Do you Understand The Complicating Factors?
There is a word we find ourselves using more and more in respect of managing sales cycles and that seems to keep coming up again in reviewing pipeline opportunities and accounts. That is COMPLICATING FACTORS. When it comes to the complex sale, things are never straightforward. There are certain to be complicating factors. Understanding what […]
Buyers Think Lean, But Can You Sell Lean?
We met with some pharma buyers around a barbeque recently. Although the food was rich, the talk was of lean. Lean manufacturing, lean distribution, lean marketing and of course lean buying! Naturally ‘lean’ is a word that appeals to buyers, more than sellers. That is because rather than spending more it means: Doing more for […]
Try Walking A Mile In The Buyer’s Shoes!
Indeed, to understand the full complexity of the purchase requires that the salesperson ‘walks a mile in the buyers shoes’. That is because as the Spanish puts it ‘it is much easier to be in the bullring, than to talk about bulls’
Public Sector Buyers Ask ‘Where is the MEAT?’
In public Sector Buying Price Is Over-taken By Most Economically Advantageous Tender, but what are the implications for how you sell?
Corrupt Sellers Face Jail
The first British executive has been jailed by a UK court for corrupting foreign officials, reported the Guardian Newspaper on 14th April 2010. It sends a warning to sellers everywhere that shady deals are no longer permitted. Receiving leniency for cooperating with the Serious Fraud Squad investigation, the senior marketing executive with a medical device […]
Think Business Case Not Sales Proposal
Would you be surprised to know that many large organizations require a business case for purchases of as little as €20,000? Probably not. As one salesperson told us recently; ‘I have seen more business cases in the past year than I have in the previous 19 years’. With budgets being squeezed in response to the […]
Are Buyers and Sellers Really on the Same Page?
You know the song ‘you say tomato, I say tomatoe – let’s call the whole thing off!’. Well buyers sometimes feel that way when dealing with salespeople. For example, when it comes to looking at orders and how they are won, there is a fundamental duality between vendors and buyers. Here is why: Vendors are […]
Buyers Are In ‘Play It Safe!’ Mode
(a) ‘Playing it Safe’ For buyers this is the era of ‘playing it safe’. The cost – benefits equation calculated in respect of each major purchase decision has a vital new dimension – that of risk. This is having a major impact on the nature of decision making. The appetite for risk has diminished greatly. […]
Buying Gets Strategic!
Welcome to the new strategic buying! Purchasing has been elevated from an administrative function to a strategic business driver and this has important implications for sellers. (a) The Strategy Behind The Purchase Managers are required to demonstrate how projects and purchases fit with strategic priorities and drive business performance. That is because major purchase decisions […]
The Business Case Is King!
One of the key trends of concern to sellers is the rise in importance of the business case in the making of important buying decisions. The reality is that the business case is King and that means sellers must bow before it. (a) Putting the Business Decision First Major purchase decisions are first and foremost […]
Budget Cuts Turn Priorities On Their Head
Buyers Confront New Market Realities A long period of buoyant growth ended suddenly in 2008, resulting in a fundamental shake up of industries and economies worldwide. Thus it was that a golden age of corporate growth, confidence and ambition gave way to a period of retrenchment and uncertainty. Almost universally, organizational priorities have changed from […]
Peter Viljoen: 
StartupSandy: 
the Senator: 
Martin Lindeskog: 
