Ray Collis

Buyers: Don’t be a Skinflint!

Buyers:  Don’t be a Skinflint!

The Lesson from Flint Michigan is: Be Cautious of Short Term Savings   The Presidential declaration of emergency in Flint Michigan offers lessons to buyers and sellers about the danger of short term savings that cost dear in long term.   An Old Term Gets New Meaning The term ‘skinflint’ has gained new meaning in recent times.  Traditionally it […]

 Ray Collis

How To Influence The Buyer’s Choices

How To Influence The Buyer’s Choices

Your customer will weigh up the alternatives and select the the best price-value mix, right? Well, perhaps not always.
Research suggests that there is less rational-analytical dimension to the choice-making process. More importantly it shows how the seller can use this to sway the buyer’s decision.

 Ray Collis

What Can Scientists Tell Us About How Decisions Are Really Made?

What Can Scientists Tell Us About How Decisions Are Really Made?

Today we have a better understanding of how people make decisions. That is thanks to a emerging science of human decision making. Influence and persuasion once an art is now a science.

 John O' Gorman

Is Relationship Selling Under Attack?

Is Relationship Selling Under Attack?

Relationships are an essential ingredient of successful selling. But will your relationship survive a change in the customers strategy, increasing budgetary pressures or the involvement of procurement? In this insight we examine the challenges to relationship selling and how they can be met.

 John O' Gorman

The Ultimate Challenger Sale

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.

 Ray Collis

48 Shades Of Grey In Buying

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 […]

 Ray Collis

Justify With Numbers – Compel With Emotions

Justify With Numbers – Compel With Emotions

Fact sheets, spreadsheets and ROI calculators are vital sales tools, but they are not enough. The seller must tap into the buyer’s underlying buying motivations and emotions as well as connecting with the buyers logic and analysis to improve sales performance. Moving Beyond The Calculator In Selling In business, emotions are generally considered unhelpful at […]

 John O' Gorman

The Most Dangerous False Assumption In Selling!

The Most Dangerous False Assumption In Selling!

The Importance Of Knowing The 3 Types Of Buyers & Tailoring Your Sales Approach Accordingly There is an erroneous assumption about how buyers buy that is surprisingly common in selling. It is a major impediment to success for those holding it. Yet they seem blissfully unaware of their error. Here we will test to make sure […]

 Ray Collis

Bounded Rationality: Balancing Logic And Emotion In The Sale

Bounded Rationality: Balancing Logic And Emotion In The Sale

Although organizations are increasingly structured and sophisticated in their buying, for as long as people are involved in making decisions there will inevitably be an element of human fallibility in terms of how decisions are made. This is the age of the Utilitarian or Economic buyer and the Cost-Benefit Analysis. Where decisions are made by […]

 Ray Collis

Are You Helpless To Prevent Stalled Buying Decisions?

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 […]

 Ray Collis

Is this the Golden Age of Buying? – Implications for sales professionals

Is this the Golden Age of Buying? – Implications for sales professionals

Professional buying has come of age, reaching new heights in terms of importance and sophistication. But what are the implications for sales people? In this article we turn to the UK Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and the US Institute of Supply Management to provide a new insight to the changing roles and perspectives […]

 John O' Gorman

Buyers Are Doing it For Themselves

Buyers Are Doing it For Themselves

To borrow from the lyrics of the popular song ‘buyers are doing it for themselves.’ They are ”standing on their own two feet and…’ identifying their requirements, defining the solution, writing the specification and building the business case. All this often takes place before they ever meet a vendor! This leaves the salesperson looking for a […]

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