Why Marketing can’t fix a Sales Problem

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Sales Results, Success

When sales start to dry up or the business doesn’t seem to be getting traction with customers, many small to medium (SME) sized businesses will usually turn to Marketing in the first, and often only instance, as their preferred solution to fixing poor sales results.

Why? Because many people have been taught to think they have a marketing problem when they actually have a sales problem.

As a result, many start-ups and SME businesses have failed to get traction and then fallen over because they didn’t address their sales problem with the right sales solution, instead relying on marketing.

Unless you are an …

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Sales Trend 4 – Sales & Marketing Unite

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Marketing, Sales Strategy, Sales Trends

Sales Trend 4 of Barrett’s 12 Sales Trends for 2016 is Sales & Marketing Unite.

For too many years there have been various degrees of finger-pointing and strained relations between the Sales and Marketing departments, and in too many cases open hostility. The ‘us and them’ approach has kept these two important disciplines at arms’ length from each other. This undoubtedly diminishes the power and potential of their united efforts. Management has long called for sales and marketing to bury the hatchet, but the requests often lack urgency and are generally met with indifference.

With shrinking markets, micro segments, more informed buyers …

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The 7 differences between Selling, Marketing & Networking

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Education in Sales, Marketing, Networking

As I have stated before I am a stickler for using correct definitions when describing concepts and their elements.

In music, science, mathematics, physics and engineering we do not usually debate the definition of these constructs. We accept that a crotchet is a crotchet, a prime number is a prime number and so on. No debate.

However, in the world of business and, especially in the world of Selling, we get all sorts of definitions floating about with meanings both dubious and factual. This causes, at best, confusion and, at worst, unnecessary angst.

In the world of selling I have met too many …

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david-bowie-the-future-belongs-to-those-who-can-hear-it-coming

David Bowie – a role model for all entrepreneurs

By / / Business Acumen, Collaboration, Entrepreneurship, Life Skills, Marketing, Sales Strategy, Self Promotion, Success

The sad passing of David Bowie this last week has brought a huge wave of emotional outpouring from many parts of the world including myself. I grew up with David Bowie. He has been in my life as long as I can remember. He was, I admit, my most favourite  music star of all. I loved everything about him and remember him with much love and affection. I have the books and albums, I have been to his concerts, and most recently attended that wonderful exhibition ‘David Bowie is’ which tracked his life and highlighted his contributions to music, art, …

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If you’re not selling, you’re supporting someone who is

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Communication, Customer Service, Marketing

Last week I wrote about ‘making promises you can keep and keeping the promises you make’ and when the rhetoric and reality do not coincide thus leaving customers disappointed at best and downright cynical and mad at worst.

No business is perfect that’s for sure; however, if the intention of the business and its people is to genuinely help and serve customers for a fair exchange of value (whatever that is deemed to be) then everyone in the company needs to be trained -in what is relevant to each role: how to sell, serve and/or communicate- to a …

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Make promises you can keep & keep the promises you make

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Marketing

You may have noticed in recent times that many companies, especially larger organisations, are focusing their marketing and advertising efforts on trying to portray themselves as caring and empathic to whatever cause they think is important to us; the ‘we understand you and what you are going through’ approach; trying to talk to us in a personal, friendly manner like they are our closest friends, and your call is ‘really’ important to us ‘trust me’ tones.

Well, I am not buying it at all. And neither are many other people. We’ve had enough.

Why? Because the rhetoric very rarely matches the reality …

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The legitimisation of Sales Strategy

By / / Marketing, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Strategy, Sales Trends

The 10th Sales Trend for 2014 is ‘The Legitimisation of Sales Strategy’

Having a sales strategy is now of vital importance to the survival, growth and profitability of any organisation. Yet Sales Strategy, as a business discipline, has been poorly understood by sales managers and executive leadership teams alike, and rarely, if ever, executed well by many businesses… however, times are indeed changing.

Sales Strategy is how the business organises its sales efforts across the value chain to go to market, who it is going to sell to and how it …

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Sales Trend 5 – The move to Micro Sales Segmentation

By / / Education in Sales, Marketing, Sales Management, Sales Strategy, Sales Trends

Since 2009 we have been publishing our Annual 12 Sales Trends reports. It has been very interesting to see the speed at which these trends are taking hold and becoming the new normal in business. Here is the fifth Sales Trend for 2014 – The Move to Micro Sales Segmentation.

In 2014 sales teams are dealing with specific complexities (down markets, knowledgeable buyer, buyers with the pressure to cut costs, buyers that are ill-informed, etc). The approach that Marketing has to segmentation doesn’t completely deal with these …

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Marketing (as we know it) is dead

By / / Marketing

The final Sales Trend for 2013 is ”Marketing (as we know it) is dead” but you probably already know that given the rapid changes happening in our markets.

Traditional marketing, i.e. advertising, PR, branding and corporate communications, has become little more than an expensive, very often valueless mass communications methodology and has failed. Marketing has been at death’s door for well over a decade. It’s just that marketing professionals don’t want to recognise the reality!

There are three pointers that prove this:

  • Buyers are no longer paying much attention to marketing messages. Studies show …

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    7 differences between Sales and Marketing

    By / / Business Acumen, Collaboration, Education in Sales, Marketing

    If any business is going to thrive in the 21st century it’s vital that we all have a clear understanding of how Sales and Marketing can work effectively together in our businesses. For too long, there have been unfruitful turf wars between sales and marketing teams. For too long, too many people have been fooled into believing that ‘sales’ lives under marketing’s mandate. And for too long, too many people have been calling ‘selling’ marketing which it is not.

    We need to redress these issues once and for all and properly define

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