This week we learned the news that the founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad, passed away at the age of 91. Known as Sweden’s ‘greatest ever entrepreneur,’ Kamprad invented flat pack furniture after noticing a chap trying to take the table legs off before loading it into his Volvo. In creating IKEA, Kamprad changed a mass market…
A green plastic watering can For a fake Chinese rubber plant In the fake plastic earth That she bought from a rubber man… Fake Plastic Trees, Radiohead. Someone recently paid $450m for Salvator Mundi, the long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus Christ commissioned by King Louis XII of France more than 500 years ago….
“Making money is ultimately boring. You find a formula that works, and hit the repeat button.” Sir Richard Branson Brad Gilbert was a handy tennis player – never among the superstars but always around the top ten. But as a coach, he was phenomenal. He believes in the psychology of sport, and was instrumental in…
“There are great products everywhere. But the money, the real money, goes to the best communicators.” Dr Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad Poor Dad You might have developed the best bit of technology in the world, absolutely top of the range. You might be able to help customers be more successful beyond their dreams. But that…
The most important part of a sales call, and one that you can never stop improving, is the first 15 seconds. If your first 15 seconds on the phone is anything less than great, gatekeepers aren’t going to put you through to decision makers. Decision makers won’t stay on the line long if your first…
If you are a Sales Director, Manager or Salesperson and you have been building pipeline all year and now need to close your deals at speed, then read on. This might be the most valuable piece of advice you read this quarter – particularly relevant for higher value, enterprise deals. “We cannot solve our problems…
Your Inside Salespeople are all talking in slightly different messaging. Your marketing people are tearing their hair out. And customers aren’t buying because your messages aren’t moving them to take action. “When you have clarity of intention, the universe conspires with you to make it happen.“ - Fabienne Fredrickson Marketing creates the right product message, sales people then learn it,…
“For every sale you miss because you’re too persistent, you will miss a hundred because you’re not persistent enough.” - Zig Ziglar If you have an Inside Sales team, you know that success in lead conversion demands persistence. Inbound leads are like gold, but to some inside sales people, the lead is “dead” after one or…
Today I turn 44. I own this successful sales training business called Natural Training, which puts me in the unique position of selling sales to salespeople. I will be selling for the rest of my life, because I love it – I’m hooked on it. And appropriately, today I’ll be spending my birthday on a train travelling to Hook…
“In this very real world, good doesn’t drive out evil. Evil doesn’t drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.” Bill Bernbach. If there’s one thing that separates top performing sales teams from the average, it’s energy It’s tough to keep energy high on a telesales floor. You can’t just open a can of…
You are one of 100 other vendors, resellers and distributors attempting to get hold of your prospect IT Manager. If you want to stand out from the IT Crowd, it is not enough to call “just to introduce myself as your new account manager”. You must be prepared, polished, professional and razor sharp. We’ve spent…
