Frank Cespedes is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and has been teaching MBA students about Sales and Sales Management for nearly 30-years. He’s written several books, but his newest one; Sales Management That Works was my favorite read of 2022 and when he engaged with me on LinkedIn I immediately took the opportunity to ask him to be my quest.
You’re going to learn about the cost of false positives in our current economic environment, what goes into his research on sales and sales management effectiveness, why Sales Managers don’t coach, why the “sell more to make more” sales compensation model is broken, and much more.
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Show Notes & Time Stamps:
[3:35] The costs of false-positives Sales are increasing in our current economic environment.
[10:02] The bar is always rising: job descriptions and required activities that as recently as a decade ago were considered cutting edge, are now table stakes. Clearly defining Lead Qualification Criteria and adhering to them is more important than ever. Frank says, “Sales Development is no longer a place for amateurs”.
[15:40] Describes his nearly 30 years at Harvard teaching MBA students about Sales and Sales Management and explains what type of roles and industries they go on to work in with 30% going to work for large Consulting firms.
[19:26] The three (3) major inputs that go into his research about Sales and Sales Management.
[21:18] The three (3) reasons Sales Managers don’t coach as often or as effectively as they should.
[26:45] Why the “sell more to make more” sales compensation model is broken.
[31:33] “Adaptive Selling” and “Active Retrieval” is explained.
[43:45] “The requirements for financial literacy in sales management are increasing tremendously. If you're 40 years old or younger and you want to make a career in this area, my advice is don't go to the next seminar about selling. Make sure that you understand what I call managerial finance.” -Frank Cespedes
[45:53] Why Managers struggle to give effective feedback and have tough conversations with their team.
52:01] What Salespeople Need to Know About the B2B Landscape (2023).
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Guest Bio:
Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School and for 12 years was Managing Partner at a professional services firm. He has worked with many companies around the world on go-to-market and strategy issues and has been a Board member at consumer goods, industrial products, services, PE, and VC firms. He has written for numerous publications, including Harvard Business Review, European Business Review, Organization Science, California Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He is also the author of six books including Aligning Strategy and Sales which was cited as “the best sales book of the year” (Strategy & Business), “a must-read” (Gartner), and “perhaps the best sales book ever” (Forbes). His newest book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021).
Connect with us:
Sales Management That Works (book)
Franks’s website - https://frankcespedes.com/
Frank’s LinkedIn Page
Frank’s Twitter Page
Hardvard Business School
Harvard Business Review Press
The Sales Consultant Podcast LinkedIn Page
Derrick’s LinkedIn
Derrick’s Instagram
Derrick’s Twitter
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