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Monday, September 30th, 2024
Good governance and a thought-through approach are essential if we are to use AI responsibly I was seven years old when I made my first sale. The family business provided musical education concerts for children, so in the school holidays I was press-ganged in to help. I quickly found that being front-of-house selling merchandise was much more fun than being…
Thursday, September 19th, 2024
Sales professionals and academics discuss the current state of AI in sales, and look to the future. Bob Apollo, Chief Outcomes Officer, Inflexion-Point As we approach the era of AI in business and sales, it is vital to explore what the key tasks will be, as well as the skills and development paths needed to make a success of the…
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024
Sales managers need to both trust and be trusted by their sales team. Here are a few of the most important ways in which this can be established: +
Monday, April 22nd, 2024
B2B trust research: what’s next? Abstract New academic research on trust will build on insights generated through Mark Hollyoake’s 2020 doctoral thesis (see previous article). They aim to dig deeper into the role of the “Boundary Spanner in relational trust development”, based on eight years of academic research through the University of Southampton. The original research Boundary spanners: What are…
Monday, April 22nd, 2024
Consalia’s Senior Sales Leadership apprenticeship programme has been graded outstanding by UK education inspectorate Ofsted, the sales business school announced recently. The inspection took place over three days in February. Questionnaires were sent in advance to employers and apprentices and the government inspectors also conducted detailed interviews with Consalia’s Academy Team, apprentices, employers, and delivery partners Middlesex University and Runway…
Friday, October 13th, 2023
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
By 2026, B2B organizations that unify their…
Wednesday, October 11th, 2023
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
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
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…
Tuesday, September 5th, 2023
Anticipating the future puts you ahead of the game. Here is an innovative guide to driving change. Part I: We couldn’t possibly do that! How the “future readiness movement” began. It was the midst of the pandemic, and it was my first team meeting as I embarked in my new role as the Chief Operating Officer for SAP Asia Pacific…
Tuesday, September 5th, 2023
Senior sales leaders from around the globe gathered in London on 7 July to celebrate the forthcoming launch of a unique new book they have created. Leadership Narratives: Reflective Journeys of Sales Professionals is due to be published by leading academic publisher Routledge in December 2023. The sales leaders flew in from as far afield as Nevada and Dubai and…
Friday, July 7th, 2023
Grant van Ulbrich is Global Director of Sales Transformation at Royal Caribbean Group. His learning journey has taken him via a Master’s in Leading Sales Transformation to a doctorate in sales transformation, a new book, and the creation of a bespoke model for personal change. Q: What motivated you to create a new personal change model for sales? A: I…
Thursday, July 6th, 2023
In this summary of his doctoral thesis, Grant Van Ulbrich explores how his public works have highlighted how sales can be transformed to sell within and beyond an organization. Introduction In this synopsis of my doctoral thesis, I draw on my professional work in the public domain (ie, public works) to highlight how sales can be transformed to sell within…
Thursday, July 6th, 2023
Understanding best practices for a buyer-centric sales approach. A buyer-centric approach to selling is table stakes in today’s competitive business landscape – and yet, buyer-centric approaches across companies and industries seem to be vastly different. It begs the question: How do sales leaders and sales representatives interpret buyer-centricity and are they aligned on its crucial components? To further explore this…
Wednesday, July 5th, 2023
Three ways to analyse sales strategies to determine gaps and identify opportunities for improvement. I’ve been selling and consulting for almost two decades now. During that time, I’ve had the chance to collaborate with sales organizations worldwide, assisting them with their sales strategies and designing sales enablement programmes to bridge gaps. Based on my experience, analyzing sales strategies is crucial…
Wednesday, July 5th, 2023
Analysts suggests that sales organizations which actively position technology as a “teammate” for sellers – rather than just another tool – will unlock seller productivity and enable highquality deals. Speakers at the Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference 2023, in Las Vegas on 16-17 May, explored how technology – particularly artificial intelligence – is key in augmenting the unique value…
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
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. Background During my time at the SAP Global Platinum Customer Unit in Walldorf (Germany), I was invited for a meeting with the Dutch SAP Managing Director. During that meeting he offered me the job…
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
How can effective coaching support the retention of employees within an organisation? Introduction This work-based project covers the topic of employee retention. The subject is very relevant for my organisation as we are 20 months into what’s being labelled the Great Resignation (Klotz, 2021). Employee talent is the lifeline of any business. My research project investigated how a successful coaching…
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
We’ve seen the hype, but what is the future of AI in sales? You were either asleep for the past few months or marooned on a desert island if you missed the hype surrounding ChatGPT, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot that was launched in November 2022. The system quickly became a social media sensation due to its detailed responses and articulate…
