The Profit Prophet

If your goal is to become a great company or even improve your existing one, every employee in you company should be able to “sell” the product or service that you are merchandising. Since that is usually not the case, you are forced to hire sales people to help implement the objectives laid out by upper management. A national study indicated that less than 3% of the population has an inherent penchant for sales, and as much as 50% of all salespeople really do not know how to sell. During my 20 odd years in sales, I have hired, worked with, and observed great sales people (yes, both men and women). Being the observant type and believing in best practices, I have complied a listing of questions you should ask any salesperson before you hire them, and should use this Litmus Test to review of your existing sales force to determine whether to keep them or cut them loose.  I hope you find it useful. Psyching Out the Test : People always try to answer questions the way they thin...

As you know, I am a big fan of quotations as I believe they are like pearls of wisdom handed down through the ages that we can wear and that can sustain us in difficult times.  Like little beacons of light to remind us about what we should or could do. So, when an Elementary School Teacher presented each child in her first grade classroom the first half of a well-known proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb some incredibly random wisdom occurred. It is hard to believe these were actually done by first graders. Their insight may surprise you. While reading, keep in mind that these are first-graders, 6 & 7-year-old’s! 1. Don't change horses until they stop running. 2. Strike while the bug is close. 3. It's always darkest before Daylight Saving Time. 4. Never underestimate the power of termites. 5.. You can lead a horse to water but how? 6. Don't bite the hand that looks dirty. 7. No news is impossible 8. A m...

While I am a big fan of Marriage, sadly in our modern age, it has become more about entering into a business contract that the blissful relationship of love.  And, since many now see it as a business I thought I would list some marriage wisdom, so to speak.    +++++++++++ You can stay single and be miserable, or get married and wish you were dead. +++++++++++ At a cocktail party, one woman said to another, 'Aren't you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?' 'Yes, I am. I married the wrong man.' +++++++++++ A lady inserted an ad in the classifieds: 'Husband Wanted'. Next day she received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: 'You can have mine.' +++++++++++ When a woman steals your husband, there is no better revenge than to let her keep him. +++++++++++ A woman is incomplete until she is married. Then she is finished . +++++++++++ A little boy asked his father, 'Daddy, how much does it cost to get married?...