Is Consumerism past its use-by-date?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Innovation, Optimism, Selling Better, Sustainability & Environment

This is a very interesting, perplexing and vexing question which is now being discussed at all levels of society.

This question is not only an economic and business question but, increasingly, a moral question challenging the very nature of how we make a living, how we make money and how we function as communities, economies and societies.

At this very point in our existence when anyone can reach almost everyone, everywhere, selling our wares and enticing people to buy, we, in the West at least, are confronted by the spectre of overconsumption, excessive waste with its environmental impacts and the ignominy of …

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Trust, financial institutions and the markets.

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Sales Trends, Selling Better

Sales Trend 2 of the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2019 touches on a very timely topic in Australia – trust and the financial sector.

By guest author David Robertson, Head of Economic and Market Research, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank.

2018 has not been a good year for the stock prices of Australian financial institutions, with the ‘Financials’ sub-index of the ASX200 down over 16% from its high of 6621 in January. The rest of the market is also lower but not to the same extent –and the broader ASX200 index did reach a fresh ’18 peak recently in August …

Trust, financial institutions and the markets. Read Post »

The rise of Ethical Selling in the new world order: The history of Sales Methodologies, revised & updated

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Selling Better, Solution Selling

Selling is a hot topic, especially the louder calls for more ethical, fairer, purpose driven business and selling practices. Given the recent findings from the Australian Banking Royal Commission and the emerging new world transparency highlighting various unethical, immoral and unsustainable business and sales practices across the collective value chain, the rise of an Ethical Purpose Driven Selling Methodology, as the new world order, is making its way into mainstream consciousness.

This got us revisiting our whitepaper, The History of Sales Methodologies – why some work and others don’t which we published in 2013. We wondered if there were enough significant …

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Sales Trend 1: Selling in times of social mistrust

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Optimism

Sales trend 1 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends for 2019 tackles the issue of selling when trust in businesses and institutions is low.

While there has never been a better time to be alive with access to wonderful resources and opportunities, amazing innovations, advances in technology and better healthcare, that can encourage the potential for our evolution and mutual prosperity, there is a shadow of mistrust that is following us everywhere.

We have more choices than ever before, and yet, we are more wary, cynical and cautious. We are flooded with oceans of information that are polluted with fake news …

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24 years in business and 24 Big Lessons to share

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Entrepreneurship, Ethics & Values, Opportunity, Optimism, Selling Better, Success

This week marks the 24th anniversary since I founded Barrett and, over the summer break, I had some time to reflect upon myself, my business’ journey and the many, many lessons learned over the last 24 years.

We often get our ‘business lessons’ from big corporates about how to do this or that; however, I have found that many of these corporate lessons do not always translate well into small (few than 20 employees) to medium sized businesses which make up over 90% of all business in Australia.

So given that I fall into that 90+% category and have managed to …

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The road less travelled – Selling Better

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Entrepreneurship, Ethics & Values, Opportunity, Selling Better

On 9 January, 1995 I took the road less travelled when I chose to start my business dedicated to Selling Better rather than follow the traditional path of Selling More, and that has made all the difference.

As a business owner, entrepreneur, and pattern systems thinker amongst other things, it has been a fascinating and interesting journey of discovery on many levels: personally, professionally, intellectually, culturally, ethically, philosophically, and systems-wise.

While I am originally a science graduate who specialised in medical and biological subjects, I have adapted and evolved into an architect, engineer, behavioural scientist and philosopher who focuses …

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12 things we’ve learned so far about Selling Better in a 21st Century world

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Opportunity, Optimism, Sales Culture, Sales Results, Selling Better, Success

My team and I have been studying sales teams, salespeople, sales operating systems, sales strategies, sales processes, and sales cultures across a wide variety of industries in the public and private sectors, N4P and government since 1995 and we have seen and learned a lot of things.

Here is some of what we have learned:

  • Selling is everybody’s business and everybody lives by selling something
  • Selling starts with opportunity and purposeful optimism
  • Selling is the vehicle that allows opportunity to flourish and people to prosper; nothing happens until something gets sold
  • Selling at its best is when humans solve …

    • 12 things we’ve learned so far about Selling Better in a 21st Century world Read Post »

    Unethical Selling, not Selling, should be on trial at the Banking Royal Commission

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Competition, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Selling Better

    With the handing down of the Interim Report from the Banking Royal Commission, Commissioner Hayne was scathing in his assessment of the banking finance sector, especially the big 4 banks and large insurance and investment firms, such as AMP, for enabling their cultures of greed to flourish at the expense of customers’ wellbeing, principled and ethical business practice.

    Commissioner Hayne said the key questions the commission had to answer were why such poor conduct had occurred and how to stop it happening again.

    He added that, in many cases, the answer to the first question was obvious.

    “Too often, the answer seems to …

    Unethical Selling, not Selling, should be on trial at the Banking Royal Commission Read Post »

    4 Questions to Test if your Sales & Prospecting Tactics are Ethical

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Performance Management, Prospecting, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Management, Sales Motivation & Rewards, Selling Better
  • Do other people stand to gain from your sales tactics and actions?
  • Do your sales tactics and actions have a positive influence on your own and others’ well-being and self-esteem?
  • Do your sales tactics and actions move you and your customer closer to your respective short- and long-term goals?
  • Would most people approve of how you prospect for new business and sell?

    • If each of us can honestly answer “yes” to these questions, then it would appear that our sales and prospecting efforts are underpinned by sound ethics and behaviours and set up to deliver a fair exchange of value for both buyer and …

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    This didn’t happen in my time …

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Opportunity, Optimism, Selling Better, Success

    Today it happens it is the same
    to be decent or a traitor
    To be an ignorant, wise, a pickpocket,
    a generous person or a swindler
    All is the same, nothing is better
    They are the same, a fool
    and a professor
    There are no failing grades or hierarchy,
    the immoral people have caught up with us.
    If one lives in deceit
    and another, in their ambition, steals.
    It’s the same if it’s a priest,
    a mattress maker, a king of clubs,
    a rascal or a stowaway.

    Currently this seems to be the world we live in, and everywhere we turn, …

    This didn’t happen in my time … Read Post »

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