The history of sales methodologies and salespeople is full of twists and turns. With a few excellent –or at least well-intentioned– ways of selling and many others that are the complete opposite. There was a time when the salesperson was the only one with information about new products—from the end of the 19th century to mid-20th century; they were the experts and customers were in their hands when it came […]
The Silent Majority Read More »
Hope isn’t a sales strategy and without the right ingredients failure is certain The protocol for developing a sales strategy is fundamentally different to that used for other business strategies. Even the thinking that drives a sales strategy is somewhat different to that which drives marketing strategies. Here are a few guidelines: The golden rule that underpins any sales strategy is knowledge. By learning as much as one can about
HOPE is not a Sales Strategy Read More »
To segment or not to segment that is the question. Traditionally, marketing has almost always dictated what a segment was. But sales segmentation and marketing segmentation are substantially different. In fact, it is these very differences that make sales strategy so different from marketing strategy. Marketing defines segments as “A group of people that share one or more demographic and / or psychographic characteristics”. However, salespeople deal with people, not
The difference between Sales and Marketing Segmentation Read More »
Being disciplined and organised makes good dollars and cents. To be on track with your sales quota you need to be organised, have a plan you stick to, and use a system for effective selling. It’s never too late to start, regardless of where you are on the road towards realising your sales targets. All it really takes is some thought and self-discipline. Probably the single biggest reason we see
Self-discipline and being organised pays Read More »
What is discernment? Discernment is the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure[1]. It comes from from Old French discerner (13c.) “distinguish (between), separate” (by sifting), and directly from Latin discernere “to separate, set apart, divide, distribute; distinguish, perceive,” from dis- “off, away” (see dis-) + cernere “distinguish, separate, sift” (see crisis)[2]. According to the Cambridge dictionary, it is the ability to judge people and things
Better sales outcomes through discernment Read More »
It has been a long held belief that extroverts made the best sales people; the gift of the gab, being charming and persuasive, telling a good story, people oriented and friendly, and all that. However, given the increasing need to make well informed decisions and manage risk before we buy, our warm, chatty, convivial friends may need to learn a lesson or two from the more ambiverted/ introverted types many
Engineers, technicians & scientists as sales professionals Read More »
Even the once exclusive professions of accounting, medicine, law and engineering have come to realise that they can no longer survive on referrals and reputation alone; that marketing the firm, whilst it stimulates awareness and interest, is not enough to generate the levels of new business needed to cover the costs of running a professional practice. Decades ago these professionals relied on their network of referrals. They developed a reputation
Selling Professional Services Read More »
With business becoming much more complex and value harder to discern in product sales alone, business leaders have to make serious decisions about how to do business. In essence, they have two choices in terms of the way to run legitimate operations: Run a business that sells unique solutions or customised products/services and generates reasonable margins and delivers real value beyond product. This means stepping up their game, building out
Sell and Deliver Value or Commoditise Read More »
Every business needs to prospect for new clients and customers, even non-sales people often need to reignite past business relationships and form new ones, internally or externally. You don’t need to be the primary salesperson or business development manager to be required to prospect well. Any call you make to another person whose attention you need to grab and focus on what you have to offer or propose is technically
Everybody benefits from knowing how to prospect Read More »
On your marks. Get set. Prospect! Prospecting is the oxygen that fuels the sales fire. It is the ignition point that allows us to get in front of prospective buyers. Great sales people like great athletes do not leave prospecting to chance. They make sure that making prospecting sales calls features regularly in their weekly sales activities. Many experienced sales people make sure they do two or three 2 hour
100 Prospecting Sprint Read More »