salespodder

salespodder

http://salespodder.com

Penalty Precision

In S Africa for the World Cup at the moment my main focus is on keeping out of the storms and how to avoid my natty St George wing mirror covers being pinched off my car. Over four years ago, I blogged about how missing a stone [http://salespodder.com/

O'Leary's Corporate Power Pitch

Ryanair are an anomaly of a company. I myself have flown with them. Yet after several underwhelming experiences, for a few years now I’ve not taken up the offer of their services. I remain intrigued how in this day and age a company that shows such scant disregard, contempt

Correct Protocols

The labyrinthine machinations of buyers’ systems can scupper many a well-meaning salesperson’s ambitions. I have been reminded recently that there are typically two major times when they can obstruct selling plans; at the very beginning and the very end of a campaign. Almost before you start, lurking in the

Halting Project Creep

I was party to a fascinating exchange yesterday. At the end of a meeting a company had delivered all that was required of it to signal the end of one phase of a project, allowing a pause before possible authority to embark on the next stage. This accepted delivery would

Perseverantia

After blogging the other day someone’s observation that determination trumps all [http://salespodder.com/determination-trumps-all/], I came across a study of teacher effectiveness [http://heathbrothers.com/2010/01/what-makes-a-great-teacher/] on the thoroughly engaging Heath Brothers blog (the guys that wrote Made To Stick). Whilst teachers are of course hardly

Talk With Sensitivity

Demonstrations of definitive thinking can enrage me when it comes to presenting figures. My recent work helping to craft business plans reminds me that the kinds of projected costs and revenues they deduce ought not be presented as absolutes. This also holds true for their sibling data, any sales proposal’

Screen Trees

Watching CNBC’s Planet of the Apps [http://planetoftheapps.cnbc.com/] I was intrigued by the inner workings and motivation of people in the latest goldrush. One company was inventing an app for tracking your expenses. Such apps are nothing new of course – I came across a web-based expenses solution

A Shill Confidence

Here’s one problem I can encounter when working to maximise sales of a client’s latest new product. The glamour and glitz of Launch is greeted with dark mutterings inside closed huddles of salespeople bemoaning the product’s shortfalls as catastrophic. When has each aspect of a new product

Won Sales Analysis

For over ten years, I’ve made a living (sometimes in full, other times partly) from capturing and sharing across sales teams deals that they win. My specific slant was always twofold; collect and codify any genuine best-practice that should be incorporated into any such similar deal, and pinpoint and

Boardman Bike Bites

Olympic gold medal champion Chris Boardman passes on long-distance cycling tips to a beginner [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activityandadventure/the-lycra-files/7740030/Chris-Boardmans-ten-tips-for-completing-the-Etape-du-Tour-The-Lycra-Files.html] in The Telegraph. A pair of points fascinated me about these. The first was how adaptable and relevant many of the headline hints are to