2015 Sales Trends Event – How to sell better in a complex world

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Sales Leadership, Sales Trends, Strategy, Success

On Wednesday 6 May we hosted our 2015 Barrett 12 Sales Trends Annual Business Breakfast where many senior business and sales leaders came to hear about and discuss the theme for the event this year, ‘Transparency and the Middle Path’ – How to sell better in a complex world. It was great to see the room filled to capacity again as it was for the inaugural event last year.

It also gave us the opportunity to formally celebrate our 20th year in business and thank the Barrett team and our clients and supporters, many of whom were there …

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Corporate social responsibility at the sales coal face – no more only ‘what’s in it for me’

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Sustainability & Environment

Imagine our organisations making people feel good because they bought from us; imagine people changing their behaviours for the better because  our organisations showed them how; imagine the kinds of conversations and messages that will happen in our businesses when our people see what their contribution is making to the lives of their customers and their teams.

This is not the stuff of fantasy this is now happening in real time with real people. In late 2012 we published the detailed 49 page 12 Sales Trends Report for 2013 and released …

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Buyer Beware of Trademark Scams & Scammers

By / / Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values

As much as we promote and encourage honourable and effective selling and buying practices it is just as important to keep an eye open for the latest scams and scammers looking for unsuspecting victims. One of the latest scams dogging businesses and business owners is the area of the registered Trademark where business are receiving unsolicited invitations or requests from companies purporting to be from official government agencies.  As you may be aware Trademarks are the new real estate in the world of brands, slogans and 140 character messages that flood the market every day. Capturing people’s attention in a …

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Does your sales team or culture need a detox?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Sales Culture, Sales Psychology, Uncategorized

It doesn’t take much to sow the seeds of discontent in business today, and the potential for creating dysfunctional, “toxic” sales teams and culture is much easier than you think. There are so many things that can and do go wrong.

We at Barrett have met and worked with a great many sales teams across all sorts of industries over the years. In all honesty, we are yet to come across the ‘perfect’ sales team. That doesn’t mean to say that there aren’t great sales teams operating out there, because they do exist, but like every great team, their greatest can ebb …

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Watch who you let near your mind…again!

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Neuroscience, Sales Psychology

In early 2008, as the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) loomed, I wrote ‘Watch who you let near your mind’. This was a timely reminder about the importance of maintaining a healthy mindset, looking for the facts for an accurate read on what is happening in the market place so you can make wise decisions. It served to warn about falling into the trap of relying on innuendo, hearsay and group think to define your future success. Guess what? I find myself again talking about the same issue in 2012, even …

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A seismic shift in the way we sell

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Sales Leadership

If you were looking for things to settle down and a return to the good old days of selling in 2012 and beyond think again. We’re never going back. It’s now time to adapt and forge a new path for sellingin your business.

Selling is now everybody’s business and everybody lives by selling something with ‘A Seismic shift in the way we sell’ voted the seventh most important sales trend for 2012 fromThe 12 Sales Trends of 2012by our readers.

The way we sell and the way we do business …

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Seeing with New Eyes

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Ethics & Values, Sustainability & Environment, Teamwork, Uncategorized

Joel Barker, a Futurist, has been a favourite thinker of mine for many years. His way of seeing the world with new eyes, his openness to possibility has inspired me to dream and explore the world. In times of unprecedented change we can be forgiven for feeling scared or worried. We can find ourselves looking backwards at the ‘good ‘ol days’ instead of forwards. We can feel closed to opportunity instead of seeing new possibilities as liberating.

Rather than dwell on the past and become nostalgic I propose we breathe deeply and take a look into the future to see what …

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It’s Not WHAT You Do But WHY & HOW You Do It

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Mindful selling, Sales Culture

In December 2011 we published The 12 Sales Trends of 2012 and invited readers to vote on what they thought would be the most important trends in sales for this year. ‘It’s not WHAT you do but WHY & HOW you do it’ topped the rankings.

It seems that having a Purpose, the WHY, which is more than just making a profit, is becoming a key focus as businesses, leaders and employees alike seek to find more meaning in their work and each other and most importantly their …

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How your procurement practices affect your sales and brand

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Procurement, Sales Culture

Ethical selling and procurement (purchasing) is now in the spotlight. Harvey Norman’s recent publicity surrounding their supposed sourcing and use of Australian native old growth forest timbers in their Chinese made furniture has drawn light on retail procurement practices.

Harvey Norman have been asked by activist groups NGO Markets for Change and GetUp.org.au to explain themselves. GetUp.org.au has even gone to the lengths of creating and distributing a viral advertisement after the Television Classification Board refused to classify the ad, concerned about potential legal action if they did so. …

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What are your relationships built on?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Ethics & Values, Self Development

If you are in business for the long haul then you know the value of building your business relationships on solid foundations. Too many times people have fallen foul of the broken promises and pipe dreams offered by those people whose only intention is to make money at your expense. I can recall a few incidents in my career where I have given people the benefit of the doubt only to be let down and in some very rare incidents, ripped off.

In sales and business we meet people every day and need to be able to size up and make …

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