It’s time to be taken seriously – no more Harvey Weinsteins please

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Gender & Sales, Life Skills, Resilience, Wellbeing

In October 1983, I found myself in the clinical room of a middle aged medical doctor whom I was meeting for the first time. I was not a patient, I was a 21 year old medical sales representative doing her job.

He was a doctor in my sales territory. I was new to professional selling. I was on my own. Nothing unusual here except that when I came into his room and sat down, he stood up and went to lock the door then came over to me, sat down beside me and attempted to hand me a glass of whisky.

I …

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Rethinking our economy… How do we sell in a Circular Economy with Doughnut Economics?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Brand & Reputation, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Innovation, Strategy, Sustainability & Environment, Wellbeing

Go out on a limb

It’s hard not to notice that we all have quite a bit on our agendas; lots of things competing for our time and attention; too many things that are likely to leave us feeling overwhelmed, overloaded and often confused.

People are asking lots of questions, e.g.:  Which way to turn? Which way to look? What to do? What is right? What is wrong? Who should we believe? Where do we go?

But, as we always say ‘It all starts with OPPORTUNITY’. So I invite you to go out on a limb with this article. I need you to …

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Why I cannot relate to the typical salesperson stereotype and why we need a new one for the 21st century

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Solution Selling, Success, Wellbeing

If you cannot relate to the typical salesperson stereotype you are not alone. Many people we speak to, including many salespeople themselves, have never been able to relate to the fast talking, overly confident and ambitious, competitive, win at all costs, know-it-all, we-are-the-frontline-and-without-us-you-wouldn’t-have-a-job persona that is often portrayed as the ideal salesperson stereotype in the media and business world via films, press, social media, books, articles, and so on.

Today, many people, of all sorts of persuasions – entrepreneurs, start-up founders, professional services (law, accounting, engineering, architects, etc.), technical people, customer service staff, internal teams, membership groups, not-for-profits, even government bodies …

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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 …

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Women in Sales Leadership: advice to my younger self

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Sales Leadership, Wellbeing

Over 2 days on 5 & 6 April 2016 I had the privilege of chairing the 2016 Women in Sales Leadership Conference in Sydney, Australia. The theme for the event was ‘Advice to my younger self’.

We had over 20 senior sales leaders from around Australia presenting to a room full of women in sales and sales leadership roles from a range of industries. We had young women in their 20’s embarking on their sales careers through to many senior sales leaders with 30+ years’ experience in sales and sales leadership.

Interestingly, unlike other sales conferences I have attended over the years, …

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Sales Managers – the importance of making it personal

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Communication, Sales Management, Wellbeing

We could be forgiven for thinking that everything about selling revolves around numbers, developing new opportunities, making sales and achieving results. Because that is what is usually written and spoken about at board room tables, sales meetings, and in manner of articles.

The pursuit of finding securing opportunities is relentless.

It is little wonder then that many salespeople find themselves feeling off colour or even distressed every now again, especially when times or markets are tougher than usual. It is hard enough to maintain your own momentum, let alone having a Sales Managers – the importance of making it personal Read Post »

Do you have a Poverty or Prosperity Consciousness?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Success, Wellbeing

Organisations of every size all have a collective personality that drives their thinking, behaviours and actions and can affect their performance for good or bad. These collective personalities may or may not align with an organisation’s publicly stated values and principles; they can change over time, and are usually defined, influenced and/or condoned by the senior leadership team.

Much of an organisation’s success, or lack of it, is influenced by its corporate attitude. It attracts, hires, and reinforces the behaviours, values and attitudes that the leaders exhibit.

Whilst these collective personalities are often …

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How can we control our sales destiny in uncertain times?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Self Development, Wellbeing

Salespeople deal with market ups and downs, political influence, people’s (customers, influencers, internal stakeholders, bosses, etc.) changing mindset and goals, etc. on a daily basis. Sales can be like herding cats on the best of days.

These factors and others can cause even the best of salespeople to be concerned because they are mostly outside the salesperson’s direct control yet we still have to meet our sales targets. So it’s not easy being a salesperson, especially in tougher markets. However, highly effective salespeople will tell you that while tough markets can be a real challenge, …

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Why do some people feel ashamed of being called a salesperson?

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Success, Wellbeing

Do you feel ashamed of being called a salesperson? Are you aware that your view of selling (the way you think and feel about it) can affect your success or failure as a salesperson? Over the years we have met many sales people who are really good at selling, have all the ingredients, write great sales results and are highly valued by their companies, yet they never feel satisfied in their sales career. The afflicted sales person just feels a sense of unease and guilt about being in sales – they feel that their career is somehow inferior to others. …

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Ego is a dirty word in sales & sales management

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Communication, Competition, Complex Selling & Transactional Selling, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Sales Management, Sales Talent, Wellbeing

Having a big ego is often associated with the sales profession.   For many years the supercharged Alpha male, 600 lb sales gorilla has been the poster person for successful salespeople.   And then there is the larger than life sales manager who charges in to save the day by taking over the sales call, making the sale and demonstrating to everyone present just how much better he is than the salesperson.  With stories like these swirling in the ether, it is often assumed that a …

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