Should ‘Selling’ be studied at University?

By / / Coaching, Education in Sales, Sales Research, Sales Training, Self Development, Success

Barrett Research invites you to express your opinion about whether ‘Selling’ should be an applied academic degree. Please complete our Graduate Degree for the Sales Profession’ survey and voice your views.

With the profession of Selling becoming increasingly more complex involving many more variables and the shift from product being at the heart of selling to strategic relationships, collaboration, true value, sustainability and transparency now on the agenda we believe it’s time for ‘Selling’ to step out under the shadow of Marketing and MBA’s to have its own degree status. Recently I was invited to …

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Who’s delivering your sales training?

By / / Education in Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Management, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy, Sales Talent, Sales Tips, Sales Training

You cannot fake real sales experience and sales wisdom. It is one of the professions that is the hardest to teach and train because without real life sales experience you are at risk of being seen as inauthentic.

To help you make the best choice when it comes to selecting the right sales trainer let’s consider the following:

  • What capabilities do you need to be a good sales trainer?
  • What attitudes and mindsets can makes sales people and sales results worse?

To sell or not to sell

Without real life sales experience, you will are likely to lack empathy and real insight for the …

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Why developing your Sales Managers is the key to your sales success

By / / Business Acumen, Coaching, Competition, Education in Sales, Performance Management, Sales Coaching, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Strategy

It may surprise you to discover that many Sales Managers learn how to be a Manager on their own.

According to the latest international study on Sales Training and Sales Force Effectiveness, many Sales Managers are given very little or no support when it comes to being a competent, effective Sales Manager. In fact, many Sales Managers reported that they were given no formal training in Sales Management practices, either before or during their tenure as a Sales Manager.

The study reported that Sales Management training is the category of sales training …

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Why everybody lives by selling something – part 2

By / / Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Education in Sales, Marketing, Procurement, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Leadership, Sales Results, Social Media, Social Sales

For some time now I have been testing the concept of ‘everybody lives by selling something’ with almost everyone I meet, including senior leadership teams (comprising of HR, Finance, IT, Operations, and Sales), primary school teachers and administration staff, senior banking risk professionals, and health professionals (including my podiatrist and GP).

I am curious to see how people respond and how they see themselves in relation to the concept of ‘everybody lives by selling something’.

Often when one mentions the words ‘selling’ or ‘sales’ you can see people visibly recoil in disgust, with many immediately saying something like “I don’t sell” or …

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Does everyone live by selling something?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Marketing, Procurement, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Leadership, Sales Skills, Teamwork, Vision, Mission & Purpose

‘Does everyone live by selling something?’

My desire to seek answers to this question was ignited back in the late 1980’s when I came across the quote ‘Everyone lives by selling something’. The quote was coined by Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist, poet, travel writer and author of ‘Treasure Island’, in the late 1880’s some 100 years earlier.

It is interesting to note that Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. He was also greatly admired by many authors such as Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov and others. Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because …

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The Entrepreneurial Sales Person

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Emotional Intelligence, Neuroscience in Sales, Prospecting, Resilience, Role Clarity, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Motivation & Rewards, Sales Relationships, Sales Talent, Self Development, Success

As part of my ongoing professional and personal development I belong to a CEO leadership group where we meet monthly and discuss a whole range of topics to stimulate our thinking and decision making.

Recently we discussed the concept and qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs. Besides making the obvious comparisons with ourselves as to whether we met the criteria of successful entrepreneurs I found the content translated extremely well into what I and other research is seeing in successful sales people today.

It seemed to me that successful sales people had a lot in common with successful entrepreneurs who are often the main …

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Sales Training is not a luxury – it’s essential

By / / Education in Sales, Performance Management, Sales Coaching, Sales Culture, Sales Excellence Acadamy, Sales Research, Sales Skills, Sales Training

Keeping you and your sales team ‘match fit’ and actively engaged in the market place selling effectively is paramount to your survival and success in today’s market. Yet too many businesses, large and small, do not train their sales teams in the vital skills needed in the much more consultative, value add, less product focused market of today.

I was reminded of this again when I was speaking with a 35+ year veteran in sales and sales management who works in the office equipment and facilities management industry. We were discussing the sales team he has inherited recently and how they …

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Constipated by information

By / / Communication, Education in Sales, Role Clarity, Sales Planning, Social Media, Social Sales, Time Management

I confess, like most sales people I do not like – no I hate – paperwork and administration, because in my experience most of it is unnecessary.

Aggh! I hear some people say “information is vital for any business”. Yes it is, but not all of it. What information and how much of it do we really need?

As a sales person I do know the importance of information. It allows me to be focused when getting on the phone and out into the field to find more viable sales opportunities. I am focused on who I need to contact, how I …

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