Insights

Client retention – a tricky situation

 Client retention – a tricky situation 150 150

When costs need to be optimized, the first two things that get cut are training & consultancy. Guess how your service is treated internally for budgeting. One of my CIO clients shared the above with me as part of his views on cost-optimization – just a few months before the contract renewal! A global pandemic…

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Are salespeople becoming obsolete?

 Are salespeople becoming obsolete? 150 150

Digital self-serve is here to stay and the product/service price isn’t that much of a factor anymore. “Despite the conventional wisdom that big ticket sales require in-person contact, 20 percent of B2B buyers said they would be willing to spend more than $500,000 in a fully remote/digital sales model. And 11 percent of all B2B…

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Cold calls – everyone hates them

 Cold calls – everyone hates them 150 150

As a salesperson, what’re your thoughts about cold calling? Surely, no one loves cold calling people – right? I interviewed a number of salespeople the past couple of months in North America and I posed this question to understand what drives them. One and thankfully only one candidate said that he loves cold calling and…

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Sales – the need for change

 Sales – the need for change 150 150

How is the process of selling/business development different now compared to pre-pandemic times? Or is it the same? I spoke with a very experienced sales professional earlier this week to catch up. We had joined Microsoft in telesales at roughly the same time, ~15 years ago. One of his statements got me thinking about the…

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Selling doesn’t have to be a dirty word

 Selling doesn’t have to be a dirty word

This is the first of a short series of posts. I have a confession to make – I have probably made every mistake in the sales playbook that is to make and more. In 2017, the nature of my work changed from being a seller to a software consultant and more recently has involved buying…

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