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Why aren’t my sales meetings converting into customers
A good conversation isn’t the same thing as a good sales meeting.
It all started with the biscuits. Those little rectangular ones with the chocolate covering. And coffee from a proper grinder!
My sales rep couldn’t stop talking about the brilliant meeting they had with this potential customer. The decision-maker had called in one of her colleagues and they’d all had a long chat fuelled by expensive biscuits and great coffee.
Yet now I’m looking at my month end sales plan wondering where the confirmed order is. We were so confident after that meeting that the Prospect went straight into our forecast. Then…nothing.
It’s not me, it’s you. Or is it? We don’t know what’s changed and are struggling to get an answer by email to find out.
Sound familiar?
How long does it take to improve sales performance?
By the time a business owner asks the question : ‘How long does it take to improve sales performance?’, what they really mean is: When will the headache go away?
The problem has grown big enough – or dragged on long enough – for them to feel the pain of a below-par sales performance. The implications are usually clear: not paying yourself enough this month, or worse, worrying about meeting payroll.
Falling out with an AI agent — and what it tells us about using AI in sales
I’ve fallen out with an AI agent. How can that happen and what does it tell us about the risk of taking shortcuts when using AI in sales?
AI agents don’t have emotions.This means my “falling out” is a one way thing. If I go back to that same agent now it will treat me in the same even-handed, unemotional way it has done for the last four weeks.
This is probably a good thing.
New B Corp certification standards: are they truly holistic?
Everyone’s calling the new B Corp standards “holistic”. We’ve just finished our recertification under them, and we’re not sure that’s the word. Five pillars have become seven areas, the points have disappeared, and the workload has multiplied. Here’s what’s changed, what it took us, and why comprehensive might be the better description.
Why your sales plan isn’t a sales plan (and how to write one that is)
Most business leaders have a sales plan. Some are detailed forecasts. Others live “in my head”. And plenty are just targets dressed up as plans. This post sets out the six things that turn a growth number into a real sales plan, with side-by-side examples of the difference. Because the target is your destination. The plan is your route map.
Why do people think they need a “hungry” sales team?
“I need a hungry sales team.”
We hear it all the time. It’s never appeared in a single job description — and that’s the problem.
You can’t measure hungry. And in sales, you get what you measure.
Keep a dog hungry and you don’t get loyalty. You get an angry, aggressive dog. So why do it to your sales team?
In our latest blog we unpick the hungry sales team myth (also Sales Myth #6 in Untangle Your Sales)
Summers are getting longer. Your sales pipeline isn’t.
With summer in full swing, sales pipelines are quietly grinding to a halt — and this piece makes the case for not letting it happen. Between record heat, the World Cup, and school holidays, there’s every temptation to coast until September. But with half the year already gone and December offering little relief, that leaves a very narrow window to hit revenue targets.
Why you’re losing out on revenue if you don’t use Good, Better, Best pricing
GBB is a way of structuring your pricing so you have an offer for everyone. UK supermarkets are experts in this, appealing as they do to a wide range of shoppers.
If you shop for a pie in Sainsburys there’s an entry level offer, either under the Value or Stamford Street brand. Then there will be a Sainsburys offer at maybe twice the price. Then if you want to indulge yourself you have the Taste The Difference option at twice the price of the mainstream offer…or four times the base price.
Why so many sales forecasts are fiction dressed up as data
A sales forecast is only as good as the sales leadership, operational discipline and culture that sits behind it. The good news is that it’s possible to shift these things, replacing optimism with a more scientific approach. That’s a load off the shoulders of most business owners.