As you know, we build a lot of sales processes, here at Ballistix. You may not know that we build almost as many customer-service teams, inside-sales teams, pre-production teams and even small project teams (in knowledge-based environments). The work we do in these non-traditional (for us) environments is very gratifying and, often times, generates enormous […]
It seems so obvious. If that team member has a Blackberry and a company car; if they call on customers and help resolve their problems; then they must be a salesperson, right? Well, maybe not! Sure, that’s the way things have traditionally been done: the person in the field is automatically the salesperson. But, in […]
Your Director of Sales should be charged with the responsibility for maximizing sales, right? Well, maybe not! If he or she is, it might be worth reflecting on what this says about how your critical business functions are resourced. Let’s assume (for simplicity) that your business consists of just two basic functions: Sales Production Ask […]
Managers and team members alike can often be observed drawing the convenient conclusion that some recent mishap was simply a communication problem. This conclusion is convenient because, in practice, it’s an excuse to do nothing! After all, aren’t humans (being humans) prone to mis-communication? Now, if you accept that an inability to communicate is a […]
Here’s a favorite post of mine from our old Yahoo group … Philosophies collide! I was presenting a workshop in Darwin (Australia) recently when the manager of a (government-funded) organization objected that our methods focus only on the financial bottom line — and that they are not conducive with the concept of triple-bottom-line management. Now, […]
In a previous post, I poked fun at the practice of sales forecasting in major-account sales environments — referring to it as hocus-pocus with a dollar sign. The essence of my argument was that, in environments where transactions are small in frequency, but large in magnitude ($’s), the traditional approach to forecasting destroys information — […]
Yesterday was a day of firsts for me. First time in Latin America. First time presenting via a translator (it worked effortlessly). And first time I’ve tipped more than $1,000 in a restaurant! (1,000 pesos equals just $US0.50.) But there was one experience yesterday that I’m well and truly used to: the reaction of workshop […]
The emergence of cargo cults on some Pacific Islands after World War II is an amusing and oft-repeated story. The relatively primitive lifestyles of these islanders were interrupted by Japanese aircraft dropping large supplies of clothing, medicine, canned food and tents to support the Japanese war effort. Some of these supplies were shared with islanders, […]
and how to fast-track the growth of your business in the process. Over lunch, a CEO recently admitted to me that his financial controller was using his organisation’s profits to build quite a substantial commercial property portfolio. When I asked if this was best use of his organisation’s free cashflow, he smiled, “How did I […]
