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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…
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
How and why we ask questions is important. The twins of curiosity and ignorance Dr Marlys Witte is “a surgeon without hands”1, a researcher and educator of medical students and the self-proclaimed mother of the “medical ignorance” movement. She has not just adopted the Socratic method of educating through questions; her medical education model also develops the capability to be…
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
What role should sales leadership play in their organisation’s deployment of CRM? A CRM application lies at the centre of the technology stack of most sales organisations. It often represents one of the most significant investments made to support sales effectiveness. And yet both organisations and users often express frustration with both the user experience and the quality of the…
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
Recent research highlights differences in how sales leaders and sellers view the best ways to engage with prospects, but the majority agree that buyer centricity is the right approach overall – that’s according to a study conducted by sales training specialist ValueSelling Associates and L&D publication Training Industry. A significant majority of sales leaders (61%) believe it makes sense to…
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
A trio of important research-based sales books are in the pipeline this year and all are well worth checking out for different reasons. Book 1 The first of these is Transforming Sales Management: Lead Sales Teams Through Change by Grant Van Ulbrich, set for launch on 3 May 2023 along with the “Scared-So What” personal change app, which will be…
Thursday, April 20th, 2023
Fewer than half of sales leaders and…
Tuesday, February 14th, 2023
You’ve achieved you Masters, but what next? Can the alumni group help to continue the transformation journey? By November 2019, our SAP Masters cohort was really hitting our stride. Collectively we (and I especially) were seeing success with our papers, we were learning new skills and many of us were seeing growth within our teams as our leadership practices improved….
Tuesday, February 14th, 2023
Tackling obstacles to transformational leadership in corporations. What does it mean to transform and how will you know when it is time? It is likely that we have seen, heard, or felt transformation at some point in our lives. If we were to go around the room and provide descriptions, there is a good chance our definitions will be different….
Friday, September 30th, 2022
Details of upcoming events can be found at the Institute of Sales Professionals website. https://www.the-isp.org/events Leadership in Sales (setting clear direction and getting out of the way!) – Sales Leader Round Table Tuesday 4 October 2022, 09:00 The impact of people culture to build trusting teams – Live Sales Leader Round Table Wednesday 5 October 2022, 08:30 Humanising the sales…
Thursday, September 29th, 2022
While conflict needs to be managed well, it can also be productive. Conflict is a frequent challenge among business relationships with customers, partners and suppliers. Inside organisations, conflicts within teams and cross-functionally are also common, yet sales professionals often feel ill-equipped to manage conflict well. Unresolved conflict can spread and grow, and result in stress and well-being issues for those…
Monday, July 4th, 2022
Almost every leader claims to be ethical in business, but do they have the character to foster trust? Ethics, necessary but not sufficient Corporate scandals from Enron to Freddie Mac occurred despite the fact that the organizations and individuals leading them were operating in environments governed by a code of ethics. Yet, people still behaved poorly. Why? Why do people…
Friday, April 22nd, 2022
Details of upcoming events can be found at the Institute of Sales Professionals website. https://www.the-isp.org/events Sales Cycle Best Practice – New Thinking Thursday 5 May 2022, 09:00 Push Back Against Post-Pandemic Procurement Pressure Tuesday 10 May 2022, 09:00 Buyer Behaviour – What are the key drivers in the decision-making process? Tuesday 24 May 2022, 09:00 Improving your Proposals Wednesday 25…
Tuesday, January 11th, 2022
Digital is enhancing the way we manage business and sales organisations, but analytics are underpinned by relationships and human behaviours. The value tied up in customer relationships is vast but hard to measure; purpose is now a profit centre and predictable human behaviours can help us to forecast sales more accurately. These were just three of the key takeaways from…
Monday, January 10th, 2022
Developing and implementing a coaching culture within a sales environment to effect real transformation in coaching across your organisation. Abstract Within sales organisations the value and importance of coaching is acknowledged as a key element to the continuing success of the business, including the development and retention of employees in the organisation. In recent years, the importance of this aspect,…
