Sales trend 5 – Using sales enablement technology to build trust

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Brand & Reputation, Sales Culture, Sales Results, Sales Tips, Sales Trends

Guest author: Steve Hall

Sales Trend 5 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2019 is about why ‘more’ isn’t ‘better’ when it comes to sales enablement technology.

Sales enablement technology is becoming more and more sophisticated. Artificial intelligence, Account Based Marketing (ABM) platforms, email tracking, autodiallers and so on are enabling more salespeople to reach out more often to more prospects.

But the search for newer, better, faster sales enablement technology is seeing a counter-trend emerge – one that focuses on creating better understanding of the people who really matter – the prospects.  And this includes you, because you’re …

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The Power of Assumptions

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Communication, Customer Service, Ethics & Values, Sales Skills, Sales Tips
By guest writer Jens Hartmann, Head of L&D, Barrett

Driving away customers

Have you ever come across a salesperson making assumptions about you, your needs and expectations, or your experience? Then you are probably aware of how powerful these assumptions can be – at driving you away as a customer.

We experienced this recently. While undergoing renovations on our home, we ordered a new bathtub -stand alone, a very plain and symmetrical design – straight from a local manufacturer. However, when it got delivered after some 2 months or so, towards the end of the bathroom renovations as planned, it was not symmetrical …

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2019 Sales Trends Event  – Trust me, I’m in Sales

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Business Acumen, Collaboration, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Gratitude, Innovation, Opportunity, Optimism, Procurement, Sales Consulting, Sales Leadership, Sales Pioneer, Sales Research, Sales Trends, Selling Better, Strategy, Success, Sustainability & Environment

On 27 March 2019 we hosted our 7th Sales Trends Business Breakfast celebrating the 10th edition of the Barrett Annual 12 Sales Trends Report with Trust as our central theme.

Over 120 people attended the event, mostly business people but we also had the Year 11 International Baccalaureate Student Representatives of the Melbourne Montessori School attend to further their knowledge and education as they study Business Management.

The attendees heard from our special guest speakers, Suzanne Paynter, Strategy and Policy Advisor for the Future Business Council, and Andrew Smith, Head of Business Customer at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and myself, where we …

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Trust, financial institutions and the markets.

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Sales Trends, Selling Better

Sales Trend 2 of the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2019 touches on a very timely topic in Australia – trust and the financial sector.

By guest author David Robertson, Head of Economic and Market Research, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.

2018 has not been a good year for the stock prices of Australian financial institutions, with the ‘Financials’ sub-index of the ASX200 down over 16% from its high of 6621 in January. The rest of the market is also lower but not to the same extent –and the broader ASX200 index did reach a fresh ’18 peak recently in August …

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24 years in business and 24 Big Lessons to share

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Entrepreneurship, Ethics & Values, Opportunity, Optimism, Selling Better, Success

This week marks the 24th anniversary since I founded Barrett and, over the summer break, I had some time to reflect upon myself, my business’ journey and the many, many lessons learned over the last 24 years.

We often get our ‘business lessons’ from big corporates about how to do this or that; however, I have found that many of these corporate lessons do not always translate well into small (few than 20 employees) to medium sized businesses which make up over 90% of all business in Australia.

So given that I fall into that 90+% category and have managed to …

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Ignore customer relationships at your peril: The demise of out-of-touch political parties

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Communication, Optimism, Selling Better, Strategy, Success

Even in the advent of big data, the nature of developing genuine customer relationships is generally not understood well enough by most businesses, and is not often on the agenda for thorough examination.

This got me thinking about political parties and the nature of their relationships with their party members and the broader communities upon which they rely upon to get elected.

In speaking with Leslie Roberts, Principal of ERM Advisory, he states that ‘In advice-based professional practices, such as accounting, financial planning, legal services, etc. it is all too common for the topic of customer relationships to be subject to gut-feeling, …

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The road less travelled – Selling Better

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Entrepreneurship, Ethics & Values, Opportunity, Selling Better

On 9 January, 1995 I took the road less travelled when I chose to start my business dedicated to Selling Better rather than follow the traditional path of Selling More, and that has made all the difference.

As a business owner, entrepreneur, and pattern systems thinker amongst other things, it has been a fascinating and interesting journey of discovery on many levels: personally, professionally, intellectually, culturally, ethically, philosophically, and systems-wise.

While I am originally a science graduate who specialised in medical and biological subjects, I have adapted and evolved into an architect, engineer, behavioural scientist and philosopher who focuses …

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Sales Trend 10 – Storytelling, taking sales teams beyond features and benefits

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Brand & Reputation, Communication, Marketing

Guest Author: Rishad Sukhia, CEO, Creative Agency Brightlabs, Melbourne, Australia

Sales trend 10 from our 12 Sales Trends Report for 2018 is about storytelling.

We all grew up hearing and sharing stories through childhood and adulthood – they help us learn, develop and, above all, they entertain and inspire us. Brands today are increasingly incorporating storytelling into their sales and marketing strategies in order to resonate with their customers.

This sales trend is focused on the increasing importance of the art and science of storytelling in sales and marketing, taking our sales teams beyond presenting features and benefits.

What is brand storytelling?

Whilst the terms …

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Unethical Selling, not Selling, should be on trial at the Banking Royal Commission

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Competition, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Selling Better

With the handing down of the Interim Report from the Banking Royal Commission, Commissioner Hayne was scathing in his assessment of the banking finance sector, especially the big 4 banks and large insurance and investment firms, such as AMP, for enabling their cultures of greed to flourish at the expense of customers’ wellbeing, principled and ethical business practice.

Commissioner Hayne said the key questions the commission had to answer were why such poor conduct had occurred and how to stop it happening again.

He added that, in many cases, the answer to the first question was obvious.

“Too often, the answer seems to …

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Sales Trend 9 – Personal Branding is a must have asset

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Social Media, Social Sales

Key terms: social media, consistency, engagement, results

Guest author: Josh Schmalenbach

Sales Trend 9 from our 12 Sales Trends Report for 2018 is about social selling.

As technology and the internet have evolved, our access to information has also vastly grown. Never before has it been so easy to find out so much about a product or a person.

With a simple Google search, one can find pages of information regarding someone’s career, achievements, education, and even what they have shared online.

This ease of access to data has made the buying process significantly easier and less risky for everyone involved. The …

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