Topic

quirky

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

The Agendaless Meeting Imbalance

Although I abhor the circularity of talking doom and gloom, I must face reality and reflect the current selling environment. I know of a company that, despite seeing growth in 08 and enjoying strong positioning in place for 09, has just endured a round of cost decimation in preparation for

Sales Management Blindness

So there I was, grabbing a cheeky spot of late lunch in a sandwich chain store near Piccadilly. In the area reserved for seating, I plonked myself down, took the weight off my feet and tucked into my barely warmed up fuel. I soon became aware that everyone else around

Strengthening Idea Fragility

With the help of iPlayer I’ve managed to watch national treasure Stephen Fry [http://www.stephenfry.com]‘s travelogue throughout America. His goals featured visiting each of their 50 states whilst celebrating the USA and its ideals, rather than mock and dismiss, as he felt was currently the vogue.

Sales Admin & Parkinson's Law

I met a paper-selling pal of mine for a cheeky pint or two the other night, and we got to talking about the devils of sales admin. One particular gripe was that he’d been given an extra remit (frighteningly close to a marketing role) to work out how to

Why Wouldn't It Work?

I was reminded earlier today about a meeting I had with a brief IT chief at a FTSE100 company. The poor fella had the misfortune to arrive immedaitely prior to a tumultuous takeover so didn’t stay long. Anyway, I needed the requisite number of ‘signatures’ including his, so met

Who's Got Your Attention?

Less than three hours drive hugging the coast East out of Rio lies the delightful tourist area of Buzios (don’t pronounce the ‘i’). There are 23 beaches, unspoilt marinas where the local fisherman will fry up the most divine caught-that-morning fish (Chovo & Desugo I think were the names

Brilliant Recovery From Failure

Spending a lot of time in airports recently, I got chatting to a couple that had the usually catastrophic experience of losing their holiday luggage. Yet rather than the typical “never fly with such-and-such again” (usually the woeful BA naturally) they sang the praises of their airline, Air France. Flying

Win-Lose Haggling

Back from a week without internet, a touch of surfing over a coffee just revealed a delightful article on how to make the credit crunch prefaced recession work for you on your personal spend. It’s all about haggling [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/3377202/Haggle-your-way-to-a-bargain.html]

Healthy 5-a-Day

Those battling to prevent an obesity epidemic currently promote the virtues of having 5 portions of fruit and veg each and every day. The results are self-evidently staggering for your overall health and Body Mass Index should you keep to just such a routine. Inspired by this dramatically positive impact,

Where's Your Local?

I spend a fair amount of my time helping sales people make the most of their latest new product. There’s no doubt that technological advances such as the immediacy of and permanent connection to email is contributing towards making us intolerant of patience. Where once it would be quite