Have you ever tried online sales training? Why not try this complimentary Sales Essentials Module – ethics, philosophy and history of selling? Why? Because the world of sales education and training is evolving and online sales training is starting to take hold. Whilst classroom training will always have its place, here are 7 reasons you might like to include online sales training in your repertoire.
The 7 benefits of Online Sales Training Read Post »
We could be forgiven for thinking that everything about selling revolves around numbers, developing new opportunities, making sales and achieving results. Because that is what is usually written and spoken about at board room tables, sales meetings, and in manner of articles.
The pursuit of finding securing opportunities is relentless.
It is little wonder then that many salespeople find themselves feeling off colour or even distressed every now again, especially when times or markets are tougher than usual. It is hard enough to maintain your own momentum, let alone having a Sales Managers – the importance of making it personal Read Post »
In our digital world it is becoming much easier and quicker to find and contact people we want to get in front of. Just think LinkedIn and how easy it is to research prospects by title, industry and company, or using Google to research industries by location, speciality, etc.
There should be no excuse about not being able to find and contact prospects.
So in keeping with the digital world, is it OK to use email or LinkedIn as your initial contact with prospects?
Yes and No.
It’s all in how you do it. …
How to use Email and LinkedIn to prospect Read Post »
Since I started Barrett in January 1995, I have met thousands and thousands of salespeople and sales leaders and whilst I can tell you many stories about these encounters the one thing I can say is that the motivation driving the vast majority of these sales and service people, and sales leaders is the desire to help people, their clients, be successful and do the right thing by them.
Very few people that I have met want to harm or take undue advantage of others, even when pressed to meet targets …
How Selling can be an act of Kindness Read Post »
The sixth Sales Trend for 2014 is ‘Low Carbon Economy Sales Opportunities’.
Despite many governments lagging behind in terms of creating and endorsing low carbon policies and industries, forward thinking organisations are taking the lead on creating low / no carbon businesses and partnering with each other. And it’s not just big business, there is a growing number of SMEs (small to medium enterprises) driving change too.
Rather than only focusing on the cost of creating a low carbon economy, this sales trend is seeing smart companies and communities looking and acting on at the abundance of opportunity within new and …
Sales Trend 6 – Low Carbon Economy Sales Opportunities Read Post »
Organisations of every size all have a collective personality that drives their thinking, behaviours and actions and can affect their performance for good or bad. These collective personalities may or may not align with an organisation’s publicly stated values and principles; they can change over time, and are usually defined, influenced and/or condoned by the senior leadership team.
Much of an organisation’s success, or lack of it, is influenced by its corporate attitude. It attracts, hires, and reinforces the behaviours, values and attitudes that the leaders exhibit.
Whilst these collective personalities are often …
Do you have a Poverty or Prosperity Consciousness? Read Post »
Everyone has a sales cycle – this is defined as the average time it takes you to identify and ignite a viable sales opportunity through to closing the sale. Taking immediate transactional sales out of the equation –like buying something on the spot– a sales cycle can vary from industry to industry and can be as short as 1-7 days or span 12 months to 2 years, or even longer if we are talking really major sales.
However, industries withstanding, for most B2B salespeople an average sales cycle is more likely 1-3 months. So as we …
Work your sales activity year to achieve your financial year target Read Post »
Do you find that some clients are open to change, they embrace change while others see change as disruptive and possibly threatening? And then you find there are those clients who don’t see they need to change at all, they seem ambivalent or oblivious to the need to change.
Whoever is in charge of the buying decisions in an organisation (or family, or partnership) can severely affect, for good or bad, the perception of change across the whole culture. For instance, you may introduce to your clients a new way of doing something that offers increased efficiencies, improved effectiveness, and lowers …
Gauging our clients’ appetite for change Read Post »
Since 2009 we have been publishing our Annual 12 Sales Trends reports. It has been very interesting to see the speed at which these trends are taking hold and becoming the new normal in business. Here is the fifth Sales Trend for 2014 – The Move to Micro Sales Segmentation.
In 2014 sales teams are dealing with specific complexities (down markets, knowledgeable buyer, buyers with the pressure to cut costs, buyers that are ill-informed, etc). The approach that Marketing has to segmentation doesn’t completely deal with these …
Sales Trend 5 – The move to Micro Sales Segmentation Read Post »
Last week we talked about what we can control and influence in sales, especially in uncertain times. This week is looking at what we cannot control in sales and how to learn to live with it.
What (and who) we cannot control
Let’s face it, we operate in a complex world where many things are outside our direct control and influence, yet these very things can influence and affect ourselves, our clients, markets, and communities. There are some very interesting frameworks that can help us separate out a range of factors that affect our market places, communities, and countries.
What we cannot control in sales Read Post »