Tag Archives: Sales

Business Outcome

Business Outcome Although it may seem obvious, I realize that people in business often lose sight of the actual business outcome, ironically. Even those who believe they have it, often confuse the business outcome with business output. Allow me to explain. I was recently with a group of individuals focusing on the coaching competencies ofContinue reading “Business Outcome”

A great skill of leadership in sales: Paying attention

While discussing difficult situations with a sales manager, he mentioned a salesperson in his team missing targets several months in a row. While explaining how he approached the problem, at some point, he said, “I paid more attention to him.” I asked him to explain how. Here is how he responded: “I just paid moreContinue reading “A great skill of leadership in sales: Paying attention”

Salesperson: a trusted advisor or a decision-making coach?

There are different approaches to the role of a salesperson vis-a-vis their customers. Some claim that a salesperson should be the customer’s trusted advisor, helping solve their problem.

Meanwhile, another approach claims that the salesperson’s role is more of a decision-making coach who asks questions to understand the customer’s real needs better.

Let’s first look at the definitions to clarify the difference between an advisor and a coach…

Simplicity

sometimes (indeed, most of the time), you do not need big visions, revolutionary ideas or disruptive technologies to succeed.  Working on your offering, price positioning, go-to-market, conversion rates, commercial efficiency etc, might sound too overwhelming.  And I can tell you that most of the ancient merchants used those approaches even before they were called like this.  They used those methods simply to survive.  For them, no other way was possible….

Redefining “winning” in sales

In sales, we are all obsessed with win/lose rates. We call it winning the deal when the customer decides to buy your product or service. If there is a winner, by definition, somebody has to lose. This approach makes selling a zero-sum game. I think sales can be a positive-sum game if we change the definition of winning.

Let’s do the exercise together and redefine winning…