BQF Innovation

In a downturn everyone is involved in sales.  I chaired the Successful Selling Conference in Birmingham last week and we had a fantastic line-up of speakers on sales and motivation.  The Sales Guru, Neil Rackham, who conceived the Spin method in the 1970s, was one of the presenters. He asked what are the three most common mistakes that sales people make in a recession.  His answers and a summary of his advice were:

1. Chasing too much business. Sales people tend to chase and bid for every piece of business but it is better with B to B sales to focus on the ones you can win and ignore those where your chances are slim. Qualify harder in tough times.

2. Negotiating too early in the sales cycle. Don’t start with special offers on price. Leave any price or terms negotiation until very late in the process.

3. Assuming price is the main decision criterion. In a recession safety is often the most important consideration - even though the prospect will say it is price. You must reassure the client that yours is a safe, dependable solution first.

There was plenty more great stuff including talks from Larry Winget, Marc Woods, Debra Searle, Allan Pease, Mike Southon and Tom Devine. You can see a review of the day on Modern Selling.

Paul Sloane