Topic

grapevine

A collection of 635 issues

What Kind Of Deal You Looking For?

An old-hand relayed to me their experience of meetings snagged by unending tech talk. When a buyer and vendor with a technical bent go ever deeper into and longer around the intricacies of the bid it usually spells disaster. If not a sibling then certainly a cousin of Happy Ears

Do You Reference The Predecessor?

Here’s a real-life message I heard dropped on a sales call the other day: > “Hi Vicky, it’s [name] from [org] here. I dealt with your predecessor Dan and would love to speak to you about some events we’ve got coming up. My number is … and I look

Metrics From Robo-Recruiting

Always pleased to hear use in solution selling of metrics, I glean current boasts from the exploding deployment of AI in recruiting. A while back I came across RPA vendors; Robotic Process Automation. Now far removed from the “Press 1” of automated call handling. We all know SkyNet is coming,

Pitch The Shuttle Not The Train

There’s plenty of coverage right now for the 25th anniversary of the terrific Channel Tunnel. From idea to project go-ahead seems to have taken around six years gestation. A couple of years later digging began. Another two on and miners starting from each side met in the middle. Four

Happy Ears Syndrome

I did chuckle at this phrase I heard recently. A wizened operator described an age-old malaise, afflicting too many an inexperienced sales meeting with a prospect. Where the prospective vendor thinks everything went great. The potential client “loves” them and their product. Yet once left, the simple “A-B-C” of questions

Shrinkflationer Buys Doubling Capacity

Boo. Hiss. It’s difficult to avoid clicking on yet another shrinkflation exposé. The dastardly practice of the devilish food companies who reduce their portions yet keep the price to us the same as for the larger packets. This time in the firing line of rip-off shame, Big Food bandits

The Best Thing In The Whole World

I always enjoy a tale from beyond Sales about selling an idea. Here’s one from the ephemeral world of radio show features. A new host took over a breakfast time popchart style radio programme with around five million tuning in daily. One trait he was determined to stamp on

Can I Borrow You For A Sec?

Chuggers. British plague, British cure? Discuss… Opinion may be divided. But these third sector salespeople – the label derived from charity mugger – adorn/blight every high street in the land. For over a decade turning a trip to the shop into an obstacle course crossing tig with hide and seek. When

280% Sales Increase Nonsense

A sales department head sitting next to me was shaking their head. Their phone duly pung. A LinkedIn message. Not sure how, he earlier accepted a connection request from a Sales training outfit. They now wanted to speak. About things like “how we double sales…” No doubt their proprietary ‘mind-blowing

A Marketing View Of Sales Phases

So much for AIDA [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDA_(marketing)]? There are many proprietary buying processes. Whereas Sales funnel management tends to stick within a simplified suspect-prospect-client mode, Marketing outside of consumer-land considers more what happens before the project is given the Go. Rather unsnappily, BEFTB in the above