Have you ever worked with someone who was really effective in one role but then promoted to other roles, usually management, and ended having no idea and no real capacity to fulfil that role in a competent manner? Chances are your answer is ‘yes’. This is a common occurrence in many organisations where people are […]
Category Archives: Business Acumen
The alarming findings about the Peter Principle & Sales Managers
- Thursday, 24 May 2018 14:23
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 0 Comments
Want to find & own uncontested markets? Try Blue Ocean Strategy
- Friday, 18 May 2018 10:42
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 0 Comments
In today’s cluttered business landscape and global marketplace, finding uncontested markets to sell into and own, free of competition, at least for the foreseeable future, is getting harder, and harder and harder. Developing innovative ideas that turn into something new, unique and viable, are not easy to copy, and deliver revenue and healthy margins is […]
What are the biggest sales issues & opportunities for CEOs & Sales Leaders today?
- Friday, 04 May 2018 10:37
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 0 Comments
Since late 2014, we have been rolling out the Sales Strategy & Operations Audit working with a wide range of businesses across industries in the public, private, and N4P sectors to help them sell better. In 2017, we compiled the Barrett Sales Strategy & Operations Benchmark Report for 2015-2017 based on over 20 companies and […]
Salespeople beware tire kickers, IP thieves & time wasters
- Friday, 23 February 2018 14:42
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 0 Comments
Selling is a very time consuming set of activities at the best of times. Now with so much choice and complexity, sales cycles are taking even longer –like 20% longer– especially with multiple stakeholders in larger businesses. So it only makes sense that we want to be sure as salespeople that a real deal is […]
Is an Organic Growth Strategy a better way to go?
- Friday, 15 December 2017 09:30
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 0 Comments
How do I grow my business? How do I get a better ROI? How do I get more profitable sales? How do I attract and convert more customer? These are some of questions entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOs and sales leaders ask on daily basis. And rightly so. We need to ask questions of ourselves and […]
Don’t die wondering, the real secret to sales success – Part II of II: the person
- Friday, 06 October 2017 08:55
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 0 Comments
How many times have we all been tempted to click on a link that offers us ‘the secret of sales success’ only to find a website or article that is promising a silver bullet ‘if only you do this one thing’ which doesn’t help us at all? As I mentioned last week, the business of […]
2017 Sales Trend 7 – Sell and Deliver Value or Commoditise
- Friday, 07 July 2017 11:21
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 2 Comments
With business becoming much more complex and value harder to discern in product sales alone, Sales Trend 7, Sell and Deliver Value or Commoditise, sees business leaders making serious decisions about how to do business. In essence, they have two choices in terms of the way to run legitimate operations: Run a business that sells […]
How to avoid the discount trap
- Tuesday, 13 December 2016 09:06
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 0 Comments
Do you frequently discount to win business? Does your brand seem to matter less to customers today? It’s no wonder. Customers can do a Google search of your product or service and, within minutes, learn about your product, your competitors, what customers think of you, and find the lowest prices. So, with this kind of […]
Why Marketing can’t fix a Sales Problem
- Friday, 22 July 2016 09:27
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 1 Comment
When sales start to dry up or the business doesn’t seem to be getting traction with customers, many small to medium (SME) sized businesses will usually turn to Marketing in the first, and often only instance, as their preferred solution to fixing poor sales results. Why? Because many people have been taught to think they […]
David Bowie – a role model for all entrepreneurs
- Friday, 15 January 2016 11:35
- Written by Sue Barrett
- 0 Comments
The sad passing of David Bowie this last week has brought a huge wave of emotional outpouring from many parts of the world including myself. I grew up with David Bowie. He has been in my life as long as I can remember. He was, I admit, my most favourite music star of all. I […]