Bob Apollo
Bob Apollo
Bob Apollo is the CEO of UK-based Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, the B2B sales performance improvement specialists. Following a varied corporate career, Bob now works with a rapidly expanding client base of B2B-focused growth-phase technology companies, helping them to implement systematic sales processes that drive predictable revenue growth.
Salesforce.com’s Chatter mobilises McKinsey’s strategies…
Today during his keynote at Cloudforce 2010 in London’s Royal Festival Hall, Marc Benioff, Chairman and Chief Executive of Salesforce.com, launched Chatter Mobile to...
B2B sales people: You get delegated to the person you sound like
The quality of any conversation, whether business or social, is largely determined by who we choose to talk to, what we choose to talk...
Starbucks manage to screw up offline and online
If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Starbucks might have done well to embrace this principle in their relationship with me. I'd always had a...
There is no Viva in Aviva online
Online shopping should be a painless experience, right? Aviva, the UK insurance company are certainly trying to convey that impression in their current ads...
The Buyer’s Journey Revisited … Part Two
In my previous article on the Buyer's Journey, I set out our latest thinking on the nature of the B2B Buying Process. In this...
The Buyer’s Journey Revisited … Part One
The concept of the buyer's journey has been around for a number of years. Hugh Macfarlane's "The Leaky Funnel" inspired a number of our...
B2B Sales: could it be time to ban BANT?
BANT, in case anyone is unfamiliar with the anonym, stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline. It’s commonly used in the sales qualification...
Can you agree on what an ideal B2B prospect looks like?
It’s an old story, but one that I still hear far too often. Salespeople complaining that marketing never generates any decent leads. Marketing getting...
Are you really adding value?
I’ve lost track of the number of companies who proclaim that they are embracing a “value-added” strategy in order to differentiate themselves in an...
is your sales + marketing aligned – or falling behind?
Is your sales and marketing aligned? If not, you are running the risk of falling behind. Sometimes the signs of a lack of alignment...
Does your sales pipeline need a massive clean-up operation?
BP has been getting a great deal of adverse publicity for the recent massive leak in their Gulf of Mexico oil pipeline. It’s taken...
What really motivates people?
What really motivates people? Dan Pink is a contrarian thinker who always challenges me to think from a new perspective. I think that you'll...
People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it…
I came across Simon Sinek's work through a blog post by Augie Ray of Forrester. Sinek is the author of Start With Why. In the following video,...
Sales people: can you resist the itch to pitch?
Jill Konrath's "SNAP Selling" identifies the "itch to pitch" as one of the most damaging habits sales people can possibly fall into - and my own...
Jill Konrath’s SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today’s Frazzled Customers
Jill Konrath is the acclaimed author of “Selling to Big Companies”, and an acknowledged expert on the new sales strategies that are required in...
What motivates a salesperson – the results are in!
Regular readers will recall that I've been pleased to republish a number of guest blogs from Donal Daly of our partner the TAS Group....
B2B Sales: From Always Be Closing to Always Be Qualifying?
Alec Baldwin’s performance as Blake in the film Glengarry Glen Ross immortalised the “Always Be Closing” attitude that for many has come to exemplify...
There are only 2 reasons why you lose a sale
Regular readers will recall that I've been pleased to republish a number of guest blogs from Donal Daly of our partner the TAS Group....
According to McKinsey, too much sales contact can cost you business
There’s a short article in the latest McKinsey Quarterly on “the basics of business-to-business sales success”. It captures the conclusions from their survey of...
5 Facts about how b2b sales cycles are changing…
Inflexion-Point has recently established a partnership with the TAS Group to offer their Dealmaker platform to clients who want to combine clear market focus,...