Did the buyers win? Not so sure…
Publié le 01 January 2021The title of this article was inspired by my recent rereading of the book published by my associate, Frédéric Vendeuvre, and Christopher Guerin, CEO of Nexans. The book is a gold mine for anyone seeking to lead a sales transformation project at their company. The “differentiated sales” process laid out in the work is not an umpteenth sales method but rather a way of reinventing how to sell your company. It involves overhauling the sales process: improving client insights, listening more attentively through a more systemic, analytical approach, surprising clients with your professionalism and information gathering, and daring to speak frankly about the constraints of the profession. These examples show […]
How to really develop your sales skills!
Publié leif you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that developing sales skills is one of our passions at Halifax Consulting. It’s our guiding purpose, in fact. Every year I read many business books on my own time and every now and then I discover a gem. PEAK (1), by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool, is one of those! It’s a gem of a book that describes in detail how to truly develop skills effectively. The authors don’t focus solely on sales skills—far from it—but that’s obviously the content that I tore through. The book is jam-packed with information and I would never attempt to summarize it completely in […]
Schopenhauer: the best sales rep
Publié leIn 1864, Arthur Schopenhauer wrote The Art of Being Right, in which he sets out tricks and stratagems for always giving the impression that you’re right. The impression! The idea is to show that you can always appear to be right, even if you’re wrong. A true source of inspiration. “But it’s a book that preaches being underhanded!” you will say. Yes and no. It also gives you the tools to thwart all the manipulation techniques used by clients, who are never short on ideas for explaining why your competitors are better and less expensive. Both parties use dialectics to influence and persuade each other. Schopenhauer’s book contains 38 stratagems […]
Know your audience well to keep them captivated
Publié lePublic presentations are often a source of stress, especially sales pitches in front of a “panel of judges.” Making these presentations on Teams or Zoom tends to amplify the discomfort, especially when the clients have the bright idea of turning off all their cameras as a sign of encouragement. You don’t have to rouse the troops like Aragorn to sell in public or in front of a group. There’s a much easier method that’s very effective: knowing your audience well. Conduct your own investigation Social networks are a window into the details of our lives. Put on your private detective hat and learn as much as you can about the […]
Buyer-Seller: The three commandments of surprise
Publié leEvery year Halifax Consulting meets with thousands of sales reps to help them improve their B2B negotiating techniques. We try to find out how they react when a customer puts them to the test. What have we observed? Nothing much surprises sales reps anymore! French cinema lovers who have seen Itinerary of a Spoiled Child will surely remember this legendary scene in which Jean-Paul Belmondo teaches Richard Anconina a few “business secrets,” including the importance—in his eyes—of never appearing surprised: This is one time where Belmondo got it wrong! Surprise is a useful tool in a buyer-seller relationship. Why? Because acting surprised shakes things up. As the saying goes, “silence […]
Go or No-Go, that is the question
Publié leThere’s a key moment during the process when you need well-defined criteria that aren’t open to interpretation. So how to you assess how promising a deal is, you ask? It’s very simple. Focus on two questions: What is the expected potential? What chance do we have of closing the deal? The potential is very often clear-cut and more easily “scorable.” The same cannot be said of the probability of success, which involves analyzing sales performance, which is often a weakness for organizations. How to make rational decisions The Go/No-Go is a bit like the discussions leading up to an arranged marriage between two mafia families. They try to picture whether […]
A computer is not selling? Really?
Publié le 01 September 2020There was a commonly held belief among sales managers a decade ago, what seems like an eternity. I would often hear, “You don’t sell computers, you sell people!” Nowadays, of course, you hear much more nuanced perspectives. Mass-market retail and e-commerce have provided ironclad proof of the efficiency of online and automated sales. B2B has lagged behind but is coming round. A FEVAD study[1] has found that B2B transactions are shifting to the web—B2B e-commerce is growing by 30% annually and 1 in 4 sales will soon be completed online. In the United States, a study by Frost & Sullivan concluded that e-commerce would account for a quarter of all […]
Leading sales teams during crisis
Publié leI started my career as a young graduate with a field sales job at Xerox in the spring of 1990. I joined the company right at the outbreak of the Gulf War, a conflict between Iraq and a US-led coalition of 35 countries which lasted from August 2, 1990 to February 28, 1991. We witnessed war on television for the first time through the endless stream of news about Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm on CNN. It was a fascinating time for some of us, and petrifying for others. Then came the European monetary system crisis of 1992 and a severe economic recession in 1993 (only slightly eclipsed […]
5 frequent sources of stress during remote sales pitches
Publié leThe business downturn caused by the COVID crisis has left some professions on the wayside, but one job remained in high demand during the lockdown we just went through. That’s right, I’m talking about sales representatives. Most companies are putting pressure on their deal hunters to reduce the impact of a crisis that is unprecedented in its force and suddenness. To cope with this emergency, sales representatives like yourself have had to adapt and adopt different techniques, such as telephone sales and prospecting, as well as online business networking. Teams, Zoom, Sales Navigator and LinkedIn have never been so popular. While these adjustments have gone relatively smoothly overall, one of […]
The mental keys to sales excellence
Publié leIn elite sports, the top athletes and coaches have included mental work in their training regimens for a long time. The best sales reps also have the mental toughness to face any situation. The difference is that in the world of sales, this winning mindset is often cultivated intuitively, without taking a structured approach. Here are a few tips for raising the bar from performance to excellence. Mental is everywhere Remember the three pillars of sales performance: knowledge of your products and ranges, selling skills and mental fortitude. Never separate these three components—view them as an indivisible whole. Your confidence as a sales rep grows when you know your products inside […]
