What is the correct title for a salesperson’s role? What should I call myself? This is a contentious issue… And a question we get asked frequently. The answer will depend on why you are asking the question. Are you asking the question because:
All of these questions …
What is the correct title for a salesperson? Read Post »
Do you often find yourself torn between meeting the needs of your manager, the desires of your customers and the requirements of your role? If you answered ‘yes’, you’re not alone. All too often we see salespeople who feel they are ‘the meat in the sandwich’. They consistently go above and beyond to meet all their stakeholders’ needs, often leading to increased stress, frustration, fatigue and burnout. In these instances, it is not uncommon to find that different stakeholder groups have a different perspective or understanding of the required capabilities, competencies and performance criteria for the salesperson’s role. This can …
Does anyone really know what I’m supposed to be doing? Read Post »
I have previously written about ‘putting yourself in another’s shoes’, however, I have never written about actual shoes before. In this post I wanted to raise awareness about our attire, our physical presentation – as sales and business professionals. There are 2 key areas we need to consider:
You may think this topic doesn’t matter much with the broader and more relaxed approach to business attire these days, but it does. Consciously …
Put the polish on your new sales year Read Post »
As 2013 comes to a close we firstly wanted to thank all our loyal readers for their continued support of our work. We also thought you would like to get a sneak peek of our Annual 12 Sales Trends Report for 2014. With the unprecedented changes we are experiencing as a result of the digital revolution and the commoditisation of quality we can no longer manage sales by processes and numbers alone – it’s become a thinking person’s game. As a result, the Barrett Consulting Group’s annual Sales Trends Report for 2014 has selected the theme: “The Thinking Sales Organisation”. Sales operations …
12 Sales Trends for 2014 – The Thinking Sales Organisation Read Post »
Let’s start with a question: What is the most important quality of highly successful salespeople? This question is often on the mind of anyone looking to sell well. There is much speculation about what this elusive quality actually is. The truth is that there are many traits that make for highly successful salespeople , but the number one quality that makes top sales performers outstanding is…
their desire and dedication to engage in self-appraisal and continuous learning.
We have not met a successful sales person yet who doesn’t want to know how to be …
Curiosity – A Foundation to Sale Mastery Read Post »
The final Sales Trend for 2013 is ”Marketing (as we know it) is dead” but you probably already know that given the rapid changes happening in our markets.
Traditional marketing, i.e. advertising, PR, branding and corporate communications, has become little more than an expensive, very often valueless mass communications methodology and has failed. Marketing has been at death’s door for well over a decade. It’s just that marketing professionals don’t want to recognise the reality!
There are three pointers that prove this:
Marketing (as we know it) is dead Read Post »
Last week I received a call from a woman (let’s call her Tracy for the purpose of this article) desperately seeking help on how to sell. Tracy had been in her role for 5 months and all that time had not received any guidance, advice, coaching or support from her managers on how to sell her products or who to sell them to. She had never been in a sales role before and did not work in the vicinity of the head office. She was out there on her own …
Salespeople In The Deep End (Again) Read Post »
In December 2012, we published the 12 Sales Trends Report for 2013 and released a brief summary of each trend. This month we are focusing on the Sales Trend “Going mobile – the rise of smartphones in sales”. As Australia deals with the challenge of becoming more globally competitive, organisations are making greater use of both increased mobility as well as tele-conferencing using smartphone technology. Anecdotal research is showing that smartphones are giving salespeople an edge in a number of ways. This sales …
Going mobile – the rise of Smartphones in Sales Read Post »
Much has been written about the role of salespeople. However, many of these “authorities” are professionals in disciplines that have (at best) only an indirect relationship – and that mainly theoretical – to the real practice of salespeople. The ‘naysayers’ claim that advances in technology will displace the need for a lot of what professional salespeople actually do. If anything, this merely reinforces our opinion that the theorists don’t actually understand what sales and selling is all about. The reality is that selling is not one simple category of activity. In practical terms there are …
One size of sales does not fit all Read Post »
I have been prospecting for new business on a regular and consistent basis since 1985.
For my team and prospecting is a way of life. We could never have developed our respective businesses and reputations without the vital business skill of prospecting. We both confess that in the early days we did not enjoy many of the aspects of prospecting but we learned how to prospect successfully and we understand that prospecting is like oxygen – it fuels the fire of sales. Without prospects to speak to we cannot do business.
That is why I find it very interesting that certain industries …
Some industries just don’t get prospecting Read Post »