Topic

grapevine

A collection of 635 issues

Have You A Final Thought?

In between Olympiad sessions, I caught some good selling on telly. There’s a “supervet [http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-supervet]“. An Irishman, he talks quickly with much indignation. He feels patients suffer at the hands of the medical establishment. Practically anyone that’s dealt with the NHS over several

If You Believe Charisma Is An Essential CEO Trait Then Think Again

Pur-Lease. I’m indebted to a corner office dwelling pal of mine who alerted me to this misguided rubbish. A study from a well-known academic in the field. Purporting to nail the “Characteristics of Top Managers”. Authors Kaplan and Sorensen claim they’ve pinpointed the big “four factors”. I’m

Crisp Make Or Break Close - With Rapid Exit

> View this post on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/p/BHf4ZBrBPuS/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading] A post shared by Inc. (@incmagazine) [https://www.instagram.com/p/BHf4ZBrBPuS/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading] It’s rare that I find noteworthy selling skill from Inc Magazine. Or

Pie-Chart Meeting Wedgie Run-Throughs

One for sales management. An outfit I promised not to name have regular sessions they call pie-chart meetings. Each person in turns talks through their ‘wedge’. They’re really about managing throughput. The team gets together and a piechart is projected on the big screen. A specific factor is singled

Do You Harness Business Transformation Questions Like Global Outsourcer?

I saw that huge outsourcerer Wipro [http://www.wipro.com/] sponsored the pre-Wimbledon warm-up at Queens last week. I came across them a couple of years ago. It was via their apparent ‘green’ credentials. I noted that one corporate intro vid at the time was built around the following slides;

The Coke Habit Giving Sales A Bad Name

Sugar. The new tobacco. Big Sugar way worse than Big Oil, Big Pharma and any other dastardly Big-ly you care to name. I know this because I see fat people. And I recently learned of the scandalous suppression [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-conspiracy-robert-lustig-john-yudkin] of Pure, White

Consider The Sales Skill Of The Extraordinary Collector

[http://www.gordonwatson.co.uk] This rather unassuming shop in London’s Chelsea hides a secret salesman to the stars. Gordon Watson is an upmarket art dealer with his own BBC reality tv show. He is, we are told, renowned for his refined eye. An expert on contemporary art. Indeed,

Cheap Flights Rip-Off Training Expose

[http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/the-truth-about-cheap-flights-channel-4-dispatches] Here’s a still from Channel 4’s long-running investigative reporting show, Dispatches. Secret filming of a sales training session. It’s in London, for new recruits at global retail chain, Flight Centre. It’s fair to say the (often terrific) reporter

Selling The Extra Sausage With Sizzle

My favourite brekkie out at the moment. Not so much a cheeky treat, more a day-long filling extravaganza. And with it another solution Sales steer from the world of retail. It’s a trio of decadent sweet corn hash, halloumi, and two poached eggs with an avocado and tomato salsa.

Please Avoid Tesco Deluded Marketing-Driven Management Speak

Tesco. The UK supermarket behemoth. Twenty years of growth spurred on by the drive to surmount established players atop the country’s grocery summit. Then disaster. Fuelled by the hubris of first McLaurin, then Leahy. Marketing number crunchers with seemingly no actual empathy with the paying public. Many commentators are