From the category archives:

2009 E-Conference

Key themes from the 2009 Sales E-Conference (part four)

by Paul Sparks on November 1, 2009

The changing relationship between sales and marketing.

This was the fourth of four key themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference.

For two weeks in August 2009, over 100 sales professionals, sales managers and people interested in achieving better sales outcomes tapped into the wisdom of 8 of Australasia’s leading authorities on professional selling.  We also had contributions from 2 of the USA’s thought leaders on the topic of selling and sales. The other three main themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference were:

  1. Change – at the social, organisational and personal levels.
  2. Changes in the sales function, and the importance of sales methodology and process.
  3. A new role for sales management and leadership.

This series of articles will cover the key themes which emerged from the 2009 Sales E-Conference series – and offer some advice on actions you should take to ensure your sales efforts receive maximum value as we move from “recession to recovery”.

 SEA_WebBanner_450x280-final

 10 hours of sales presentations covers a lot of ground – so this article will only touch the surface of the issues explored in the whole conference.  If you’d like to experience the full conference – including 11 MP3s and full presentation notes – it will be available in a few weeks as a professional development package.  Register for our newsletter to ensure you hear when it’s released.

Today we’ll cover the fourth theme – the changing nature of the relationship between sales and marketing.  This theme emerged in a number of ways – and in some ways our speakers only touched the surface of what I believe will be a significant and growing issue for the next few years.  This topic was touched in 3 main ways:

  1. The need for every salesperson and sales manager to build their personal brand and market themselves.
  2. Emerging tools for salespeople to actively market their products and services.
  3. How marketing and sales are working together (or not working together) in large organisations.

This paper will give a brief overview of each theme, and suggest some ways to incorporate the innovative aspects of these developments in your own sales efforts.

The need for a personal brand.

One of our keynote speakers – Neil Rackham – made a point on how the nature of sales and the function of salespeople had changed over recent years, and would continue to change.  His key point for salespeople is that if you don’t stop being a walking brochure, you’ll become redundant in the eyes of both your customers – and your employers.

So how do you move from walking brochure to valued partner?  According to Peter Black, you need to undertake a journey of personal discovery, and then actively build yourself as a brand that both customers and employers need.  Not only will this prove to be a journey of personal satisfaction, but you’ll invigorate your professional life, and – as much as you can – recession-proof yourself. So, here are some things you need to do:

1.  Understand yourself.

Do you really understand what makes you tick?  Are you aware of your personality style?  The tools are easily available to assess your own style, and to build on your strengths.  It is critical to be aware of your emotional intelligence as well as your IQ and your knowledge and ability.  Each of us also needs to be clear about what is important in our lives.  What are our values, and is our current role allowing us to be true to our values and beliefs.  Not all sales roles are created equal, nor are all companies suited to all individuals.  Realistically assess how well you fit your current role – and your current employer.

2.  Have clear goals.

Without clear goals you’ll end up somewhere – but not necessarily where you want to go.  Whilst one shouldn’t become slavish to goals, it’s important to develop gaols that work for you.  Goals can be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound).  Goals can be CLEAR (challenging, legal, environmentally sound, appropriate and recorded).  And they can be PURE (positive, understood, relevant and ethical).  But they need to be yours.  And they need to cover all aspects of your life – with accountability. Continue Reading…

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Key themes from the 2009 Sales E-Conference (part three)

by Paul Sparks on October 5, 2009

A new role for sales management and leadership.

This was the third of four key themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference.

For two weeks in August 2009, over 100 sales professionals, sales managers and people interested in achieving better sales outcomes tapped into the wisdom of 8 of Australasia’s leading authorities on professional selling.  We also had contributions from 2 of the USA’s thought leaders on the topic of selling and sales. The other three main themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference were:

  1. Change – at the social, organisational and personal levels.
  2. Changes in the sales function, and the importance of sales methodology and process.
  3. The changing relationship between sales and marketing.

This series of articles will cover the key themes which emerged from the 2009 Sales E-Conference series – and offer some advice on actions you should take to ensure your sales efforts receive maximum value as we move from “recession to recovery”.

 SEA_WebBanner_450x280-final

 10 hours of sales presentations covers a lot of ground – so this article will only touch the surface of the issues explored in the whole conference.  If you’d like to experience the full conference – including 11 MP3s and full presentation notes – it will be available in a few weeks as a professional development package.  Register for our newsletter to ensure you hear when it’s released.

Today we’ll cover the third theme – a new role for sales management and leadership.  We’ll talk about how recent changes in the global business climate and continuing demographic and organisational changes have changed the management role in the sales function, and look at some of the behaviours sales leaders need to master to be successful in this new environment.

The last 12 months has delivered the greatest change and upheaval in the business world since the great depression of the 1930s.  Whilst observations about what these changes mean and predictions of the future vary widely from commentator to commentator, the one thing we can be sure of is that things have certainly changed.

Let’s have a look at some of the themes that our presenters at the Sales E-conference thought will be influential in the near future.

A move away from short term thinking.

The “short-termism” of many organisations and their CEOs has been a topic for discussion over recent years – with increasing scrutiny being applied to this type of approach.  A number of business commentators have suggested that this approach was a key factor leading to the economic crisis of the last 12 months.  With executive remuneration focussing on quarter-on-quarter growth, pressure moved down the organisational hierarchy, with eventual pressure put on salespeople to “get the order” now – with little thought to the long term damage being done to client-customer relationships as pressure was applied (or carrots offered) to bring forward decisions. Continue Reading…

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Key themes from the 2009 Sales E-Conference (part two)

by Paul Sparks on October 3, 2009

Changes in the sales function, and the importance of sales methodology and process.

This was the second of four key themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference.

For two weeks in August 2009, over 100 sales professionals, sales managers and people interested in achieving better sales outcomes tapped into the wisdom of 8 of Australasia’s leading authorities on professional selling.  We also had contributions from 2 of the USA’s thought leaders on the topic of selling and sales. The other three main themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference were:

  1. Change – at the social, organisational and personal levels.
  2. A new role for sales management and leadership.
  3. The changing relationship between sales and marketing.

This series of articles will cover the key themes which emerged from the 2009 Sales E-Conference series – and offer some advice on actions you should take to ensure your sales efforts receive maximum value as we move from “recession to recovery”.

SEA_WebBanner_450x280-final

 10 hours of sales presentations covers a lot of ground – so this article will only touch the surface of the issues explored in the whole conference.  If you’d like to experience the full conference – including 11 MP3s and full presentation notes – it will be available in a few weeks as a professional development package.  Register for our newsletter to ensure you hear when it’s released.

Today we’ll cover the second theme – change in the sales function.  We’ll talk about how selling has changed over the last few years – and what you need to do to be successful in this new environment.

What is selling?

Before we discuss changes in the sales function, let’s consider the simple question – “what is selling?”  Broadly, selling could be defined as an exchange of value between two parties, but for our purposes, let’s call it the personal side of the marketing function.  Marketing addresses numerous issues in relation to bringing a product or service to a market place. These issues include assessing customer demand, product awareness, positioning, etc, etc.  The sales function is a sub-set of this bag of activities and occurs when an individual (the salesperson) engages directly with the prospective buyer and looks to influence the buyers’ actions through a range of communication activities. Continue Reading…

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Key themes from the 2009 Sales E-Conference (part one)

by Paul Sparks 15 September 2009

Change – at a social, organisational and personal level. Change in the sales function and the importance of sales methodology and process. A new role for sales management and leadership. The changing relationship between sales and marketing.  These were the four main themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference.  For two weeks in August 2009, over [...]

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How to recruit and train great telephone salespeople

by Paul Sparks 11 August 2009

One of the reactions by sales leaders to the changing business environment we’ve experienced over the last 12 months has been a “back to basics” move – especially in relation to a renewed focus on some of the fundamental skills of professional selling.  This is not surprising given that the buoyant times we experienced over [...]

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Networking skills all salespeople need

by Paul Sparks 6 August 2009

 Julia Palmer is joining me in August 2009 as one of 10 presenters at the upcoming Sales E-Conference – “selling from recession to recovery”. Julia is leading the face to face revolution.  As Managing Director of BConsulted, Australia’s leading business relationship consultancy, Julia and her team work with organisations of all sizes to help people [...]

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The seven key elements of a marketing plan for salespeople

by Paul Sparks 5 August 2009

Sharon Williams is one of Australia’s leading thinkers in the emerging field of integrated marketing and PR.  With her team at Taurus Marketing, not only does she work with some of our largest corporations – she also brings her knowledge and experience to the SME sector.  Sharon is also widely sought after as a speaker [...]

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