Salespodder (Page 399)

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The Generation Divide

I blogged recently on “latch-lifters [http://salespodder.com/know-your-latch-lifters/]” after one of many conversations I’ve enjoyed with the wonderful to speak to Steve Anderson. The other day he told me about a success he’d created after three years ago one of his senior contacts at a customer moved

Overcoming Worn Down Buyer Cynicism

A customer of mine sell big ticket printing kit and software. It’s the highest price tag in the market, and customers luckily get what they pay for, as it’s considered ‘the best’. They’re addressing an issue at the moment with RoI business case presentations. It appears that

Opposite Extreme Bags A Whale

When I first started out reppin’, my (much older) sales colleagues used to talk of landing their “whale of a deal”. Breaking into ‘corporate’ acccounts took up a lot of our idle conversation time. There was often frustration that the highest paid reps would be given named accounts to hunt

A New Spin on SPIN

One of my customers many moons ago paid to join the Huthwaite ‘spin selling’ programme. Then later, they left the fold. Wanting to keep some of the best bits on-board, they evolved their use of the concept. They now call it NPINS. The idea is that the initials still stand

Tiler No Grout Slouch

How often do you pick up a sales tip from a builder? Raging Man Utd fan Salie is turning out to be a winner. He’s renovating my pad in Cape Town. I must admit, I’m having a bit of difficulty trying to “manage” the process. When the workmen

Personal Gain Identification

One of my customers recently had a 3-day Miller Heiman [http://www.millerheiman.com] strategic selling course. When I asked them the one thing that they took from it, their answer was unequivocal; uncovering personal gain. Most sales people have heard of the Miller Heiman Blue Sheet philosophy, which is

There's Brass In Muck

Met a chap called Steve with the grand-sounding title of Head Of Strategy. We got to talking about all the ‘menial’ jobs that marketing should do for sales, but don’t, simply because they think that they’re beneath them. In reality, they are not menial, but they do suffer

Politicians Avoid Details

Westminster village has been ablaze with recriminations over the on-off UK election these past few days. Now his ‘honeymoon’ is well and truly over, has Brown bottled it, destined to embarrasingly cling on to power till the end of the term, or has he flushed out the Tories strategies early,

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’