Why engineers, technicians & scientists might make the best salespeople in the 21st Century

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Innovation, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Pioneer, Sales Talent

It has been a long held belief that extroverts made the best salespeople; the gift of the gab, being charming and persuasive, telling a good story, people oriented and friendly, and all that. However, given the complexity of our world and the ever increasing need to make well informed decisions and manage risk before we buy, our warm, chatty, convivial friends may need to learn a lesson or two from the more ambiverted/ introverted types many of whom are deep thinking techies, geeks and nerds. More about the value of introversion in next week’s piece.

Let’s look at the merit of …

Why engineers, technicians & scientists might make the best salespeople in the 21st Century Read Post »

The difference between Cheap & Frugal Customers & how to deal with them

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Sales Skills, Sales Tips

Today, many clients whether they are B2B (business) or B2C (consumer) are looking to save money. Why? Times are uncertain, markets and demographics are shifting, there is a wide variety of choice, and it’s much easier for buyers to make product comparisons and compare prices. It is said that we are currently under the influence of a buyer’s market, and some buyers can and do drive a hard bargain.

At the same time, businesses are seeing their margins eroding so they’re putting more pressure on their salespeople to hold their margins and deliver value. That’s not always easy, especially if we …

The difference between Cheap & Frugal Customers & how to deal with them Read Post »

Why cultivating the quality of Discernment leads to better sales outcomes

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Life Skills

In this busy, cluttered and complex world the ability to make good judgements is becoming increasingly important. That is why I have been encouraging myself and others to cultivate the quality of Discernment.

What is discernment?

Discernment is the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure[1]. It comes from from Old French discerner (13c.) “distinguish (between), separate” (by sifting), and directly from Latin discernere “to separate, set apart, divide, distribute; distinguish, perceive,” from dis- “off, away” (see dis-) + cernere “distinguish, separate, sift” (see crisis)[2].

‘Applying the wisdom of our intuition to discover what is …

Why cultivating the quality of Discernment leads to better sales outcomes Read Post »

The new ABC of Sales – Always Be Coaching

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Management

Many of us may recall the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross that depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen and how they become desperate when the corporate office sends a trainer, Blake, to “motivate” them by announcing that, in one week, all except the top two salesmen will be fired.

Blake, played by Alec Baldwin unleashes a torrent of verbal abuse on the men as his form of training and one of his most infamous lines is ‘ABC – always be closing’.  This infamous line has become synonymous with some sales motivational speakers and some industries as …

The new ABC of Sales – Always Be Coaching Read Post »

How to create a positive buying experience

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Customer Service, Sales Driven Organisations

To attract new clients we need to create a positive buying experience for them.

This usually involves a combination of marketing activities and a salesperson in the first instance.

To retain clients we need to create another positive buying experience for them, and another and another, and another.

This usually involves more than just the salesperson, this can now involve a whole range of people from those who deliver, assess, implement, design, customise, coach, facilitate, create whatever has been purchased, to those who handle customer service enquiries, those in credit departments managing payments, those in chat rooms rendering tech support …

How to create a positive buying experience Read Post »

Sales Trend 6 – The Sales Curator™

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Sales Skills, Sales Trends

Sales Trend 6 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends for 2016 Report is ‘The Sales Curator™’.

A new sales capability is required in this information overloaded world. No longer are salespeople seen as the purveyors of information they once were in the 20th century, 21st century salespeople now need to be experts at sifting and sorting information for their clients and prospects.

They need to have in-depth knowledge about what they are selling, how it fits into a system, how it affects their clients and what is and isn’t relevant to each client situation. Like an expert museum …

Sales Trend 6 – The Sales Curator™ Read Post »

Women in Sales & Sales Leadership Research – Calling on you to be part of this project

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Research

Calling on women and men in sales and sales leadership roles to be a part of our Women in Sales & Sales Leadership Research(now closed).

Ten years ago Barrett undertook specific research into women in sales, which underpinned Sue Barrett’s ‘Sell Like A Woman’ concept. The initial 2006/07 research project aimed to understand the experiences of women in sales: their challenges, successes, experiences, and selling styles.  Over 150 women in sales and sales leadership participated in the research and shared their experiences. The initial results were interesting. Here are some of the demographics findings from 10 years ago:

  • A vast majority of …

Women in Sales & Sales Leadership Research – Calling on you to be part of this project Read Post »

Sales Trend 5 – The Way We Sell Around Here

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Culture, Sales Strategy, Sales Training, Sales Trends

Sales Trend 5 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends for 2016 Report is ‘The way we sell around here’.

The Sales Dream – A low cost, high performing sales force that delivers more sales at better margins to increasingly loyal customers. Sounds like some utopian vision. Not necessarily.

This sales trend highlights the best practices being adopted by smart companies who are focused on embedding ‘How We Sell Around Here’ as their minimum standard of sales excellence and how they are reaping the rewards of their continuous learning programmes and sound sales strategies. They know that if any business …

Sales Trend 5 – The Way We Sell Around Here Read Post »

The power of language and intent in Sales & Coaching

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Coaching, Communication, Neuroscience, Sales Coaching, Sales Culture, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Psychology

For the last 5 weeks I have been working around Australia helping a major client get their sales leadership team ready to roll out their new Sales Strategy and Sales Process, their version of ‘the way we sell around here’. It’s been pretty exciting and extremely well received. Why? The language we are using is clear, simple, strong and positive. Our intent is purposeful and inspiring. There is a compelling reason to want to be a part of this new era. People can see a clear pathway forward.

Part of this sales strategy and sales process roll out …

The power of language and intent in Sales & Coaching Read Post »

The vital life (& sales) skill of Reflection

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Life Skills, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Self Development, Time Management, Wellbeing

As I sit at my desk writing this article I am reflecting on the past 4-5 weeks where sitting at my desk and taking time to think, ponder, and reflect on ideas, my team, my work, our strategy, our wellbeing and so on has been few and far between. On one hand I am grateful that we are fully engaged (our work word for ‘busy’) and active with our work and clients, on the other hand I am mourning the lack of those small time outs when I can create the space to look into both the details and vast …

The vital life (& sales) skill of Reflection Read Post »

Scroll to Top