Vital Stats Name: William Surmon, 45 Designation: National head of sales and distribution Company: Zurich Insurance Company South Africa Sales Team: More than 100 sales staff across eight regions Sales…
To Win, Expect the Best
In his new book Mind Over Mind, science journalist Chris Berdik explains the many ways in which what you expect shapes what happens. The premise is simple: expectations matter. In…
The End of Solution Sales
The hardest thing about B2B selling today is that customers don’t need you the way they used to. In recent decades sales reps have become adept at discovering customers’ needs…
What Are We Teaching
Sometimes we teach the sales force unintended lessons. By not reviewing activity and outcomes, we teach the sales force that taking the activities and achieving the outcomes they need isn’t…
The 5 Stages to Improving Your Negotiation Skills
Since objections are a natural part of the B2B sales process, it is essential that sales professionals acquire good negotiation skills to close more deals on time that are favourable…
Use Trigger Events to Boost Sales
Sales managers are always looking for opportunities that will give them a compelling reason to meet with new clients or secure bigger deals with existing customers. For a sales professional,…
Take It Easy (And Other Bad Ideas)
“Take it easy.” How many people do you know who are working so hard that they need to “take it easy?” Most people would do better by taking it a…
How to Give Every Employee Customised Leadership Advice
Virtually every corporate and academic leadership development programme is founded on the same model – we call it the formulaic model. It tries to collect all the various approaches to…
Social and Career Networking
A recent survey aimed at enabling people to do a better job of connecting with each other reveals how different age groups view social or career networking. The survey was…
It’s Time to Work Smarter and Harder
What are you doing to succeed in today’s economic climate? If you’re like most sales reps (80%), you’re probably showing up and grumbling about the recession, hoping you don't get…