“Hire trainable people with pleasing personalities, give them effective, continual training, and motivate them to pursue and close the sale.” – Harvard Business Review advice to managers on how to create great sales teams. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Too often sales management hires great people and then just turns them loose to do … Read more
What is the fastest growing sales trend today? It is actually a combination of approaches utilising a renewed strategic focus, new tools, and continuous training. A More Strategic Approach It is no longer “smiling and dialing” for business. Today’s sales teams focus on a strategic plan with clear objectives and steps to drive customers through the sales funnel. … Read more
There’s no argument that the best form of marketing you can get is word of mouth. Study after study shows the referrals from friends and colleagues produce better results. In fact, Nielsen reports that 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and colleagues more than advertising. When you are thinking about how to get referrals, keep … Read more
People don’t want to buy your product or service. They want to solve problems or find ways to grow their business. If you can’t show them how what you’re selling will help them with what they’re selling, it doesn’t matter how good it is or how cheap it is. This five-step process can help you … Read more
Negotiations are not about selling. They are about reaching a mutually agreeable outcome. The only time there are winners are when both sides win. The Difference Between Sales And Negotiation And Why It Matters In the sales process, you are trying to identify the customer’s pain points and the solutions you have that case ease … Read more
Show me the money trust: the most valuable transaction in any business The necessity of trust between a business and its clients seems so obvious and straightforward as to almost not require further discussion. I mean, it’s a given, right? Without trust nothing can flourish. Everything will fall apart. But when we start really thinking about what we … Read more
Training, coaching and mentoring are words that often get used interchangeably. I’ve done it myself. But the more I inhabit these roles in my professional life and reflect on my own experiences as a student or mentee, the more I come to understand why it’s important to get the distinctions right. Sure, there are plenty of overlaps, but the skills, expectations, and relationships … Read more
After last week’s article “The One Thing I Learnt About Asking for Feedback…” I thought it timely to write about the importance of delivering feedback effectively. In most organisations that I deal with, “feedback” is something that is delivered during a performance review. That’s a 6 month or annual opportunity to feedback on an individual’s performance. This is crazy – I need … Read more