Unlocking the Full Potential of Your CRM: Why Underutilisation is Holding Back Your Sales Success
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is one of the most powerful tools in a sales team’s arsenal. When implemented and used effectively, it enhances visibility, streamlines processes, and drives more informed decision-making. However, many organisations fail to leverage CRM to its full potential, leading to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and ultimately, lost revenue.
Is Your Sales Strategy Aligned with Your Business Objectives? Here’s How to Tell—and Fix It
In today’s fast-paced business landscape, sales teams are under immense pressure to deliver results. However, many organisations fall into the trap of pushing sales targets without ensuring that their sales strategy aligns with broader business objectives. The result? A disconnected, inefficient sales function that struggles to drive sustainable growth.
The Hidden Key to Predictable Growth in 2025 - Empowering Sales Managers
In today’s fast-paced sales environment, success is often measured by the performance of individual sellers or the sophistication of sales technologies. But what if the real key to predictable, scalable growth lies elsewhere—specifically, in the hands of your sales managers?
Building a World-Class Sales Culture: Strategies and Insights
How do you build a Sales Culture that rocks?!
We all know the business world is more unpredictable than ever. Companies that were once giants are disappearing, and it's not just a trend—it's the new normal. Since 2000, over half of the Fortune 500 companies have either gone bust, been bought out, or vanished. And by 2027, about half of the S&P 500 firms will have been replaced.
Leading the Decision Journey
Navigating and leading the decision journey for customers in a multi-layered and complex deal can be challenging for any business. However, with the right approach, it can also be an opportunity to demonstrate value and build long-term relationships with customers.
Get rid of the left-hand side of your bell-curve
As a seasoned sales leader with over 30 years of experience, I have learned that being a great sales leader is more than just about driving sales numbers. It's about leading a team of individuals to achieve their full potential and deliver exceptional results.
Get rid of the ‘left-hand side of your bell curve’, which can be up to 10% of your entire team
Non-performing individuals typically take up all your time (‘cause you think you should coach them...), suck all the oxygen and energy out of the team, and they can be(come) cancerous.
Remote Selling - The new normal
Face to face selling in a B2B world has been the cornerstone of opportunity development for revenue retention and growth. Sure, online and telesales have steadily increased as a sales channel but pandemic and recessionary influences have accelerated a paradigm shift to the point where the new normal is bringing the decline of face to face customer interactions and the rise of remote selling. According to recent research from McKinsey two-thirds of buyers prefer remote interactions with suppliers.
A Birds’ Eye View Makes Sense For Buyers
Photography has always been a hobby and when opportunity arises, I usually grab my trusty Nikon and head out looking for that elusive shot. However, my whole perspective and passion changed on my last birthday – enter drone photography!
All of a sudden, views that were previously hidden from me, become possible. Things that I could never have seen using my hand-held Nikon were revealed in the drone view screen.
Sales is Not Working – Don’t Guess – Know Why!
It has almost become cliché, “The world has changed…” Yes, we all know that, but for the revenue generating part of your business this is even more acute.
If sales effectiveness measures the output per salesperson, ask 100 people why sales is ineffective and you get 100 different answers, even within one’s own organisation. If one was to search Google, the responses are as wide as they are varied:
Ineffective content marketing
Failure in incorporating sufficient social media marketing (or social media ads) into your sales strategy
Lack of sales activity
Not knowing target audience well enough
Wrong people
You didn’t catch their attention
Insufficient interest in your offer
Inadequate sales process
How To Drive Sales Engagement and Close More Business Quicker
Being an avid Amazon Kindle user, I love the fact that once I’ve finished yet another book, Amazon recommends books to me that are similar.
Consider using Netflix where it knows what TV shows and movies you like. Use Spotify and it understands what your musical tastes are. Use Amazon again, and if you have a young child at home, it tells you that you probably need diapers and formula!
And yet in our B2B world, we don't do that yet – despite buyers saying,
“Show Me That You Know Me!”
How Effective Are Your Sales Meetings?
Do your salespeople enjoy internal meetings such as the mandatory weekly Monday morning sales meetings, or do they resent attending? How much do your internal meetings actually contribute to increased sales?
“Sales versus Marketing” – a thing of the past?
Recently I was invited to be on a “Sales versus Marketing” panel session at the inaugural Tech Marketers Conference attended by well over 100 marketers from a variety of industries.
The debate started with the notion that the relationship between sales and marketing is – in general – arduous. Salespeople “always” blame marketing for not delivering enough quality leads and marketing “always” blame sales for not getting out there and closing the many leads that they provide.
Professional Athletes rely on Coaches – do Salespeople?
How is your coaching game plan?
You could boost revenue by 25% and increase close rate by 70%.
In any sport, athletes and teams have access to multiple coaches with various areas of specialty to help them reach their full potential. Consider the Los Angeles Lakers, for example. Frank Vogel is the Head Coach, and there are six Assistant Coaches, all of these are additionally supported by specialists for health and nutrition.
The Story of the “Shiny Lights”
Having now helped numerous businesses get a much better return on their substantial investments in CRM systems, we thought it worthwhile to share a story with you.
This is a story about how certain people in organisations want to keep seeing shiny and flickering lights in their on-premise server rooms.