Is sales coaching transactional or transformational in your teams?

  What style of coaching conversations is happening in your sales teams? It is a well-known fact that coaching by sales managers is a key lever in performance improvement. Many organisations are trying to drive this. Work done by Heslin (2006) suggests that managers who are people-centric and believe personal qualities can change are more … Read more

Live sales telephone coaching

Alastair McIvor Exclusive interview by Helen Wilcox Alastair has over 20 years’ experience in training, sales and consultancy and has coached over 4,000 people globally. He has been involved a lot lately in live telephone coaching for sales and I wanted to get his insights and thoughts on running this type of workshop. Alastair, I know … Read more

Sales success – Mark Greenway

  According to a survey in by the HR Chally Group, the top 3 things clients want from sales people are that they “Personally manage my satisfaction”, they “understand our business” and they are a “customer advocate”. Based on the results, the authors wrote the book “Achieving Sales Excellence” in 2007. A member of our … Read more

Social Media Sales Hero – Geoffrey Cooling, Widex Ireland

To those without hearing aids, the sector is largely invisible, when compared say to optometrists who have very visible premises on the high street. That said, audiology is big business, and is highly competitive, with several players fighting aggressively for market share. It is against this backdrop that Geoffrey has demonstrated real excellence in using … Read more

The value of a good manager -Stewart Adams, National Sales Manager, Link 51

Of all the studies of sales effectiveness, first line management has been implicated in countless studies as one of the most effective levers of change. The potential for managers to motivate, train, role model, coach, communicate and generally influence is huge. So much so that the landmark book “First Break all the Rules” by Buckingham … Read more

John Hanson, Sales Director, Bausch & Lomb, Technology Implementation

Many sales directors have an uneasy relationship with technology. On the one hand, there is a seductive appeal to dashboards, CRMs, analytics, pipeline management and coaching software. On the other hand, sales organisations are littered with poor implementation, unused knowledge databases and frustrated sales people who rarely experience technology as wholly positive. John has fully … Read more

Peter Rouwen, JP Morgan, Executive Director Worldwide Securities Services

Introduction In the world of complex financial services, following a sales process is not just a nicety, it’s a necessity: With risk and compliance issues to navigate, excellent sales people not only have to manage client opportunities through to a win, they also have to respect many steps along the way. Sales processes are fundamental: … Read more