Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
Value-pricing: 12 key points for implementing strategy
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…
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
The secret power of introverts
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…
Friday, April 29th, 2022
5 reasons AR matters to sales
AUGMENTED REALITY INCREASES SALES: SOME COMPANIES HAVE…
Friday, April 29th, 2022
Digital evolution in sales: making sense
BY 2025: 80% OF B2B SALES INTERACTIONS…
Monday, September 27th, 2021
THE VALUE OF TRUST ONLINE
OVER ONE THIRD (35%) OF UK ONLINE…
Tuesday, July 27th, 2021
Agile leadership
How applicable is agile leadership within a traditional organisational structure? The focus of my research project will be understanding what makes an agile leader and their ability to create and manage an agile organisation. What are the specific characteristics, cultural traits and mindset that define an agile leader and what makes them different? I investigate whether it is possible for…
Monday, July 26th, 2021
The Emerging Importance of Ethical Leadership
Nostos (Ancient Greek: νόστος) is a theme common in Ancient Greek literature. It was brought to life in Homer’s Odyssey. Nostos concerns an epic hero returning home by the sea and retaining both his status and identity. In a metaphorical sense, I planned to use Homer’s Odyssey to draw upon my business life experiences and journey. Little did I know…
Monday, April 26th, 2021
Do millennials have a chance?
The theme of my research is to explore the extent to which companies need to adapt and change to cater to a multi-generational workforce, define what the distinct differences really are using facts data, and in the process also draw out similarities. I will look at how stereotypes and unconscious bias skew realities, responses and attitudes. My research seeks to…
Monday, April 26th, 2021
The triumph of data over intuition
How businesses must adapt to the new world of virtual selling. When the Coronavirus pandemic swept across the world in 2020, it is safe to say that all industries were dramatically disrupted and forced to reassess their operations and ways of working. However, the sales industry was one of the business sectors that was significantly turned on its head by…
Friday, April 23rd, 2021
Omnichannel here to stay for B2B sales
Covid-19 has cemented omnichannel interactions as the…
Friday, November 6th, 2020
What’s your customer’s unique value story?
Do you have compelling answers to three crucial customer questions: why change, why you, why now? Generic value propositions, while they might be of some use in persuading potential prospects to make initial contact with you as a potential vendor, aren’t very helpful when it comes to setting your customer’s expectations about the specific value that they will derive from…
Friday, November 6th, 2020
The Magic 6
How to lead virtual (and hybrid) meetings. In spring 2020, meetings changed. Instead of physically meeting up with colleagues, everything moved online during lockdown. Of course, sales teams have been catching up with colleagues in the field by phone or video chat for years, but, in March, everything went remote: team meetings, client meetings and much, much more. While meetings…
Tuesday, May 26th, 2020
Cross-cultural sales into China
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…
Thursday, December 12th, 2019
AI and sales
As tech companies move to digitize the front office, digital start-ups have been flooded with cash in recent years, as they search for a way to use historical data such as emails and customer call logs to help average salespeople emulate the best. The following passages (in double quotes) taken from a recent story in Fortune magazine ask whether AI…
Tuesday, September 10th, 2019
CSOs’ top three 2019 priorities – Gartner
1. Improve effectiveness of sales development activities…
Tuesday, June 25th, 2019
Debunking the myths about the future of sales
A Harvard Business School professor’s insights into the science of sales. In this interview with Deirdre Coleman, Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, dispels the myths surrounding technology’s impact on the future of sales and why the need to rethink sales also means rethinking sales leadership. He considers the social and financial impact of sales productivity, and stresses…
Thursday, March 21st, 2019
Acquisition is not the same as expansion
In sales, acquiring new business and expanding existing relationships is not the same thing – in which case, why do so many companies have the same conversations with prospects as they do with customers? Over the past two years we have undertaken new, original research focused on existing customer conversations. After a decade of hype surrounding the provocative selling approach,…
Tuesday, December 18th, 2018
ABM: a foundation for partnership
Bob Apollo on Building Scalable Businesses Account-based marketing (ABM), along with its all-embracing cousin “account-based everything”, have been touted by its promoters as a miracle cure capable of halting the precipitate decline in conventional marketing effectiveness – and derided by cynical detractors as just another over-hyped trend. As with most new(ish) trends, the reality is probably somewhere in between. The…