Posts by Joe Schum

“We can’t just be product people!” Shouted my spouse, an accomplished sales professional exasperated by a client’s tired approach to seeking relevance regarding a particular product that was being promoted. Fortunately and unfortunately, her office is right next to mine so she’s bombarded by my presence and passion for better connection and conversation between people,…

Cousin It, diminutive member of Addams Family fame, had an IQ of 320 and talked at approximately the same pace in miles per hour!  His genius was lost on all but his closest family members.  What was he saying? None of us knows, and it’s my guess that he talked fast because he was asking…

Remember the dystopian sci-fi classic movie “Beneath the Planet of the Apes”?  If you were born in the 60s or 70s, especially if you were a guy, and it was scheduled, it was THE movie to watch on a Saturday night before you had the freedom of a driver’s license and $5 in your pocket…

“Dad! When do we get there?!?!”   “Stop asking me!  We will get there when we get there!”  That’s what my Dad used to say to us, sequestered in the back seat of an unairconditioned family truckster heading to Grandma’s Florida retreat.  We wanted answers and didn’t know where else to go for them. There was…

The Godfather, iconic and critically acclaimed for many reasons, is considered one of the greatest and most influential films of all time. It was the highest grossing film of 1972, winning a record five Golden Globes (not to be surpassed until 2017), three Academy Awards, and surprisingly, not one for coaching.  Well, that’s a miss…

Goals, goals, goals. So much is written about them.  Setting them. Pursuing them.  Attaining them.  Not attaining them. This is not one of those blogs.  Sort of… Present day living is challenging.  Things happen fast and what to do next is always on our minds.  We don’t want to make a mistake, get disrupted from…

“I never really planned on going into sales.” Does anyone?  Well, does most anyone?   It amazes me how many times I hear this from people, especially emerging sales professionals, though also more seasoned ones at times.  Not many of us “went to school” for sales.  We didn’t come out of higher education with a degree…

“I’m always just trying to stay present, especially this year as much as anything, and enjoy the moments.” So said Aaron Rodgers, vaunted signal caller for the Green Bay Packers. 

Rodgers was responding to questions about whether or not he will see another championship in his career, given his age and the nature of professional football. He went on to say “My future is a beautiful mystery, I think. The present is such a gift to be able to stay in the moment and to have gratitude for being in this situation again and being with the guys and having fans in our stadium and maybe snow in an NFC Championship Game.“

“As soon as the gold in the casket rings; the rescued soul to heaven springs.” What could be the very first formal pitch from the first example of the “bad salesman.”  His name: Johann Tetzel (1519 AD).  His job: raising money to assist Pope Julius II in building St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Johann, aka…