Topic

quirky

ideas and experiences with a selling angle that come from left-field

Are You Circling In A Race To The Bottom Of The Drain?

Apple’s latest iphone launch garnered the now customary online explosion of comment. Analyses appear polarised. In one corner, the Job juggernaut remains stubbornly behind the Android crowd, most notably Samsung, because they did not offer a cheap entry-level model. In the other, the Cupertino crusaders are lauded for not

Which Sales Weapon Is Best For Ad Agency Boss?

There is an adland mega-merger taking place. A $35bn marriage between Publicis and Omnicom. On the ever-watchable Maggs on Media, the S African host this week posited an observation about the “explosion of data” along these lines to the local Omnicom bigwig, Derek Bouwer from TBWA. > 90% of the

Have You A Swifty Out Of Hours Pressure Gauge?

[https://salespodder.com/content/images/wordpress/2013/08/swiftylazarfrostnixon.jpg] Neither being American, nor like my generation in general understanding the supposed charm of David Frost, I long passed up the chance to watch the 2008 Frost/Nixon big screen stage adaptation. Two more wasted hours it was tricky to

Using Timberland Footprint For Sales Impact

[http://responsibility.timberland.com/] When I bought a pair of summer pumps recently, I was intrigued by this sticker on one of the soles. Global brand Timberland push their green credentials in quite a novel manner. The weblink at the bottom has perhaps since changed. I think the data they

Do You Innovate Like 50-Yr Old McLaren?

A nice long weekend post as I discover that Formula One racing giant McLaren celebrate their 50th anniversary [http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/aug/29/mclaren-business-formula-one-50th-birthday-f1] at this year’s Monza Grand Prix. (In particular, check out their Tooned series of vids [http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialMcLarenVids]). Their

Zero Hour Contracts

I remember this time last year Newsnight informed me that 8% of the UK workforce are currently without a job. Despite an Olympic boost in positions. Today it’s 7.8% Having loved the show for more than all my adult life, I do hate it when they get all

What To Do After A £10m Fine For Cold-Calling

…stop cold calling. Their doorstep script was quite something. The Daily Mail revealed [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304817/Revealed-The-cynical-script-energy-giant-salesmen-used-signing-rip-energy-deals-doorstep.html] it in April. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304817/Revealed-The-cynical-script-energy-giant-salesmen-used-signing-rip-energy-deals-doorstep.html] This is so old school – that is, bad school. If your script sounds like this, you

Have You Labelled Potential Winners Or Losers

Each time I’ve trailed through an airport bookshop this year it’s been hard to miss the latest tome of uber-psychologist, Daniel Kahneman. Driving around England Friday I was keen to listen to him on Desert Island Discs [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/1206225e#b0381l2v]

Adopt The Art Of Writing The Perfect Postcard

Driving ’round England on a bedrizzled Summer’s day my radio enlightened me about a survey claiming sending a holiday postcard remained highly popular. One commentator described most postcards received though as unwelcome. Who wants to see “how lucky I am to be here vistas”? So it turns out there’

Weed Out Debilitating Self-Deprecating

Gerald Ratner has done a few media rounds lately in his native England. If you don’t know him, his business story is incredible. For a start, a gaffe whereby you unwittingly ruin your own business, typically by a public utterance that alienates your entire customer base, is now known