Bob Apollo: B2B Sales Excellence in the Customer Age
3 Strategies for Bridging the Gap Between the Best and the Rest in B2B...
The gap between top sales performers and the rest is often at its widest in the most complex B2B sales environments - research by the authors of the “Challenger Sale” suggested that there can be as much as a 3-fold difference in performance between...
Building an Excellent Sales Organisation: Why Just “Making Your Numbers” is Not Enough
Jim Collins Good to Great has been the inspiration for many CEOs who are determined to elevate their companies from run-of-the-mill to lasting greatness. There are many lessons to be learned from the book, but one of...
Improving Sales Pipeline Development with a Structured Approach
Other than the sales team itself, the sales pipeline is perhaps the most valuable asset of any sales organisation. This is particularly true in expansion-phase businesses that are critically dependent on finding and winning new business as...
Complex B2B Sales: Aligning with the Buying Journey
It seems obvious if we are to strive for B2B sales excellence in the customer age, that one of the key foundations ought to be aligning our sales process with the way in...
When is it Better to Walk Away from a Sale?
There’s a traditional school of selling - exemplified by Alec Baldwin’s performance in the film Glengarry Glenn Ross - that would have you believe that the essence of good salespersonship is to “Always Be Closing”. It is,...
How and Why Do B2B Prospects Buy? 11 Questions You Must Answer
In this column I’m going to focus on understanding how and why our prospects choose to buy, and working out what can we do to facilitate their buying decision process. This is my sixth contribution to the series “what is B2B sales excellence in...
Opportunity Qualification is a Two-Way Process. Why You Should Help Prospects Qualify You!
This is my fifth contribution to the series “what is B2B sales excellence in the customer age?”, and today I’m going to focus on what B2B sales organisations need to do to better qualify their sales opportunities and avoid wasting...
Facilitating Decision Making in Complex Sales Environments: Where is the Mobiliser?
This is my fourth contribution to the series “what is B2B sales excellence in the customer age?”, and today I’m going to focus on what B2B sales organisations need to do to understand...
Interest vs. Intent: How to Identify and Engage Prospects Most Likely to Act
This is my third contribution to the series "what is B2B sales excellence in the customer age?" For this post I’m going to focus on what B2B sales organisations need to do to identify and engage the prospects that are...
Driving Action With Prospects: Distinguishing Between Interesting, Important, and Critical Needs
This is the second contribution to the series about "B2B sales excellence in the customer age." I’m going to focus on distinguishing between your customer’s interesting, important, and critical needs. Here’s why the distinction is so important. Your prospects and customers will inevitably have many...
What is B2B Sales Excellence in the Customer Age? Hint: Not Just a Numbers...
During the course of 2016, I’m intending to share a series of articles on “B2B Sales Excellence in the Customer Age”, and thought it would be useful to start by offering my explanation as to exactly what...