Topic

grapevine

A collection of 649 issues

Matching The Incentive

One for the sales managers. So I was talking to someone that a while back ran a sales incentive for a new product. The technology they were looking to shift was considered by the backroom team to be great. Management expected a real buzz. Then nothing. They had three prizes

Lucifer Effect

I’ve always had an interest in how to let the right team dynamic flourish. Ever since having practical exposure at Business School. This featured the works of Belbin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belbin_Team_Inventory] with his eight types of team player (now apparently nine; I was always

The Power Of Habit

The Tom Sullivan show on Fox Business introduced me to Charles Duhigg [http://charlesduhigg.com/]. Promoting new book The Power Of Habit, his interview was a good one. He kicked off with this attention-grabber: > 45% of daily behaviours are not decisions, but habits That’s our brain trying to

Changed Will

A seasoned pre-sales tekkie gave me a good saying the other day, happily fresh to my ears; > a mind changed against their will is of the same opinion still I like it. And not just because it rhymes (always a winner with quotes). I’ve worked recently in tandem

Unsocial Hours Calling

Enjoyed a thoroughly entertaining lunchtime watching English sport in Brooklyn the other Saturday. I was in the company of a New York based technology seller. Over a brunch bagel, he let slip quite a revelation. He had spoken to Warren Buffet. On a cold call. That lasted 45 minutes. It

The Money Tree

I love hearing stories about sales management (suffered?) when people first started out in sales. This one comes from a New Yorker. He began in telesales, a fair few years ago. His boss used to pick up the telephone and wave it about. > This phone is your money tree.

Is Price Pitching A 20% Loser?

Working with a technology sales team recently, they were bemoaning that a contract won today would shrink by a quarter by the time of renewal next year. Yet in a world seemingly fixated on cheapness, they felt the value they provided gave both a merited premium and an offer of

New York School

Here’s two tips I picked up from a one-time New York commodities broker. First, he’d developed a one-line approach to emails. The question would be in the subject line. Below, he’d simply type; > Yes, No, Maybe So? And went on to tell me of a huge

Walk Into Reception

Here’s a story I just heard from a delightful Kiwi chap. He’d tried the usual cold calls and emails to opem up a particular buyer at a mining concern. He reckoned ten email messages had gone unanswered. Yet he was convinced they had a need which he could

Misplaced Customer Focus

One of the most provocative, contrarian pieces in a long while, the HBR blogs recently featured results of a five-year study in customer service. Stop trying to delight your customers [http://http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/stop_trying_to_delight_your_cu.html] pleads us to think again