Insight

Do you need to understand a sales-related topic in more depth? Respected business thought-leaders and academics shine the light on current issues facing the global sales community.

Sales strategy 101

July 5th, 2023 by

Three ways to analyse sales strategies to determine gaps and identify opportunities for improvement. I’ve been selling and consulting for almost two decades now. During that time, I’ve had the chance to collaborate with sales organizations worldwide, assisting them with their sales strategies and designing sales enablement programmes to bridge gaps. Based on my experience, analyzing sales strategies is crucial… 


Complexity will save salespeople

July 5th, 2023 by

What are tomorrow’s most important sales competencies? We’re entering a “brave new world of sales”, fuelled by the convergence of evolving B2B buying behaviours and the availability of AI-based new technologies. Is change the only constant, or do some of the traditional attributes of a successful salesperson remain important? I think it’s clear that many relatively simple pre- and postsales… 


Questions, questions, questions!

April 20th, 2023 by

How and why we ask questions is important. The twins of curiosity and ignorance Dr Marlys Witte is “a surgeon without hands”1, a researcher and educator of medical students and the self-proclaimed mother of the “medical ignorance” movement. She has not just adopted the Socratic method of educating through questions; her medical education model also develops the capability to be… 


Sales leadership and CRM

April 20th, 2023 by

What role should sales leadership play in their organisation’s deployment of CRM? A CRM application lies at the centre of the technology stack of most sales organisations. It often represents one of the most significant investments made to support sales effectiveness. And yet both organisations and users often express frustration with both the user experience and the quality of the… 


Are you delusional?

April 20th, 2023 by

Don’t rely on “hopium” – the mindset that blocks agency growth and loses deals. I once had a boss who said, “I think we got away with that one” after just being told by the chairman of a global cereal brand our creative proposals were “the biggest load of crap ever seen”. We were fired the next day. The agency… 


Too many cooks…

November 28th, 2022 by

How a single sales methodology can help to reap global benefits I am constantly amazed at how quickly companies that invest in a sales training methodology are led astray and lose out on the benefits it can deliver. Often, as the roll-out draws to a close, someone proposes a new “shiny toy”. Incredibly, they go for it, short-circuiting all the… 


Developing the potential of talented salespeople

November 28th, 2022 by

Why development is so much more than just training. In “Hiring salespeople with talent” (see pages 6-7), I explored the challenges involved in making good sales hires. Now I want to shift attention to some of the key things we need to do if we are to fully develop the potential of the talented salespeople that we have just hired…. 


Hiring salespeople with talent

November 28th, 2022 by

Why an evidence-based approach is the route to a successful sales hire. Finding and recruiting the right salespeople is perhaps the most important role for any sales manager or leader. Hiring the wrong person – or at the other end of the scale, failing to fill the position at all – is costly in so many ways. The wasted recruitment… 


Get in the flow

September 30th, 2022 by

SAP’s Experiential Sales Learning programs allow salespeople to learn in the flow of their work. To ensure that business continued to flow, in 2020 most companies worldwide responded to the pandemic by making the transition to remote working. More recently, as some businesses began to require employees to work onsite again, others have been cementing a hybrid working model as… 


Focus on storytelling

September 30th, 2022 by

When a group of non-native English speakers wanted to hone their English writing and speaking skills, they joined a programme exploring a range of literary genres via the work of a cross-section of authors. We set these business leaders the task of recounting their most memorable sales experiences in the Journal. In this special feature, we explore the rationale behind… 


Making conflict work

September 29th, 2022 by

While conflict needs to be managed well, it can also be productive. Conflict is a frequent challenge among business relationships with customers, partners and suppliers. Inside organisations, conflicts within teams and cross-functionally are also common, yet sales professionals often feel ill-equipped to manage conflict well. Unresolved conflict can spread and grow, and result in stress and well-being issues for those… 


Top sellers are storytellers

September 29th, 2022 by

Every salesperson has the potential to improve their storytelling skills. As human beings, we have evolved over the generations to use stories to communicate. Moreover, one of the key factors that sets today’s most effective salespeople apart from the rest is their ability to share compelling, relevant anecdotes – typically the experiences of other existing customers – that resonate with… 


Without character, ethics is just a rule book

July 4th, 2022 by

Almost every leader claims to be ethical in business, but do they have the character to foster trust? Ethics, necessary but not sufficient Corporate scandals from Enron to Freddie Mac occurred despite the fact that the organizations and individuals leading them were operating in environments governed by a code of ethics. Yet, people still behaved poorly. Why? Why do people… 


Selling face to face

May 3rd, 2022 by

Being there is still important in the modern B2B sales process. Businesses increasingly communicate with customers and prospects in new ways as technology advances. Today’s sales reps use a variety of tools to accomplish their tasks – email, social media and video-chat tools among others. Consequently, traditional in-person sales meetings have become less common. Nevertheless, even as the B2B sales… 


Value-pricing: 12 key points for implementing strategy

May 3rd, 2022 by

Value First, Then Price: Building Value-Based Pricing Strategies, edited by Andreas Hinterhuber and Todd C Snelgrove, is the definitive book on value selling. To celebrate the publication of the second edition we have interpreted some of the main points in one of the key chapters of the book: “Quantifying your value so customers are willing and able to pay for… 


The secret power of introverts

May 3rd, 2022 by

Too shy to sell? Why organisations need introverts. Do you ever hear the words “introvert” and “sales” in the same sentence and wonder if it is even possible to be successful in sale and shy or introverted? The conventional stereotype is that sales is an extrovert’s playground, but the reality is that this is simply not true.Countless industry giants are… 


Understanding true value

May 3rd, 2022 by

Engage buyers using the basics of value-based selling. We all know the frightening stats: buyers spend 17% of their time interacting with sales professionals, and nearly half (43%) prefer a completely rep-free experience (Gartner). Yes, this is alarming. However, this roadblock is just that, a roadblock – it’s not impassable. After all, the buying journey is complex and contains numerous… 


What is value?

May 3rd, 2022 by

Exploring the changing face of value in B2B sales. It seems as if the phrase “sell on value, not on price” must have been around since shortly after the dawn of B2B selling, and it would be hard to argue with the sentiment. But what do we actually mean by value, and perhaps more importantly, how do our customers perceive… 


Learning through competition

January 10th, 2022 by

Three perspectives on enhancing sales skills through sales competitions. Introduction The USA has led the way in developing and promoting sales competitions for university students. However, this dominance is quietly being challenged by the Europeans and universities across Southeast Asia. There are different factors at play around the world as well as alternative pedogeological approaches. This article discusses the challenges… 


Creating an effective coaching culture

January 10th, 2022 by

How embedded is coaching in your organisation? Introduction In the past few decades, coaching has become an established professional learning method. Some sales organisations have dedicated staff coaches, but leaders tend to underuse coaching to tap into the full potential and motivation of their teams. Frequently job ads for sales leaders include the requirement to coach; however, many feel underequipped,…