What’s in a relationship?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Communication, Ethics & Values, Sales Relationships, Self Development

 

 

The term ‘Relationship Selling’ is often bandied about by sales managers and sales people without properly defining what it really means.I often hear “We are in relationship selling” or “We need relationship sales people” however what I do not hear being asked is:

  • What type of relationship are we talking about?
  • What type of relationship are we looking for?
  • What do we mean by relationship selling anyway?

Relationship selling happens in any place where relationships are important. Thus when a husband and wife are negotiating about something, they will be more successful if they both consider the relationship as well as whatever it is …

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A Test of Character

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Ethics & Values, Mindful selling, Neuroscience in Sales, Resilience, Sales Psychology, Sales Talent, Self Development, Success

I can honestly say I did not enjoy the early years of my sales career. I initially found it hard, relentless and sometimes really distressing. I was asked to do things I didn’t always understand that significance of. I often felt overly scrutinised by the constant monitoring of activity and performance by my managers. I worked in tough markets in tough times and sometimes wondered if it was worth it. I felt under pressure and sometimes wished I didn’t have to sell at all, however I came to realise that this tough introduction to …

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Don’t take your frustrations out on your customers

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Communication, Customer Service, Emotional Intelligence, Sales Culture, Sales Driven Organisations

As mentioned before, Sales and Service roles are not for the faint hearted and can often take their toll on your good nature, your energy and your ability to deal effectively with frustrating issues, especially when you put in the effort to do the ‘right thing’ by your customers and it is not appreciated, acknowledged or actioned.

At the end of a long day or week dealing with lots of people, pulling together various deals, solving problems and keeping your energy levels up and being on your best behaviour, you could be forgiven for being a bit ‘short’ if things don’t …

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Punished by Rewards

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Emotional Intelligence, Ethics & Values, Neuroscience, Neuroscience in Sales, Performance Management, Sales Leadership, Sales Motivation & Rewards

Punishment and reward proceed from basically the same psychological model, one that conceives of motivation as nothing more than the manipulation of behavior.

As part of my own development and in an attempt to keep my mind as open and fresh as possible, I take to reading all sorts of things. On my current reading list is a very interesting book called “Punished by Rewards” by Alfie Kohn, author, speaker and educator. He writes about the trouble with “gold stars, incentive plans, As, praise and other bribes”.

In light of current discussions and debates about the issues surrounding CEO performance bonuses and …

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Create your own opportunities

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Networking, Prospecting, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Strategy, Value Proposition & Value Add

Just one idea can positively transform your life, career, income and wealth.
As I have written before, in uncertain times, we can let the negativity of current events and others consume us or we can continue to look for opportunity. Excessive worry, however, can often cause us to lose sight of our goals and can limit our creativity and problems solving capabilities just when we really need them.

These tough times call for us to be even more innovative, inventive, creative and persistent. Some of the most successful sales people are the most adaptive and creative people you can …

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Persistence and the Honourable Retreat

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Resilience, Sales Results, Self Promotion

Did you know:

  • Over 50% of sales people give up at 1st contact if they get a ‘NO’ from the prospect never to go back to that prospect again .
  • At the 5th contact 7% of sales people are left to speak with the prospect to see if they can do business together.
  • At the 8th contact there is only one sales person left to work with the prospect. Hopefully it is you.

Many sales people, especially those new to sales, often take it personally when a prospect says ‘NO’. Many fail to persist and often fail to favourably position themselves to ‘leave …

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Elite athletes find key to corporate success

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Emotional Intelligence, Sales Talent, Self Promotion

For Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe and now Stephanie Rice and Michael Phelps Olympic success has literally brought fame and fortune … but their high profile success is not just about the colour of their medals.

With the Olympics just over I can’t help but think of all the other athletes who won medals and wonder how many of them will end up with amazing sponsorship and media deals like Cathy, Ian, Stephanie and Michael. Not many I’ll bet. And with the Paralympics just begun, how many of these athletes will capitalise on their talent …

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The Dark Side

By / / Assessments, Attitudes & Behaviours, Brain Science, Coaching, Emotional Intelligence, Neuroscience, Neuroscience in Sales, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Psychology, Self Development, Uncategorized, Wellbeing

How well can we manage ourselves, our teams and businesses in a crisis or tough times?

Are our actions and behaviours putting us, our people and our businesses at risk?

As leaders and managers we are on show and our actions often speak louder than our words. In challenging times this is even more evident. Under pressure cracks may appear and our leadership is put to the test.

How do we cope under pressure? What happens to us when we crack? When placed under high levels of pressure, most people will rely on coping mechanisms or their strengths …

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Making Decisions

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Leadership, Sales Planning, Sales Relationships, Sales Skills, Value Proposition & Value Add, Wellbeing

Several years ago I read a great book called ‘Kids Are Worth It – Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline’ by Barbara Coloroso.

This book has served me very well as a parent giving me guidance in how to raise self-aware and self-disciplined children. In particular, I learnt by heart the following questions which I ask myself whenever I make decisions and in turn, have taught my children to ask whenever they make decisions.

The 3 Decision Questions are:

  • Is it life threatening?
  • Is it morally threatening?
  • Is it unhealthy?

For instance, when my then 7 year old son asked if his 2 …

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First Impressions

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Customer Service, Emotional Intelligence, Ethics & Values, Networking, Prospecting, Sales Relationships, Value Proposition & Value Add

Picking up from my recent posting “We’ll meet again” I thought it would be worth looking at how First Impressions can impact our opinions of other people and their opinions of us. In turn first impressions can affect the desire to work together or not. Have you ever regretted a time when you didn’t make a favourable first impression? Did you wish you could have your time over again to make a more positive impression? I am sure you are not alone. We can all think of a time when we messed up. As the old saying goes: ‘You don’t …

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