Are You CustomerCentric?

How to Differentiate Yourself from the Competition by Empowering the Buyer

February 12, 2011 | Author: George Gombas

The third core concept of CustomerCentric Selling states: People Buy from People Who Are Sincere and Competent and Who Empower Them. Let’s try to figure out what this means to the salesperson! In today’s competitive market, a salesperson must be sincere and competent merely to get the opportunity to compete. But possessing these qualities are merely the cost of membership, not leadership in the ranks of true sales profe ... Continue reading

Take the Time to Diagnose before You Offer a Prescription

February 5, 2011 | Author: Petteri Laine

Imagine going to a doctor you haven’t met previously with a problem like lower back pain. The minute you walk into the doctor’s office and voice your problem she – without asking a single question about your condition – hands you a pre-written prescription and says, “take two of these pills three times a day and your back problems are solved!” How much confidence in this doctor and the prescribed remedy would y ... Continue reading

How to Have Meaningful Discussions with Top Decision Makers

January 28, 2011 | Author: George Gombas

In their book called CustomerCentric Selling, Michael Bosworth and his co-authors present their core concepts for reframing the concept of selling. The first principle they describe is “You get delegated to the people you sound like”. They Don’t Call High Enough – But Why? Sales managers often complain that their salespeople “don’t call high enough”, preferring to meet the potential users of their offering rat ... Continue reading

Reframing the Concept of Selling

January 21, 2011 | Author: Petteri Laine

CustomerCentric Selling is strongly based on the idea of reframing the concept of selling. What does this mean? Think about this: when a salesperson enters the room to meet a customer, he can either think in the way of a traditional pushy salesperson: What can I sell to this customer? or he can go in with the thought: Let’s find out if this customer has goal, problem or need I could help him with! Reframing the concept of ... Continue reading

Selling – Is It an Art, Science or Both?

January 14, 2011 | Author: Pekka Sahlsten

The debate over art versus science in sales has been running for decades. A popular myth about selling has that it’s an art, which can be practiced successfully only by sales people born with the “gift of gab” and that science has nothing to do with it. But when you look at world’s top sales organisations, it becomes a no-brainer that the science of selling is very important. It would be very hard to find a worl ... Continue reading

Making Pipelines and Forecasts More Accurate

January 5, 2011 | Author: Pekka Sahlsten

Even with today’s sophisticated CRM and SFA systems, sales forecasting is still more of an art than a science. Even after a sales manager has spent hours upon hours questioning her sales people about whether the deals in the pipeline are really going to close when predicted, it still involves a lot of guesswork. Because typical sales pipelines are notoriously inaccurate, sales organizations have often developed a variety ... Continue reading

Good Buying Experience Makes More Loyal Customers

December 17, 2010 | Author: Pekka Sahlsten

What makes a customer buy from your company again and again? Is it your company’s reputation and brand, the excellence of your products and services or unbeatable value-to-price ratio? Or something altogether different? What Is Your Experience? A recent survey to about 2400 companies found that the above mentioned factors do have a significant impact. In fact, together they constitute a little less than half of all ... Continue reading

What Does It Take to Be the Best?

December 14, 2010 | Author: Pekka Sahlsten

In September 2010 the Best B2B Sales Organisation in Finland was selected in a competition arranged by Customer Centric Selling Finland. The winner was chosen based on a thorough analysis and with the help of a panel of experts comprised of both academics from the Aalto University and seasoned business leaders such as ex-CEO of IBM Finland and CEO of Cisco Systems Finland. The winning team is Martela Finland, the leading d ... Continue reading

How Has Sales Management Evolved in 80 Years?

December 9, 2010 | Author: Pekka Sahlsten

Sales management today has many nice-sounding methods and systems that create an illusion that sales management would have developed by leaps and bounds in recent years and decades. But it ain’t necessarily so. Instead, a lot of sales management methods that we consider modern are in fact close to a 100 years old. This Chevrolet car dealer training and motivational film from 1941 provides very good evidence to that ... Continue reading

Are You a Sales Leader or a Leading Seller?

December 2, 2010 | Author: Petteri Laine

Sales management is not for the faint of heart. It’s ´more like constantly living between a rock and a hard place: the company’s management requires ever increasing sales results, the sales team needs a friend and a peer to give them advice and support – and customers want discounts. So, what should you do – should you put more emphasis on selling or leadership? In recently concluded “Finland’s Best Sal ... Continue reading