How Retail Discount Advertising negatively impacts B2B Sales – Part II

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Sales Results, Sales Strategy, Sales Tips, Solution Selling

How to shift the conversation from Price to Value

In last week’s post we talked about how –given that every business executive is a consumer, and the amount of discount sales in the retail sector- the expectation of ‘better price’ is impacting B2B sales.

We concluded that a more pragmatic approach is needed, based on value rather than absolute price.

This is the point we need to understand as sales people and business leaders: the client does not really see a price, they see and are looking for value.  So our real mission as sales people is to find out what …

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How Retail Discount Advertising negatively impacts B2B Sales – Part I of II

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Tips, Value Based Selling

Fact – every business executive is a consumer.

Fact – every consumer, certainly here in Australia, is exposed to a barrage of discounting and sales offers from the retail sector.

In fact, on any given day, whether on TV, radio, billboard or online, we are bound to be exposed –in our experience- to at least 5-10 “discounting sales” or “discounted special offers” that are being promoted by companies selling everything from food to solar power, new homes to motors cars, from beer and wine to computers.

You have to wonder whether these retailers (and their advertising agencies) realise the damage they are doing …

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If you complain about price being a barrier, wear a bicycle helmet

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Procurement, Prospecting, Sales Tips

Salespeople who complain about price as a barrier need to wear bicycle helmets.

As a salesperson, the next time you feel you are losing deals because of price, take your prospect to a cycle shop and ask them if they were to ride a bike, which one of the helmets they would buy – the one that’s on sale for $10 or the sleek, ventilated $150 model that promises it meets all testing standards?

The bet is they’ll opt to buy the $150 model. Why? You need guaranteed protection from a helmet in a crash; as a cyclist you need good ventilation; …

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Solution versus Product Selling

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy, Sales Tips, Solution Selling

Today it is almost impossible to meet a product salesperson in the business-to-business sector. Everyone sells ‘solutions’ hoping they can charge a premium or perform some miracle that will instantly differentiate them from their competitors.

And management – often ignorant of the subtle differences between selling products or services and selling solutions – become frustrated when they find that the expected boom in sales doesn’t materialise; that their salespeople continue to face pressure for lower prices, better service delivery and a wider range of offerings.

The challenge is understanding what selling a solution requires. The real starting point, for a truly solutions …

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How to reach prospects and keep the door open

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Innovation, Prospecting, Sales Tips

So how do we reach  prospects and keep the door open?

While everyone is trying to go big – go small and use innovation to capture share of mind.

Imagine you are at home opening your mail and you find an unsolicited brochure about some product or other. What do you do? Chances are you drop it in the trash. Well, the vast majority of leads to whom you send your brochures, flyers or emails to are going to do the same thing.

When you want to get access to decision makers –particularly decision makers in big companies– product emails, brochures, …

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Selling Professional Services

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Tips, Success

Even the once exclusive professions of accounting, medicine, law and engineering have come to realise that they can no longer survive on referrals and reputation alone; that marketing the firm, whilst it stimulates awareness and interest, is not enough to generate the levels of new business needed to cover the costs of running a professional practice.

Decades ago these professionals relied on their network of referrals. They developed a reputation amongst a select group of their friends that made them an attractive option that brought business to their door. Those days and that situation has however changed.

Today, with universities turning out …

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How to avoid the discount trap

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Sales Results, Sales Tips, Solution Selling

Do you frequently discount to win business? Does your brand seem to matter less to customers today? It’s no wonder. Customers can do a Google search of your product or service and, within minutes, learn about your product, your competitors, what customers think of you, and find the lowest prices. So, with this kind of information at their fingertips, why would they need to meet with a salesperson?

It’s a critical question in today’s selling environment – and one you need to think about if you want to sell better.

In recent observations done by Barrett we noticed a …

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Why self-discipline and being organised pays

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Planning, Sales Results, Sales Tips, Self Development, Success

Being organised makes good dollars and cents.

To be on track with your sales quota you need to be organised, have a plan you stick to, and use a system for effective selling.

It’s never too late to start, regardless of where you are on the road towards realising your sales targets. All it really takes is some thought and self-discipline to organise yourself.

Probably the single biggest reason we see sales executives struggle to make sales targets is simply a lack of organisation or discipline to stick to a system of selling. We are not talking about a formula, but rather the …

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Getting prospects to talk to you

By / / Call Reluctance, Education in Sales, Prospecting, Sales Skills, Sales Tips

Do you take time to really think about why you are calling a prospect or a client?  Do you reflect on how effective you have been post the call?

Making prospecting calls to new prospects and existing clients is still one of the most important sales and business development activities you can do on a daily basis.  Even with all the electronic communication and marketing options at hand most businesses still need to have someone prospecting for them to build and forge real business relationships. Top performing salespeople make sure prospecting is part of their daily repertoire.

Prospecting …

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Why we need Progressive Approximation to design an effective sales strategy

By / / Sales Leadership, Sales Strategy, Sales Tips, Strategy

In the world of big data, the abundance of information, complex systems and the need to use good judgement to make sound decisions, many people, often overwhelmed by too many variables, default to single moments of truth, black and white solutions, and the promise of the ‘right’ answer in an attempt to solve the challenges they face.

It’s understandable that we want simple answers. Our brains love ‘simple’ because it is energy efficient and comforting. Once we have ‘the answer’ we don’t have to think, we can just do.

Looking for ‘simple’ in business is at best lazy and, at worst, very …

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