Developing the Sales Skills That Protect Every Selling Hour
Every sales organisation faces the same recurring pressures — tougher targets, more cautious buyers, longer and more crowded buying journeys, and the constant question of how to keep a team motivated and engaged when the selling gets harder. The instinct, when results wobble, is usually to add activity: more calls, more pipeline, more pressure. But […]
Add Value to Stay Alive
Forrester Research’s well-known report “Death of a (B2B) Salesman”, by VP and Senior Analyst Andy Hoar, projected that around 1 million sales professionals — roughly 22% of B2B sales agents in the United States — would lose their jobs to self-serve digital buying. The forces behind that decline have only intensified since, and they apply […]
Life Is the Summation of Small Problems
I learned a great deal from my mentor, Dermot Bradley — the inventor of the SCOTSMAN® qualification tool and of Commitment Based Selling. I have a lot to thank him for, and I’d like to share some of the wisdom he passed on to me. My tutor at college was Professor Sir Eric Ash, who […]
Managing the Conservative Buyer
The volume of B2B buying activity is rising. This is music to all our ears. However, with increased volume comes more and more “no decisions” — amounting to nearly half of all B2B buying efforts, according to Gartner. This is a staggeringly high figure, and one that analysts expect to continue. There is no doubt […]
Does CRM Opportunity Management Support Predictable Sales Forecasts?
All too often, opportunity management in CRM does not allow sales leaders to objectively see how well sales are progressing, or to judge pipeline quality. These are serious shortfalls, leading to false forecasting and inexact sales processes. The cost to organisations is high. Customers tell us they invest in CRMs and sales training to address the […]
Eliminating the Root Causes of Lost Opportunities
One of today’s biggest issues for senior management is to achieve the predictability, reliability and consistency of business results demanded by key stakeholders. If sales forecasts are running short of expectations, it’s human nature to point towards factors outside of our control, such as conflicting demand signals from sellers or a shaky market. Sales teams […]