Is a Sales Mentor strategic or tactical?

How do people react when you explain what you do? It’s always interesting to see whether the response is enthusiastic or politely passive. But more than this, do people actually get it? You know in detail what you do – and in the context of your industry it makes complete sense. But most conversations are…

7 tips for successful sales pitches

When it comes to successful sales pitches, there are some components that should show up every time. You need confidence and enthusiasm. You need to know what your message is and who your audience is. And you need to look the part and have the right tools or materials to convince the listener. For this…

The importance of customer loyalty and how to measure it

If sales measures had a Greatest Hits catalogue then customer loyalty would be the one everyone is singing along to. Customer loyalty is the banger that keeps everyone singing long after the band have left the stage. Customer loyalty is what gets you more deals, at higher prices, at a lower cost of acquisition. It’s…

What sort of sales training does my business need?

It’s surprising how often companies decide they need sales training before answering this key question. In many ways the decision is a no-brainer: Good sales training helps you engage better with customers and it helps motivate and keep great sales people. So budget time comes around again and everyone agrees “sales training” is something that…

5 mistakes that lead to unsustainable sales deals

Sustainable selling is something we frequently speak about. Why is that? It’s because sales is a specialism that’s full of people offering quick fixes, which can result in unsustainable sales. Search Google for sales questions and you’ll find plenty of “clever” questions designed to manipulate customers. Not to mention the countless lead gen businesses promising…

Moving sales from an artform to a science

Successful selling. Is it about working alongside someone and collaborating on solutions, or is it about getting them to do what you want? Is it about helping them or manipulating them? We hear both of these views and there are believers in both approaches. Nor is it easy to draw the line between these styles.…

Influencing customers without pitching

Why? You might ask ? When it comes to influencing customers without pitching, just think – how many times have you met someone at a networking or business event and been forced to listen to them drone on about how important they are? At what point did you mentally switch off and start looking for…

How do you increase value for customers in 2023?

Times are challenging – there’s no surprise in that news. And the messaging everywhere is about ‘value’. Adverts for products and services claiming to be ‘better value’ compared either to a former version of themselves, or their competition. When trying to increase value for customers, what exactly constitutes value in the first place…is it the…

Lead gen – 7 reasons you should avoid spending money on it

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a small wooden cottage in a forest. This was home to the sales fairy. Thanks to the internet the sales fairy was able to sell lead gen services to hopeful business owners. Signing them up to unapproved mailing lists she was able to…

What’s a sales culture and how do I get one?

Building a strong sales culture is critical to building a successful business. But it’s much easier said than done. Sales culture isn’t really about sales; it comes from a combination of leadership and teamwork. In this blog post, we’re exploring ‘what’s a sales culture and how can you build one in your business?’. Perhaps the…

Where does marketing stop and sales start?

This is one of the most important handover points to get right in any company. But the boundaries are really fuzzy. How many times have you heard comments like this? “We could improve performance if only Sales followed up on the leads we give them” “We could grow sales if only Marketing gave us decent…

Five steps to building a high-performing sales team

Have you ever baked a cake? A few people who are expert bakers can throw together a few ingredients and come up with something sweet and fluffy in a matter of minutes. Most of us, though, need to follow a recipe. That recipe tells us what the component parts are and in what order to…