The legitimisation of Sales Strategy

By / / Marketing, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Strategy, Sales Trends

The 10th Sales Trend for 2014 is ‘The Legitimisation of Sales Strategy’

Having a sales strategy is now of vital importance to the survival, growth and profitability of any organisation. Yet Sales Strategy, as a business discipline, has been poorly understood by sales managers and executive leadership teams alike, and rarely, if ever, executed well by many businesses… however, times are indeed changing.

Sales Strategy is how the business organises its sales efforts across the value chain to go to market, who it is going to sell to and how it …

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What are you really paying for? Hours or Experience

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation

Here is a statement a friend of mine posted in LinkedIn recently, “You’re not necessarily paying for my hours. You’re paying for my years of experience. Invest in quality because quick and cheap can be costly in the long run”.

It reminds me of the story of a businessman, his prestige car which, as a result of his clumsiness, had a dint in the side door, and a panel beater. The business man rushed into the panel beater’s early one morning saying he desperately needed his car fixed as he had an important appointment to attend and did not want to …

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Australia – It’s time to snap out of this sales mindset ‘slump’

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Competition, Sales Driven Organisations

If you were an alien that landed in Australia you could be forgiven for thinking that we were in the midst of a terrible recession or major disaster by the ‘doom and gloom’ sentiment that seems to be hanging over our economy like a wet blanket.

Of course, it is natural for all economies to go through ups and downs, but after 22 years of continuous economic growth we seem to have forgotten how to deal with the down swing. But how much of a down swing are we actually experiencing right now? Our current economic growth rate is still 3.5%. …

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Sales Trend 8 – A Radical Shift in the Sales Mindset

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Trends

This sales trend is all about the radical shift in the sales mindset that currently is underway in organisations as prophesised by The Cluetrain Manifesto 15 years ago. A slow burn, we acknowledge, but with consumers in such a powerful position, product no longer the centre piece of the sale, and value being more important than price, the time has come for sales teams and everyone in their businesses to work with customers, helping them achieve their goals and, in doing so, sales teams will achieve theirs.

Smart companies are moving from …

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Are you serious?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Skills, Sales Training, Success

Today’s article is a bit of a rant I have to admit. I wrote the text below after one of those phone calls I receive, and as you may tell, I was a bit upset afterwards. Bear with me though, I’m sure you’ll see the point I’m trying to make.

Have you ever considered how much it costs and how much effort it takes to become and remain a highly skilled professional these days? Think about a competent marketing manager, a skilled engineer or IT specialist, a capable accountant, bookkeeper, publicist or journalist, a reliable chef, event manager or hairdresser? We’re …

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What does a successful sales team & culture look like?

By / / Sales Culture, Sales Results, Sales Strategy

Creating a viable, healthy, fit, and robust sales team and supporting culture takes effort, consistent effort. It doesn’t happen by chance. We have to be able to hold in our grasp –our thinking, our frame of reference– several aspects including purpose, strategy, performance standards, people, competition, change, technology, and of course, all of the variables outside of our direct control such as PEST (politics, economic, society, technology) or STEER.

The biggest issues that keep most sales teams from being and consistently performing at their best are:

  • No sales strategy to direct and guide the sales team and business
  • The …

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5 things you can do to improve your sales results now

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Pipeline, Sales Results, Sales Tips, Success

Yes, the world of business and especially B2B selling is getting more complex every day. Buyers’ decision making processes, especially on larger deals, are taking longer, up to 20% longer than 5 years ago. And the decision making process usually involves a range of people not just one key decision maker. Making a good sale involves many moving parts.

So what can we do to improve our sales results now? Here are 5 things you can do immediately to help you win more sales and keep the sales momentum going.

  • Build Your Sales Pipeline: you usually need 3-4 times your sales budget …

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    Sales Trend 9 – Procurement need to be solutions salespeople too

    By / / Procurement, Sales Trends

    The ninth Sales Trend for 2014 is ‘Procurement need to be solutions salespeople too’. The times are indeed changing with the function of Procurement becoming increasingly important as a conduit, an orchestrator if you will, of the co-creation of value with suppliers and internal stakeholders as well as right down the value chain to the end consumer and back again. No longer can procurement rest its case on ‘lowest cost’, ‘cheapest price’ or ‘supply of goods and services’; it must assume responsibility for the creation and delivery of real value beyond a price …

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    How to link your Business Strategy to Sales Strategy

    By / / Sales Strategy, Strategy, Uncategorized

    For too long now sales has lived in the shadow of corporate and marketing strategies, but these tend to provide limited direction. They are usually too broad and generalised or too narrow, only focused on financial results. That makes them of little tangible value in the pragmatic world doing business. That being said Selling is often seen by management as the unit that gets the business in; a tactical function in the value chain at best.

    However, selling is much more complex than just getting in business. Selling is where the ‘rubber hits the road’; where the concept of micro-marketing and …

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    Sales Trend 7 – The Normalising of Social Media in Sales

    By / / Sales Trends, Social Media, Social Sales

    The seventh Sales Trend for 2014 is ‘The Normalising of Social Media in Sales’.

    This sales trend is seeing businesses really ramping up their use of social media and in very sophisticated ways. Rather than seeing social media as a tack on to the marketing budget, smart businesses are now creating their own social media departments which are actively working in concert with sales, marketing, and other departments to create real-time content that is engaging, relevant and interactive.

    Prospects and customers have never been closer to our businesses – they are just a click away. They can scrutinise us as much …

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