What’s the right Sales Conversion Ratio for my sales team?

By / / Prospecting, Sales Forecasting, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Results, Sales Tips

At Barrett, we get asked a lot about what is the right sales conversion ratio for sales teams.

And our answer is to offer more questions such as:

  • Are the market(s) you are targeting in growth, mature, decline, or saturation mode?
  • What value propositions are you taking to market to your prospective clients in terms of commodity low cost options or value beyond product and price, and ROI?
  • How clear is your sales messaging to capture the share of mind of your target markets and enable your salespeople to be very clear and concise about the value they bring when prospecting and selling?
  • How effective …

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Sales Trend 5 – The Way We Sell Around Here

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Culture, Sales Strategy, Sales Training, Sales Trends

Sales Trend 5 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends for 2016 Report is ‘The way we sell around here’.

The Sales Dream – A low cost, high performing sales force that delivers more sales at better margins to increasingly loyal customers. Sounds like some utopian vision. Not necessarily.

This sales trend highlights the best practices being adopted by smart companies who are focused on embedding ‘How We Sell Around Here’ as their minimum standard of sales excellence and how they are reaping the rewards of their continuous learning programmes and sound sales strategies. They know that if any business …

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The power of language and intent in Sales & Coaching

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Coaching, Communication, Neuroscience, Sales Coaching, Sales Culture, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Psychology

For the last 5 weeks I have been working around Australia helping a major client get their sales leadership team ready to roll out their new Sales Strategy and Sales Process, their version of ‘the way we sell around here’. It’s been pretty exciting and extremely well received. Why? The language we are using is clear, simple, strong and positive. Our intent is purposeful and inspiring. There is a compelling reason to want to be a part of this new era. People can see a clear pathway forward.

Part of this sales strategy and sales process roll out …

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Insights from the 2016 Sales Trends Business Breakfast

By / / Sales Leadership, Sales Trends

This week saw Barrett host our third Annual Sales Trends Business Breakfast at The Point, Albert Park in Melbourne.  With the venue overlooking the beautiful Albert Park Lake amidst rowers rowing and the sun rising, 90 senior business and sales leaders joined us to explore this year’s Sales Trends theme of ‘Less is More’ and hear from our special guest speakers James Thomson, Companies and Markets Editor of The Australian Financial Review and Grant Blackley, CEO of Southern Cross Austereo.

Following my overview of the 12 Sales Trends for 2016, James Thomson gave …

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The vital life (& sales) skill of Reflection

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Life Skills, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Self Development, Time Management, Wellbeing

As I sit at my desk writing this article I am reflecting on the past 4-5 weeks where sitting at my desk and taking time to think, ponder, and reflect on ideas, my team, my work, our strategy, our wellbeing and so on has been few and far between. On one hand I am grateful that we are fully engaged (our work word for ‘busy’) and active with our work and clients, on the other hand I am mourning the lack of those small time outs when I can create the space to look into both the details and vast …

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Sales Trend 4 – Sales & Marketing Unite

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Marketing, Sales Strategy, Sales Trends

Sales Trend 4 of Barrett’s 12 Sales Trends for 2016 is Sales & Marketing Unite.

For too many years there have been various degrees of finger-pointing and strained relations between the Sales and Marketing departments, and in too many cases open hostility. The ‘us and them’ approach has kept these two important disciplines at arms’ length from each other. This undoubtedly diminishes the power and potential of their united efforts. Management has long called for sales and marketing to bury the hatchet, but the requests often lack urgency and are generally met with indifference.

With shrinking markets, micro segments, more informed buyers …

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Women in Sales Leadership: advice to my younger self

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Sales Leadership, Wellbeing

Over 2 days on 5 & 6 April 2016 I had the privilege of chairing the 2016 Women in Sales Leadership Conference in Sydney, Australia. The theme for the event was ‘Advice to my younger self’.

We had over 20 senior sales leaders from around Australia presenting to a room full of women in sales and sales leadership roles from a range of industries. We had young women in their 20’s embarking on their sales careers through to many senior sales leaders with 30+ years’ experience in sales and sales leadership.

Interestingly, unlike other sales conferences I have attended over the years, …

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The 7 differences between Selling, Marketing & Networking

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Education in Sales, Marketing, Networking

As I have stated before I am a stickler for using correct definitions when describing concepts and their elements.

In music, science, mathematics, physics and engineering we do not usually debate the definition of these constructs. We accept that a crotchet is a crotchet, a prime number is a prime number and so on. No debate.

However, in the world of business and, especially in the world of Selling, we get all sorts of definitions floating about with meanings both dubious and factual. This causes, at best, confusion and, at worst, unnecessary angst.

In the world of selling I have met too many …

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Sales Trend 3 – Selling is everybody’s business

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Education in Sales, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Trends

Sales Trend 3 of Barrett’s 12 Sales Trends for 2016 is Selling is everybody’s business.

For a long time businesses have been focusing on how to achieve better sales results. Organisations with varying levels of maturity and insight have embarked on many different journeys to get there. Some have been very savvy and have taken a holistic systems approach putting in place sound sales strategies, market segmentation plans underpinned by clear sales processes, standards and values that inform their sales teams. Some organisations tried other alternatives, with varied levels of success, from good training systems to silver bullet solutions that …

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Why everybody benefits from knowing when to say ‘NO’

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Life Skills, Sales Tips, Self Development

Seth Godin is a master at providing pithy, sage advice and I couldn’t go past a recent post of his that really spells out the importance of knowing when to say NO.

His article made me recall an earlier article I wrote back on 2007 called ‘Learn to say NO’ which focused on standing up for your value and pricing and not being intimidated by bully buyers.

All of this coincided with an article in The Age newspaper this week about ‘The customer can be wrong’ highlighting the issue of employee safety around sexual harassment of staff by customers.

What’s happening …

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