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Blog Archive

Personal Branding for Entrepreneurial Executives & Salespeople

Personal BrandingJohn Smibert05 March 2016

Personal Branding for Entrepreneurial Executives & Salespeople In the modern era your digitally based Personal Brand is the fuel that powers your business fulfilment - it helps build trust and drives enduring professional success. It is difficu...

Personal Brand Development for Consultants

Personal BrandingJohn Smibert14 April 2015

  Personal Branding for Consultants In the modern era your digitally based Personal Brand is the fuel that powers your business fulfilment - it drives enduring professional success. You can't be in the marketplace successfully touting your expertis...

5 Sales Challenges Faced By B2B Startups - A case study

Articles, B2B Sales, Case Studies, Top ValueJohn Smibert03 December 2014

Startups who sell to large enterprises often find "selling" a challenge. I recently observed a classic example. A startup went from near failure to solid turnaround in less than 12 months by identifying and addressing five key sales issues. This...

Sales 101: "Give and you shall receive"

Articles, B2B SalesJohn Smibert21 July 2014

Last week a collaborator of mine suggested he had a pulpit he would sell me.            Yes - I was on my soapbox again! I despair when I see salespeople wasting their prospect's time by pushing product rather than creating value - trying to 'take...

[video] Respond to Changing Buyer Behavior (or lose business)

Articles, B2B Sales, Top ValueJohn Smibert27 April 2014

Enterprises have dramatically changed their buying practices in recent years. Have you changed your sales approach accordingly? Buying organisations are much better informed. They do not want salespeople educating them. They don't want to spend time...

Personal Branding versus Company Branding in B2B sales organisations

Articles, B2B Sales, Personal Branding, Top ValueJohn Smibert08 April 2014

Salespeople and company consultants  are building strong personal brands that help them drive sales and revenue for their company. This workshop presentation explores the value to a company of the strong and aligned personal brands of their salespeo...

Flat-lining sales? Who to blame? Sales, Marketing, (or the CEO)?

Articles, B2B Sales, Marketing, ResearchJohn Smibert05 April 2014

A recent survey of 185 organisations found that 60% had flat or reducing revenues last year. Why? And what were the 40% doing right? The survey by Peter Strohkorb Consulting examined the role of both marketing and sales and how effectively they wor...

Managing Decision Lead times in B2B Sales

Articles, B2B SalesJohn Smibert26 February 2014

What are you like at forecasting?  Sometimes a little guesswork? Too many decisions slip? Forecasting is directly related to managing your pipeline.  And managing your pipeline is all about progressing your opportunities through the pipe to the clos...

Will Better Customer Insight Lead to More Sales? If so, how do we get that insight?

Articles, B2B SalesJohn Smibert04 January 2014

We are all being told that salespeople need to gain better insight into their customers business.  We are told this insight will help a salesperson to create better value for the customer by enabling the salesperson to develop and present more focus...

SERVICE ALIGNMENT CASE STUDY

Case StudiesJohn Smibert03 November 2013

This is a case study of how one company aligned with their customer to improve the effectiveness of their services while reducing cost of service and achieving improved customer satisfaction and value. Company: The service provider and customers re...

The top 6 sales behavior misconceptions

Articles, B2B SalesJohn Smibert11 July 2013

According to Carpe Diem "Only 9% of Australasian B2B ICT sales reps display best practice". A white paper just released by Carpe Diem Consulting raises some interesting questions about the practices of salespeople. It also raises some key misconc...

Internet Trends 2013 - Mary Meeker

Articles, Innovationluqman133709 June 2013

Mary Meeker's latest Internet Trends has just been released. This is good insight and support content for many Salespeople particularly those selling in the technology and marketing space. Note the explosive growth of Mobile and Content (data and dig...

Is the B to B salesperson being disenfranchised? IBM is not alone.

Articles, B2B Sales, InnovationJohn Smibert13 May 2013

When the IBM CEO Ginni Rometty recently blamed her sales force  for missing the company's results it should ring alarm bells for salespeople. (Photo of IBM CEO from Wikipedia) It seems that the B to B salesperson is being disenfranchised. Advances ...

Best Practices at Leveraging Relationship Value

Articles, Case StudiesJohn Smibert03 May 2012

Best Practices at Leveraging Relationship Value By John Smibert   (www.custell.com) I am often asked about 'best practices' relative to leveraging relationship value. At a recent executive meeting I witnessed the outcome of the application of relati...

Strategic Client Engagement

Articles, B2B Sales, Custell, Customer RetentionJohn Smibert15 September 2011

Boosting client engagement capabilities. The Issue? Enterprise and government buyers have made significant changes in the way they buy in recent years.  And yet many companies have not yet adapted to these changes. As a result they are losing a lot ...

Saving a Customer

Case Studies, Customer RetentionJohn Smibert23 September 2010

CUSTOMER SALVAGE AND GROWTH CASE STUDY   Supplier:                                         Global ITC Services provider. Their Customer:                              UK based multi-national gas producer and retailer. Type of Business:             ...

Customer Perception Case Study

Case StudiesJohn Smibert22 September 2010

RELATIONHIP VALUE MANAGEMENT IN THE SERVICES INDUSTRY Company:                        Fujitsu Australia Limited Type of Business:                   IT Managed Services. Timeframe:                              2001 to present Issue:      "One o...

Partnering for Innovation

Articles, Innovation, Top ValueJohn Smibert21 September 2010

"Innovation is the lifeblood for sustaining business relationships" - Tony Lendrum. Tony Lendrum is a world class authority in enterprise partnering. In his book 'The Strategic Partnering Handbook he states that "Innovation is the lifeblood for susta...

Innovate! - How?

Articles, InnovationJohn Smibert21 September 2010

Many corporate marketing messages depict their company as 'Innovative'. Most don't live up to this marketing hype! Innovation for most companies is the key ingredient required to survive and grow and deliver more value to stakeholders.   And yet m...