50% Of Sales Forecasts Are Undermined By Missing Information
Sellers are not getting all the information that they need. They are being asked to prepare accurate forecasts and close deals while at the same time key information is being withheld. In this insight we will examine the types of information sellers are being denied and how it can be accessed.
New Perspectives On Sales Success – Research From RAIN Group
Selling has entered a new more dynamic era. New methodologies are challenging old methodologies with increased levels of research and innovation among sales consulting and training organizations around the world.
How To Sell To Cold & Reserved Buyers
Increasingly salespeople are reporting the demise of small talk and other social niceties in the buyer encounter. But, what does it mean for your relationship selling strategy?
Taking Key Account Reviews Out Of The Dark Ages!
Account management has changed in a way that fundamentally challenges us as sellers. However our account management plans can all to easily take the repeat customer for granted. In this insight we examine the old way of account management and it’s many pitfalls.
Time For A New Perspective On Key Account Management (KAM)
Key Account Management (KAM) too often suffers from a one-sided view of the relationship. In this insight we will challenge you adopt the buyer-perspective on the relationship. That includes the tools and concepts used by buyers to managing suppliers.
The Beermat Business Case
Being able to build the business case for your solution is an important sales skill. However the traditional approach to developing the business case fails more often than it succeeds. To address this problem sellers need to start the business case conversation much earlier. They need to adopt ‘beermat’ business case principles because they can’t [...]
The Ultimate Challenger Sale
In 2012 sellers were advised to challenge their customers. Now it is time to take the challenger salesperson to the next level – to help the buyer to overcome the growing internal challenges faced in making the decision and getting it sanctioned.
Can You Think Like A CEO?
Do you know what is on the mind of the CEO, or indeed the CFO in the organizations you are selling? It is their agenda that is increasingly shaping the agenda in all other departments. So, thinking like the CEO or CFO should help you to boost your sales performance and success. The CEO/CFO [...]
How To Avoid A Supplier Cull?
The culling of suppliers continues unabated. Indeed, those organisations that have not consolidated both suppliers and SKU’s are clearly out of line with best practice. So, as a seller are you at risk and, if so, how can you avoid a supplier cull? Creeping Supplier Proliferation It is a truism that the list of suppliers [...]
A Better Way Of Asking For The Order
Some sellers display a surprising reluctance to ask for the order. Others are not so shy, but ask for the order in a way that can put the buyer off. In this article we examine the best way of asking for the order. The Trouble With Closing Closing techniques from the ‘always be closing’ school [...]
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 [...]
How To Open-Source & Crowd-Source Your Selling!
In these challenging times traditional job descriptions and role demarcations are redundant. No more is this evident than in respect to the need for ‘all hands on deck’ in terms of sales & business development. We call this trend the ‘Open-sourcing of sales’. Sales Requires New Collaboration Organizations can no longer afford to leave selling [...]
Q: What’s for desert? A: The salesperson!
Three salespeople and one procurement professional were deep in debate. The topic was the rise of the competitive tender and the delay in calling sellers to the table. “The problem is we are being called to the table later” said one exasperated sales manager. Continuing the table analogy he added “they don’t call us in until long [...]
Sellers: Say ‘Yes To The Mess’
How do you cope when faced with complexity and constant change in respect of winning the deal? Well, a new book has been published that recommends you do what the world’s best leaders and teams do – adapt and improvise! Why Buying Can Be Messy We all know that buying can be messy. Buyers don’t always [...]
The Fast Sale: Don’t You Know Who Stephen Kiprotich Is?
In selling, just as in sports, speed is just one of the factors that determine success. Indeed, Gold Medal winners provide some inspiration in coping with longer more complex sales. Olympic Inspiration For Sellers I bet you have heard of Usain Bolt, the fastest person ever and star of the 2012 London Olympics. Bolt won [...]
Are You Helpless To Prevent Stalled Buying Decisions?
One of the most popular B2B Sales Blogs from the US has just posted an interview with The ASG Group’s John O Gorman and Ray Collis on the subject of stalled deals. The interviewer Dave Stein of ES Research Group asked Ray and John the following searching questions, with a snippet of the responses shown for each: 1. Why [...]
Sales Training Under The Magnifying Glass
We did an analysis of sales training courses recently. We found that there was little change in over a decade in terms of the topics being addressed. More important still, it appears that sales training has failed to reflect any of the dramatic changes that have taken place in respect of how buyers buy. Indeed, [...]
Solution Selling – Dead Or Alive?
Buyers still need solutions right? Well, of course they do. Indeed, they want better solutions than ever before and they want a better price too! The only problem is that they don’t necessarily need or want the sales and marketing that goes with them. This paradox is at the centre of a new controversy in [...]
Welcome To The Sales Olympics
The London Olympics have arrived. There is certain to be lots of blood, sweat and some gold too. But, with markets remaining sluggish, for many sellers re-igniting sales is proving to be a challenge of Olympic proportions. As new world records are set in London, we have turned to past and present champions for inspiration [...]
Are You Selling Like A Scientist?
Recent scientific discoveries and how they were communicated to the world can provide lessons on how to sell. So, are you selling like a scientist and might it be limiting your sales success? We waited with anticipation, like so many millions, for the announcement of one of the greatest discoveries of this century (perhaps any century). A [...]
