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How storytelling can help bridge the gap between management and teams. Even as we are communicating all the time, even if we are surrounded by communication all day, it is neither easy nor simple: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place,” according to Whyte (1950). From my experience, I believe he is right….
What are the required leadership behaviours that will help leaders succeed in the digital age, and to what extent do our leaders need to change their leadership behaviour in the future? Over 24 years I have held various sales and sales support roles at SAP. I had the chance to work with the largest customer (Siemens) as a Global Account…
How to make virtual sales presentations more engaging, more memorable and more effective. In an instant, the number of salespeople delivering remote presentations has reached 100%. But how do they feel about virtual sales calls, versus in-person meetings? Not good, according to our recent industry survey of over 500 B2B salespeople. Over 70% of salespeople believe that remote selling is…
The research review aims to help readers keep up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research. This selection of published research is from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts include three themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, and sales behavioural studies. Sales Performance…
What are the top sales leadership priorities for the coming months? What are sales leaders looking to accomplish? What would they do if money were no object? To find out, the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research surveyed 423 sales, enablement, and company leaders. Respondents were asked about the importance of 16 different potential priorities and asked the $64,000 question:…
Identifying a B2B buyer’s post-decision “cognitive states” – consonance and dissonance – and how to accommodate them. Cognitive dissonance is experienced when a person suffers from the unpleasant and conflicted state of being “in two minds about something” – in other words, concurrently holding two or more contradictory cognitions (ie, perceptions, attitudes or beliefs). The concept became popularised among marketers…
How a relationship-based group coaching model can improve performance. As a salesperson and subsequent sales leader with more than two decades of experience, on-the-job learning has provided me with valuable insights and business management skills. However, given the rapidly evolving business environment, I realised the need to embark upon a continuous learning path. On learning about the SAP Master’s programme,…
Research led to the creation of a “Success Guide to Leading A Cross-Functional Team”. My aim with this research is to help cross-functional team leaders garner better team performance by providing an easily consumable, repeatable set of recommended behaviours and actions to help guide them to success. Team leaders can utilize the knowledge provided from these research findings for guidance,…
This study, adapted from a 2018 University of Portsmouth Business School MA Sales Management dissertation, explores the adaptive sales model and its suitability for cross-cultural sales into China. The author was surprised at the lack of cross-cultural awareness and understanding in global sales and communication, with even established exporting enterprises lacking an ability to fully engage and communicate effectively with…
This project explores a new approach to change management to enable better value for people. “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change” To a certain extent, I agree with this quote, attributed to Einstein, not because it is from a man recognised as a genius, but because it seems to make sense. There is a qualifying aspect in…
How to introduce a collaborative change methodology to further support embedding of a sales academy into an organization. “How will I introduce a collaborative change methodology to further support the embedding of the SPARK Sales Academy into our organisation?” Simon Sinek (2011) tells us to start with “why”. My concern begins to formulate by asking myself, “Why did my sales…
These pages aim to keep readers up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts are across three themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, and behavioural studies. Sales Performance Ethical leadership leads to higher sales performance Given…
Understanding the science of unforgettable selling presentations. Controlling your 10% For over a century, scientists have studied how much people remember (and conversely, how much they forget) after being exposed to new information. A psychological concept called the “Forgetting Curve” (Figure 1) suggests that people lose information over time when they make no effort to retain it. In the first…
How can we, with an improved understanding of SAP’s purpose and promise, support global account leaders to strengthen their business conversations and relevance? During one of the meetings with SAP’s Corporate Strategy team we discussed the Maslow pyramid (Maslow 1943: 370-396) and how it links to the maturity of partnerships. We wondered if purpose is considered as the highest level…
