Thursday, March 21st, 2019

Transitioning from sales training to sales education

As part of a wider professionalisation of the sales function, forward-looking companies are discovering the benefits of sales education as a way to equip their people to thrive in today’s complex and challenging business environment. Today’s business landscape is challenging in multiple ways: it’s super competitive; technology is forcing us to deal with change and adapt our go-to-market models at… 

Friday, September 21st, 2018

Lessons from the souq

Techniques passed down the generations in ancient trading centres are still relevant today. Dating back some 5,000 years, Aleppo in Syria is one of the oldest continuously habited cities in the world. It was there that my wife Louise and I met Mohammed, a textile trader, six months before the civil war began in the summer of 2011. Mohammed offered… 

Sunday, April 23rd, 2017

The importance of values

In an original project submitted for his Doctor of Professional Studies qualification, Phil Squire asked: How can a “client-centric values” approach to selling lead to the “co-creation” of a new global selling mind-set? Here’s what he found out. In 2002, I conducted an interview with the Chief Information Officer of IMS Health, a large, global, pharmaceutical company. The subject of… 

Tuesday, November 29th, 2016

Does ethical compliance really make salespeople ethical?

Pressure on the sales function has placed the salesperson in the uncomfortable position of dealing with complex, unrelenting ethical dilemmas on an almost daily basis. The sales department has never been more important to the organization. Given clearly established metrics and direct revenue contributions that connect to financial performance, coupled with an essential role in creating customer value, it is… 

Sunday, July 5th, 2015

Hard yards

Head of sales for global snacks company Mondelez International, Andy Tosney talks about how simplification and standardisation of sales processes is transforming the organisation and delivering a powerful boost to company revenues. Andy Tosney is passionate about what he does…. “I’ve never had a day in my life when I’ve woken up and not wanted to go to work. I… 

Saturday, April 11th, 2015

Key transformational trends in selling

Organisations need to understand how selling is evolving and to involve sales leadership in developing strategies to thrive in the new environment.   Summary Professional selling is undergoing significant and unprecedented change that, in turn, profoundly impacts the role of the professional salesperson. Change has always been part of professional selling; however, the scale and speed of that change has…