Something I’ve observed over the years is that people in the same occupations or career paths often share similar backgrounds and personalities. I know; it’s a chicken-and-egg situation: Do people like that gravitate to the field, or does the work and training shape them into that type? Maybe a little of both. My professional training […]

There’s an old aphorism — and readers know how much I love those — that goes: If you want to be heard, you must make yourself be understood. A big part of my job is communication: I need to clearly communicate with my dealers, and occasionally with their end-user customers. My workday involves relaying deadlines, […]

Even as I complain about this, I’m reminded of the adage: the shoemaker’s children have bare feet. Some readers may already know my home entertainment system is a work in progress. I suspect I’m not alone in that. Back when I was training as a system designer, one lesson drilled into us was to identify […]

Some of you may know the phrase “the map is not the territory.” It was coined by Alfred Korzybski and later popularized by Timothy Leary. The idea is simple: A map isn’t the place — it’s just a representation of it. A tool to help us think about what’s real. The aphorisms and heuristics I […]

Before I dive into the meat of this opinion piece, let me clear something up in case anyone’s unfamiliar with the term: “trunk slammer” is a pejorative used by AV installation pros to describe itinerant jobbers — often solo operators — who lack many of the things you’d typically associate with a professional AV installation […]

If you’re at all familiar with my columns, you know one of the drums I beat regularly is the importance of follow-up —whether you’re trying to win new clients or take care of the ones you already have. Closely tied to that is my frequent soapbox about CRM systems — client relationship management — and […]

I’m sure some rAVe readers know me as “the guy with all the aphorisms.” To be fair, not all of them are aphorisms — some are metaphors, others are sports analogies. But I digress. Not every saying I bust out — here or in person — is a favorite. Some I don’t particularly care for, […]

There’s an old expression I’m sure you’ve all heard that goes, “It’s not what you say but how you say it.” No one likes receiving bad news, and sometimes there’s no alternative: You just have to give it to them straight. That said, there’s always room for nuance. I’m going to bring up a very […]

One day, I was on the road, making targeted cold calls. When I walked into one of my stops, the guy working at the parts counter immediately recognized me as a sales rep. Before I could even introduce myself, he said something to the effect of, “We’re corporate, and our head office is in New […]

As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.” At the same time, a popular aphorism states, “You’ve got to spend money to make money.” I take issue with that aphorism because there are more exceptions to it than examples. In reality you’ve got to make money to make money, then take a disciplined […]

Years ago, I was in Calgary doing store visits. I stopped at the location of one of my retail accounts, and the salespeople exclaimed, “Lee! Thank goodness you’re here! Our manager was fired last month, and none of us know how to place orders on your portal!” First, I showed the keyholder how to access […]

At the time I am writing this, Christmas is past, and so is Boxing Day. New Year’s Eve is just around the corner. And I’m doing a cleanup on my reporting for our Q4 promotional activities, so that’s what my thoughts are centered on. When it comes to running promotions for your dealers and their […]

I tell myself that it’s not just me, everyone keeps score in their head of various personal records, such as they are. For example, for quite a while, my record for how long it took me to close one particular new account from first contact to getting them to sign was five years. I’m aware […]

Way back in the Stone Age, when I spent my time in the retail trenches, a regular feature of the work week was visits from the brand reps. And it wasn’t just consumer electronics. I got my start in sporting goods: bike shops in the summer, and ski shops in the winter. The area managers […]

As I often say about my personal life “There’s never a dull moment around here.” Maybe that’s a big of an overshare for rAVe readers. Regardless, it’s true not only of my personal life but my professional one as well. I recently wrote about seeing the signs in advance of one of my biggest dealer […]

One of my most annoying traits as a child has come in handy as a grown-up: asking obvious questions. My oppositional defiance disorder notwithstanding, asking obvious questions is useful precisely because they’re so obvious that sometimes no one has asked them before. That comes in really handy when evaluating things, especially policies and processes. Like […]

So it turns out that I can still be surprised. I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of things. In the industry vertical I’m in, the same things generally keep happening, so you see the signs and know what to expect, more or less. Mark Twain said that “history doesn’t repeat […]

Everyone who has ever taken a sales training course has been taught this: Don’t pre-judge anyone. Get to know them, and without making assumptions learn who they are (and what they need and want), then sell to them accordingly. We’ve all heard it; yet it still happens. It still happens because people are people, and […]

It’s hard to believe that it’s already August. July just sort of sped past. As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. Part of the reason why July flew by so fast was that it was Stampede season: the Calgary Stampede. This time of year most of my clients who have branches in […]

Not long ago I wrote about what happens when your customer gets bought, which is something I have a lot of experience dealing with over the years. Acquisitions and buyouts happen, and I’ve done this long enough that I have a sense for when they’re imminent. There have been quite a few recently in my […]

Let’s take a moment to reflect on the sales funnel. It’s handy as a metaphor (or maybe an analogy, I often get those confused) that paints a mental picture of your sales process, and where your clients and prospective clients are at in their transaction cycles. I like using it because it recognizes that the […]

I had a meeting with the new general manager of one of my dealers. Rather, I should say he’s new to that company, but I’ve known him for years: an industry veteran with lots of skill and experience. In his new role, he’s been tasked by the owner to grow the business. That means earning […]

Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Although lesser known, my grandfather said, “If you live long enough, you get to see it all come around again.” I’ve seen a lot happen over the years. Just to give you some idea of the pace of change over the years: When I […]

It’s been a while since I’ve brought it up, but I still often think about the line from the film “Jerry Maguire” (1995) when his mentor, veteran sports agent Dicky Fox says, “The key to this business is personal relationships!” Back at the end of 2019, which feels like a lifetime ago now, we made […]

When I first moved here in high school, a girl I met told me, “This city is a town of 600.” At first, I didn’t understand, but I eventually came to the conclusion that six degrees of separation are real, and everyone knows everyone else, somehow. That’s as true for industries and channels as it […]

Last week, my wife told me that she needed a landline with Bluetooth capability for her work, so she could use a headset with it. That should be easy, I thought. But no, few things are ever that easy. I did some quick research and selected a dual-handset cordless phone system from a reputable brand, […]

The meaning of words shifts over time. Today the word “masterpiece” simply means “a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship.” In the past, it was different. Under the system whereby apprentices learned their skills from a master craftsman, a “masterpiece” specifically meant a demonstration of ability, proving that the apprentice had excelled in their […]

Anyone who knows me in person knows that I am incapable of passing up an opportunity to make a “Dune” reference. (Which is timely right now as “Dune: Part Two” is in theaters!) I’m also incapable of passing up an opportunity to make references to the movie “Airplane!” (1980), but that’s not important right now. […]

There’s a self-help aphorism I keep coming back to that goes, “The universe will keep sending you the same lesson until you finally learn it.” Human nature is what it is; sometimes, even when you think you’ve learned a lesson, you may need to relearn it again. One of the things I’ve learned over time […]

Every so often I check in on the state of what’s still being called “Smart Home” tech and I find myself coming away with a sense of déjà vu. Or, perhaps more specifically, a sense that “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” or “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” […]

I haven’t done one of these in a bit: reminiscing about my often surreal experiences working in retail. So here are two unrelated anecdotes I thought about recently for the first time in a long while. At one point, I worked for The Bay. For you Americans, The Bay is Canada’s version of Sears. Except […]

Remember that one guy in your classes who would ask the professor a “question?” I used quotes because their question was always a thinly veiled excuse to expound and fill up the air with their own opinions. I never liked that guy when I was in school. As a result, I try to avoid being […]