Salesmen and Saleswomen: We Salute You

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. Part of membership involves members taking their issues to the table and discussing them with their peers. This month, one of my members raised the issue of how to get people into a selling mode with regard to their mindset.

It was concluded by the group that selling as a profession was less accepted in the UK, than say the USA. Companies would go out of their way to use language other than sales or selling, such as marketing, merchandising, distribution, product movement, or any other number of cryptic descriptions. It was concluded that in order to change the mindset, people involved in the selling process must be proud of their profession and to make this point, I am including a poem which I have long believed to be instrumental in helping people to have a greater understanding and respect for sales.

THE SALESMAN

When labour toils and factories hum,
And out plant doors the products come,
The payment for it comes from.
The Salesman.

In any business office where
White-collar workers earn their share,
They all should thank in grateful prayer,
The Salesman

When banks and institutions lend
The funds on which the firms depend
For finance, they, too, have a friend.
The Salesman

And miles of gleaming railroad track
And roads and highways there and back
Could not exist without his knack.
The Salesman

So ‘cross the land, behind each door,
Are worlds of wealth and goods galore.
They’d ne’er be there – were it not for.
The Salesman

Yes, others may salute their trade,
The contributions they have made;
But it’s for him that I’ll parade.
The Salesman

For it is sales that keeps us free,
That fuel our great democracy,
And that is why I’m proud to be.
A Salesman

This was one of the best issue sessions of the year!

Joe Adams,
Chairman, Academy Group 11

For confidentiality reasons we cannot divulge all of the advice provided by our members – however, we do hold open meetings where guests are able to attend and experience for themselves the real power of ‘The Board You Could Never Afford’®. To find out how you can take advantage of advice like this every month, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

The Art of Key Account Management

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. Part of membership involves members taking their issues to the table and discussing them with their peers.

At a recent meeting, one of the CEO members wanted to explore ideas on customer retention (having just lost a significant business customer).

The ideas generated included:

- Communication across the organisation who the the Key Accounts were;

- Appointing a “champion” for each Key Account;

- Having a thorough understanding of what is important to each Key Account.

Academy speaker, Phil Jesson (pictured, right), provides some really useful advice on building an effective key account management strategy. His top 4 tips are:

1. Find out how your customers feel about you by conducting regular key account audits. Focus these particularly on where the key account feels you are exceeding, meeting, or falling short of their expectations.
2. Become an expert in the key accounts world. Build on one piece of paper where the key account is today, where it wants to be in the future and how you can help them get there.
3. Treat key account management as a team sport. Establish different levels of contact between your organisation and their organisation.
4. Set objectives for each key account that will (a) add value; (b) improve your own business; and (c) develop relationships between your two organisations.

Free downloads on Key Account management are available from Phil’s website at www.philjesson.com.

For confidentiality reasons we cannot divulge all of the advice provided by our members – however, we do hold open meetings where guests are able to attend and experience for themselves the real power of shared experience and experiential learning alongside fellow leaders, CEOs, MDs and entrepreneurs. To find out how you can take advantage of advice like this every month, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

Negotiating Better Deals

Academy Group 5, chief executive mentoring and experiential learning group (with members from the Coventry area) worked with Jeremy Thorn recently on how to ‘negotiate better deals‘. It was a very valuable and enjoyable session – the role-play was a particularly powerful source of learning: it really drove home the power/necessity of aiming high in negotiating – and of making the first bid whenever possible. (See Jeremy’s website at www.jeremythorn.co.uk.)

The main points that we all took away to implement in our businesses were:

1. PREPARE before the negotiation (don’t just go along to “see what they have to say”.)
2. AIM HIGH – deals often end up near the mid-point between the opening positions, so a tough opening moves the mid-point your way.
3. “Never give Owt for Nowt”: always trade concessions.

An excellent session which the group really enjoyed and found very valuable. Absolutely recommended.

Peter Pritchett,
Chairman Academy Group 5

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, to find out more about the Coventry Group, or to find a local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.

 

The Psychology of Persuasion (and using it to gain sales and achieve price increases in difficult markets)

Academy Group 5, chief executive mentoring and experiential learning group (with members from the Coventry area) worked with Phil Hesketh this month to explore the difference between influence and persuasion and how to use this knowledge to improve relationships and business with key customers in the current difficult markets. (See Phil’s website at www.heskethtalking.com.)

Key take-aways were:-

1. Direct your marketing and attention towards enhancing reputation rather building brand image. Phil defined reputation as:REPUTATION = EXPERIENCE – EXPECTATION(reputation is built when customers experience of your product/service exceeds their expectations).
2. People buy from suppliers they trust – and will pay them higher prices (allow them higher margins). Phil focused on “Intellectual Trust” rather than “blind trust”, where intellectual trust is formed by customers’ real experience of your people and business:INTELLECTUAL TRUST = (HONESTY x EXPERTISE x “DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU DO”)÷ SELF INTERESTWork this out by giving a score 1-10 for each of these (10 good for all except perceived self-interest of 1 is best). Maximum score = 1,000

I’d heard Phil speaker on a previous occasion some years’ ago and I was impressed that he’d updated his material and made it especially relevant to the current economic climate.

Phil gave our CEO members lots of very practical tips on gaining sales and achieving price increases in difficult markets. All those present awarded very good feedback.

Peter Pritchett, Chairman Academy Group 5

The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates peer groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. To hear great speakers like this every month and engage in The Board You Could Never Afford®, to find out more about the Coventry Group, or to find a local group near you, visit www.chiefexecutive.com.