Navigating the Brave New World of Sales

Navigating the Brave New World of Sales

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Business Growth, Human-centred, Hybrid Selling, Innovation, Leadership, Opportunity, Remote selling, Sales Trends

In 45 seconds

Key Insights from the Barrett Event (28/11/24) with Alex Fein, RedBridge and Sue Barrett, Barrett:

Erosion of Trust:

  • Alex Fein discussed growing public scepticism toward institutions, media, and corporations, driven by a disconnect between personal expectations and failing public systems
  • Businesses need empathy and qualitative insights to understand and address these sentiments effectively

AI in Business:

  • Caution against over-reliance on AI; it enhances operations but cannot replace human connection
  • Leaders should use AI selectively to complement human-centred practices

Building Trust:

  • Sue Barrett emphasised long-term value creation over short-term wins
  • Businesses should focus on solving real problems to foster trust and deliver meaningful value

Modern Sales Practices:

  • Hybrid selling is …

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Barrett Sales Trend Report 2024 Logo 750x280

Striking Balance – Barrett’s 12 Sales & Business Trends for 2024

By / / Blog, Business Growth, Collaboration, Communication, Customer experience, Customer Service, Customer-centric, Digital credentials, Education in Sales, Emotional Intelligence, Ethics & Values, Human-centred, Hybrid Selling, Leadership, Learning and Development, Opportunity, Sales Consulting, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Growth, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Methodology, Sales Operations, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy, Sales Tips, Sales Training, Sales Trends, Selling Better, Soft skills, Solution Selling, Strategy, Success, Value Based Selling

In December 2023 we published Barrett’s 12 Sales & Business Trends for 2024. This is a summary of that report, in case you missed it.

For decades, the business world has been dominated by what looked like opposites to choose from. You could be a hunter or a gatherer, a manager or a leader.

These concepts have been pitched to the business community as opposing and mutually exclusive choices, forcing a binary mindset. These polarisations don’t apply to modern businesses and sales operations – and they haven’t served us well for some time now.

In 2023 we’ve worked with businesses across industries and …

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unlocking_success_in_sales

Unlocking Success: From Sales Challenges to Extraordinary Results

By / / Blog, Business Growth, Opportunity, Sales Growth, Sales Operations, Sales Research, Sales Results, Selling Better

In 30 seconds

We conducted some internal research here at Barrett by collating and analysing all the sales issues that appear in briefs that we have taken from clients and prospects since 2018. We found that nearly 90% of the problems faced by businesses we have engaged with can be attributed to two crucial areas – inconsistency in sales standards and sales coaching, and lack of clear go-to-market sales strategy and compelling value propositions – Why Us.

In 2.5 minutes

As we approach the end of the financial year here in Australia and businesses are looking at where to invest their budgets for …

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the-need-for-change

Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes… why it pays to be an early adopter & change agent

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, covid-19, Decarbonising, Entrepreneurship, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Leadership, Opportunity, Strategy, Vision, Mission & Purpose

Welcome to 2022. Each year I write a reflection piece on achieving another year in business. On 9th January 2022, we celebrated 27 years, and I couldn’t think of a more appropriate theme than David Bowie’s song, Changes.

These song lyrics seem rather apt given the current times and the journey that my team and I have been on over the last nearly 3 decades, especially the last two as we all navigate and enter yet another covid pandemic year.

To me Changes is about finding your voice, your purpose, and not accepting the status quo. Changes is about not being bullied …

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kick start your sales growth

Seven Things to Kick Start Sales Growth in the New FY

By / / Assessments, Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, covid-19, Customer Service, Education in Sales, Learning and Development, Opportunity, Remote selling, Sales Growth, Sales Leadership, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy, Sales System, Sales Tips, Sales Training, Strategy

No mucking around. Let’s get straight to the point.

Things have changed -dramatically- as a result of COVID with new opportunities and markets emerging, old ways of doing things in decline, leaders and teams needing to rethink how we do business, and customers trying out different ways of buying and engaging with suppliers. There’s no time to stand still it seems, but that is what we need to do sometimes to catch our breath, reset, and look at what we need to do next.

So here are 7 things you can do to get real sales traction and sustainable sales and business …

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I’m in sales, you’re in sales, we’re all in sales

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Brain Science, Call Reluctance, Everybody lives by selling something, Human-centred, Life Skills, Opportunity, Prospecting, Sales Psychology, Selling Better, Success

When my eldest son was eleven, he said to me ‘Mum I don’t believe everybody lives by selling something’. I said, ‘That’s interesting, why do you say that?’ and he started to try to persuade and convince me as to why this statement wasn’t true. So I said to him ‘by you trying to persuade and convince me why this isn’t true, aren’t you trying to sell me something?’ To which he said ‘Ahh, I get it Mum.’

Yes, we are all in sales, one way or another.

If you have ever tried to initiate contact with a person …

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7 things you can do immediately to sell better now plus some extras

By / / Blog, Business Acumen, Collaboration, Common Ground, Gratitude, Opportunity, Sales System, Strategy, Success, Trust

In September 2019 I wrote an article “7 things you can do immediately to improve your sales results in challenging markets” and while a lot has happened since, the core elements of this advice remain true. However, given the advent of Covid and the many lessons learned since, I’d like to include and emphasise the virtues of Trustworthiness, Cooperation and Gratitude because they underpin good business.

Many people’s perspectives and priorities have shifted in the last year beyond the mere matter of making money. They are closely examining their relationship to work, careers, each other …

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The Big Reset Opportunity: Leadership, Sales Strategy & a United Purpose

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Opportunity, Sales Leadership

Vladimir Lenin said over a century ago “There are decades where nothing happens and weeks where decades happen.”

I think we can all relate to that at some time or another over the past 12 months.

The Big Reset Opportunity – Weeks where decades happen

We are at a particular time where we are resetting how we work. Some are going to keep on going remotely, others are going back to the office, whilst the majority is inclined towards a hybrid model. This, together with the changes in the market, place us at a moment ripe with opportunity because we can also reset …

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2020-sales-trends-virtual-event--the-time-is-now

2020 Sales Trends Virtual Event – The Time is NOW

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Collaboration, Common Ground, covid-19, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Human-centred, Opportunity, Optimism, Remote selling, Sales Strategy, Sales System, Sales Trends, Selling Better

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What a year it has been. 

On Friday 13th March, as we were observing the COVID-19 situation we decided to postpone the Barrett Annual Sales Trend Breakfast, planned for March 25th.

Nine months later, on 25 November, we hosted our event virtually. We explored the 2020 Sales Trends, which seem to be even more relevant now than when we wrote them. For our virtual event we assembled our …

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lost-revenue-due-to-covid-19

Lost sales revenue? – Start fixing it now

By / / Blog, covid-19, Opportunity, Sales Essentials, Sales Results

Many SMEs have, at the moment, a sales revenue problem mostly due to the challenges that have been brought about by the pandemic.

The brutal fact is that we will have to reset and redouble our sales efforts. This doesn’t mean doing more of what we have been doing, it means re-thinking what we are selling, how we are selling, and to whom. That is the only way to find and realise opportunities in the current conditions.

Waiting for the phone to ring or a lead to come in and not knowing how to look at other markets for revenue opportunities is …

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