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Human-centred sales operations – Being Businessworthy

Sales trend 4 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2020 is about what being human-centred means for businesses.

All business people know the concept of being creditworthy. That’s about not losing other people’s money.

Enter the Business for Peace Foundation[1], established in 2007 in Oslo, Norway, which has developed the concept of Being Businessworthy.

Being Businessworthy means being human-centred and purpose-led.

This shift to a more holistic approach to doing business is having a profound effect on how businesses operate, including how they set up their sales teams, sales operations and value chains.

The latest research in …

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time_is_now

The Time is NOW for Purposeful Optimism

I get the feeling, at this stage of the COVID-19 crisis, that many of us feel like we are living in a kind of ‘Twilight Zone*’ – an ambiguous area between the boundaries of two concepts, conditions – a grey zone; or a state of surrealism, where things that should not make sense seem to do so; or an indefinite or transitional condition. Take your pick.

For many of us, everything we have taken for granted or accepted as standard has been thrown into question. If you’re like me, you’re likely asking yourself, your family, your team, your clients and suppliers, …

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The Unsung Heroes of Brand Success

The Unsung Heroes of Brand Success

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the greatest of them all?”

The majority would cry Brand of course – brand maketh the company. This includes brand aesthetics, logos and messaging (branding and promises), product design, marketing activities (advertising, social media, etc.), brand recognition, and so on.

When we talk about famous successful brands such as Apple, we know that they have big – read huge – marketing budgets. They have invested heavily to make it just right. Those most successful, like Apple, have also managed to create a large loyal following base which makes them the greatest of them all.

The power …

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No, but actually… the time is now

Sales trend 3 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2020 discusses why climate action now makes good (business) sense and why it’s important to focus on achieving desirable outcomes and not just avoiding negative impacts.  

The following text has been slightly modified to cater for the changes that have taken place since it was first published. You can read the full version here.

By guest author TOBY KENT // Chief Resilience Officer, Melbourne

It is 2020, the year for which countries and businesses were all frantically setting climate change reduction targets less …

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It’s time to look ahead. It’s time to get selling

No more waiting… It’s time to look ahead. It’s time to get selling.

This headline may seem insensitive to some people. ‘It’s too soon’ I hear some people saying.

It is perfectly understandable that when a *Black Swan Event -such as what we are living through now with Covid-19- happens, people stop in their tracks to first deal with the immediate shock and then try to make sense of ‘what the hell just happened?’ People’s mental and emotional energy are focused on the here and now – it’s about how to survive.

 Which is why when organisations are in major crisis, key decision-makers …

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how-do-we-enable-our-pilots-and-crew- to-land-safely

How do we enable our ‘pilots and crew’ to land safely?

As a Learning and Development professional you can ensure your “pilots and crews” not only perform well during normal operations, but can also be equipped with the right training, coaching and support when the crisis hits.

Whether your business has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis directly or through the ripple effect along the supply chain and out to customers, your sales and service staff and their leaders are probably worried now -both personally and from the business point of view- about how to manage sales and service operations remotely with the disruptions the crisis might cause …

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how-do-I-keep-the-cabin-safe-and-people-calm

How do I keep the cabin safe and people calm?

In HR you support “pilots and crews” to help them run smooth operations. When a crisis like this one hits out of the blue, and sales and service operations are disrupted, if not brought to a complete halt, it is critical to help everyone get back on their feet again and find solid ground quickly and safely.

Whether your business has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis directly or through the ripple effect across the value chain from suppliers to the customer experience, your sales and service leaders and teams are probably concerned, both personally and from …

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how-do-I-think-and-act-like-Sully

How do I think and act like Sully?

Do you remember the plane that landed on the Hudson River in New York City in 2009?

Your business might not have been struck directly – like Captain Sullenberger’s plane had been hit by a flock of geese – but the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis has hit us all directly or indirectly creating with it the challenges and opportunities to keep your business going and your teams engaged, productive and sales fit while working remotely or still in the field with your clients. The opportunity during what might be a more quiet time for many businesses is to adjust …

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i-can-see-opportunity-in-my-sector--how-can-I-make-the-most-out-of-it

I can see opportunity in my sector. How can I make the most out of it?

Crises bring many challenges but they can also bring many opportunities. New opportunities and new markets or micro markets emerge, new ways of doing business open up, new customers become available and we need to be ready to adapt quickly to those opportunities. It might seem difficult at first to pivot to the new – and it probably is, like landing a plane on a river– but there are ways to help your business adapt and keep going through COVID-19. With the right business and sales infrastructure, your experience and that of your team, and the …

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