It’s a question I’ve been asked a lot during the past couple of months, is it still ethical to sell and grow our pipeline during the pandemic? Before I launch into my opinions on what business leaders should be doing to galvanise their sales efforts during these interesting times, I want to reiterate a soundbite that I’m …
I spend all day everyday fine tuning my clients’ Sales Engines and not surprisingly there are some common quick fixes’ that I see time and time again.These often small changes will have a massive impact on the output of your own sales function (and remember I purposefully call a company’s sales function their Sales …
As business owners we’re used to focusing on controlling the controllables and letting go of everything else, but how many of us can ever recall such politically and economically turbulent times?
...Last month, during our family holiday to Walt Disney World in Florida, I took the opportunity to spend a day ‘backstage’ on a behind the scenes Business Tour. How could you not want to learn more about how Disney does Disney? But before I share some of the keys to Mickey’s Magic; Yes, the secret …
How do we make our youth more employer ready and equip them with the necessary skills that our businesses need? First, we need to debunk the myth that salespeople are born and not bred. Can you really turn anyone into a good salesperson? Well, science has recently proven that a natural propensity for selling but …
Andrew Bailey speaks about his top 10 negotiating rules that he has personally tried and tested. Negotiating and deal making can be fraught with issues and danger, to overcome these challenges some simple, tried and tested ‘rules’ will help. We discuss 10 Negotiating Rules in this piece, of course there are more, however mastering these will make …
You’ve heard CS persistently bang on about the importance of… Adapting to your buyer’s changing behaviour (We’re not in Kansas anymore!) The importance of winning the digital ‘mindshare’ of your customers as they enter your buying cycle The age of the customer we now find ourselves in and the importance of the experience of not …
This week I thought I would share some wise words from Lara Morgan, who circulated the words below to all of her company heads. I think the message speaks for itself… “In order for a business to take advantage of an opportunity, four factors must be in place. The formula looks like this. VISION + …
At Company Shortcuts we exist to ‘grow the nation by improving sales performance’ and the growth rates of our client base which averages 140% increase in Net Profit one year after engagement, tell us that we are well on our way to achieving our mission. Yet according to the Scale-up report published in November 2014, commissioned by UK …
IF YOU WANT TO GROW FAST, BE READY TO EXPORT! [LARA MORGAN] During UK Trade & Investment’s (UKTI) Export Week, thousands of companies will be opening their doors to show the rest of the world why Britain is a great place to do business. While some businesses are embracing exports and taking the world by storm, …
Nicola Cook walks you through how to define when a deal is really closed and suggests how you might improve your Closing Process. Why don’t businesses close more warm leads? In part, they take their foot of the gas too early in the sales process. And lets face it, depending on who you talk to in …
Over the years, Lara and I have seen many organisations, from micro businesses through to large corporates, with sales teams so detached from Profit Generating Activities that they misdirect their activity and end up, at best, increasing revenue but not profit, or at worst increasing revenue but to the detriment of profit. It sounds obvious as …
Lara Morgan shares the system of reward she established in her business to motivate her sales team to accelerate the growth of her business. She explores how effective sales targets combined with really understanding what motivates an individual are crucial to developing the team culture focused on profit priorities for growth. Reward mechanisms, the generosity to some extent and …
It’s important to be honest about both the strengths AND challenges different selling styles present. Nicola Cook explains in greater depth what to expect from each style. After reading the outlines in Selling Styles Part 1, do you find yourself associating in particular with one of these styles? The Gladiator The Best Friend The Wizard …
Whether you approach it with fearless passion or like you do a chat with your best mate, everyone has a natural style of influence. Even if you do not consider yourself to be a ‘natural’ salesperson, you will default to what comes naturally when put in a position that requires influence. Here, we uncover your preferred selling style, …
As you may have gathered from the content already covered on this topic, there is no one definitive successful style. In fact to become super successful you actually need to be able to switch between the styles at different points throughout the sales process, particularly if you work in a smaller business, or indeed are the …
I watched a fascinating programme on the BBC recently. Essentially it asked what the Health Service could learn from other industries that would reduce the amount of mistakes caused purely by human error, particularly in stressful situations. By comparing best practice from such sectors as diverse as The Fire Service, Aviation, to the pit teams …
With the internet available at customers fingertips on multiple devices, a typical salesperson does not get to engage with a prospect until they are already 70% of the way through their buying process (source: Forrester). So how do you make it count when you do get their attention? Changing buyer behaviour is having a huge impact on revenue, productivity and …
“Tell us what we need to say to our prospective customers to make them want to buy.” Less telling, more asking! Like many companies that approach me, this cry from the heart came from a group of specialists, in this case, a Biotech company. With brains like Einstein, when you ask them to tell you …
Phil Jones, Managing Director of Brother UK, shares his top ten sales management tips to consider when running a large national sales team: 1. Don’t overburden salespeople with unnecessary processes. Keep them simple and well defined. 2. Bring the team together face to face regularly, formally and informally. Salespeople are naturally social beings. 3. Allow teams …