Do Not Call

By / / Brand & Reputation, Call Reluctance, Ethics & Values, Prospecting

Last week www.smartcompany.com.au ran a story saying that the Federal Government may include business numbers in the Do Not Call register. What are they talking about?

Prospecting for new business via the telephone (referred to as unsolicited phone calls) is still a legitimate and critical business activity necessary for anyone in sales and in business, especially in business to business sales where consumer marketing and advertising strategies do not work effectively. It is a vital activity any business or sales person worth their salt should be doing on a regular basis. Therefore I do not believe that the …

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Desperate Times Don’t Call for Desperate or Deceptive Measures

By / / Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Sales Culture, Value Proposition & Value Add

As markets tighten and people’s sentiment can tend towards the negative it is critical that we don’t get spooked. As mentioned before in the article about “Watch who you let near your mind” we need to examine all the evidence at hand, make informed decisions about our market and continue to ensure that our prospecting and sales efforts are targeted and at the forefront of our business activities. We also need to make sure that we continue to conduct ourselves in an ethical and professional manner working with our clients not against them.However in desperate times (and maybe it is …

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Daring to be Different (part 2)

By / / Assessments, Recruitment & Sales Recruitment, Sales Assessments, Sales Management, Sales Skills, Sales Talent

Here is the second of two articles about recruiting top performing sales people and daring to do so from outside of your industry.

Even though I have not worked as a traditional recruitment consultant for more than 14 years many of my long standing clients still talk about those ‘out of the box’ placements we made. Was it just the recruitment approach that made the difference. Well NO. What these savvy mangers is did was make sure the culture and the business could accommodate these ‘new’ types of people.

They took their current team along on the journey to …

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Daring to be Different (part 1)

By / / Recruitment & Sales Recruitment, Sales Management

Here is the first of two articles about recruiting top performing sales people and daring to do so from outside of your industry.

When it comes to assessing sales and sales leadership capabilities in your business do the lines blur between the cultural morays, views and perceptions, gossip and politics and the real capabilities needed to be assessed against your actual sales strategy?

In my line of work I am often requested to sit on senior management interview panels for clients because of my background and expertise in assessing sales leadership and sales performance and the issues around of internal and external …

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Are you really listening?

By / / Brain Science, Communication, Customer Service, Negotiation, Neuroscience in Sales, Sales Skills, Value Proposition & Value Add

Ever misinterpreted or missed hearing important information which meant that you missed a vital opportunity? You’re not alone. Listening has always been, and still, one of life’s most vital skills. With so much competing for our time and attention I have found the effectiveness of mine and others’ listening skills are being increasingly challenged.

Where I notice my deficit in this area the most is when I go home after a busy day and my children want to tell me all about their day and I realise my head is still full of my work and other priorities …

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Be Consistent & Keep Your Customers Happy

By / / Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Communication, Competition, Customer Service, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Value Proposition & Value Add

One of the things that frustrate me the most as a customer is inconsistent service standards, inconsistent procedures and people’s inability to deal effectively and honourably with different types of people. If left unchecked this leads to confusion, frustration, wasted time, wasted effort, impaired brands and reputations, lost revenue and lost customers.

These issues don’t seem to be as much of an issue when you deal with very small companies because usually everyone knows what everyone else is doing and how it should be done even if it is only via word of mouth. However as businesses expand and …

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Making Decisions

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Leadership, Sales Planning, Sales Relationships, Sales Skills, Value Proposition & Value Add, Wellbeing

Several years ago I read a great book called ‘Kids Are Worth It – Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline’ by Barbara Coloroso.

This book has served me very well as a parent giving me guidance in how to raise self-aware and self-disciplined children. In particular, I learnt by heart the following questions which I ask myself whenever I make decisions and in turn, have taught my children to ask whenever they make decisions.

The 3 Decision Questions are:

  • Is it life threatening?
  • Is it morally threatening?
  • Is it unhealthy?

For instance, when my then 7 year old son asked if his 2 …

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A view for the other side

By / / Brand & Reputation, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Customer Service, Negotiation, Procurement, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Relationships, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy

An Audience with Procurement Part 2

Following for last week’s piece on Procurement, I promised I would delve further into the view from the other side of the table and how, we, as sales people, view procurement and some of the practices which help or hinder sales and partnership effectiveness. And what our common enemy is.

So let’s take a look at the other side of the table.

Many a seasoned sales person can tell you story after story about the ‘Gunna Gunna’ customers:Gunna do this, gunna do that be it never goes anywhere.

Customers who spend very little with us but take …

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An Audience with Procurement

By / / Brand & Reputation, Negotiation, Procurement, Sales Relationships, Value Proposition & Value Add, Vision, Mission & Purpose

Recently I was approached by the head of CISP Australia (Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply) www.cipsa.com.au (broken link), Jonathan Dutton to be their after dinner speaker at the Women in Procurement Conference on 19 June 2008.

This was a new event on CIPSA’s calendar which provided a unique educational and networking opportunity for those interested in the advancement of women within the procurement profession. While procurement has traditionally been a very male-dominated profession, an increasing number of women have achieved success and recognition in recent years. The conference aimed to examine the challenges women face as they try to make …

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