Modern Selling, the world has changed but businesses have not kept up. Generally not anyway: customers have changed, what we know about customers has changed and yet most businesses are using sales techniques from the last century. Modern Selling. The World Has Changed: Have Businesses Kept Up? This was the title given to a lunchtime […]
READ MORECRM, the great misnomer
CRM or customer relationship management is often the system we use, but we need a strategy behind it. Often called strategic CRM, the customer strategy is often based on the premise that we can manage customer relationships, however today the customer is in charge. Customer relationship management is a misnomer. The idea that businesses can […]
READ MOREIgnore the customer at your own peril – Lessons from the Masters failure
There are business lessons from the failure of Masters. The strategy was wrong. By focusing on the competition, they ignored the customer. When you ignore the customer your fate is sealed. Woolworths/Masters ignored customer feedback and 63 stores will be no more. By focusing on “sucking the oxygen out of Bunnings” they delivered appalling customer experiences that will cost them up […]
READ MOREThe sales stereotype is still dominant, but in today’s market it is irrelevant.
Do not rely on the old sales stereotypes and behaviours to engage with customers. Selling today is about genuine customer engagement, people buy from people. For sales leaders – design the optimal sales activity, for salespeople – don’t sell, understand you are working with people. The Sales Stereotype The old style, stereotyped sales gun is still lurking […]
READ MOREKnow your awesome customer and then, you may find them…
We all know that there are some customers that are worth more than others. It is something we often do not like to talk about, but it is the reality. Not all customers are equal. This is about how to identify your awesome customers – the ones that are profitable and promoters of what you do. […]
READ MOREThe end of The Funnel
Yes that’s right – The Funnel that is used by some of the best marking organisations on the planet – has long passed its use-by date. The Funnel that we so often use to describe leads to converts (social media, marketing and sales), has stopped being useful at all, in fact I believe it actually hinders engagement with our […]
READ MOREThe Nine Imperatives for Leaders
Being customer centric is often cited by business leaders as a goal. However, customer centric leaders need to do more than talk. It requires leadership that is based on the principles of the customer centric approach to business, and then on the imperatives for leaders that these principles demand. The companion post, the Five Tenets […]
READ MOREThe Top Four Tips for B2B sales
I have been reminded over recent weeks how important it is not to “sell” during B2B sales discussions. Three colleagues have separately shared stories with me where someone on their team have jumped in too early with pricing discussions or what sounded like negotiations, or labouring over the features before understanding what the customer values. So here are […]
READ MOREYou need to know what your customers value
In an economy that is shifting towards an experience economy, organisations are shifting focus towards improving the customer experience. However, prior to designing the experience we need to know what customers value. When we know what customers value, then we can design experiences that deliver on that value. It is commonly understood that most sales […]
READ MOREAre you using personas..? The one thing you are missing.
Customer personas need to go a little deeper than a generic customer. Not all customers are equal, get specific. Particularly get specific with you persona about how your customer buys. What characteristics or values do they have that brings then to you. The use of personas is fairly commonplace today. Most marketing and sales teams have […]
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