Friday, March 13th, 2026

A question of (purchase) complexity

In a world where technology has outpaced the theory, how do we define a new operating framework for sales and marketing? Here is a question that, in my view at least, should not still need asking in 2026: what is the actual difference between marketing and sales? Ask ten senior commercial leaders and you will get ten different answers. Ask… 


Friday, March 13th, 2026

Sales Leadership 101 – Are sales and marketing aligned around the customer?

Use this checklist to assess your current interface with marketing – and the customer. If you can’t answer “yes” to the following questions or don’t know the answers, it may be time to revisit the alignment between sales and marketing in your organisation – and your customer focus. 1. Go-to-market strategy 2. Buyer confidence and customer focus 3. KPIs, accountability… 


Friday, March 13th, 2026

A game of two halves

Are sales and marketing functions strategically aligned to optimise business? We asked a range of experts – practitioners, academics and consultants – six questions about the interaction of sales and marketing in a B2B environment. We sought their views on how well sales and marketing organisations typically collaborate to support the aims of a business. We asked them how the… 


Friday, March 13th, 2026

Building bridges between sales and marketing

For businesses to thrive, sales and marketing need to reforge their relationship. I’ve been writing about sales and sales management since the mid-1980s – that’s around 40 years. For almost 20 years, I was heading up a marketing communications agency. So, I’ve observed the sales and marketing relationship from both perspectives. During much of that time it is fair to… 


Friday, March 13th, 2026

A strategic approach to ABM

ABM Is no longer a marketing tactic; it’s a commercial operating model. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has an identity crisis, but not because it is losing relevance. Quite the opposite. ABM has become so commercially potent that describing it as a marketing approach is no longer accurate.  In nine years of running the Global ABM Conference, we have witnessed ABM evolve… 


Friday, March 13th, 2026

A critical new mandate for marketing

What if marketing, sales, sales enablement, and customer success align around a mandate to eliminate barriers to buyer confidence and ensure customers achieve their desired business. There’s a growing recognition that the challenge in complex B2B sales isn’t just about creating demand or building pipeline. The challenge lies in ensuring that we eliminate the barriers to buyer confidence – before,… 


Friday, March 13th, 2026

Beyond the “war”: 20 years of research on the sales and marketing interface

20 years on from HBR’s seminal “Ending the War” paper, how can business leaders align sales and marketing to maximise market performance? When Philip Kotler, Neil Rackham, and Sujay Krishnaswamy published “Ending the War Between Sales and Marketing” in Harvard Business Review (2006), they gave managers a language for an enduring organisational tension. Sales and marketing, they argued, were structurally… 


Tuesday, November 25th, 2025

Personal Branding Tips

This edition focuses on the importance of personal branding in sales. Here are five top tips each for salespeople and their managers. Sales Tips 101 From a salesperson’s perspective Sales Management Tips 101 From a sales manager’s perspective: +


Tuesday, November 25th, 2025

Elevate your selling with personal branding

Q: How have buyers needs and expectations changed recently? A: According to 2023 Challenger research into “How B2B buyers make purchase decisions”, buyers demand compelling insights and “won’t tolerate a meeting that doesn’t engage them and motivate them to action”. Moreover, when the Challenger team asked buyers about their opinions of seller skills in relation to providing a powerful sales… 


Monday, November 24th, 2025

Selling strategic investments

How to use capital budgeting as a sales methodology. Abstract Capital budgeting is a fundamental process in corporate finance involving the evaluation and selection of long-term investments that are in line with a company’s strategic objectives. When employed as a sales methodology, capital budgeting helps sales representatives present their products and services as strategic investments to potential clients. This approach… 


Monday, November 24th, 2025

The value of brand identification in sales

Your brand’s secret weapon: the salesperson connection you’re probably ignoring. When a salesperson identifies with the brand, they don’t just work for a company, they see the brand’s wins and losses as personal. It’s easy as a sales leader, or a field sales rep, to focus on territories, quotas, and compensation plans – but that’s not the whole story. In… 


Monday, November 24th, 2025

Stand out from the crowd

Personal branding as a competitive advantage in a world of AI and automation. Personal branding has been a fashionable term for some years now and it is often taken as something “we all need to do”. Yet, very often we don’t stop and ask why. For this reason, personal branding seldom has the strategic attention that it perhaps deserves. In… 


Monday, November 24th, 2025

Six pillars of personal branding

Why your personal brand is built one conversation at a time. When social media consultants talk about “personal brand” many instinctively think of LinkedIn. They talk about polished profiles, regular posts, and carefully curated content. There is no doubt that a strong digital presence can raise visibility and credibility. It might make potential customers more willing to respond to our… 


Friday, November 21st, 2025

ISP launches awards to recognise sales professionalism

The Institute of Sales Professionals has launched a new scheme to recognise organisations’ commitment to professionalism in sales. The Investor in Sales Award will celebrate businesses that invest in the development and impact of their sales teams, recognising organisations’ commitment to building and sustaining professional, ethical and high-performing sales teams and culture. ISP managing director Guy Lloyd tells the Journal:… 


Tuesday, September 30th, 2025

Five key questions a CEO should ask the sales leader/department to optimise revenue performance

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Tuesday, September 30th, 2025

Five key questions a CEO should ask a potential new CRO before hiring

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Tuesday, September 30th, 2025

Five key questions a sales leader should ask the new boss (the CEO) before accepting a CRO role

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Tuesday, September 30th, 2025

Sales execution reimagined

Bridging sales process and methodology for optimal performance. Too many times, we see sales organisations get dazzled by the latest buzzword (“MEDDIC 1 this,” “Challenger that”), after some consulting firm sells it like it’s the silver bullet that addresses low quota attainment. Or an executive grabs the hot new sales book and declares it to be the next gospel: for… 


Tuesday, September 30th, 2025

The power of adaptation

Although adaptive selling can transform sales performance, it’s not a silver bullet. We all know that the best salespeople don’t always follow the script. While reps might start out reciting memorized pitches, as they develop they learn to read the room, adjust their approach, and craft solutions that resonate with each unique customer. This distinction captures the essence of adaptive… 


Tuesday, September 30th, 2025

Safety, problem solving and creating value between organisations

ISP managing director Guy Lloyd and Warwick Business School’s Professor Nick Lee are in conversation with celebrated sales researcher and author Professor Neil Rackham, known for his pioneering sales research and developing the SPIN methodology. Guy Lloyd: What are the big changes you’ve seen in selling activity since you were doing your research for SPIN Selling? Neil Rackham: I think…