Cheltenham festival week and I was thinking of an expression my grandmother would often use to discourage betting, and about the business model of the bookmaker (turf accountant, bookie etc). “You never see a bookie on a bike” Bookmakers rely on 2 things to make their business model successful- Honesty, their word is their bond, […]
You never see a bookie on a bike Read More »
We hear a lot at the moment about the death of the high street, but it’s not all doom and gloom: my local hardware store (in a rundown part of town) is thriving, in fact, for me, a trip into town isn’t complete without popping into Mountfords. It’s not the wide range of products stocked
The death of the High St according to Mountfords Read More »
Slow. Why is this often seen as a bad thing? Why is it surrounded by negativity? And why is fast viewed so positively? Perhaps if we sub-titled slow-selling as ‘a sales process that actually works’ and ‘fast selling’ as ‘frenetically wasting the marketing budget for very little real return’ then the ‘normal’ sales approach of
All too often, when trying to promote goods and services, organisations are tempted to ‘sex up’ their promise: ● A ‘one time’ only offer ● This week only, 50% off ● Hurry while stocks last ● I’ve been warned that stocks are low The problem with all these are that they ‘speedy selling’: they aim
It ain\’t sexy but… Read More »
Everyone loves a bargain, but perhaps it’s a good time, at the end of January to reflect on special offers, and what true effect they have on our business. Are we genuinely trying to move dated or old season stock with clear and fair reductions: in which case the customer will respect our brand and
As we know, our beliefs dictate our actions, through our emotions. One of the key problems with ‘speedy selling’ is that ‘It’s tough out there’ and ‘You have to fight to win’. This kind of adversity belief will produce small minded actions, and you’ll end up back into the old, ineffective ‘speedy selling’ actions of
Overcoming adversity belief in selling Read More »
In his seminal book on how operational effectiveness, ‘Good to Great’, Jim Collins outlined that becoming ‘great’ was not a matter of luck, and, was not even that difficult: it was in fact a matter of mindset, systems and discipline: disciplined people, with disciplined
Level 5 Leadership in Selling Read More »
In a nutshell, ‘customers’ just want three things from a seller: Attention An easier or better situation (than they have currently) Trust Customers ALWAYS act emotionally, in order to get a mixture of the above outcomes … there are no exceptions. So, if you want to be successful, you need to slow down and consider:
A customer\’s REAL needs Read More »
In a sales process it is normal to assume that the company structure determines the company decision-making. But, in reality, quite the reverse is true. Very often influence is practiced within organisations in very unusual and unexpected ways. The marketing department could be more influential than the sales department for example, or certain individuals could
Real vs. informal influence Read More »
My cousins in Bolton are BMW-oholics, over the past 2 years the 2 brothers have bought £1/4 million of the iconic German brand. Last week a friend, Mark, turned up for our golf match in a tatty 3 series rather than his normal pristine 6 series m sport, why? Apparently BMW had contacted him to
BMW save costs … and lose customers: over an oil filter! Read More »
