From the category archives:

The Business World

Why salespeople must look to India & China

by Paul Sparks on July 25, 2010

I’m a middle-aged white guy who lives in Australia.

In my lifetime, the focus for trade and cultural exchange for Australia has shifted from the UK & the US to, firstly, Japan, and now more widely to other parts of Asia.  China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and other Asian countries now play a role of growing importance in our lives.

China is Australia’s largest customer for resources.  India supplies a growing skilled workforce for many businesses – large and small.  Our universities are graced by the presence of many students from all parts of Asia.

Intuitively, we know that the rise of Asia will continue.  But how fast will the rise of China and India in particular be?  And what might this mean?

Hans Rosling is a professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute.  His current work focuses on dispelling myths about the so-called developing world.  One way he does this is through the engaging use of statistics.  Here’s a talk Hans gave recently at a TED conference where he extrapolates – to the day – the point in the future when China & India will emerge as being financially and health wise the equivalent of the current economic giants.

Watch it – be intrigued by his delightful use of statistics – then ponder the implications for your sales future.

Find out more about Hans Rosling and his work here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rosling

And have a look at Gapminder – where you can access the software Hans uses in his presentations:

http://www.gapminder.org/

Thanks for reading this post – Paul Sparks, Sales Effectiveness Australasia.

“Taking you beyond sales training and keeping you informed about the latest ideas, trends, innovation, research & best practice in professional selling and sales management”

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

by Paul Sparks on September 15, 2009

  1. Change – at a social, organisational and personal level.
  2. Change in the sales function and the importance of sales methodology and process.
  3. A new role for sales management and leadership.
  4. 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 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.

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”.

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  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 first theme – change.  We’ll also give you some suggestions for things you can do to have the challenge change brings work for you, and ensure your sustainable success in professional selling.

We are constantly reminded that we live in times of unprecedented change.  Here are a few reminders:

  • The world’s store of knowledge will double in the next 12 months 
  • If you start a four year university degree today – ½ of what you learn this year will be outdated by the time you graduate 
  • Social media sites (Facebook, Myspace et al) are the fastest growing sites on the web 
  • People starting their work lives today can expect at least 5 major career changes in their lives 
  • If you get through the first few years of marriage – you can expect to divorce your partner after the kids have grown up

If you’ve not already seen it – check out the regular “Did you know” video series:

http://www.saleseffectiveness.com.au/professional-selling-the-speed-of-change/

But, we’re also reminded that humans are extremely adaptable – and cope well with “gradual” (even rapid) change – but cope less well with seismic change (eg, the financial crisis of late 2008, the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001).

As salespeople – what does this mean?  It means that we need to keep abreast of change – as it affects our clients, and, just as importantly, how it affects our clients’ clients.  If you do this – you will be in a position to add value to your relationships with your clients and prospects by keeping them ahead of the change curve. Continue Reading…

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Career lessons every salesperson and sales manager must learn from the current financial crisis

by Paul Sparks on June 8, 2009

Peter Black I’ve recently had the pleasure of having a number of discussions about professional selling with Peter Black – one of Sydney’s most highly regarded business and executive coaches.  Peter is ex-PWC (but we won’t hold that against him!), and has been working for the last few years as a coach for senior executives from a range of industries, including finance, ICT, pharmaceuticals and professionals services.

Over the past 12 months, Peter’s work has included consulting to the outplacement firm DBM, where he has been involved with providing outplacement programs to retrenched employees from companies such as Dell, EDS, Microsoft, Qantas, Rio Tinto and Sensis, as well as conducting a range of personal career and executive coaching  assignments.

After Peter and I attended a business breakfast a few weeks ago, I asked him to give me some insights into the people he had worked with and some tips I could share with my audience.  Following are Peter’s overview of what’s happening in corporate Australia – and 3 things you should do – just in case you happen to be one of the many who will find their employment arrangements ending sooner that they had wanted.

Over to you, Peter.

Why are retrenchments happening – and how long will the situation last?

It’s fair to say it has been a busy 12 months for the outplacement industry as the GFC has impacted and companies have downsized, right sized, dehired or whatever euphemism is used.

I saw it pick up about the middle of 2008, accelerate after Lehmann Bros collapsed in September, pause in early 2009 and it is now taking off again.  The government is forecasting unemployment will peak at 8.5% in 2011 so I think we still have a way to go.

It is also becoming more best and accepted practice where there is a redundancy to provide career transition services to the affected employees to assist them to position themselves appropriately into whatever they want to do next.  Career transition services will normally include a personal coach, use of office facilities, online training, assistance with resume, interviewing and networking skills and most importantly, an opportunity to consider one’s personal and career goals.

Do you see any common themes to retrenchments?

Firstly, it is normally a business decision that companies make and it is a redundancy of the position not the person, even if you take it personally as we all tend to do.  I must admit that sometimes employers do find that a redundancy is an easier way to exit what we might call a “difficult” employee although care needs to be taken if that is the case. Continue Reading…

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Professional selling & the speed of change

by Paul Sparks 25 May 2009

We live in exponential times. Change is inevitable. What does it mean to you, your organisation and your services? More importantly, what does it mean to your clients and your client’s clients? Today – more than ever before – salespeople must keep abreast of change. What are you doing to keep your clients informed about [...]

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