Take No Prisoners is a free weekly memo from Scott Wintrip that explores how Radical Accountability prospers companies and changes lives. Instead of taking people hostage with outdated, heavy-handed, and ineffective methods of management, measurement, and motivation, Radical Accountability focuses on creating an unwavering responsibility for getting what matters most done.

Predatory animals and the best leaders of sales teams have something in common—their sense of “smell” is…

A host of human resource leaders are embroiled in a conspiracy—protecting their companies from the likes of you. Their evil sidekick, procurement, has their back. They make you jump through hoops called the RPF process, leaving you thinking this is your shot, when really it’s a process of exclusion rather than inclusion. They even deploy technological advancements, including VMS, as a shield to protect their companies from too much contact from the perceived toxic interactions with account…

Like color blindness, some people on your team may have developed Leadership Blindness. Here are a few of the symptoms:

• You have to repeat instructions or requests two or more times.
• Directives, especially those in print, appear to go unnoticed.
• The same mistakes happen again, and then yet again.
• Important details are being overlooked, especially when dealing with customers.

Leadership Blindness…

Some interactions with customers almost seem to be divinely inspired, while others feel like you’re trudging though mud and muck, getting nowhere fast. What’s the cause of these very different scenarios?

The Inspired Sale, one in which the buyer feels a compelling need to buy and buy from you, always has two components: trust and compulsion. Without both of these, selling becomes a difficult, if not impossible task.

Without trust and compulsion, you…

When a prospective buyer says “no” it is not always a refusal to do business with you. In many cases N-O really stands for one or more of the following:

• Not the Official: You’re talking to the wrong person, so of course you’re getting a “no.” This is your opportunity to get to the official decision-maker with true buying authority.
• Not Open: Just like a chained and locked storefront closed for business,…

One of my dearest friends shared a conversation she’d had with her daughter, Molly. Molly was attempting to Bellyache, Moan, and Whine about her current circumstances (I often refer to this as recklessly driving a BMW). Being the ever confident and highly competent mom, she did not allow Molly to pull her down into the clutches of a victim spiral. Instead, she…