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As B2B buying behaviour evolves, how can sales organisations adapt? This is the third of a series of articles in which Dr Simon Kelly, Dr Paul Johnston and Stacey Danheiser explore customer value and differentiation. In this article they offer an early view into their latest research around the roles and competencies required by salespeople to help their organisations differentiate…
Context is important in sales meetings. Successful approaches vary according to the level and function of the executive you are speaking to and how far along the buying journey they may be. Writing in Harvard Business Review, Journal contributor Dr Frank Cespedes and Tracy DeCicco warn of the negative consequences of choosing the wrong sales approach for the circumstances, such…
Some 24% of inside sellers are actively looking for a new job, with the three most common reasons being dissatisfaction with the competitiveness of compensation package, manager quality, and the degree of respect the organisation shows employees. That’s according to findings from Gartner’s Global Labor Market Survey. The survey also highlights factors that would pull sales representatives to similar jobs…
Here we set out to discover what sort of communications personalization actually does drive action. One of the most-quoted lines in movie history comes from the classic film The Godfather. After Michael, the emerging leader of the Corleone crime family, lays out a ruthless plan for revenge against his enemies, he punctuates his strategy with the memorable line: “It’s not…
How to make a successful transition from individual contributor to manager? Linda Hill (2003), in her seminal work on becoming a manager, compares the transition from individual contributor to manager as similar to becoming a parent for the first time: on day X –1 you have no children and then you suddenly become responsible for a child. Having been through…
New research reveals a formula for communicating an apology that generates greater customer satisfaction and loyalty after a service failure. In recent issues of this Journal, we’ve published three pieces of original research on improving messaging for critical customer success situations: renewals, price increases and upgrades. In each case we provided a tested, proven framework for the most effective approach…
This project from 2016 explores how to create a sales control system designed to deliver a company’s key objectives. Introduction Sales is no longer an independent isolated function within an organisation, but is an integral and cross-functional part of a company’s strategy (Storbacka et al 2011). Sales now not only executes the strategy, but helps create and drive the strategy…
This 2016 Masters project asks: Do employee motivation schemes have to be financially focused to improve engagement and output? Study background Do employee motivation schemes have to be financially focused to improve engagement and output? During previous employee appraisal meetings within my organisation, a number of our employees asked if the company would consider introducing a financially focused bonus scheme;…
A new study highlights the power of “you” versus “we” phrasing in your messaging. When sending out prospecting messages or presenting solutions to prospects and customers, most marketing and salespeople tend to “we, we, we” all over themselves. No, this article isn’t about losing control of bodily function. It’s about word choice and whether a single word or pronoun-based reference…
This 2016 research conducted in the context of a programme of study leading to the MSc Professional Practice in Sales Leadership qualification seeks to understand the effects of sales force incentives and how to balance pay plans with company objectives (B2B). Background As a sales director of a successful office equipment business for over 20 years, I could be forgiven…
In original research for his Doctor of Business Administration qualification Simon Kelly asked: How do sales and marketing produce business-to-business value propositions? Background I became interested in how sales and marketing work together (or not!) to produce value propositions at the turn of the millennium in my role as Marketing Director for BT’s Major Business Division (BTMB). In an increasingly…
New research explores how to dramatically improve your “virtual” sales calls. Editor’s Note: This is the second article in a series about improving the impact of sales calls in phone or web conference environments. This piece covers original research aimed at determining the most effective approach for engaging prospects and customers in these selling environments. In the 60s and 70s,…
Summary In this research, I conducted an action research project (McNiff & Whitehead, 2006) as a sales manager worker researcher leading six salespeople in the large enterprise business-to-business software market in the United States. I evaluated the applicability of Squire’s Client-Centric Values framework (Squire, 2009) and how its positive behaviours can be driven utilising a balanced approach of transformational and…
Project summary My research project sought to understand the business impact that distributed leadership practice can bring to a sales-focused environment and how cultural differences can affect the practice within a global organization. Research was conducted with a team of Center of Excellence (COE) professionals focusing on platform solutions sales. Evaluation of impact was measured, based on the COEs’ impact…
Here we preview original research on how best to engage your audience during virtual meetings. The move at many companies is to expand inside sales teams and decrease the number of “feet on the street”. But, for all the potential cost savings and productivity gains, this transition creates some serious engagement questions and challenges resulting from the virtual barrier between…
Coaching in Ireland is in the early stage of its life cycle, mostly used by “early adopters” rather than being in the mainstream of management tools. The use of coaching in companies as a development tool for employees has exploded over the past 15 to 20 years. According to a report by Frank Bresser (2009) there are about 43,000 to…
Can organisations understand how to recruit salespeople who are adaptable, coachable, and willing to embrace new learning? What makes a good salesperson? Arguably there are many characteristics and behaviours, and whilst some commentators pigeon-hole salespeople with simplistic titles to define their characters (Dixon and Adamson 2011), others take a different view and suggest that great salespeople demonstrate “differentiating mind-sets”, reflected…
Why the three topics of coaching, change management and stakeholder engagement should be considered more seriously in the development of sales managers and sales professionals identified as high performers. Introduction I identified three topics I considered to be important to sales that were not usually taught or self-selected by salespeople, and that I believed would help outperformance in the long…
