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How your procurement practices affect your sales and brand

July 6, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Culture, Ethics & Values, Procurement

Ethical selling and procurement (purchasing) is now in the spotlight. Harvey Norman’s recent publicity surrounding their supposed sourcing and use of Australian native old growth forest timbers in their Chinese made furniture has drawn light on retail procurement practices.

Harvey Norman have been asked by activist groups NGO Markets for Change and GetUp.org.au to explain themselves.  GetUp.org.au has even gone to the lengths of creating and distributing a viral advertisement, ‘No Harvey No’ via the internet after the Television Classification Board refused to classify the ad, concerned about potential legal action if they did so.  GetUp.org.au have not been deterred and their internet advertisement has reached its nearly 600,000 members Australia-wide. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? What will be the impact? Who knows?

Whether or not GetUp or Harvey Norman are ethically and legally right in their actions, the matter of ethical procurement practices it not going to go away.  More frequently people are asking questions about where goods come from, what they are made of, transportation miles, etc. Many people are demanding that businesses act more responsibly when it comes to sourcing and distributing their products.

Procurement is now fairly and squarely in the spotlight and choices surrounding sourcing and  distribution activities can have a dramatic effect on a company’s brand, reputation and sales revenue.

Let’s look at another recent example of public influence; Australia’s live export cattle trade is now under intense scrutiny. Why did they let cattle go to these abattoirs? Didn’t they know about the poor work practices in play?  No one can escape the net.

Whether you’re sourcing product or supplying product it’s important to acknowledge that in the blink of an eye, the stroke of a key or the post of a tweet, can have you and your practices under the microscope.

Sourcing, supply and distribution should never be simply about managing costs but also about managing consumer expectations.

Professional bodies such as The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPSA) are now rightly asking questions about how we manage and guarantee supply in an ever changing, often unpredictable and volatile world that is laced with moral causes, principles and philosophies.

The messages are clear; people want frank, measurable, transparent and ethical selling and procurement practices which discourage inhuman and immoral practices, human and environmental degradation and exploitation, excessive consumption and greed.  The focus is moving towards forging legitimate business relationships which serve the environment, people, business and communities recognising that ‘we’re all in this together’.

If we are to meet current economic, environmental and social demands and expectations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, we need to engage in ethical and sustainable selling and procurement practices which support the concept of Sustainable Development as part of our business and community strategies moving forward.

So do your procurement, distribution and selling practices stand you in good stead for the future?  Could you stand up to the scrutiny experienced by Harvey Norman?

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au

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What can women and men learn from each other about selling?

May 19, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Culture, Success

The world of selling is transforming before our eyes and there are many lessons for the taking.  The latest focus is on the emergence of social media and the internet and its impact on customers’ purchase decisions. However, to date little light has been shone on lessons learnt by men and women about gender differences and selling.

I recently had the opportunity to present my latest project focusing on women in sales at an AMCHAM event which, to my delight, was sold out.  Attended by men and women, although the weighting was in favour of the women, the 2.5 hour interactive workshop presented some of the latest research from around the world on women in sales as well as findings from my many interviews with Australian women in sales careers for my upcoming book, ‘Sell like a woman’.

As part of the session we discussed the various lessons women and men have learned from each other in the world of selling and there were some interesting findings.

Many of the lessons have been learned through trial and error; however with many more women now participating in the paid workforce there is more evidence to work with.

The workshop highlighted the following from both men and women in sales:

What have women learnt about selling from men:

  • We need to realise that men often treat it as a game
  • We shouldn’t take things so personally
  • We need to make sure we dress sensibly for the obvious reasons, and for practical reasons given some of the   environments we may need to go into. i.e. worksites, factories, etc.
  • We need more agility and have the capacity to move on quickly
  • More assertiveness; not aggressiveness, but a calm, positive confidence to hold our own in various situations and speak our mind clearly and firmly.  NB: when women behave assertively they can often be labelled as ‘aggressive’ which is not the same, so we would like to be assessed correctly when being assertive
  • We cannot be hesitant to ask for a sale, and be more direct when doing so
  • We need to have greater self belief and stand up for ourselves
  • We need to not be intimidated and hold our own. See assertiveness
  • We need to have more confidence to ‘wing it’
  • We need to make sure we know how to do a proper hand shake; no “wet fish” handshakes

What have men learnt about selling from women:

  • We need to show more empathy
  • We need to give ourselves permission to drop the ‘game face’ and be more real
  • We need to recognise that softness is not weakness
  • We can catch more clients with honey not vinegar
  • We need to learn how to sell more with emotion and combine it with fact
  • We need to take a closer look beneath the surface because women seem to take on challenges that may look too hard initially, but are actually quite simple when they go beyond that first glance
  • We need to be able to listen more effectively which will build our authenticity and genuineness
  • We need to be a lot more enquiring – we need to ask more questions
  • We need to pay more attention to the finer details and look at customers as a whole
  • We need to be more researched
  • We need patience
  • We need to be better organised.  Organisational skills = time management
  • We need to bring more creativity to our solutions
  • We need to have conversations, not monologues

As you can see there are some key lessons we can all learn from each other to really make the most of our selling capabilities in the 21st Century.  We welcome your feedback as to the lessons you have learnt from men and women in sales.  Contact us at feedback@barrett.com.au

To see how the world of selling has changed, view our YouTube video, The Evolution of Selling.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au

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Do you miss out on growing sales because your clients’ pigeon hole you?

May 4, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Communication, Sales Assessments, Sales Training, Tips

Do you have trouble introducing your clients to new products and services? Does their memory seem to spring back to what you used to do or your initial offering to them?  Do they seem to pigeon hole you in a certain category, unable to see or acknowledge that you offer other products or services?

This is a common problem for many businesses especially when they start out as one thing and evolve into something more than a ‘one trick pony’. For instance, one of our client companies has recently merged their new product business with their service and spare parts business requiring their sales people to promote and sell both offerings.  They are finding that their clients are having trouble incorporating the new model in their perceptual bandwidth. Like Pavlov’s Dogs or a rubber band the sales people keep finding that their clients keep associating them with one or the other of their divisions, not both.  Now the sales people have a part to play in this as well – they must make sure that they represent the whole business message every time they meet with the client whilst attending to the specific need to the client at that time.  Not always an easy task as the sales people can have their own difficulties adapting to the new format with some falling back into their comfort zones.  The challenge to get both clients and sales people on board is to have a clear message that is easy to understand and a contextual framework by which all of your products and services hang off.  Ultimately the sales people and clients can understand what the whole business is about and where they all fit in.

I, too, have direct personal experience of this when I set out in my own business.  Back in 1995 when I launched Barrett I had very little of my own product to sell at the time other than my consulting and facilitation skills – essentially I was the product supported by other people tools, mainly assessments.  I happened to be a licensed distributor for the Call Reluctance assessment – SPQ*Gold where I could sell direct and build sub-distribution licenses.  The SPQ*Gold was relatively new to the market back then and had a real competitive edge, and I did such a good job selling it, my business became the Number 3 distributor in the world for this tool.  However I knew strategically that if I was to grow my business on solid foundations I either needed to secure distribution license agreements or develop my own products. It was in 1998, three years after I started my business, that I made the decision to make my own products, with an aim to have more than 80 per cent of my revenue come from my own products such as sales training modules, sales simulations, sales recruitment kits, sales performance management systems etc. and less than 20 per cent come from other product manufacturers. To build my own products takes time, energy and investment, and 16 years on I now have over 200 items on my IP (intellectual property) Assets Register.

As I began to introduce my Barrett built products a funny thing happened with my existing clients. They couldn’t see my new product offerings. Instead, they kept pigeon holing me as ‘SPQ SUE’.  It turned out I had done such a good job growing the brand of SPQ*Gold in the Australian marketplace that people thought it was my product, when in fact it was not.  I did not have an exclusive license arrangement and I knew that if I did not rectify this perception problem I would be at risk of being the unofficial sales and marketing arm for the makers of SPQ*Gold and therefore put my business at risk.   If they ever came in and took away those licenses I would be left with nothing, yet I would have been the person that would have done all the heavy lifting in the market place.

As I transitioned from majority of my revenue coming from other product supplier sources, I not only had to invest in building good quality products and resources, which takes time, but I had to begin to change the perceptions and mindsets of my clients so they could begin to expand their views about what my business was capable of.

Little did I know how long that would take.  They just seemed to hold on to ‘SPQ SUE’ for such a long time and didn’t want or couldn’t see that we were able to offer so much more.   There appeared to be a myopia, a near sightedness that existed but they weren’t to blame – it turns out I had done such a good job building loyalty and brand awareness for this tool and my expert use of it that I had inadvertently confused my brand with another company’s key product.  In short it took me only three years to get them to think of me as brand ‘SPQ SUE’ but it took me another six to eight years to finally get them to see what else we had to offer that wasn’t just SPQ*Gold, such as sales and sales management training, sales assessments, sales coaching and sales consulting. I had to rework my business brand to represent a Sales Transformation and Sales Mastery Business rather than just an assessment business.   Now with careful planning, consistent messaging and persistence we are known in our own right and SPQ*Gold is only part of what we offer.

So to avoid being pigeon holed by your clients here are some tips:

  • make sure your message is very clear and across everything you do
  • make regular and consistent contact with clients and prospects to ensure you keep them updated about your service or product offerings i.e. e-newsletters, product updates, face2face meetings, etc.
  • make sure your new products or services are presented in a way that makes sense to your clients and market place
  • when meeting with clients make sure you uncover all of their priorities which can give you the opportunity to present your broader capabilities and make them aware that you are more than just one thing
  • know how to present your complete offering as a system which can work as a whole or in parts

Next week I will write about the decision we made to shift from being mainly a distributor of products to a product manufacturer in our own right and the challenges and lessons we had along the way.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au

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What are your relationships built on?

March 3, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Ethics & Values, Self Development

If you are in business for the long haul then you know the value of building your business relationships on solid foundations.  Too many times people have fallen foul of the broken promises and pipe dreams offered by those people whose only intention is to make money at your expense.  I can recall a few incidents in my career where I have given people the benefit of the doubt only to be let down and in some very rare incidents, ripped off.

In sales and business we meet people every day and need to be able to size up and make quick judgments about their bona fides.  Are they a viable prospect?  Can they afford this product or service?  The promises they make; can they keep them?  The stories about forthcoming funding; can they produce evidence of its existence?  Do they keep their word?

I admit it is in my nature to see the best in people and want the best for them and me.  However, that positive expectation can be sorely tested when people do not follow through.  Some people have the ability to say the right things but you are left feeling uneasy.  Something is not quite right.  There is doubt as to the existence of any real substance behind their claims.

Over the years I have become more wary and cautious about people’s claims and promises.  I have taken to being more discerning and tend to question people more thoroughly about the substance of their offering.  After doing so there are some people you never get to speak to again and probably for good reason.

With the ease of connecting and entering into relationships being facilitated by technology of the likes of Linkedin and Facebook, connecting with anyone sounds great but could be a risky move if you do not know the person in question and their intentions.  Why do they want to connect with you?  Whenever I get an invitation to connect on Linkedin by someone I do not know, I check out their page first then I ask them how we met and why they would like to connect.  It is quite interesting the responses I get.  Some are genuine in that there is a connection via various means that is mutually beneficial while others are purely after my connections list or are using Linkedin as a spam opportunity.

Personally I prefer my relationships to be built on solid foundations, which includes substance (having something of real value to offer) and trust (knowing I can rely on that person).  Substance and trust underpin everything in relationships.  Here is a checklist I have found useful when checking myself and others as to how we build trust and manage relationships.  They may seem straight forward but you know that not everyone practices these.

  • Be predictable – Be consistent and reliable.
  • Do what you say – Your words should match what you do.
  • Trust others’ instinct – They may have different views, perspectives or experiences you haven’t seen before.  Be open to exploring them and check for facts.  However, sometimes you do need to trust another person’s judgment.  Just make sure you can verify their claims at some point in the process. If you can’t, then trust your judgment and move on.
  • Don’t lie by omission – Don’t lie or keep secrets from people.
  • People are not mind readers – Tell people what you want or need, clearly and promptly.
  • Be willing to say “NO” – It’s okay for people to ask.  Remember you don’t have to say “YES” to everything.
  • Continue to grow relationships – A relationship is a living and breathing thing.  It takes conscious effort and daily work to grow a fulfilling relationship.  Don’t be afraid to deal with crisis, emotions and questions.  You should embrace them and look for solutions that will bring you closer.
  • Check intentions – are your or the other person’s intentions clear and honourable?  Always check your intentions and ask yourself “is this healthy and helpful to me and the others involved?”

None of us work in isolation, so relationships are with us every day in some shape or form.  Are the relationships you are currently forming worthwhile to you and the other people involved?  Are you all better off for having met each other?  Or do some of your relationships feel a bit one-sided either in favour of you or them?  Relationships work best when they are open, fair and equitable.  You never need feel like the victim if you chose to take control of your relationships and own your place in them.

All relationships are messy and some are messier than others.  However, we can work towards creating healthy and profitable relationships on many levels with clients, work colleagues, suppliers, friends and the like.  And it starts with us and our willingness to dig deep and be clear about what we want our relationships to be.  Any worthwhile relationship takes effort to grow and develop and nothing is risk free.   Your clients, colleagues, suppliers, family and friends depend on you to be clear about what you want and offer in a relationship.  So what are your relationships built on?

Remember that everybody lives by selling something.
Author: Sue Barrett, Sales Training at barrett.com.au

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Integrity – Your Sales Edge

February 25, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Sales Relationships

Integrity was voted as the Number 2 Sales Trends for 2011, which is a sign of the times.  Your word, your honour, your promise are on show and people will judge you on your actions not on your spin.

So what does integrity mean for us in business and beyond?  As stated on Wikipedia ‘Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcomes.  In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness of one’s actions.  The word “integrity” stems from the Latin adjective integer (whole, complete).  In this context, integrity is the inner sense of “wholeness” deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character.  As such, one may judge that others “have integrity” to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold.’

Your values, how you act and what you stand for are just as important as your technical skills and capabilities in today’s business world.  And with the internet comes a whole new transparency.  False promises, dubious actions, bad behavior, customer complaints and bad press will be tracked and publically broadcasted to many in 2011.  And as we are coming to realise, what goes in the internet stays on the internet – forever.

If your intention is to deceive people, your clients, your colleagues, your community, you do so at your own peril because Wikileaks, Facebook and Twitter are exposing deceptions in milliseconds.

Just observe what is happening in Egypt and the Middle East with peaceful and often not so peaceful uprisings – the people in these nations are uniting like never before.  Tired and frustrated with the climate of dishonesty, abuse and corruption which has been a part of their lives for so long they are using social media to bring these regimes down.

There is nowhere to hide in the virtual world and people are voting with their voices by sharing their feelings and taking action online and then in the streets.  The speed at which they connect and collaborate to hold these powerbrokers to account is amazing.

Your reputation now precedes you and you will be judged.  Despite the prevailing paradigms of 20th century ‘old school selling’ tactics such as product monologues, bully boy tactics, and in some cases, deception, highly successful, effective, ethical sales people and businesses will have nothing to fear.  They have always known that the best way to sell and engage with customers is to develop honest and open relationships.  They know that TRUST supersedes like.

The time has arrived to move beyond the old sales stereotypes and enter the real world of the honourable sales professional.  All your knowledge, skill, products, company infrastructure and brand will mean nothing without integrity.  Companies and sales people need to shape up in 2011 and make sure what they promise can be delivered.  Proactively forging honest and open relationships (of any kind) based on trust, transparency, respect and doing what you say you will do will be on show in 2011.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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