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27 September 2023
Selling, like sport, has its highs and its lows. When things are going well it’s the greatest job in the world – we love the feel of winning. But what happens when things don’t click for us or the market toughens and we hit a dry spell? It’s easy to lose confidence and begin
3 July 2023
In today’s changing market the ability to persuade and influence is a key part of everyone’s job. Whether you are selling, negotiating, marketing, advertising, coaching, leading, managing, speaking in public or online, you are persuading others to accept your ideas.
31 March 2023
The phrase ‘People are our most valuable asset’ is often used in workplaces, but it’s not entirely accurate. The truth is that the ‘right people’ are the most valuable asset. Therefore, excellent recruitment practices are crucial, particularly when hiring managers and salespeople
24 February 2023
The biggest complaint customers have about salespeople is that they seem to know very little about their business, and make no attempt to learn more. Conversely the highest compliment a customer can give you is, ‘You understand our business.’
11 January 2023
It is flattering to imagine that you can sell in such a way that the customer ends up asking you for the business, rather than you needing to ask them. But people rarely bite immediately on hearing a pitch – you have to ask. With the introduction of all the ‘new’ ways of selling especially
29 October 2022
How are you perceived by your target market? That’s ‘positioning’. Your most valuable asset is your reputation, it acts as a magnet for new business leads. Customers will choose you because of your reputation – that’s the real value of your brand
26 September 2022
Whether you are in sales or management, confidence is the key ingredient that will allow you to succeed. When your confidence goes up, your competence goes up. People who believe in themselves put more into the task at hand and persist longer, increasing their chance of success. Learning new sales or management skills alone is
17 August 2022
Selling has changed. Virtual sales meetings are now being used by almost everyone. Surveys confirm many buyers prefer it. But this poses the question – When everyone is selling on screen how can you stand out and differentiate yourself? What is best practice?
14 July 2022
It’s a fact of life, no one out there in your market has any interest in your products, your services, or your company. They don’t care what you offer. They really don’t. Instead people are interested in THEIR business, in solving THEIR challenges, in learning new ways THEY can operate
11 April 2022
In current B2B sales, have you ever noticed that more people tend to be involved on the buyer’s side? There are often multiple influencers, multiple blockers, and multiple helpers. No two sales are going to be the same. To minimise risk, the key thing your customer is looking for is
21 February 2022
In sales have you ever been asked for a discount or had a client pushback on price? In this video Robin Fielder, LDL Founder, shares a proven framework that will transform your approach. Next time it happens you will know exactly what to do.
10 December 2021
To succeed in sales you must really want the business. This sounds obvious, but it is much deeper than it appears. Giving your customer the impression you will go the extra mile, you really want their business can be very persuasive. Think about your own experiences. Time and again if people have gone to great
11 October 2021
People buy people first, and whatever else second. This is one of the timeless principles of selling and it hasn’t changed in today’s hybrid world. If people don’t feel they can work with you, if they don’t feel comfortable or trust you, they will usually not tell you – but they will buy from someone else.
21 June 2021
For your customer, it’s not your product that is exciting, it’s the fixing of THEIR ISSUE that makes the product exciting. If everyone has great products and services then competition shifts from who has the best product to who can best improve the customer’s operations, and that’s what you need to be thinking about. To
13 April 2021
Back in the tumultuous days of March 2020, our resident presentation skills team were wondering how to adapt the LDL Presentation Skills programme to the new remote working environment. At the time, we didn’t know if the transition to remote learning would be a temporary, or a permanent change. A year later, it seems like
24 March 2021
Top salespeople know it’s the mind game that makes or breaks them, especially in the new normal. Timothy Galway in his inner game books says, the theory of the inner game is that our performance is dependent on our state of mind, therefore the real game is to get into the right frame of mind and hold ourselves there.
18 January 2021
The great philosopher Mike Tyson famously said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. Well, Covid has been a punch in the mouth for many of us. It has made leading a team harder than ever before. How do you lead when you can’t see your people, when you have reduced incentives, constant change and many other challenges?
11 November 2020
As an experienced seller you will know how important it is to sell the difference to your customer. To succeed in a competitive market, where products and services are becoming more alike, you need to know what your differentiators are and how they benefit your customer. Often referred to as USPs, these differentiators exist in
1 July 2020
Traditional face-to-face (F2F) training has always been the default option for learning. It’s engaging, it’s interactive, and done well it’s enjoyable. But in today’s environment general unease around travel and group meetings make it less than ideal. While some may adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach, for others the solution is LIVE virtual instructor-led training (VILT).
6 November 2019
You know about ROI – return on investment, but what about ROR – return on relationship? As products and services become more and more alike your customers are no longer buying product leadership. They are buying a trusted consultant.
11 September 2019
Do you believe in the value of what you sell? If you were asked that question I’m sure you would reply very positively. The trouble is, when we are involved with the same product or service week after week, month after month, year after year, our belief tends to become sterile.
17 July 2019
Leadership is how you get the best from people. Personal leadership is how you get the best from yourself. What’s that phrase? If you can’t lead you, please don’t try and lead me.
22 May 2019
Trust is fundamental to modern selling. To be a successful salesperson in today’s market you must sell not only solutions, but advice, confidence and dependability. You must be totally reliable to deal with in every respect. That’s what becoming ‘a trusted consultant’ is all about.
19 March 2019
Selling against competition is all about selling the difference: what is so special about your product or service and what do these ‘differences’ mean to your customer? But this is relatively conventional wisdom. It poses the question – what do you do when your differentiators are elusive – when your product or service is pretty
24 January 2019
Like most salespeople, you probably started out making relatively small sales. You worked hard learning about your products or services and how to sell them. You worked on yourself and achieved significant success. But you now want to make larger sales.
12 December 2018
Most companies have a sales team. They make calls, organise meetings, speak with prospects, and aim to hit monthly targets. And most of the time, they do fine. Sufficient guidance can be provided internally, by line managers or more experienced team members.
4 October 2018
We recently published a longer than usual, but hopefully interesting blog which asked the question: ‘what is a good organisation?’ A difficult question to answer conclusively, but on the blog we used the stakeholder model to suggest that while a good organisation will inevitably mean different things to different people, an organisation that aims to
4 May 2018
When communicating with others, whether colleagues or clients, on the job, in meetings, or on the phone, we all tend to stick to our habits. But often those habits are unhelpful. Perhaps we rarely take the opportunity to speak up and give voice to our views and opinions – finding it difficult for example to
15 September 2017
Three decades of management and sales training have convinced us that there is one skill any high potential must master – become an effective presenter and speaker. Nothing, but nothing, will build your confidence more effectively.
7 July 2017
“Don’t promise what you can’t deliver”. This might be the most important principle of effective customer service. Because there is quite simply nothing more frustrating than finding out that something does not live up to your expectations. Take the recent Hollywood blockbuster La La Land for example. Now you were probably aware of all the
