1 / 19

Hot Topics 16 th March 2011

Hot Topics 16 th March 2011. Kevin O’Brien, Senior Lecturer,Sales and Marketing Jeff Dienhart , Managing Director, UK Medical Division,Hearst Corporation Beth Rogers, Principal Lecturer, Sales Management. Are creative thinkers the best sales people?.

flynn
Download Presentation

Hot Topics 16 th March 2011

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Hot Topics16th March 2011 Kevin O’Brien, Senior Lecturer,Sales and Marketing Jeff Dienhart, Managing Director, UK Medical Division,Hearst Corporation Beth Rogers, Principal Lecturer, Sales Management Are creative thinkers the best sales people?

  2. Don’t bother me with your fancy new products ………I’ve a war to fight

  3. Agenda • How do we define a best salesperson? • How do we define creativity? • Why does good selling need creative thinking skills? • How do we develop creative thinking skills?

  4. Station Break How would you describe “ a good salesperson”?

  5. Good salespeople • Short-term: • Bring in revenue • Are we concerned about discount, buyer remorse, ethics? • Long-term: • Bring in the revenue • Profitable deals • Customer satisfaction • Uphold company’s reputation

  6. Good salespeople can achieve many things if they know: Why this customer should buy (versus doing nothing)? Why should this customer buy from us versus any other supplier?

  7. Questioning Imagining Presenting

  8. Sales Strategy Hierarchy VISIONARY • Future focused • Collaborative • Relationship dependent SOLUTION-FOCUSED • Looks at root causes • 2 way dialogue • Value based TRANSACTIONAL • Client led • Competitive • Price driven

  9. The Business Relationship Development Box Rogers, 2007

  10. Station Break How would you define “creativity”?

  11. Creativity • Newness • Value • Derived from: • Past experience and learning • “Compare/contrast/analyse” or play with knowledge • Re-segment and reconnect to make something different • Application

  12. Station Break How would a good salesperson use creative thinking skills?

  13. Solving problems Competitive edge Relationship-building

  14. Who cares about salespeople’s ideas? • Purchasing decision-makers • “Knows the company better than we do” • “Comes to us with ideas we hadn’t thought of” • “Makes me look good when I take the idea forward” • But it is not always cosy • Suggesting how something can be done better is a challenge to the status quo • Colleagues? • Salespeople complain about having to do more selling internally than externally!

  15. Station Break How would you develop “creativity”?

  16. Generating creativity • Asking for it, talking about it • How is x being used? What if...? • Giving time and opportunity for ideas in meetings • Bring hobbies, sports, non-work things into problem-solving • Circulate ideas • Take an interest in failed ideas as well as successful ones • Use a researcher to find and circulate information about customers and competition • Gather comments from up and down the supply chain • Symbolic/financial reward

  17. Generating creativity • Communication • Customers, colleagues, channel partners • Content • Bounce ideas around (positive and “negative with reversal”) • Scenario planning (what if?) • Why-why maps • Working through analogies

  18. So what was the question ? • Are creative thinkers the best sales people? • It depends.

  19. Over to Jeff to explain how relevant this is in the real world!

More Related