Professional Services firms are feeling the pinch

By / / Brand & Reputation, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Marketing, Prospecting, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Motivation & Rewards, Strategy, Success

Take note: Lawyers, Accountants, Engineers, Marketing Consultants et al

Professional Services Firms are struggling when it comes to keeping and finding business. This on top of the fact that many have to come to grips with the fact they need to sell. The market has definitely changed. You cannot sit there aggressively waiting for the phone to ring anymore.

In speaking with one partner from a well respected law firm, he vented his frustration at the lack of action being taken in his firm by partners and their teams in terms of driving the push to find new business in current and …

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Think you can get away with it. Think again

By / / Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Mindful selling, Sales Relationships, Value Proposition & Value Add, Vision, Mission & Purpose

In the world of sales there has always been the following advice for customers and for good reason:

  • Buyer beware
  • Read the fine print
  • If it’s too good to be true then it is

And so on.

As much as I advocate for and encourage healthy, trust based, open transparent customer relationships I am fully aware of the ‘dark side’ in the profession of sales.

In my travels, sadly I hear of many stories about people being ripped off and taken advantage of often with no idea about what is happening to them until it’s too late. All under the guise of selling.

There will always be …

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What’s in a relationship?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Communication, Ethics & Values, Sales Relationships, Self Development

 

 

The term ‘Relationship Selling’ is often bandied about by sales managers and sales people without properly defining what it really means.I often hear “We are in relationship selling” or “We need relationship sales people” however what I do not hear being asked is:

  • What type of relationship are we talking about?
  • What type of relationship are we looking for?
  • What do we mean by relationship selling anyway?

Relationship selling happens in any place where relationships are important. Thus when a husband and wife are negotiating about something, they will be more successful if they both consider the relationship as well as whatever it is …

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Leadership, Sales and a Clear Message

By / / Brand & Reputation, Communication, Ethics & Values, Marketing, Prospecting, Sales Consulting, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Leadership, Sales Strategy, Sales Training, Strategy, Success, Vision, Mission & Purpose

Welcome to 2009.

Over the summer break I was talking with a number of friends about what 2009 will hold for us, our families, our communities and our businesses. Without exception, we discussed the current and possible effects of the GFC (global financial crisis) on our markets and especially on our thinking and our actions moving forward. We discussed the importance of open, clear and honest communication and decisive leadership, clear goals and defining what we stand for.

We discussed the fact that it would be very hard for people to make ‘easy’ money this year i.e. playing the stock market, etc. …

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Seeing the world from your client’s perspective can make for easier sales

By / / Brand & Reputation, Communication, Customer Service, Marketing, Mindful selling, Sales Strategy, Up-selling & Cross Selling, Value Proposition & Value Add, Vision, Mission & Purpose

Each week we meet and speak with a variety of prospective and/or existing clients who have problems they need solving in our area of expertise. It is more than likely we will deal with a mix of clients: some with little or no understanding about what we really do and those with previous experience, knowledge and opinions in our area of expertise. And then there are those clients who are in between. Whatever their level of sophistication, how well we understand and identify our clients’ key priorities and problems, and what they value about working with a credible business partner …

Seeing the world from your client’s perspective can make for easier sales Read Post »

Don’t take your frustrations out on your customers

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Communication, Customer Service, Emotional Intelligence, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations

As mentioned before, Sales and Service roles are not for the faint hearted and can often take their toll on your good nature, your energy and your ability to deal effectively with frustrating issues, especially when you put in the effort to do the ‘right thing’ by your customers and it is not appreciated, acknowledged or actioned.

At the end of a long day or week dealing with lots of people, pulling together various deals, solving problems and keeping your energy levels up and being on your best behaviour, you could be forgiven for being a bit ‘short’ if things don’t …

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On Show

By / / Brand & Reputation, Self Promotion, Wellbeing

Recently I have been watching the rerun of “Life at 1” on ABC TV in readiness for the “Life at 3″ series as I am fascinated by all things behavioural and developmental. The series focuses on children and their development from age one and beyond, similar in concept to the Seven Up series. However this series cannot be complete without the children’s parents and siblings being involved.

I am interested in the series because I am a parent, however it is amazing what you can learn about other areas of your life from seemingly unrelated sources. This is …

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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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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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