Monday, February 19th, 2024
What salespeople need to succeed in a new sales role
Of course, every new salesperson needs to have a clear understanding of what they are selling. But product knowledge is never enough to ensure success. Bob Apollo lists five things every new (and existing) salesperson needs to master: +
Monday, February 19th, 2024
Five things to consider before stepping up to a sales management role
For many salespeople, their obvious career goal is to advance into sales management. Unfortunately, this can turn into a frustrating move. Here’s what aspiring sales managers need to consider: +
Friday, October 13th, 2023
Addressing individual underperformance
Sales managers have a responsibility to identify, understand and address the root causes of individual underperformance in their teams. Here are a few of the key considerations: +
Friday, October 13th, 2023
Build a go-to-market coalition
By 2026, B2B organizations that unify their…
Friday, October 13th, 2023
Establishing your own personal development plan
No matter how comprehensive the training programme provided by their employer, salespeople need to establish and implement their own personal development plan. Bob Apollo highlights a few key considerations: +
Wednesday, October 11th, 2023
Time for CPD
Do salespeople have time to learn? +
Wednesday, October 11th, 2023
Don’t sacrifice effectiveness
Five negative effects of sales efficiency. Efficiency in the sales process is a good thing, right? Well, it all depends on what you mean by “efficiency”. The definition of “efficient” is: “achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.” In parentheses, the Google dictionary notes, “(especially of a system or machine).” And it’s that last part, I want to…
Wednesday, October 11th, 2023
Negotiation as a trading process
How to dodge three avoidable mistakes when closing a deal. It is as if it were yesterday. I can still see their faces: stern, unbending, implacable. The setting was innocuous enough: a small meeting room in the hotel for which I was sales director. On one side of the table, I sat with the general manager, and on the other…
Wednesday, October 11th, 2023
Addressing underperformance
Underperformance is not just about the individual; it can be a structural issue too. It would be an exceptionally lucky or gifted sales manager who has never had to address the issue of underperformance at some stage in their management career. Sometimes the causes appear to be external – changes in the market environment over which we have little influence…
Wednesday, October 11th, 2023
Coaching conversations
My Coaching Promise ensures sales professionals have better sales conversations. In today’s hybrid world of both face-to-face and virtual customer conversations, ensuring the best of the limited time we get with customers is paramount. I find it odd that it’s taken for granted that sports professionals have multiple coaches, yet sales professionals struggle to get time with their managers, who…
Friday, September 30th, 2022
2022 8.5 Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad
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 four themes that focus on sales performance, capability development, behavioural studies, and systems and tools….
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
Measure behaviours as well as outcomes
Only 25% of sales organizations are directly measuring sales behaviours that drive sales success, claims ValueSelling Associates. “Our research findings mean that 75% of sales teams are driving down the interstate with their focus fixed on the rear-view mirror,” President and CEO, Julie Thomas tells the Journal. +
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
2022 8.3 Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad
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 four themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, behavioural studies, and systems and tools….
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…
Monday, July 26th, 2021
The gift of anxiety
Perhaps surprisingly, the nature of anxiety means that it offers an inherent opportunity for personal and professional growth. In high-value and complex B2B sales, ambitious sales targets and growth plans are common. Typically, sales professionals are measured on outcomes they can control only to a certain extent. As they mature in their career, many develop ways of managing sales pressure…
Monday, July 26th, 2021
Establishing the foundations of a coaching culture
The ability to coach is a key attribute that distinguishes truly effective first-level sales managers from the pack. What’s the one thing that separates truly effective first-level sales managers from the rest? You can make a case for their ability to motivate or to create an environment of responsibility and accountability, but there’s good reason to believe that their ability…
Monday, April 26th, 2021
2021 7.2 Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad
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 four themes that focus on sales performance, capability development, sales behaviours and sales automation. Sales…
Friday, April 23rd, 2021
WORKING-FROM-HOME BURNOUT
FOR SALESPEOPLE, THE DEMANDS OF THE CONNECTED…
Friday, February 26th, 2021
2021 7.1 Research Review – edited by Jeremy Noad
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 four themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, capability development, and sales behaviours. Sales…
Friday, February 26th, 2021
Team tenure
Why understanding team tenure can be a key to healthy sales-team dynamics and a rapid alignment of teams. The longer a team has spent together with the same composition of team members, the more harmonious interpersonal relationships become. The shared experience builds trust and psychological safety, leading to smoother team processes, more effective use of resources and increased team performance…