Building a sales pipeline through referrals

“Do you help with lead gen?” This is a question that always makes us pause. The outcome of successful lead gen is more sales…but surely it’s a marketing activity isn’t it? Similarly, there’s often questions around whose job it is to gain referrals and introductions. If you read marketing textbooks they’ll tell you marketing is…

Does every business need a sales pipeline?

Part of our Sales Untangled promise is to make business simple. So whenever this question gets asked we’re always willing to listen to why the questioner thinks their business can manage without one. [Note: This is a topic where terminology varies. For the purpose of this article we’re using the terms sales funnel and sales…

5 tips on how to deal with ghosting in sales

There’s something strange in the neighbourhood. Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! What’s causing the epidemic of ghosting in sales? There was a time when No just meant No. But now No is often replaced with interminable silence. Business owners are increasingly reporting this to us as one of their biggest frustrations in selling. You’re a…

Five top tips for growing sales in 2024

“It’s got to be better than last year, hasn’t it?” That’s what we said at the end of 2020. And 2021. And again a year ago! One day the business environment will really bounce back. But as we look ahead to 2024 it feels like one of those occasions when you hope for the best…

How to attract the right customers for your business

Identifying and attracting the right customers for your business isn’t always an easy task and you’ll often need to make tough choices at both a strategic and operational level to optimise your sales. Remember those grammar tests you were set at school? The ones where you completely changed the meaning of a sentence by emphasising…

When’s the best time to start selling?

when is the best time to start selling? Sales start now

Short answer: The best time was yesterday, so if you’re too late then start today. This is a discussion we’ve heard a few times recently. It’s often asked in the context of a new product or service. Maybe it’s not fully formed or there’s more work required to perfect the offering. Quite naturally this might…

How do you give feedback to sales people?

Questions around giving feedback to sales people is something that’s come around a number of times just recently. It’s perhaps revealing that it rarely shows up as a question about “building a buzzing sales team” or “getting the very best out of” someone. When people pose this challenge it’s much more likely to be presented…

Are you easy to buy from?

“Please take my money, I really want to spend it with you. Honestly I do…despite how difficult you’re making this.” Our on-going game of Snakes and Ladders in trying to get fibre optic installed, highlights the stark contrast between a business that’s able to expensively and constantly market and sell to customers; and those that…

The danger of absorbing inflation into price

Last week that dreaded message popped up on my dashboard: Warning! Tyre pressure alert! Just a few days earlier I’d topped up the air so this one looked like being a slow puncture. Yes, there was enough air to get home, but the diary was packed for the next 48 hours with little chance of…

How to get sales recruitment right

How to create an effective sales recruitment process to bring a new salesperson into your business. Be certain what kind of salesperson you want. There are different types, and they require a different mix of skills and attributes. You can read more about this in our March blog – ‘How do I recruit the right…

Acquiring new business

New Business - Chinese lanterns for sale

Two key measures that relate to customers are cost of acquisition and customer lifetime value. The first a measure of the total cost of attracting and converting new business. The second a measure of how well and for how long you retain them. And as a result, the value of the total business they afford…

Achieving sales goals

How a focus on skills delivers goals Every WHAT needs a HOW Whether you succeed in achieving your goals. Whether you successfully pivot your business, or whether you struggle to keep things on track – your personal impact upon WHAT your business achieves is defined by HOW you go about it. Are your goals SMART?…