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, February 16th, 2024

Your first day

What should a salesperson expect from their first few days in a new sales role? I suppose this article could have been titled “What do I wish I had known or done in my first day as a salesperson?” And maybe I might have benefited from reading it then – but that was a long time ago, and in a… 


Wednesday, July 5th, 2023

New VP global sales for German media monitoring service

German digital media monitoring service PMG Presse-Monitor has expanded its management team with the appointment of Michelle Harold as Vice President Global Sales. She will lead PMG’s international sales team from 5 June. With her extensive experience in the digital transformation of content, Harold will lead PMG’s market expansion based on the company’s ongoing investment and commitment to innovation in… 


Wednesday, July 5th, 2023

Close Brothers Asset Finance invites Sales Academy applicants

UK merchant banking group, Close Brothers Asset Finance is inviting applications to join its sales academy, which aims to attract new and diverse talent into the sector from across the UK. Six positions are available in this year’s sales academy, and experience in finance or sales is not a prerequisite. The role is being advertised at £32,500 basic salary plus… 


Thursday, April 20th, 2023

Embracing all generations in the workplace

This paper has been adapted from the author’s Masters project and discusses how leaders can best cultivate “superpowers” that are applicable to multi-generational organisations and teams. When exploring the different generations, I came across many different descriptions and definitions. To avoid confusion, I have decided to use the definition from Purdue University: The aim of my research has been to… 


Thursday, April 20th, 2023

War on attrition

How can effective coaching support the retention of employees within an organisation? The challenge of employee retention and continued commitment to an organisation has no straightforward documented resolution. A key responsibility of any business is to keep its employees happy and motivated, retain them in the company, but also to ensure they make best use of their individual talents. O’Reilly… 


Monday, November 28th, 2022

Four steps to talent heaven

1. UNDERSTAND SALES TALENT Sales isn’t for… 


Monday, November 28th, 2022

Hiring salespeople with talent

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… 


Thursday, March 21st, 2019

Consultants suggest how to maximize the lifetime value of your sales force

A recent paper from consultants McKinsey & Co suggest that forward-looking sales leaders can use analytics to enhance performance management by using data to directly link talent management to increased financial value. Authors Eric Buesing, Alexander DiLeonardo, Maria Valdivieso De Uster and Ben Vonwiller suggest companies can apply similar techniques used to calculate long-term customer value to measuring the value… 


Thursday, March 21st, 2019

Sales shame holding back the profession

Shame and stigma surrounding sales is a key contributor to poor UK productivity, according to a poll conducted by Censuswide. Nearly a third (31.1%) of UK managers believe that “sales shame” is negatively impacting their business growth, the survey of 1,000 managers found. In addition, more than a quarter (27%) of managers also believe that this sales shame is holding… 


Friday, May 18th, 2018

Recruiting coachable salespeople

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… 


Friday, January 29th, 2016

Accelerating the potential of new talent

Hiring and onboarding is an expensive and time-consuming process. It pays to get it right. The costs of recruitment are on the rise again, with an increase of around 50% from 24 months ago, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; meanwhile, four out of five employers are saying that the competition for well-qualified talent has increased over… 


Saturday, October 31st, 2015

HIRING IS KEY BUT AN ELUSIVE COMPETENCY

Average sales turnover across firms surveyed by… 


Saturday, April 11th, 2015

Re-imagining the hiring process to support growth aspirations

As part of his SAP Masters programme, Paul Devlin is exploring how sales transformation can be implemented within his team and wider organisation. Here, he discusses how he has used reflection, “action research” and “appreciative inquiry” to enhance the sales recruitment process.   Current situation I lead a sales team of 18. The SAP MENA teams and my annual growth…