Matthew Pletzer

Identifying the Need
There are some core reasons why organizations typically hire consultants:
- They don't have the specific skill set required to accomplish the task required
- They have a short term need for assistance on a specific task or requirement
- They "cannot see the forest through the trees" and need to bring someone in from the outside to help them see their business from a different angle

So if you know me, you know that hair is very important to me. I'm not going to say I have the best hair in the world, but I have done a lot to keep what I have on the top of my head rather than having it be in the drain. This comes from over 33 years of having a father in the hair replacement industry. I guess all the years of seeing my father place toupees and wigs on people's heads including his own made me realize I didn't want to have to be a "customer" of my fathers.

In Full Transparency - Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

There is a famous Mike Tyson quote "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". Today, barely into the month of January and beginning the new year my company was "punched in the mouth."

Sales professionals typically come to us with a very common problem: creative avoidance. They know the behaviors they should be executing, but decide to do something else instead. 

In my corporate career I spent a lot of time on goal setting. My company spent even more money on goal setting. Over time, as I progressed into leadership positions, I started to try to dig in and see if the effort was all worth it or not. In this blog, I share what I've learned. 

Ask salespeople to list their least favorite selling activities, and you can count on “prospecting” being at the top of the list. And, the least favorite of all prospecting activities is unquestionably making cold calls.