Topic

grapevine

A collection of 653 issues

Small businesses pack a Sales Punch

In my line of work I’ve come across numerous sales trainer-cum-consultancy outfits. Whether they range from one-man bands (the largest sector in the UK) or huge multinationals, one trait remains in place. Namely, most are not the kind of people you really should be employing. I’ve been in

Discount on 2 Ferraris?

Met a thoroughly decent chap I’ve known on and off for a couple of years yesterday (Jeff) at the rather plush IoD building just off London’s Trafalgar Sq. He works as a ‘sales practitioner’, which to him means rather than being a sales-cum-training ‘consultant’, he actually gets on

Lynch "Lap-Top Larries"

It happens all too rarely, I bumped into a pal at a prospect yesterday. Lovely to catch up, and it meant we cut straight to the chase. He described the company as an “awesome commodity distribution operation”. They’d just re-structured their salesteam, and one new charge is called Adam.

Red Arrow Focus; aka, squadron leader analysis

One of my valued customers runs a reseller event every year. At each one an ‘inspirational’ speaker is duly booked. This year’s was so good, most of the audience left the room wanting to join up. He was a squadron leader with the Air Force’s elite flying display

Immediately State Uniques

Nothing new to those into their marketing ideas and all things ‘usp’, getting across what is unique is critical in the very first few seconds you speak to someone according to Richard Farleigh [http://www.farleigh.com], he of Dragons’ Den fame and “prolific investor” in UK small/start-up firms.

Loving "the James Bond stuff"

Been doing quite a bit of repping recently, and in an oil industry software supplier, heard a heart-warning tale of how ‘service’ personnel were contributing to sales lead generation. These technical guys were in and out of customers all the time, yet their golden knowledge wasn’t being leveraged properly.

The Sundown Rule

Introduced ourselves to a new manager at one of my customers today. He’d served food/drink retailers all his lengthy career by the sounds of it. Having recently joined his new employers (supplying drink dispense kit to restaurants/bars) he ran me through a presentation just delivered on his

Optimum Length of Tenure?

Had a thoroughly enjoyable catch-up with an old pal of mine called Anthony (wierdly Tony to his other friends!) visiting London that currently works on retail merchandising in Kuwait. Apart from insisting we had to go for a meal featuring pork (absent from Kuwaiti shelves for the usually irrational religious

Sniff Out Destructive Double-Booking

Heard about some dubious practice that’d gone on in car parts wholesale that made me chuckle and gasp at the same time. It goes without saying that if such shenanigans can go on in your place, close the loophole…. Re-Booking Tactic One: Inside a branch, one fella was renowned

Avoid Golden Envelope Cultures

I was let in on the privilege that Golden Envelope Cultures do not work. This means environments where to keep valued employees, you give them more money every time they voice ambitions to move on. The wholesale/distribution guys I met that told me this took over two years to