Salespodder (Page 398)

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Honesty Box Phenomenom

My pals consider me a bit of a poptart. Despite my advancing years, I firmly believe it’s perfectly acceptable to be into ‘pop’ music. My playlists encompass a broad spectrum, from the heaviest rock, to the smoochiest of divas, but pure pop pleasure is the centre of my aural

Why Customers Switch

One of my current projects helps a sales team shift more of a ‘new’ product. It was first released a couple of years back, but no-one sold it (another sales substitution story). I spoke to one of the reps. I must have caught him at a low time. He wasn’

Field Coaching

Way back in Jan 2004, a client of mine embarked on a process of field coaching. The idea was to progress their individual’s repping skills whilst turning their sales managers into coaches, rather than process-watchers. They had around 160 sales people, and as managers had spans of control typically

Account Management Cycle

One of my customers derives a large chunk of their revenue from continually churning their kit in situ around their client base. The idea is that they sign people up on lease agreements, then before the lease completes, they’ll have a superb new innovation to swap-in, renew the agreement,

Deliver Business Case With Conviction

I’ve always enjoyed attending my customer’s workshops that are run by a respected person from elsewhere in their organisation. This is because they have instant and greater gravitas with the reps than an external trainer would, and such reverence allows them to push the reps further. Sessions like

The Straight Bat

Back in London, I met up with a pal for a couple of cheekies down the juicer. As can often be the case, we got to talking about former girlfriends. My mate recounted a tale from some years ago that gave me a neat sales insight. He was out one

The Power Of One

One of my customer’s sales management team were recently summoned to a European conference where new solution sales techniques were passed down from a central corporate training resource. One particular topic I know they all liked was about talking credible numbers when it came to benefits. All too often,

Would You Buy Tat?

The majority of sales teams I help are not the cheapest in their space. For some, far from it, and they take on the perennial struggle of having to justify themselves against a large hole in the floor through which their competition’s price has just dropped. Many a salesteam

The 5 Whys simplicity

Commissioned recently by a leading manufacturer/distributor of hydraulic kit to help stimulate sales of a new kind of filtration product, I rolled up my sleeves only to learn that none of the sales team were really selling it. Over the past 18 months or so, only 6 examples of

Proving Customer Delight

Here’s a tale from a successful small software house. They’ve around 200 customers, and operate on three continents. When making first appointments on the phone, conducting them in person, and responding after by mail, they like to use quotes their customers give them, saying how wonderful they are.