by George Pastidis

A couple weeks ago, I saw a friend posting on linkedin the interesting article below https://thriveglobal.com/stories/9-ways-multitasking-is-killing-your-brain-and-productivity-according-to-neuroscientists/ . An article which explains why our brains are not made to do more than one thing at the same time. Few days later, I attended an excellent Ken Blanchard Leadership training. The trainer, a very good trainer by the way, explained again why we should avoid multitasking. Being a little puzzled, I started thinking how a day at work usually is. read more…

by George Pastidis

Research says that when we’re happy with some customer experience, we tell 8 people. When we’re upset, we get a lot more vocal, telling 22 people, almost four times as many. I believe this research finding does not mirror how I do things. I like sharing both my ugly and pretty customer experiences. Today is the turn of an ugly one though. read more…

by George Pastidis

2019 is here and all sales people start gearing up for making their sales targets. Either because things did not end right last year, or because we need to start up fresh and get motivated, we tend to set our new year resolutions. Depending on each one’s strengths and weaknesses and our market’s and industry’s situation, these resolutions may vary. I would carefully though recommend sales people to pay particular attention in the following three sales resolutions: read more…

by George Pastidis

I was preparing for a persuasion workshop and I stumbled on a good old movie. One of my favorites.     12 Angry Men of Sidney Lumet. Henry Fonda, the main actor, plays an ethical and responsible jury who does his best to prevent a miscarriage of justice, trying to persuade the other 11 juries to reconsider evidence and their initial vote for “guilty” read more…

by George Pastidis

Who likes boring people? Who likes wasting time, interacting with predictable communicators? Who would ever be convinced to buy from somebody who uses worn-out clichés instead of demonstrating disruptive thinking? Nobody! There is a big list of repellent, sales killer clichés that should be avoided read more…

by George Pastidis

I did not get to live in the States when I was a kid that Halloween was always big. And back then, in Europe and in Greece in particular that I grew up, it was not among the known or popular customs. Things are changing fast though. The movie industry and internet has closed the gaps between different countries and cultures and today we see Halloween parties and Trick-or-Treaters everywhere. Trick-or-Treat, what an amazing Sales 101 course! You learn so much there. read more…

by George Pastidis

I was having a beer with a cousin of mine during my summer vacation and the guy was really upset. I tried to understand what was wrong with him to find out that a couple of guests that had just left the room he was renting in an island, had written a pretty bad and unfair in his opinion review on Booking. At first, I was taken by surprise, seeing how much this incident had affected his mood but then I understood. I check out ratings and reviews before I go to a restaurant that I have not been before. Even if I am standing outside a restaurant that looks appealing, the first thing I do, unless I have a friend recommending it, is to get on Trip Advisor and check it out. read more…

by George Pastidis

It was about ten years ago when I attended an HR conference in Athens that Damian Hughes was speaking at. He literally fascinated me referring to the concept of “Future History”. He told us that Muhammad Ali had made 19 public declarations about the round that he would knock-out his opponent and he got it right in 17 out of 19 times. When he was interviewed once, he was asked how come he managed to do that. And he explained that long before a fight, he would weight his opponent’s strengths and weaknesses compared to his, he would set a goal and then he would prepare to make it happen. He would prepare to make his future history. He would play the day of the fight to come over and over again in his mind. He would vision himself walking in the ring, hearing the spectators cheering for him, smelling his opponent’s sweat, seeing his opponent in the eyes, throwing at him the perfect punch. He would make future history every time. read more…

by George Pastidis

My home country Greece is living a nightmare. Last week’s wild fires, killed 88 people and many more are missing, making everybody believe that the number of victims will end up being a three digit one. Sheer tragedy that left us with many question marks. Were we prepared? Was there a plan? If yes, could the plan be applied better? Should they have asked for an evacuation way earlier? Should the Greek government claim responsibility instead of making up excuses? Would things turn out to be different if every one of us was more responsible in the past? read more…

Please do not freak out. I know that reading sales books on vacation is far from ideal. Would probably be way more fun to deep dive in some Jo Nesbo crime novel or check out Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s latest book The Labyrinth of Spirits. Those are definitely a better match to sandy beaches lay-outs. But you may have some time to kill in the plane while you have not totally disconnected yet. Maybe it is the right time to catch up with your learning that is left behind due to the recent work load. Perhaps you feel like you have gaps that you need to fill in and questions that you must answer. The books I recommend are fab. Some of them are master-pieces that pioneered and shaped up sales for decades. Some others are in the edge of today’s sales research. But all of them have one common denominator: they are sales books that are worth reading.

• SPIN Selling
• Major Account Sales Strategy
• The Challenger Sale
• The Challenger Customer
• Three Value Conversations
• Conversations that Win the Complex Sale

Happy summer reading