Never take Yes for an answer! 28 mar. 2024

pattern-2

Les essentiels

Soft skills and sales performance

24 November 2021

30% of success in negotiation lies in proper preparation

25 June 2021

A few tips for taming your fears during a negotiation

Speech is Silver but Silence is Golden

Publié le 21 March 2024

The 10 Silence golden moments to stop messing up with the sales! – By Vincent Parachini & François-Xavier Théry We were amazed by the reception of Francois-Xavier’s article about silence. To us, silence is part of the play. Speech and silence are part of the same rhetoric toolbox we, at Halifax Consulting, teach our trainees. But your feedback made us think that we may be overstepping a little bit and some clarity about the key, most impactful, Silence moments, a salesperson can use to boost message impact, should probably not be unnecessary. We, salespersons, literally puts our personal aura and credibility at the service of our company. The trustful bond […]

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Customer relations and sales performance: increasingly interdependent

Publié le 14 March 2024

Sales efficiency is no longer limited to the act of selling, but extends to the whole company, implying a total commitment to customer service quality for greater loyalty, up-selling and cross-selling, which are essential for margins in many companies. Successfully achieving this becomes a key differentiating factor in the market, all the more so in a tense economic climate where winning new customers is becoming increasingly difficult. For other companies whose business model is SaaS, it’s also a key element in generating more revenue and developing the use of their solution. In this case, customer relations also involve a kind of customer education and support for organizational change. The quality […]

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Artificial intelligence: 5 concrete applications of generative AI for a sales team

Publié le 07 March 2024

Disclaimer: this article was written by a human with the help of ChatGPT 😉 ChatGPT celebrated its 1ère birthday and now boasts over 100 million users. Since then, there has been a steady stream of new products in the field, from Google Bard to Midjourney, Microsoft Copilote and the GPT Store. OpenAI and Microsoft are also starting the year with new products that are accessible to companies of all sizes, and guarantee improved data security. This should remove any objections to the use of these tools in certain organizations. Personally, I use these generative AI tools on a daily basis in a commercial context. They save me a lot of […]

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“The more I keep quiet, the more I sign.

Publié le 29 February 2024

In praise of silence in the deed of sale A few months ago, a (brilliant) real estate saleswoman (we’ll call her Judith, she’ll recognize herself) challenged me by telling me that, during a session I was leading, “the more I keep quiet, the more I sign” … which didn’t fail to provoke a silence in our exchange, but not just any silence, undoubtedly the most productive there is … a silence that made me think, that projected me and that “annihilated” me by its obviousness, its relevance, its strength … Silence with salespeople is a bit like “je t’aime moi non plus”, an ambiguous and contradictory relationship. On the one […]

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B2B sales leadership: KAM as quarterback

Publié le 22 February 2024

A salesperson is often compared to a top-level athlete, but in most cases this comparison is far removed from reality, and the analogy is not so obvious. If, despite everything, I had to do one with sport, I’d probably choose American soccer and say that a Key Account Manager (KAM) is the “Quarterback”, the strategist who influences the B2B sales game. Here’s why: A strategic vision: the centerpiece Just as a quarterback evaluates the opposition’s defense before and during the game, a KAM must have in-depth knowledge of the market. This means analyzing customer needs and anticipating competitor tactics. The ability to interpret data, understand market trends and act quickly […]

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The ball’s second bounce

Publié le 15 February 2024

Times of crisis and uncertainty such as these are good times to dip into some good reading from the past. Let me share with you a few ideas gleaned from Ronald Cohen’s book, “The Second Bounce of the Bullet”, published in 2008, written by this leading financial investor at Apax. Here’s a key idea: any attentive market spectator knows where the ball is bouncing today. Everyone knows it will bounce somewhere else. But few anticipate where, and fewer still position themselves to catch it and take advantage of it. The entrepreneur is one of these, as is the good business developer! To illustrate the principle, the author cites the case […]

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There’s no stopping progress! Even account reviews are getting easier…

Publié le 08 February 2024

Every key account salesperson is familiar with the account review exercise. It’s an important time for updating action plans, account vision and strategic initiatives. And to share it all with management and colleagues. One important component is understanding the customer’s organization and its strategic challenges. Another key component is the synthesis of our sales and results with this customer, and the calculation of our market share. Last but not least, identifying decision-making channels, key decision-makers and influencers is always a difficult exercise. For several years now, various technological solutions have been helping sales teams to build up these account reviews in less time. At Halifax, for example, we have developed […]

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How is CSR impacting the sales function?

Publié le 01 February 2024

A year ago we opened a discussion among Halifax consultants about how we should position ourselves to accompany our customers with regard to this topic. Over and above a clear C level and shareholder commitment to CSR policy we perceived in many commercial executives the scepticism deriving from  some customers’ reactions which could be summarized in: “What does your CSR do for me?” In fact many CSR initiatives are what we call “inside out”.. unlike most business initiatives they do not take origin downstream (ie meeting customer needs) but are upstream and related to supply chain and governance issues. The main exceptions being of course in the energy or construction […]

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How about a return to high standards and emulation at the heart of the sales management game?

Publié le 18 January 2024

The results of PISA 2022, published last December, show France’s continued downgrading in terms of learning and academic attainment, where we are now just at the OECD average, and in particular a weakening of excellence, with fewer and fewer very good students. What’s more, preparatory classes, once the royal road to a Grande Ecole, are now being increasingly questioned by parents and students alike, who fail to see the point of devoting 2 years of one’s life to cramming mathematics, philosophy or literature, in a context of high academic pressure, rather than moving on to immediately professionalizing, potentially international, courses such as a Bachelor’s degree. Last but not least, in […]

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The Path to Authentic Leadership: Bridging the Gap between Investment and Impact

Publié le 11 January 2024

In today’s business landscape, there is a growing trend in the investment of millions of dollars by companies in organizational leadership training programs. According to a December 13, 2023 Fortune Business Insights™ report on the “Corporate Leadership Training Market,” 2023 is expected to close at about $35.5 billion and the global market projection to 2030 is estimated at $63.2 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.58% during the period from 2023 to 2027. This monetary expansion reflects the widespread recognition of the importance of strong leadership in the success and financial health of organizations. However, this monumental investment does not seem to translate directly into effective leadership, as […]

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