lessons-I-am-learning-about-myself-and-my-business-during-COVID-19

Lessons I’m learning about myself & my business during COVID-19 – The Sequel

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Collaboration, Communication, covid-19, Life Skills, Resilience, Strategy, Teamwork

Blog Podcast

Your browser does not support other methods, please download it.

  Download (use ‘right click’ then ‘save as’) 

Four months into the pandemic, I wrote about lessons that I was learning about myself as a leader, and my business. Like for so many people, lessons keep revealing themselves to me this year, so I thought I would write a sequel.

The second part of the year presented more and different challenges, like the second and stricter lockdown in Melbourne, governments around …

Lessons I’m learning about myself & my business during COVID-19 – The Sequel Read Post »

Will ‘Selling Remotely’ become the norm for field sales teams post COVID-19?

By / / Blog, Communication, covid-19, Education in Sales, Networking, Opportunity, Prospecting, Sales Meetings, Sales Skills, Sales Training, Success
Will selling remotely become the norm post COVID-19 for B2B and Complex B2C field sales teams?

The early signs say ‘yes’, but let’s take a closer look at what’s happening.

Many things have been tossed up in the air with the advent of the COVID-19 crisis.

Take, for instance, the boom in Zoom meetings on every level – keeping people in touch with each other across the street, suburb, state and international boundaries. It’s something many of us are getting used to.

Whether it’s Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp or even the humble telephone, staying in touch and communicating with people is vital …

Will ‘Selling Remotely’ become the norm for field sales teams post COVID-19? Read Post »

It’s time to look ahead. It’s time to get selling

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Communication, covid-19, Opportunity, Sales Strategy, Sales Tips, Success
No more waiting… It’s time to look ahead. It’s time to get selling.

This headline may seem insensitive to some people. ‘It’s too soon’ I hear some people saying.

It is perfectly understandable that when a *Black Swan Event -such as what we are living through now with Covid-19- happens, people stop in their tracks to first deal with the immediate shock and then try to make sense of ‘what the hell just happened?’ People’s mental and emotional energy are focused on the here and now – it’s about how to survive.

 Which is why when organisations are in major crisis, key decision-makers …

It’s time to look ahead. It’s time to get selling Read Post »

how-do-I-keep-the-cabin-safe-and-people-calm

How do I keep the cabin safe and people calm?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Communication, covid-19, Opportunity, Recruitment & Sales Recruitment, Sales Coaching, Sales Consulting, Sales Measures - Inputs & Outputs, Sales Psychology, Sales Skills

In HR you support “pilots and crews” to help them run smooth operations. When a crisis like this one hits out of the blue, and sales and service operations are disrupted, if not brought to a complete halt, it is critical to help everyone get back on their feet again and find solid ground quickly and safely.

Whether your business has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis directly or through the ripple effect across the value chain from suppliers to the customer experience, your sales and service leaders and teams are probably concerned, both personally and from …

How do I keep the cabin safe and people calm? Read Post »

how-do-I-think-and-act-like-Sully

How do I think and act like Sully?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, covid-19, Customer Service, Innovation, Opportunity, Sales Psychology, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy

Do you remember the plane that landed on the Hudson River in New York City in 2009?

Your business might not have been struck directly – like Captain Sullenberger’s plane had been hit by a flock of geese – but the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis has hit us all directly or indirectly creating with it the challenges and opportunities to keep your business going and your teams engaged, productive and sales fit while working remotely or still in the field with your clients. The opportunity during what might be a more quiet time for many businesses is to adjust …

How do I think and act like Sully? Read Post »

Organisations are nothing without communication and relationships

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Communication, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Teamwork

Organisations can only exist when there is an active system of communication between parties that creates the scaffolding of relationship dynamics. Without communication and relationships, organisations are hollow, empty. And as much as good communication can do for an organisation, bad communication or the lack thereof can tear it down.

In times of crisis and major up upheaval like we are all currently experiencing– in families, businesses, communities, governments, economies and societies – the content, quality and frequency of communication is paramount to our survival, literally.

In particular, what we say as leaders, how we say it and how often we say …

Organisations are nothing without communication and relationships Read Post »

Necessity is the mother of invention: How to keep on selling better during COVID-19

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Collaboration, Common Ground, Communication, Ethics & Values, Opportunity, Sales Essentials, Sales Leadership, Sales Planning, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy, Sales Tips, Sales Training, Selling Better, Strategy, Success, Wellbeing

As the world responds to contain the COVID-19 disease, we want to make sure that your and our teams stay safe so we are adjusting our commitments and activities in accordance to current regulations.

We also understand that for businesses these are troubling times, but there are ways forward. As they say ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. We want to stay by your side and help you assess your situation, whether that be devising a sales strategy in line with the new reality, or helping your staff keep the business going in a feasible and responsible way. At Barrett we …

Necessity is the mother of invention: How to keep on selling better during COVID-19 Read Post »

Storytelling for Better Sales & Enriching Relationships

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Communication, Ethics & Values, Gratitude, Self Development, Self Promotion, Vision, Mission & Purpose

The truth is we all tell stories every day in a myriad of ways in varieties of situations for a variety of reasons.

In ancient times, oral storytelling was the original way we passed down our knowledge and wisdom to the next generation.  Here in Australia, First Nations people call it The Dreamtime.

Storytelling is inherent in human nature. Storytelling is inherent in sales.

Stories told and aligned to the organisation’s purpose and principles, enrich, transform and sell.

Storytelling like Selling, is ubiquitous. 

How well we tell stories, the right stories at the right time for the right reasons to the right people well that’s a whole other story.

This is what I would like to focus on here, especially as it relates to selling.

But I have to set the scene with you first.

Over 10 years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Sandy McDonald, an author, TEDx speaker, and a clarity and storytelling trainer and coach. I was presenting to a group of people at a public seminar on The Psychology of Call Reluctance and the Fear of Self Promotion. Sandy was in the audience. The reason I remember Sandy so well is that a few days post this session, she sent me a blog she had written about me, my topic and the stories I shared and the positive impact it had on her. This had never happened to me before and I was very moved by her narrative.

We connected on Linkedin, chatted every now and then but it wasn’t until early 2019 that we reconnected again on a much deeper level. You see I had just released my book ‘142 Days of Gratitude that changed my life forever’ and posted a chapter excerpt which explained what prompted me to write the book. Sandy reconnected with me again posting her story about what my story meant to her.

What became clear is that our relationship was being forged on storytelling and that storytelling is at the heart of every human relationship. Which is why we are now working together to help other people develop their craft in storytelling to build meaningful connections and forge better relationships that drive better business and create better outcomes personally and professionally.

I’m a storyteller by default because I have never studied the craft of storytelling like Sandy has. For instance, Sandy’s been working with us to Barrett to help us further develop our stories. She’s been working with us on how we tell the story of our 25 years of evolution at Barr

Storytelling for Better Sales & Enriching Relationships Read Post »

The Holy Trinity of Selling

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Buying, Collaboration, Common Ground, Communication, Ethics & Values, Opportunity, Sales Skills, Sales Talent, Solution Selling

This post has been inspired by my colleague, Ben Shute, who I work arm in arm with bridging the divide between sales and procurement. He wrote about the Holy Trinity of Procurement Skills and so challenged me to do the same for Sales.

Here is my contribution.

The profession of selling requires a whole range of capabilities. It’s hard to know where to begin to define the 3 core elements for sales – the Holy Trinity of Selling.

So I’ll start with the master categories of Knowledge, Skills and Mindset from Barrett’s Sales Competency Dictionary.

Knowledge

Let’s …

The Holy Trinity of Selling Read Post »

Scroll to Top