Tech sales as the Growth Engine

Sales and revenue are the engine of growth. The product roadmap is the destination. What happens when tech businesses apply more sophistication to the destination than to the engine that funds it? Discovery: the comfortable lie in tech sales Tech sales’ favourite illusion: “We’ve done Discovery.” Most tech sales teams will tell you they’re good…

Your sales team is your first line of defence against late payments

The phrase Payment Due written in black text on a yellow sticky note posted to a calendar page as a reminder. Close up of a personal agenda, top view.

Most businesses we know have a little celebratory dance they keep for days when a big order comes in. Few think about the possibility of late payments. Quite rightly. It’s a time to stop and reflect on all the hard work you’ve put in and the value you add to customers. So some people are…

Crush sales slumps: Accelerate growth in a flat market

A graph showing increasing sales in a flat market

So many people are reporting to us that sales are slow at the moment. It feels like we are in a flat market. Not necessarily bad sales figures, just endless delays in getting to a Yes. “I sent over a quote last month and I’ve heard nothing” “The decision is stuck with an internal committee”…

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…

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…

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…

Lead gen – 7 questions to consider before you invest in lead gen

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…

5 ways to increase sales for 2023

We’re now at that time of year when leaves are tumbling from the trees. Clocks have gone back and you can count the days down to Christmas. It’s not the time to talk about your “beach-ready” body. But it is the time to think about your sales priorities for the new year and how you…

What’s Customer Lifetime Value and why is it important?

Sometimes, companies will be all over you when you’re making your initial purchase but will disappear as soon as you’ve made your decision to buy. This may be because they don’t understand the importance of customer lifetime value.

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…

How to be an effective sales manager

Being a sales manager requires effort. It means joining the dots between your business strategy, sales plan and sales activity. It means knowing which sales goals to aim for, and which sales people to recruit. It means keeping a number of plates spinning at the same time. You’re the owner, the founder, the mender-in-chief. The…

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…