How to sell better in uncertain times

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Mindful selling, Sales Consulting, Sales Culture, Sales Management, Sales Strategy

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 have been through a few major crises before such as the GFC and the major recession we had in the early 1990s. Things weren’t pretty, for sure, and yes there was a …

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6 Tips on How to Sell Value and Reposition Price – Take 2

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Competition, Education in Sales, Sales Skills, Sales Tips, Selling Better

Another week goes by and another dozen stories of businesses discounting prices (or being asked to do so by their prospects or clients) appear. This week we heard about a few examples:

  • a business being asked by a prospect to ‘give us a better price because you are doing a few things with us’,
  • a business being told by a client, midway through a project, that ‘they would love to keep on working with them but competitor XYZ can now do it for 25% less because they can bring in cheaper consultants from overseas ’, and
  • another business being asked to give a …

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    2019 Sales Trends Event  – Trust me, I’m in Sales

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Business Acumen, Collaboration, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Gratitude, Innovation, Opportunity, Optimism, Procurement, Sales Consulting, Sales Leadership, Sales Pioneer, Sales Research, Sales Trends, Selling Better, Strategy, Success, Sustainability & Environment

    On 27 March 2019 we hosted our 7th Sales Trends Business Breakfast celebrating the 10th edition of the Barrett Annual 12 Sales Trends Report with Trust as our central theme.

    Over 120 people attended the event, mostly business people but we also had the Year 11 International Baccalaureate Student Representatives of the Melbourne Montessori School attend to further their knowledge and education as they study Business Management.

    The attendees heard from our special guest speakers, Suzanne Paynter, Strategy and Policy Advisor for the Future Business Council, and Andrew Smith, Head of Business Customer at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and myself, where we …

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    It all starts with Opportunity

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Ethics & Values, Gratitude, Opportunity, Optimism, Resilience, Success

    Life is all about opportunity.

    It’s about the choices we make on a daily basis.

    We are all presented with opportunities every day whether we see them or not.

    Some people are lucky enough to have opportunities served up to them on the platter of life not having to work very hard for them. And even then, these people may not realise their opportunities and let them sail away.

    While others are given very little or nothing by way of opportunity, yet they are determined to make the most of their abilities and surrounding circumstance to create and realise opportunity where none may have …

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    142 Days of Gratitude that Changed my Life Forever

    By / / Gratitude

    I have written a book. Not a business e-book as my previous ones but a paperback book. This book sits somewhere between business, self-help and memoir underpinned by a bit of science and philosophy as well. It was a labour of love and I enjoyed every minute of writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it too.

    Here’s an excerpt – Chapter 2: What led to my 142 days of Gratitude?

    I was contending with numerous issues in 2014. Some were in my control, some I could influence, and some were beyond my control.

    Something outside of my control was the political climate …

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    Someone has to sell, or you don’t have a business

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Entrepreneurship, Life Skills, Opportunity, Sales Essentials, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Sales Tips, Sales Training

    Someone has to do the selling or you don’t have a business.

    I have met many people over the years who have great ideas, skills, processes or inventions but hate the thought of selling.

    They usually come from two camps:

    Camp 1: Those people who understand they have to sell in order to have a business but just do not know how to do it. They often harbour some fears and anxieties about selling because of its bad public reputation and can feel overwhelmed about what they have to do. However, I find these people are willing to have a go.

    I will gladly …

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    Sales Trend 3 – Trust me, I am in procurement

    By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Procurement

    Guest author: Ben Shute, FCIPS , Chief Executive Officer Comprara & Purchasing Index

    Sales Trend 3 from looks at how trust influences procurement and how changes in the industry are affecting this relationship, see the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2019.

    What does it mean to trust someone? It certainly does not mean that we know everything about them. Indeed, after a certain point, further information is meaningless. Studies have shown that once an impression is made, new facts don’t necessarily trigger a reassessment. If our trust is formed based on first-hand interaction, we are even more resistant to …

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    If I was Prime Minister for a day

    By / / Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Innovation, Opportunity, Vision, Mission & Purpose

    Imagine you are asked to complete the statement ‘If I was Prime Minister for a day…’ what would you say?

    It is a very interesting task. It gets you thinking big. It got me thinking big.

    So in honour of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2019, I thought I would share with you my response to that statement and I encourage women, men and children to reflect on what they would say too. It can make all the difference to the choices we make in life and business.

    In November 2014, I was invited by the then Federal Minister for Small Business, Bruce …

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    Check the ‘Sales Fitness’ of your Sales System

    By / / Sales Benchmarking, Sales Consulting, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Leadership, Sales Strategy, Systems Thinking

    For those people who have been reading my work for some time know that in order to achieve peak sales fitness, now and in the long term, I advocate that business and sales leaders and their sales teams need to adopt a Systems approach to sales operational excellence in order to sell better, deliver competitive sales strategies that work, find new uncontested markets and at the same time minimising execution risk on the ground.

    My persistence in promoting and advocating for a Systems approach to sales excellence is deliberate on every level because if we want to stay in business and …

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