What is your ideal selling style?

Are you having trouble figuring out your ideal selling style? You won’t be on your own if you’re a bit uncomfortable about selling. Let’s be honest, sales has lots of negative connotations. The Hollywood portrayal of sales is always the brash, win-at-all-costs mentality. Think of the Wolf of Wall Street or Richard Gere in Pretty…

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 do I find the time for a Sales Mentor?

When it comes to working with a Sales Mentor, you might have many unanswered questions such as will they make me more efficient? What service do they actually offer? And what will I need to do when working with one? That’s why in this post we’re diving into all things Sales Mentors to explore how…

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…

What are the benefits of a part-time Sales Director?

Many growing businesses don’t consider the advantages of hiring a part-time Sales Director. Business owners think of employing a Sales Director as a binary decision: when we’re big enough I can employ a Sales Director. Until then I’ll manage without. The problem is, this is not how your customers behave. As your business grows there’ll…

Three steps guaranteed to boost sales team effectiveness

If you’re really short on time, the ways to boost sales team effectiveness can probably be summarised in three words: Direction, leadership and skills. Business owners often stress about recruiting the right sales person – then spend more time worrying about whether they’ve done the right thing. Yet in our experience the biggest determining factor…

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…

The importance of sales funnel metrics

Sales is all about the numbers, right? If you’re in a sales job and you’re falling short of budget then you’ll have questions to answer. In some organisations if you miss target for three months in a row you’ll be out of the door. It’s a target-driven environment and results count. But this is all…

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.…

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…