Procurement: The Corporation’s New Bankers!
The credit crunch forced organizations to look for new ways to access funding their growth and survival. Then enter procurement – the organisation’s new banker! Most people are worse off since the global credit crisis. There is one notable exception however. That is procurement! Procurement has become the new organisational banker. Its role has expanded […]
Can You See Your Deals In 3D?
A new framework provides you with a 3D view of even the most complex deal. That means you can maximize your chances of sales success. Suffering From Deal Complexity? Getting to grips with the complexity of modern buying is one of the key challenges facing sales teams at this time. It is key to addressing […]
8 Reasons To Love Procurement
I love sales. But, to be honest if I was starting my career over I would be very tempted to go to other side and become a supply management professional. That says a lot about the present and the future of the procurement and supply management industry. I was invited back to my old Alma […]
‘The Procurement Oscars’ – Our Nominations
Recognizing Procurement Best Practice We recently made our nominations for the EPIC Awards – the equivalent of the Oscars for indirect procurement. They include; P&G, La Poste France and Emerson. Organized by My Purchasing Centre and Procurecon, The EPIC Awards intends to honour Excellence in Purchasing Indirect Categories. Now you might think it strange that sellers would […]
The Era of Avoiding Procurement Is Over
Collaboration with procurement is the future of selling – that was the clear message from research just published by ES Research Group and The Bay Group. In the past sellers exercised considerable creativity in avoiding procurement – seeing them as an unnecessary impediment to the sale. That strategy won’t work any more warns the authors and sponsors […]
Is The Buyer Struggling Unnecessarily With Your Pitch?
Many sellers are unknowingly doing things that make it harder, rather than easier for the buyer to buy. They are making simple mistakes that have the potential to turn a straight forward nod of the head from the buyer into a puzzled frown. As a result they are unnecessarily over-complicating and slowing progress towards a […]
The Cost Of Bad Sales Leadership
There is an X Factor among sales teams that is over looked. It is that of leadership in the form of the sales manager. A sales manager who is a leader can transform ordinary sales people into champions; a bad one will hold everybody back. Just this week we saw a great example of this. A […]
When Sales Managers Become Micro-Managers
Contrary to what you would expect the measure of greatness of a sales manager, is not the extent to which the organization is dependent on him, or her. Rather the greatness of a sales manager is reflected in the degree to which the sales organization runs smoothly regardless of the manager’s direct involvement. Similarly, the maturity of a sales organization […]
Sellers Beware: The Procurement Gap
There is often a gap between how the buying decision should be made and how it is actually going to be made. That is between the buyers internal procedures, or external view of buying best practice and the everyday reality of rushed, or messy decisions. We call it the Procurement Gap. Helping the buyer to […]
48 Shades Of Grey In Buying
What your buyer is thinking and how he, or she is feeling about the decision are two different things. As salespeople we need to focus on both. The Stereotype Of The Grey Buyer Buyers and in particular procurement professionals are stereotyped as being pale faced – grey suited bureaucrats. They are typically seen as analytical […]
Sales Sabotage: When Politics and Internal Divisions Retard Sales
Is There An Enemy Within? You have often heard the saying; ‘a house divided among itself will fall’. The same is true of the sales organization. However, in too many organizations the sales effort is retarded by petty squabbles, territorial divides and personality conflicts. There are many organizations that are to some extent dysfunctional when it comes […]
Why Win-Loss Reviews Should Be Written
Our deal narratives – the stories we tell ourselves and others about stalled deals – have the power to either limit or boost long term sales success. However new research highlights the importance of writing and then editing the narrative of the lost deal. The Narrative Of The Lost Deal How a seller explains a […]
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