Is your organisation your worst ‘Sales Blocker’?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Customer Service, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales performance, Sales Results, Strategy, Success

Many articles have been written about the many, many excuses salespeople come up with as to why they haven’t hit their sales targets, why they find it hard to sell, and so on.

The accusatory finger always seems to be pointing at the salespeople. And sometimes this is fair, however, there are many reasons why it’s not always the salesperson’s fault.

There are many reasons why salespeople are prevented from carrying out their sales duties effectively. This article is about highlighting the blockers or blockages in their way – intended or unintended.

Let’s explore these blockers and see how we can remove them …

Is your organisation your worst ‘Sales Blocker’? Read Post »

We all want better sales performance, but what works best?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales performance, Sales Results, Success

Most of us will agree that as sales leaders we want better and more consistent sales performance. The approaches on how to get there, however, vary greatly.

Some tactics offer a temporary lift in sales while other strategies deliver more sustainable changes and lifts in performance over the long term.

We’ve outlined three different approaches organisations take to improve sales performance and their impact.

Annual sales training session/conference – 1 or 2 day workshop

Effect
Result score out of 10

Popularity
9

Long term effectiveness
2

Team building
7

Risk
5

Return on investment
3

This is by far the most popular choice amongst sales managers and business leaders. However, the question that needs to be asked …

We all want better sales performance, but what works best? Read Post »

Selling isn’t only for salespeople

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Self Promotion, Selling Better, Success

Have you ever tried to persuade someone about the merits of a new idea, service or initiative?

Most surely you have. Countless times.

People do this all the time, since we were born; in our personal, professional and community lives. It is part of being human.

So how did your efforts go?

Did you get their attention?

Did you manage to convince them to adopt your idea?

Did you both get what you wanted out of the exchange?

Did you feel satisfied that you made a positive impact?

Maybe. Maybe not.

It all depends on how well you were able to enlist all the skills and qualities of good …

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Want to find & own uncontested markets? Try Blue Ocean Strategy

By / / Business Acumen, Competition, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Opportunity, Sales Driven Organisations, Sales Results, Sales Strategy, Strategy, Success

In today’s cluttered business landscape and global marketplace, finding uncontested markets to sell into and own, free of competition, at least for the foreseeable future, is getting harder, and harder and harder.

Developing innovative ideas that turn into something new, unique and viable, are not easy to copy, and deliver revenue and healthy margins is equally tough.

Rethinking our marketplaces, our traditional customers and non-customers, and how we sell and deliver real value to them, that they are prepared to pay for, well that’s another difficult challenge too.

Most businesses these days find that they are increasingly competing head 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 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 …

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

Sales Trend 2 – The case for long-term focus

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Sales Results, Sales Strategy, Strategy, Success, Sustainability & Environment, Vision, Mission & Purpose

Sales Trend 2 of the Barrett 12 Sales Trends for 2018 Report is the case for long-term focus and strategy.

It’s no news that most businesses are focused on the short-term, living from quarter to quarter, and that although there’s ongoing argument about whether there’s enough evidence or not to say that long-term businesses perform better, most of the arguments against it (pro short-term) focus only on profits.

However, this sales trend reports that there are increasingly louder calls for businesses to be more long-term focused in their planning and strategies. The power of long term planning can be found in …

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Sales Trend 1 – The Selling Better Manifesto

By / / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Education in Sales, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Innovation, Mindful selling, Opportunity, Sales Pioneer, Sales Trends, Success, Uncategorized, Wellbeing

Sales Trend 1 of the Barrett 12 Sales Trends for 2018 Report is our Selling Better Manifesto. It talks about the Selling Better Movement and it explains why we have started it.

We have created The Selling Better Movement with the hope it will help people understand that there’s a better way of doing business.

A way in which we can all be prosperous.

The Selling Better Movement is an ethical and human-centred selling ethos underpinned by a practical selling philosophy.

The modern business landscape offers a world of possibility. More and more people are stepping out to unearth …

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Is an Organic Growth Strategy a better way to go?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Business Acumen, Entrepreneurship, Performance Management, Sales Results, Strategy, Success

How do I grow my business?

How do I get a better ROI?

How do I get more profitable sales?

How do I attract and convert more customer?

These are some of questions entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOs and sales leaders ask on daily basis. And rightly so. We need to ask questions of ourselves and how we run our businesses so as to be appraised of the better ideas that serve our goals and ambitions.

To keep me fresh, I like to read widely and most recently, while sitting on a plane to Sydney, I came across a very interesting McKinsey article about the various …

Is an Organic Growth Strategy a better way to go? Read Post »

Professional Jealousy?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Self Development, Self Promotion, Success

How those who shame others for selling themselves are the biggest losers

Let’s begin with a story about an excellent scientist. Someone so passionate and competent about his subject area that he happily and productively spent years studying the topic, getting to know it deeply and how it affects the world; how it is part of a broader system.

Then, with this great body of work and innovative ideas to share, he happily and proactively goes about meeting, informing and persuading key people as to the importance of his ideas and how these ideas can change things for the better.

The target audiences …

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