Category: Sales

Business Model, Leadership, Sales

The Challenger Sales model & its relevance in the selling models of the future..

I recently read the book – The Challenger Sale and would like to share my impressions from the book. My personal opinion on the relevance of this model: In order to succeed this model requires a change in the culture of the sales organization (from top to bottom), which we have observed is a very very difficult thing to achieve. Very few organizations have leaders who are capable of driving such a change initiative to success.  As this book is based on the research on reps that were successful in selling when everyone else was failing, this assumes that what […]

Marketing, Sales

Building an effective marketing strategy..

I am surprised at the lack of organizations with good marketing strategy. Doesn’t matter if they are  large MNC’s with millions of dollars of marketing budget or a start-up with minimal budget. I am sure that everyone in the marketing world understands the importance of having a solid strategy! Most marketing efforts fail in the face of unclear strategies. Good strategy can not only improve the effectiveness of your efforts but will help in reducing the total cost. But most importantly, it will help your customers to buy more from your sales teams. With the emergence of new media, more […]

Leadership, Sales

Great resources to create sticky presentations

Each and every one of us in the profession of selling, end up presenting (either about the products or solutions that we are selling, or about the company we represent or to showcase ourselves). And most of us still struggle even after years of delivering presentations for a living. Hence, the term, death-by-powerpoints. This is a key skill and something that we need to continuously  work upon. In Stephen Covey’s words  -“Sharpen the saw”! After having gone through a lot of reading, listening and presenting, I have realized the following: I deliver great presentations if I don’t use the standard slides […]

Leadership, Sales

3 qualities of a great sales manager

The three things that makes great sales manager are ability to Coach Absorb pressure Build a team I got this insight when I ran into an old friend late last evening. He currently works for a sales organization and was completely stressed out. When i asked for the reason for his stress, he indicated that the sales pressure being exerted on him by his manager is actually freaking him out. When I dug deep, he indicated that their organization follows the Jan – Dec sales cycle, which meant that they are in the last fortnight of the year and there is […]

Sales

Best product demo ever

I chanced upon this demo of Sony Xperia Acro smart phone today. This is the best demo of a product that I have seen in a long long time… [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEvROqe3wB8] In my opinion, the following aspects makes this the best demo ever: It is contextual & experiential (with all the aura of the legendary James Bond, complete with the Bond music). It surprises! Not just the one’s who won the phone, but the entire audience.. This is the stuff that the people in the audience will talk about for sometime to come. And most important, this makes the point which […]