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Sales Models

Can we survive as salespeople in a world without economic growth?

by Paul Sparks on October 30, 2010

As salespeople we live in a funny world.

Our job is to help our organisations grow by selling more and more of the stuff our organisations produce.  Growth is at the centre of the expectations of the people in our organisations who set sales targets, budgets and forecasts.  And you can bet that this year’s targets are higher than last year’s – and next year’s will be higher again.

I talk with lots of salespeople and sales managers from all sorts of industries – large and small – here in Australia, and from other parts of the globe.  From these discussions, I’ve noticed a couple of things regarding this relentless push for growth.

Firstly, most sales managers accept the targets they’re given, but know that they’re often unrealistic & unachievable.  They simply move forward as discussion on the subject with others in the organisation is usually fraught with danger, and can sometimes be an act of organisational suicide.

And secondly – at a personal level – many salespeople realise that an insatiable quest to grow – to consume more and more “stuff” at the expense of world resources and personal and social compromise is something that doesn’t fit with their world view.

Here’s an alternative vision from Professor Tim Jackson of how we can prosper as individuals and organisations – and move from the constraints of an economic model built on inexorable growth.

Unrealistic?  Maybe – maybe not.

As more and more people look to balance their lives with competing forces – internal and external – ideas like Tim’s could gain great traction.  And the implications for how and what we sell are enormous.

Professor Tim Jackson is Professor of Sustainable Development and Director of the Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE) at the University if Surrey in the UK.  For over 20 years Tim has been at the forefront of research and teaching in sustainability.  His latest book – “Prosperity without Growth” – provides an alternative view of how our economic future could look.

You can find out more about Professor Jackson and his work here:

http://www.ces-surrey.org.uk/people/staff/tjackson.shtml

You can read a review of Tim’s latest book – “Prosperity without Growth” here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/23/properity-without-growth-tim-jackson

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 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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Highlights from the September 17 Sales Effectiveness breakfast

by Paul Sparks on October 30, 2010

Over 70 people interested in learning the latest ideas, trends and innovation in professional selling and sales management joined me recently at Luna Park in Sydney for the fourth Sales Effectiveness breakfast event for 2010.  As with the first series, the feedback was fantastic – I hope to see you for the fifth breakfast for 2010 on October 15, 2010.  Till then, here are some highlights from September for you.

Sally-Anne Cotton.  “The alchemy of 21st century selling: aligning balance, congruence and intent to deliver golden results” 

Sally-Anne opened her presentation by pointing to a growing body of evidence to demonstrate that organisations with strong adaptive cultures which are based on shared values will outperform companies with a rigid or weak culture by a significant margin.

 Based on these studies, Sally-Anne presents a compelling case for the need for all sales teams to achieve balance, congruence and alignment to allow positive cultures to thrive, and, consequently, for organisations to thrive.  These items can be summarised like this:

Balance – between the needs of customers, salespeople, sales teams and organisations

Alignment – between the values and beliefs of the individual salespeople and the vision and mission of the organisation

This balance and alignment between individuals and organisations then needs to be delivered with intention.  This intention needs to be purposeful and focussed on the common good.  When combined in an authentic manner – the chance of long term individual and organisational success is dramatically increased.

Find out more by ordering your copy of the DVD of the full presentation:

http://www.saleseffectiveness.com.au/sales-effectiveness-breakfast-event-series-september-2010/

Mo Fox.  “What you see is not always what you get: changing how you perceive things to achieve better sales results”

Mo’s presentation was in interactive delight.

Her message for salespeople – in fact for all of us – is that we need to understand that underlying structures and patterns exist everywhere – and that the better we understand these structures and patterns, the better outcomes we will achieve.

Mo took us on a journey to discover our inner artist.  Artists understand structure – and the structure that Mo taught us was the human face.  Despite some protestations and suspicion, we all took up our crayons, and proceeded to draw one of our breakfast companions.  For most of us, our early efforts were somewhat juvenile – and a touch embarrassing. 

However, when we were learnt some basic underlying structures – where eyes sit in faces, the relationship between our ears and our eyes, and a few more – our second efforts overall were much better than our first.

A great lesson for those of us in sales.  Look for underlying structures in our customers and prospects business.  Look for patterns in our clients industries.  Take the time to look and the picture we build will take on greater clarity – and deliver vastly improved outcomes.

Find out more by ordering your copy of the DVD of the full presentation:

http://www.saleseffectiveness.com.au/sales-effectiveness-breakfast-event-series-september-2010/

  Continue Reading…

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Plan to hit the sales sweet spot

by Paul Sparks on May 12, 2009

Those of you who play tennis, golf, cricket or most other bat and ball games would have experienced playing a shot when you hit the “sweet spot” on the racquet, club or bat. It feels good, sounds good and, usually, ends in a good result.

When assessing a sales opportunity – it’s wise to also look to hit the sales sweet spot – that spot where we have unique benefits for our customer or prospect. Think about the simple model I’m about to outline, and I think you’ll agree it’s a nice way to assess the initial potential of any sales opportunity in a competitive environment. It’s particularly useful as a starting point for a conversation between salesperson and sales manager. It can also be a useful tool for assessing the overall market potential of a new product or service.

I’ve seen variations of this model used in a few of the organisations I’ve worked with or consulted to over the years – but the first time I saw it formalised was in a recent Harvard Business Review item in the Forethought section (HBR – November 2007, “Strategic Insight in Three Circles”, by Joe Urbany and James Davis). I’ve adapted their circles as a basis for this article.

Firstly, consider this simple view of your offering and your customer needs:

Offerings Versus Needs

We all want to cover as much of the “sweet spot” – where offering meets need – as possible. Continue Reading…

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