How should sales teams adapt to changes in the marketplace?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Sales Strategy

It is a harsh reality – product demand and brand scores are down. Some contributing factors to this decline are: bad experiences with retailers or suppliers, poor responses from intermediaries, mediocre service levels, automated procurement practices, stripped down pricing, and an increased number of competitors with products that are just as good and brand names that are just as well respected.

In the face of this growing complexity and a challenging global economic environment, salespeople face continuing demands to meet higher sales quotas. And this in markets most likely suffering from already squeezed margins, and buyers who are sceptical and reluctant …

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If you’re not selling, you’re supporting someone who is

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Communication, Customer Service, Marketing

Last week I wrote about ‘making promises you can keep and keeping the promises you make’ and when the rhetoric and reality do not coincide thus leaving customers disappointed at best and downright cynical and mad at worst.

No business is perfect that’s for sure; however, if the intention of the business and its people is to genuinely help and serve customers for a fair exchange of value (whatever that is deemed to be) then everyone in the company needs to be trained -in what is relevant to each role: how to sell, serve and/or communicate- to a …

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Make promises you can keep & keep the promises you make

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Marketing

You may have noticed in recent times that many companies, especially larger organisations, are focusing their marketing and advertising efforts on trying to portray themselves as caring and empathic to whatever cause they think is important to us; the ‘we understand you and what you are going through’ approach; trying to talk to us in a personal, friendly manner like they are our closest friends, and your call is ‘really’ important to us ‘trust me’ tones.

Well, I am not buying it at all. And neither are many other people. We’ve had enough.

Why? Because the rhetoric very rarely matches the reality …

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Sales Trend 7 – Beyond Sales KPIs

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Performance Management, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Trends

The 2015 Sales Trend 7 – Beyond Sales KPIs see our focus shifting to how we can get closer to the moments of truth and measure sales effectiveness in a complex world. In a nutshell, this trend is showing leadership moving from a deficiency orientation (i.e. performance management when things go wrong) to a competency orientation (i.e. coaching people to achieve their best performance). It is important to note that this trend also requires a mindset shift amongst the managers involved in such a transformation.

Most companies at some stage in their history have struggled with identifying the …

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The key to opening more sales opportunities

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Networking

The advent of the digital revolution and social networks had a huge impact in the number of people we are connected to. Now, I encourage us all to take a moment to think about the people we know personally. Imagine how many people that involves – just one degree away from us. Then think again about 2 or 3 degrees away and the numbers are astronomical.

Many of us have heard about the 6 degrees of separation concept which says that we are all only 6 people away from everyone else in the world. Well, with digital networks …

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Why using Sales Intelligence helps you close more sales

By / / CRM, Sales Results, Sales Tips

Whilst many salespeople complain of their frustrations with getting an initial appointment with new prospects, it’s the next step – converting these initial buyer-seller conversations into a presentation opportunity – that should be more of a concern. Research from CSO Insights shows an alarming erosion in the ability to move a sale from an initial conversation with around only 48% of these being converted. This is down from a high of around 58%.

The study on sales intelligence by CSO says the reason companies are struggling to move prospects past initial conversations is that today’s ultra-informed buyers want …

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Insights into why I started my own business – Part 2

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Success, Sustainability & Environment

As mentioned in the article from last week I was invited to be part of the judging panel of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Victoria Young Business Hustler competition 2015. The programme is designed to give young business entrepreneurs the chance to further develop their capabilities and their businesses.

Here is Part 2 of my interview about how I started my own business and what continues to drive and inspire me today.

Interviewer: What do you believe is your greatest achievement in life so far?

Sue: I cannot point to any one achievement as being the greatest because …

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Insights into why I started my own business – Part 1

By / / Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Success, Vision, Mission & Purpose

Recently, I was invited to be a part of the judging panel of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – Victoria Young Business Hustler competition 2015. The programme is designed to give young business entrepreneurs the chance to further develop their capabilities and their businesses.

As part of this initiative and as an entrepreneur myself, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award chapter interviewed me about how I started my own business and what continues to drive and inspire me today.

Interviewer: You completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Monash University, but have now ended up founding one of …

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Making Persuasive Sales Presentations

By / / Communication, Sales Presentation & Grooming, Sales Skills

How persuasive are you?

Persuasiveness is the power to induce the taking of a course of action or the embracing of a point of view by means of argument or entreaty.

One of the mistakes salespeople make when doing sales presentations is their tendency to be more informative than persuasive. That difference is costing companies millions of dollars a year in lost sales opportunities. The reason for this is simple. It’s far easier to dispense information than it is to interact with an audience (buyers, stakeholders, etc.) and try and persuade someone to make a commitment to our offer. As a result many sales professionals linger …

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Sales Reporting – Why Bother?

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

Recently, I met a very impressive young Sales Manager. Let’s call him Sam. Sam knew his sales stuff. He knew what to look for when it came to accurate reporting of sales data. Nothing too complicated. He was conscious of focussing on the key measures and not overloading his sales team with too much reporting because he wanted his sales team out there selling instead of being glorified administrators.

Sam is my kind of sales manager. There for his people and his company making sure that his sales team knew exactly what was expected of them in terms …

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