What does Selling Better mean for customers and shareholder return?

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

I have to start with the bad news on this topic.

Are any of us surprised by the current revelations stemming from the Australian Banking Royal Commission?

Possibly not.

Are any of us surprised as to the extent of the unethical and illegal behaviours documented and admissions made by senior management into the systemic corruption of their businesses, especially in the financial planning sector?

Possibly yes.

It is utterly astounding, the admissions being made by senior management of the likes of AMP and CBA. Then comes the audacity of blaming growing shareholder returns as their excuse to exploit and deceive customers. Saying they were unaware …

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What does Selling Better mean to sales team’s retention rates?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Customer Service, Education in Sales, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Essentials, Sales Process Maps, Sales Strategy, Selling Better, Uncategorized

What do you make of this statistic?

The average tenure of a sales representative across Europe and USA is currently 15 months.

Ouch!

There are other stats that also show the average staff turnover can be anything around 25-50% per annum, or more in some cases.  Some call centres experience turnover rates of over 70% per annum.

These statistics are alarming because the costs associated with poor engagement and high staff turnover are monumental and can manifest in many ways including decline in sales, poor customer service, loss of reputation leading to more loss of customers and employees, and impaired recruitment. If not addressed, …

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Should clients pay for tender and RFP submissions?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Opportunity, Procurement, Uncategorized

In principle, and ideally in practice, yes they should.

Why?

Because there is a lot of time, effort, money and IP that goes into preparing a tender or RFP (request for proposal). This also includes RFIs (request for information).

The companies requesting these tenders, RFPs and RFIs are freely benefiting from the expertise of suppliers if they are requesting highly detailed responses and expecting to pay nothing for this information. With the advent of software these companies can easily compare offerings and strip mine the IP to serve themselves at the suppliers’ expense. Basically they are getting knowledge and expertise for free and …

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The Optimistic Sales Professional

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Emotional Intelligence, Life Skills, Mindful selling, Opportunity, Optimism, Resilience, Sales Essentials, Self Development, Success

Sales is a demanding profession. Top performers know that to sustain a high level of performance, they need to keep fit and well – both physically and psychologically. And there’s a body of research showing that keeping an optimistic outlook and having the physical energy to meet the demands of working in sales are critical to a salesperson’s effectiveness, success and overall well-being. Something many of us know intuitively, but good to have it validated.

Managing and overcoming setbacks is key to succeeding in anything. In sales we are tested every day. Without a sense of optimism it would make getting …

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Sales Strategy: Ditch short-termism for robust sales strategies that drive more & better sales now & over the long-term

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Leadership, Sales Market Segmentation, Sales Research, Sales Results, Sales Strategy, Strategy, Success

‘If you don’t know where you’re going, every road will lead you nowhere’.

This famous quote is attributed to Henry Kissinger.

Why have I led with this quote? Sadly, in today’s busy, noisy and complex world, this quote represents a common state of affairs for many organisations’ CEOs, Executive Leaderships Teams, Sales Leaders and their sales teams who are struggling to make sales, retain their relevance with clients, and generate profit.

Instead, many are finding themselves in a race to the bottom price war which is not a strategy for success, instead it’s a reaction to short-termism which only leads to one’s …

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The Power of Optimism and Opportunity for Sales & Business

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

Bob Safian, Editor in Chief of Fast Company, said: “…Uncertainty reigns as rapid change disrupts expectations and social norms. Global leadership is fractured and economic conditions fluctuate widely. Specters loom, from climate change to cyberterrorism. The relentless pace can make you want to curl up in a corner, wary of what might come next. Or you can stare unblinkingly at this time of chaos and dig into the difficult work of building a better tomorrow.”

What do you see?

What will you choose?

It all starts with opportunity and optimism[1].

Opportunity is a time or set of circumstances that makes it possible …

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Sales Trend 3: Human Centred Selling – designing Empathetic Customer Centric Cultures

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Collaboration, Communication, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Customer Service, Emotional Intelligence, Sales Culture, Sales Trends

Sales Trend 3 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2018 is about Human Centred Selling.

Bestselling author and business icon Stephen Covey once said: “When you show deep empathy toward others … That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems”.

In this hyper connected world it’s easy to gain access to information and make simple online purchases that are transactional in nature; items that we know how to use ourselves. However, today there is so much information and so many choices available that many customers are finding making buying decisions overwhelming, especially when things move beyond the …

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Are your sales conferences pumping or slumping?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Communication, Sales Conference, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Strategy, Teamwork

*** Trigger Warning: May contain traces of sarcasm ***

We’ve all been there: a sea of people, pulled together from across the country or region, locked in a windowless room with artificial light, seated at round tables with mints and water, patiently waiting for the parade of presenters to finish their ‘Death by PowerPoint’ presentations so we can get to the coffee station during the day and then the bar at night to start really engaging with our colleagues. During the day some relief can be found in the smartphones that everyone will be less and less discreetly looking at repeatedly, …

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Salespeople beware tire kickers, IP thieves & time wasters

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Coaching, Communication, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values

Selling is a very time consuming set of activities at the best of times. Now with so much choice and complexity, sales cycles are taking even longer –like 20% longer– especially with multiple stakeholders in larger businesses.

So it only makes sense that we want to be sure as salespeople that a real deal is in the offering, that it is properly budgeted for, and we are in good position to win it.

Salespeople can often bend over backwards to please prospective clients, running around getting all sorts of things ready, and putting together comprehensive proposals to impress and persuade these prospective …

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Cringeworthy: how arrogance and ‘seniority’ destroy sales

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Collaboration, Communication, Sales Meetings, Sales Talent

Here is a senior manager’s account of a real life, cringeworthy example of when a so called ‘experienced’ senior consultant completely stuffs up a prospective client meeting despite the young graduate, a millennial from the vendor’s company, sitting in the meeting with them instinctively knowing better and trying to do the right thing by the client and the company:

“One of the graduates from our team went out with a senior consultant on a prospective client meeting. Throughout the meeting the senior consultant was ignoring the prospective client and just trying to push one of our products. The graduate, …

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