Customers are in control of the buying process

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Sales Results

In December 2012, we published the 12 Sales Trends Report for 2013 and released a brief summary of each trend. This month we are focusing on the Sales Trend “Customers in control of the buying process”.

It is good practice for salespeople to control the sales process. At least that is the conventional wisdom driving the way salespeople behave. Salespeople see themselves as experts, educators and advisors. They see their customers as ignorant and anxious recipients, waiting for their wisdom. The reality however is vastly different!

Customers aren’t waiting for salespeople …

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Are you paying salespeople enough to sell well?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Talent

Are you paying your salespeople enough to enable them to focus on selling and not worry about where their next paycheck is coming from?  Because if salespeople are constantly worrying about when they are going to get paid, how can they sell well?

For many years, unlike most other salaried employees who can rely on a regular weekly/monthly pay check, salespeople have often been required to live hand-to-mouth – making sales and waiting for their commission or bonus to supplement their living income.  Often the …

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Ego is a dirty word in sales & sales management

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Communication, Competition, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Sales Management, Sales Talent, Wellbeing

Having a big ego is often associated with the sales profession.   For many years the supercharged Alpha male, 600 lb sales gorilla has been the poster person for successful salespeople.   And then there is the larger than life sales manager who charges in to save the day by taking over the sales call, making the sale and demonstrating to everyone present just how much better he is than the salesperson.  With stories like these swirling in the ether, it is often assumed that a …

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First, people buy the salesperson

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Customer Service, Education in Sales, Sales Skills

Here’s a simple reality… Prospects and customers buy the salesperson first during every sales call – or they don’t buy at all.

In any major sale, especially Business-to-Business (B2B) or complex Business-to-Consumer sales, the prospect or customer makes a predictable series of buying decisions that lead to a final purchasing decision. The first and perhaps the most important of these is:

                ‘Do I buy what this salesperson is saying?’

This decision is always made before the prospect or customer will seriously consider factors such as your product or service offering and price.  Yet many

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Empathy – The New Sales Edge

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Emotional Intelligence, Life Skills, Mindful selling, Neuroscience, Sales Psychology

Late last year we published the 12 Sales Trends Report for 2013 and released a brief summary of each sales trend in December.  Over the year we will delve a little deeper into each sales trend.  To kick off the New Year we will focus on the Sales Trend Empathy.

This sales trend is seeing smart businesses making it a priority to redress the balance and develop our brains’ Interpersonal sensitivities: our empathetic side to take into account the needs of others as well …

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The polarisation of selling & buying

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Education in Sales, Sales Driven Organisations

Watch out for polarisation of sales strategies and sales teams as the middle ground begins to disappear in 2012. We will see leaders re-think their sales force structures and go-to-market strategies as products commoditise and real margin value shifts to ideas, education, innovation and results.  ‘The Polarisation of selling & buying’ is the 9th Sales Trend for 2012 voted by our readers.

In the 21st Century a sales-driven organisation needs …

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Intuitive CRM

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, CRM

‘Intuitive Customer Centric CRM’ was voted by our readers as the number 10 Sales Trend of the 12 Sales Trends of 2012.  The goal of a CRM solution should be to drive growth (i.e. revenue) and maximize efficiencies (i.e. profit) in business practices and processes developing relationship management (sales) with customers at the centre of every decision.

However, for too long CRMs and sales automation have essentially been technological concepts foisted on salespeople by IT specialists who convinced management (not sales) that CRMs and SAs would …

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Stop talking Price and talk Value instead

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Education in Sales, Sales Tips

We have been exploring the increasing spate of businesses and sales people complaining about ‘price’ being their biggest issue when it comes to not closing enough sales.

“Our prices are higher than our rivals. That’s the main reason for us losing business opportunities…” We have heard that statement at just about every sales training course we have ever run.  Not just in Australia, but across much of the world.

In our opinion using the price argument is a lazy excuse: blaming high prices for the failing to get a deal is an easy way out for

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Every Sales Person Starts as an Educator

By / / Communication, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Mindful selling, Negotiation, Sales Culture, Sales Skills

‘Educate and Facilitate’ was voted by our readers as the fourth most important sales trend in Barrett’s 2012 Sales Trends Report. With the 21st Century ‘selling’ not being about features and benefits anymore what has taken its place? Effective selling is a journey from education to opportunity. To sell something we need to educate in order to facilitate an opportunity. Our buyers determine where on that journey we must join them. Is it a well-informed buyer for whom we simply need facilitate the opportunity they seek? …

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The Difference Between Selling and Negotiating

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Mindful selling, Negotiation, Sales Coaching, Sales Culture, Sales Management, Sales Skills, Sales Training, Success

Many people, especially sales people, often share the mistaken belief that Negotiation forms part of every sale which is not true. We often hear ‘my people need to be able to negotiate’ when upon further inspection they first need to learn how to sell. The reason many rely so much on negotiating is that their initial sales job was a poor effort. They neglected to properly establish the clients’ real priorities and needs and didn’t demonstrate how they can help the customer achieve results; financially as well as via their products, services, knowledge or intellectual …

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