Navigating the Brave New World of Sales

Insights on Sales Strategy, Leadership, and more.

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Case study, Education in Sales, Emotional Intelligence, Human-centred, Leadership, Sales Strategy, Selling Better

This week we share our five most-read articles this year so far. In this collection, you will discover how internal teams are embracing selling, learn why a well-defined sales strategy is key to business success, explore the evolution of emotional intelligence to relational intelligence, and uncover the transformative power of clarity and courage in leadership. We also share insights into what consumers want.

1) We’re All in Sales – An Internal Team’s Journey

Lately, I have been working with internal teams of an ASX-listed business. These teams include Audit & Risk, Business Consulting, People & Culture, and Diversity & …

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hybrid-selling is here to stay

Nurturing Soft Skills for Business Success

By / / Blog, Digital credentials, Education in Sales, Emotional Intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Life Skills, Sales Essentials, Sales Skills

In 30 seconds

Soft skills have taken centre stage in the 4th Industrial Revolution, becoming integral to employability and business success. These versatile abilities, spanning communication, teamwork, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, ethics, and global citizenship, are now more critical than ever. Deloitte Access Economics forecasts that by 2030, two-thirds of jobs will heavily depend on soft skills, marking a significant workforce transformation. Businesses, especially in sales and customer service, can gain a competitive edge and increase revenue by fostering these skills. Enhanced interpersonal and self-management proficiencies create healthier work environments. Contrary to the belief that soft skills are innate, they can be …

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leading-with-clarity-and-courage

Leading With Clarity & Courage

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Sales Culture, Sales Leadership, Sales Management

In 30 seconds

Command and control or administration-focused leaders hinder progress and create toxic environments. Servant and transformational leadership styles provide better alternatives. By prioritising employees’ needs, fostering communication, and encouraging innovation, servant leaders create thriving organisations. Transformational leaders inspire growth, building positive work environments. Effective leadership demands courage and clarity, enabling tough decision-making and transparent communication. Inspiring teams requires articulating a vision, embracing risk, and instilling confidence. By fostering trust and collaboration, leaders drive sustainable outcomes.

In 2.5 minutes

What type of leader would you prefer?

  • One who likes to control everything and everyone around them, only letting people know something if it …

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EQ or RQ

From EQ to RQ: The Evolution of Emotional Intelligence

By / / Blog, Emotional Intelligence, Human-centred, Resilience, Sales Skills

In 30 seconds

EQ – emotional intelligence – has been top of mind in business since the 1990s.

Mastering EQ is essential to personal and professional development when it comes to performing well in leadership, sales and service, or any other role, paid or voluntary.

However, mastering EQ is not enough to help us succeed in business and in life. For people and organisations to flourish and prosper, the nature and quality of human-to-human relationships matter.

This is where RQ – relational intelligence – comes into play.

RQ is about self AND other awareness, ethical intelligence, creating a deep sense of mutual trust underpinned by …

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Gratitude and Materialism

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Buying, Common Ground, Emotional Intelligence, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Gratitude, Life Skills, Sustainability & Environment

Practising gratitude has made me focus on other matters and much less on material things. I have found that I am far less worried about ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ or experiencing FOMO (fear of missing out). I think less about things and more about people.

There is a place for materialism in our world. I appreciate nice things. I am not an ascetic who disavows material goods or worldly possessions. But I don’t feel the need to strive for them madly. I also understand and appreciate how materialism works as a driver for so much of …

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Why ‘Coaching with Compassion’ leads to healthier coaches

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Education in Sales, Emotional Intelligence, Ethics & Values, Gratitude, Resilience, Sales Coaching, Sales Culture, Wellbeing

At Barrett we are very mindful of our coaching approach and the well-being of the coaches and coachees. Read what Jens Hartmann, our head of Learning and Development has to say about this.

‘Coaching with Compassion’ not only is better for the coachee, it has health benefits for the coach as well

Let’s say you’re a sales leader, and you have the opportunity to coach a salesperson who has a decent track record. This has been their week:

Some big deals are taking more effort and time to close than expected; there’s pressure to close deals before the end of the …

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Sales Leadership – the power of preparedness, curiosity and courage in times of flux

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Emotional Intelligence, Sales Leadership, Sales Trends

Sales Trend 7 from the Barrett’s 12 Sales Trends Report for 2018 is about leadership, in particular, which characteristics are key for leaders in times of flux.

The state of flux we are experiencing, is bringing about a shift in the top key qualities required to be an effective business executive and leader.

It’s not necessarily a completely different set of qualities, but a change in their order of relevance for navigating a changing, ‘fluxy’ kind of world.

Douglas A. Ready, a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and the founder and president of ICEDR, says “We need to …

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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 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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Don’t die wondering, the real secret to sales success – Part II of II: the person

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Education in Sales, Emotional Intelligence, Life Skills, Prospecting, Resilience, Sales Skills, Solution Selling

How many times have we all been tempted to click on a link that offers us ‘the secret of sales success’ only to find a website or article that is promising a silver bullet ‘if only you do this one thing’ which doesn’t help us at all?

As I mentioned last week, the business of sales excellence is like the diet industry, full of tempting offerings that lead us nowhere fast.

It is only natural that people want simple answers to complex problems. ‘The world would be so much easier if only…’ we sigh.

However, “Explanations exist; they have existed …

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