Friday, September 30th, 2022

Cranfield KAM Forum (Reports from Q2 2022)

Cranfield KAM Forum has now restarted face-to-face sessions in parallel with its online seminars. The success and popularity of the online seminars has demonstrated that there is benefit from them continuing in parallel with the face-to-face sessions. As always, the speakers and subject were chosen to be particularly relevant to key account managers building and maintaining business in the current… 


Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022

Value-pricing: 12 key points for implementing strategy

Value First, Then Price: Building Value-Based Pricing Strategies, edited by Andreas Hinterhuber and Todd C Snelgrove, is the definitive book on value selling. To celebrate the publication of the second edition we have interpreted some of the main points in one of the key chapters of the book: “Quantifying your value so customers are willing and able to pay for… 


Friday, April 29th, 2022

The rise of e-commerce

IN THE US, B2B SELLERS ARE NOW… 


Tuesday, January 11th, 2022

Cranfield KAM Forum online

Reports from the Q2 and Q3 sessions While things are slowly returning to normal, the Cranfield KAM Forum seminars are continuing to complement the regular face-to face meetings that will resume when it is safe to do so. The webinars continue to address both strategic and operational themes and personal development topics of interest for key account managers. In this… 


Tuesday, January 11th, 2022

The power of relationships and purpose

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

Character to lead

We interviewed Kelly Garramone and Phil Styrlund to understand how character is a key driver of organisational success in sales. They explained how sales organisations can take part in some ground-breaking research that will drive performance. What is character science? Pioneered by Dr Fred Kiel (amongst others), character science is a new field of study that was born out of… 


Friday, November 26th, 2021

New era of selling

Modern selling 92% think that remote workforces… 


Friday, November 26th, 2021

Looking to 2025

Way ahead 50% of chief sales officers… 


Friday, November 26th, 2021

Foreword

As we tentatively emerge from the pandemic, the consensus is that selling has moved on significantly – and not just in the most immediately apparent ways like the switch to the hybrid selling world of virtual and in-person engagement and the accompanying transition from field sales to inside sales. Such changes will be persistent, despite some shortcomings (such as issues… 


Tuesday, July 27th, 2021

Agile leadership

How applicable is agile leadership within a traditional organisational structure? Introduction “Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you are going to fail at everything.” – Marilyn Monroe History has shown through all endeavours, be it in business, sport or academics, that those who are able to adapt to change and remain open to new ideas are the most likely… 


Monday, July 26th, 2021

The Emerging Importance of Ethical Leadership

A modern-day Odyssey in search of ethics and purpose in leadership. Background I have observed increasing concerns about the potentially unfortunate fate of organisations and society in the event of ethics and purpose not playing an important role in leadership, human relationship and our behaviour. Therefore, I strongly believe that it is the responsibility of today’s leaders to communicate to… 


Friday, April 23rd, 2021

3 steps to reinventing GTM

How top sales innovators are embedding data and technology throughout their organisations to reimagine sales for the “next normal”. Sales has always been a “sensing” organisation, attuned to changes in customer sentiment, shifts in demand, and the requirements of different buying stages. But those senses are being flooded as customers shift to digital engagement, leaving sellers with more channels to cover… 


Friday, February 26th, 2021

4 key sales reads

Four new books written by distinguished contributors to the Journal offer business leaders, sales professionals, students and academics new insights and guidance as they seek to navigate the complexities of selling and sales leadership today. Each of the authors delivers that rare combination of academic credibility and practical business experience. Sales Management That Works by Frank V Cespedes Rather than moving… 


Friday, February 26th, 2021

New sales realities

Business leaders need to understand that it’s the fit of People, Process, Pricing, and Partners that drives sales effectiveness. Selling is changing. When managers make decisions based on obsolete assumptions, they fall victim to those who do understand cause-and-effect links between buying and selling. For over a half-century, buying has been framed in terms of a hierarchy-of-effects model: moving a… 


Friday, February 26th, 2021

Here’s what’s changing

The key issues for B2B sales leaders in 2021. 2020 proved to be a challenging year for many B2B sales organisations. Certain sectors powered ahead (for example, anything associated with e-commerce or digital transformation) but many other industries suffered significant declines in demand. 2021 will inevitably bring further challenges. Whilst the emergence of effective vaccines offers some hope for recovery,… 


Friday, February 26th, 2021

Need to know for 2021

Q: What do you see as the “new sales normal” emerging post-Covid? What will be different from before over the longer term? Mark Davies: A few things, all of which were trends that were occurring anyway (the Covid-forced recession has just accelerated these trends). Firstly, the trend whereby customers buy via digital channels will intensify. This is because customers know… 


Friday, February 26th, 2021

4 GROWTH PILLARS FOR CSOs

THE KEY TO ACCELERATING REVENUE GROWTH FOR B2B SALES… 


Friday, February 26th, 2021

CROSS-SELLING SUCCESS POST-MERGER

REALIZING THE FULL POTENTIAL OF CROSS-SELLING AFTER… 


Tuesday, November 10th, 2020

Mapping out the solution

Here’s how to use “systemic intelligence” collaboratively. Article summary Let’s face it! We all need as much as help as possible in the current business climate. Systemic Maps are coaching tools that sales leaders can use for faster problem-solving and more effective decision-making. In this article, we explore “mapping” as a tool, in the sense of a fast and powerful… 


Friday, November 6th, 2020

What’s your customer’s unique value story?

Do you have compelling answers to three crucial customer questions: why change, why you, why now? Generic value propositions, while they might be of some use in persuading potential prospects to make initial contact with you as a potential vendor, aren’t very helpful when it comes to setting your customer’s expectations about the specific value that they will derive from…