Are You Traffic Light-ing Your Progress Docs?
Here’s a document from a project management style approach to a progress report. I’ve redacted the text for obvious reasons. The point is simple. Each line is an action. And at its right, is the...
View ArticleCan You Close Presentations Like Finance Minister Budget Sign-Off?
Wednesday 19 March saw the UK’s annual Budget. Delivered by Chancellor George Osborne. At the end of his bullish despatch box turn, fuelled by promising economic climes for the first time in five...
View ArticleDo You Know Your Numbers Like Debt Management Shysters?
Here’s one live current affairs issue (quite rightly) outraging middle England. Pay-day loan companies have long been painted as unscrupulous villains. What with their thousands of percent interest...
View ArticleEsquire Editor Advice On Hearing Lifetime Of Pitches
Here’s the odd coffee break biscotti courtesy of the Entrepreneur mag. A columnist at Esquire shares little chunks of his selling wisdom. Here’s a snippet, when extolling the virtues of a 15 second...
View ArticleStationery Stand Sellers Sadly Show Skill Shortfall
Here’s a coffee break delight I found which includes details on how office supply salespeople pitch their product at a leading trade show. It’s tricky to think of a quota-busting rep that genuinely...
View ArticleSignature Pressure One Of Many A Slip Twixt Cup And Lip
I could have called this post So Sales Argonaut, Do You Sip Wine Or Hunt Boar First? In light of an agony aunt chatting away about her trade (on BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live, 5 April 2014, roughly 67mins...
View ArticleManaging Your Practice
Here’s great insight I learned from inside a team of elite sales coaches at giant South African finance firm, Old Mutual. They began a programme around 1999 specifically tailored to top performers. It...
View ArticleCan You Sum Up Like WhatsApp What Your Customer Does NOT Want?
Back to Facebook’s incredible $16bn purchase of the globally mighty little messaging app. This congratulatory valediction from one venture capital investor contains a couple of marvellous sales ideas....
View ArticleHow To See Sales Soar Like A High-End Retailer
One glorious afternoon in San Francisco, I realised I needed a pair of sunglasses. A lover of shades himself, the chief exec of my client took me to a boutique mall in the ‘burbs. It was quite an...
View ArticleNever Alter Stats Like Bank Salespeople At Barclays
Mainstream media is awash this week with the suing of Barclays Bank over their ‘dark pool’ fraud. Yet again one of the planet’s largest financial institutions is witheringly exposed. New York attorney...
View ArticleCan You Adapt Winning Energy Switch Cold Call Opener?
We’re back inside Swansea’s Third Largest Call Centre. Here’s the opening pre-credits scene from the second BBC fly-on-the-wall series. “Just giving you a quick call-up in relation to helping lower...
View ArticleHave Loads On The Go Like Joan Rivers
I only knew her through the awesomeness that often was Fashion Police. I’m happy to be a Joan Ranger. After her death at 81 this week, I heard a clip the workaholic comic confided during a documentary...
View Article3 Sales Office Ideas From Music Streamer Spotify
In general scrolling downtime, I was glad to come across this Guardian investigation into how various cultural successes tick. Stockholm’s Spotify story revealed a trio of takeaways for aspirant sales...
View ArticleThe Importance Of Seeing The Whites Of Their Eyes
If I was a twitterer there’s an obvious headline to grab here… @sellers OMG half of all vendors have lost a customer recently simply because they’ve not sat down with them enough Are you Up or Down on...
View ArticleSTAR Moments
I chuckled to discover another ‘star’ acronym. I now use (and teach) a different one regularly that helps both focus client stories and provide the usually missing punch. This one is short for,...
View ArticleThe Battle Against Being Shanghaied By Buyer Crimps
In a lunchspot the other day, I was on a communal table where an artist was chatting to an anti-nuclear power campaigner. The annoyance of being expected to do ‘free’ work in return simply for...
View ArticleAre Your Intro Emails As Bad As From Webfarms?
Here’s a not un-typical format for an initial email. I was shown it on a real-world printout in a live sales office. I work with [company x] and would like to set up a meeting on how you manage...
View ArticleDetangle Your Benefit Statement Like Hairbrush Inventor
The Tangle Teezer. I was blissfully unaware of this product. Until I heard a one-time hairdresser describe his rise. For ten years he’d battled with how to untangle young ladies’ knotted hair in his...
View ArticleDon’t Hide Behind Two-Point-Zero
Over brekkie this morning I caught the promotion of ‘soft skills’ in schools. One time UK telly Dragon’s Den investor, James Caan, is the drive’s figurehead. On that show his performances were largely...
View ArticleCarpet Bomb Email Shows Glimmer Of Promise
This little treasure had the temerity to sneak through my spam filters the other day. How’s this for a blind, cold mail. Straight to the point; [firstname] Can we schedule a few minutes to discuss our...
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