Topic

quirky

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

Let's Stick Together

To the sound of the Roxy Music tune, this post is about “relationship educator”, Harry Benson. Driving ’round Blighty the other day, I heard him on the most negative and debilitating force in the UK; BBC Radio Five. That’s what working in America does to you. May I apologise.

Annan's Assad Proverb

> You can’t turn the wind, So turn the sail This is, according to news reports [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17330105] over the weekend, the African proverb that UN former Sec Gen and envoy to Syria whispered to the country’s tyrannical dictator. I do like this.

Name That Project

A company I’ve recently worked with had a load of consultants in. They were delivering some new procurement processes. They’d named each project with a snappy TLA (three-letter-acronym) each with the number 2 in the middle. It’d had become a bit of a running gag to mention

CEO Thinking For 2012

A seasoned salesrep revealed this list to me. It is apparently from analyst Gartner. It purports to show the items CEOs were fixed on for 2012, when surveyed back in December. 1. grow in uncertain economy 2. prepare for & reduce employee flight 3. acknowledge customer is boss 4. surrender

Almost Always Connected

Over the past six months I’ve worked intimately with a terrific bunch of people. They’re a technology company, so just about everyone there has all the toys. Mobile phones, tablets, ultrabooks. You name it. Even the reps have not just one, but two cell phones each. So what

Happiness Results In

Well. GDP and all those other economic indicators are yesterday’s irrelevance, right? A year ago I blogged [https://salespodder.com/happiness-oh-happiness/] on how the UK sought to get to grips with this by surveying the nation’s contentment. It struck me at the time how rarely we seek to

Solar Panel Genius

A story to make us oldies all feel unworthy. I came across it watching NY1. 13-year old Aidan Dwyer appeared to have improved solar panels. His inspiration was sparked by looking at trees. Specifically their branches. If that’s how nature captures the sun’s energy, then why don’t

Prospect Response Times

Here’s something I learned the other day from a former rep there. Apparently, Motorola used to measure ‘customer service ratings’, and their salespeople’s effectiveness, in part by the response times of their customers. One outcome of this managerial method, was that whatever news you had for clients, you

Cold Call Bullpen

A one-time widget seller told me a fascinating piece of history the other day. Huge firm Arrow Electronics used to have what they termed a bullpen. Their American HQ sales office was by all accounts a fairly intimidating place to work. Investment in fixtures and fittings was not high on

Wood For The Trees

[https://salespodder.com/content/images/wordpress/2012/02/20120223-142835.jpg] I witnessed a test the other day at the hands of a wiley old rep. “Look out the window and say what you can see”, he said. So, you’re in New York, you see skyscrapers. But then you look