Blogs & Articles

As a sales manager or salesperson you already know that the phone is a valuable tool for reaching out to potential customers, establishing new sales with existing customers and generally generating more business. Once you've mastered the basics and can confidently handle inbound and outbound sales calls, there's always room for improvement and the opportunity to learn enhanced techniques that can bring you even greater telephone sales success.

Sales territory management: what's that all about then? Territory management involves logically ordering and prioritising a business's prospects and clients in such a way that salespeople can maximise sales opportunities by devoting an appropriate amount of time and effort to their communications and sales activities with each client.

The ability to quickly establish a rapport with people, whether you're a new manger seeking to build relationships with your peers and team or a salesperson wishing to bond with a potential customer, is an invaluable skill in business.

The admonition to "mind your language" is just as applicable to non-verbal communication as it is to the spoken word. All too often, regardless of the impression we believe we're presenting, to others, our body language may be telling a different story.

Make no mistake if you're making the transition from team member to manager, everything is about to change. And that includes the way in which you conduct yourself and behave in the presence of others in the workplace.

If, as a business leader or sales manager, you've ever looked at your workload and thought 'there just aren't enough hours in the day' the chances are that you may not be managing your time as effectively as you could be. The modern work environment is invariably fast-paced and busy and an inability to manage time properly can result in stress, lowered morale and a decline in productivity.

The blanket term 'lone worker' covers a multitude of different employment scenarios; lone workers are not merely self-employed people who work from home. In fact businesses of all sizes may employ staff who fit the definition of lone workers, from the salesperson on the road and travelling alone to the single security guard who protects business premises overnight.

Conducting a SWOT analysis of your business is a practical means of obtaining baseline information regarding the factors both internal and external which may either hinder or facilitate prosperity. The beauty of SWOT as an analytical tool is that it is very simple in concept and use, yet provides extremely valuable insights which can be used as the basis for a robust business strategy.

Stress in the workplace can affect anyone - whether you're a manager, salesperson or team member. Any number of circumstances can contribute to the creation of stress in the workplace: business change, increased workloads, unfamiliarity with a new job or environment, conflict between teams or employees, performance issues, the list goes on.

Just as there are two sides to every story, so there are two parties to every sales negotiation: the seller and the buyer. There are seemingly countless techniques and strategies that can be deployed by the salesperson in order to strike a deal and close a sale, but what about the buyer?

No salesperson worth their salt wants to miss an opportunity to increase the revenue from a sale. Upselling is an invaluable technique whereby the salesperson invites the customer to buy further items which enhance or are closely associated with the initial purchase.