Sign in Subscribe

Topic

quirky

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

Does anyone love sales software?

With one of my boiler roomers recently becoming pregnant, I was sent into the cauldron of a new business first meeting yesterday. Having plenty of time on the train to prepare and dust off the festively enduced cobwebs, our meeting began with a discussion on the delights of crm. This

Avoiding The Ugliest Process

Got reminded today of what a nasty little shock can hurt like, when a decent-looking prospect suddenly ran aground. I went on a sales training session run by the internal ‘sales ops’ guys of a software house I sold for in the early Nineties. One theme of the day was

Reminding CEOs of Sales' Importance

London’sManagement Today [http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/public/home/] mag for me frustratingly falls between two stools. In that desolate middle ground, neither broadsheet nor tabloid, it simply doesn’t have the calibre of journalism associated with the wittiest of redtopping or well-contended quality. What it should do, is

The Customer In The Right Story

Over a coffee this afternoon, I decided to read the emailed newsletter from one of my suppliers for a change. Y’know the thing? You get sent them regularly, but never bother reading them. I s’pose the difference with this one was that it came this time from their

Questioning Conundrums

Had an enjoyable cheeky pint or three with a pal of mine last night who I’m happy to say is a youthful, successful software salesman for IBM. On two occasions he reminded me of a wonderful technique to use when confronted with an intransigent or provocative question. To have

Happy Sales Reps?

I’ve spent far too much time lately hanging around at the behest of the world’s most inefficient organisation, the NHS. Every British politician you hear talk about our health service says all the staff are wonderful and it’s the envy of the world. What a load of

What's The Return, Again?

With a decent glass of Piemonte vini rossi, I was happily snug in a Torino bar around midnight and glanced over to see a copy of the International Herald Tribune. Make no mistake about it, this paper is useless. So many have tried to make an ‘international newspaper’ and failed

Stand Up, Think On Yer Feet

Waiting around for the Ashes coverage to kick-in on the radio (Sunday 26 Nov 06) I happened across Off The Page [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/offthepage/]. They spent most of the time talking about the paradox between the uselessness of mobile phones and their inevitable ubiquity. New York

Overcoming Voice Mail Barriers

Here’s a frightening quote I picked up just now; “statistically, about 87% of sales reps give up after a single half-hearted attempt, about 95% give up after a second message.” People that hide behind their voicemail are becoming ever more prevalent. How do you get around it? It’s

Bigger Bullies Crash Louder

Waiting in reception of a potential supplier (those guys trying to persuade me to go with raw grads for new sales positions that I thought were a touch too pricey) I flicked through a mag called Director [http://www.director-magazine.co.uk/October06/lions.den.html]and an article about