heavily and solely incentivizing a sales professional for their selling results might not be the most effective compensation model. There are aspects of the sales process that involve the expertise, support, and follow-through of others in bringing new business and retaining existing business. Providing a large portion of the rewards to the sales professional for these results diminishes the significant and valued contributions of others in supporting these outcomes.

The purpose of this post is to offer a follow-up to the commission conversation. And, provide a little more perspective into what is rapidly becoming the organizational and process trend for most businesses.

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Successful Product Positioning Behaviors

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Posted on 2012-01-26

“Put yourself in a position to give your clients opportunities to say ‘yes’ rather than reasons to say ‘no.” – Chris Still

How many times have you been in that sales call where the sales professional started talking about all the wonderful aspects of the product they wanted to talk with you about? And, in the course of this conversation, they are sharing all the really cool features and benefits of which — they are hoping — you will find one feature that is of interest to you.

Effective sales behaviors and great selling outcomes are not dependent upon your ability to sell, position, or extol the wonderful products you are offering. In reality, your ability to make your product compelling is the effectiveness with which you concisely focus a particular benefit of the product on a very specific customer driven problem and solution.

Effective product positioning...

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The Commission Conversation

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Posted on 2012-01-20

I have long been a passionate proponent of commission only sales programs (including draw against commissions). While revisiting the wide ranging reality of the sales professionals’ role and interactions with their organizations as they produce and help grow the business, I have had a significant change of heart.

The notion that most sales professionals are solely responsible for their growth efforts is, in many cases, outdated and misapplied. In most businesses, the salesperson now relies on a team of resources to assist them with the client acquisition and management. That they act in concert with the commitment, support, and dependence of a team does not make them solely responsible for, or deserving of, a compensation system that rewards merely one aspect of their role — results.

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Driving Demand

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Posted on 2012-01-13

You know your sales machine is working in the right direction when you have people coming to your business more than you are reaching out to them to bring them into your business. Once the demand cycle swings your way and most of your growth related activity is spent following up on leads you now are in the enviable position of responding to demand, not creating it. Unfortunately, until your business reaches this exciting level of nirvana, your sales machine is responsible for driving and creating demand. And, once you successfully create demand, the other challenge is maintaining and developing it.

At its fundamental core, the most important component of the demand process is knowledge. For it is through the application of knowledge from our successful experiences that we are able to examine, understand, duplicate, and repeat those accomplishments.

Every single successful sales engagement is a lesson.

If you do not treat each of...

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Closing the Generational Communication Gap

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Posted on 2012-01-06

For the first time ever, there are as many as four different generations engaged in our workplace — Traditionalists, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y (Millenials). Besides the increased ethnic diversity of our global economy, our workforce is proliferated with an incredible mix of generational cultures, as well. As effective communication is at the foundation of our relationship building behaviors, educating sales teams on the best approaches to connect with these various groups is not simply a one-style fits all solution.

When discussing the first phase of any relationship building activity, I encourage everyone to pay close attention to everything. The old school methodology of mirroring or matching is antiquated, overused, over-applied, and known to all. The worst thing you can do is begin to engage someone based on your mirroring and matching techniques. First, it is rude. Second, they have see that show before. Finally, it is not genuine or authentic.

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Shoot the Actor

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Posted on 2011-12-15

In several presentations I have talked about impact of the shift in our economy on business relationships. To that end, there are three aspects of the business relationship that are critical in the formation of them: personalization, authenticity, and community.

Virtually no one has the time, the desire, or the patience to be pitched, sold, manipulated, or coerced into making purchasing decisions. Most every organization, and the people in them, have serious issues and challenges that they are working on solving or fixing. They only have enough time or energy to discover those reliable and committed professionals who can provide the resources to helping them with these issues.

While many organizations continue to push their sales teams to hit their numbers by meeting more people in an attempt to get them to buy and close more deals, let me be the first to say — STOP IT!

I have been reading a great deal about the commentary of many...

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A Little Understanding Goes a Long Way

0 comments 365 reads

Posted on 2011-12-08

“I cannot figure out why they wouldn’t go with our program, when I know it will help them.”

What is obvious to you is not obvious to your client. You cannot solve a problem for your clients until your client has discovered they have a problem or a need, first.

This is the failing of far too many sales professionals—pitching, presenting, or offering a program that their prospective clients do not believe or understand they need. There have been a great deal of training programs that embrace the process of creating a need, even where there isn’t one – I am proudly not one of them. I do not believe in creating a need, simply because I believe should be one.

I am a bigger...

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There’s No Such Thing as “Free”

2 comments 660 reads

Posted on 2011-11-23

“How do I respond to a client’s request for free services on his account?”

First of all, there is no such thing as “free.” It may look free, appear free, be advertised as free, or conceded as free — if it a service is being offered by a business, they are making money on that service somewhere, somehow. Anyone who is honest about their business relationships and business experiences are only kidding themselves when they it is “free.” It is never free. If it was free, they would be out of business.

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The Power of Threes

0 comments 270 reads

Posted on 2011-11-03

As we all know, successful sales is a numbers game. However, there is a significant difference between “smart metrics” and “busywork numbers.” While there are many sales professionals who would aspire to defend the successes associated with “busywork numbers” the harsh reality is there is a difference between being hard work productive and intelligently successful. Over the course of my career I have discovered that “busywork” calculations are driven by a series of laws of averages; and, relative to the law of averages, persistence will eventually deliver the result you desire. Quite frankly, I have no time or energy for “eventually“.

My ability to be successful is dependent upon a process that works now. And, the best way for me to be productive is to have great conversations that drive me to meet with more people and have more valuable conversations. My prospecting time is precious. I do...

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