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?

This is a question 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 as a management headache: My…

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?…

Driving growth with sales activity

Using the sales funnel to ensure your sales activity delivers your sales growth It’s one thing to have an aspirational target for the turnover of your business. It’s quite another to understand and execute the sales activity required to achieve that. What is your sales funnel? This is where a sales funnel comes in. This…

Getting the best results from employing consultants

Inviting a consultant into your business is a big commitment. Even more so if a whole gang arrive together. Not business as usual It’s Monday, it’s 9am and already you’ve got a faulty printer, a production issue, one late order urgently awaiting a courier, and six new customer enquiries looking back you from your inbox.…

Getting the best from sales training

Sales training is more than just making the booking and hoping for the best. All training has a cost attached to it. There’s the obvious financial one if you appoint an external training business to support you. There’s also the opportunity cost of asking your people to leave their day jobs and spend time doing…

Choosing the best support for your business growth

How do you choose what kind of sales support you need? Business support varies widely – from sales training programmes via coaching and mentoring, to tailored consulting and beyond. There are pros and cons for business owners, and it’s a puzzle where to begin and who to speak with. One consideration is cost, however, the…