Many SMEs have at the moment a sales revenue problem mostly due to the challenges that have been brought about by the pandemic. The brutal fact is that we will have to reset and redouble our sales efforts. This doesn’t mean doing more of what we have been doing, it means re-thinking what we are selling, how we are selling, and to whom. That is the only way to find […]
Rapid Sales Recovery Read More »
Here we go again. Global disarray, government elections, political scandals of betrayal and corruption. How do we keep our head when everyone else around us is losing theirs? How are we supposed to lead business and keep selling better when there’s a general feeling of uncertainty that makes decision making so difficult? There are those of us who have been around in business for some time now. Many of us
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Less Is More when it comes to doing good strategy, sales planning and market segmentation. As Michael Porter, Professor and ‘Father’ of Competitive Strategy (Harvard Business School), says: The essence of good strategy is choosing what not to do; The essence of strategy is that you must set limits on what you are trying to accomplish; and Strategy 101 is about choices. You cannot be all things to all people.
Less IS More when it comes to Sales Planning & Market 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 »
How many times have we all been tempted to click on a link that offers us ‘the secret of sales success’ only to find a website or article that is promising a silver bullet ‘if only you do this one thing’ which doesn’t help us at all? The business of sales excellence is like the diet industry, full of tempting offerings that lead us nowhere fast. It is only natural
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*** Trigger Warning: May contain traces of sarcasm *** We’ve all been there: a sea of people, pulled together from across the country or region, locked in a windowless room with artificial light, seated at round tables with mints and water, patiently waiting for the parade of presenters to finish their ‘Death by PowerPoint’ presentations so we can get to the coffee station during the day and then the bar
Are your sales conferences pumping or slumping? Read More »
Sales Trend 2 of the Barrett 12 Sales Trends for 2018 Report is the case for long-term focus and strategy. It’s no news that most businesses are focused on the short-term, living from quarter to quarter, and that although there’s ongoing argument about whether there’s enough evidence or not to say that long-term businesses perform better, most of the arguments against it (pro short-term) focus only on profits. However, this
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Sales Trend 11 from Barrett’s 12 Sales Trends for 2017 Report is about Procurement. Guest author Ben Shute, CEO of Comprara, shares his insights. It was 1999 when De Vincentis and Rackham (of SPIN Selling fame) wrote ‘Rethinking the Sales Force’, a book describing how the rise and rise of procurement challenged sales professionals about how best to organise business-to-business sales teams. Fast forward to 2016 and there are 15,000
Sales Trend 11 – Sales to Add Value to Procurement, Not Just Follow the Process Read More »
To engage with customers, sales people need to think like their customers. What this means is that salespeople have to go about learning and understanding how customers buy. Sales people know, at all times, where their prospects are in their sales cycle. The problem is that they aren’t as clued up on where their prospects are in their own buying cycle. Most sales managers would say that knowing where buyers
Align your sales process to the buying process Read More »
Selling can get quite confusing sometimes. The more you know about it and understand the different things that are involved in selling can help you have a clearer picture and become a better salesperson. An interesting point to know about is that there are mainly four different Buying States. They are classified as: Opportunity Problem Static Blinkered Buying States that show that a sale is possible: Opportunity: Your prospect recognises
Client Buying States Read More »