Jonathan Farrington

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

In a survey of more than one and a half thousand managers, people were asked what they would most like to see in their leaders. The most popular answer, mentioned […].

Survey 28

Survey Trends Sales Leadership Sales 28

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 21, 2019

From quite early on, in our sales careers, we are encouraged to explore every sales opportunity that presents itself – in fact, in some companies, they are brainwashed into believing that […].

Opportunity 28

Opportunity Company Sales 28

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 7, 2019

Pipeline Reviews: Asking tough questions to close more business Sales, professionals need to be objective about every aspect of what comprises their pipeline. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! Far too often, […].

Sales Management 33

Sales Management Pipeline Objections Closing 33

Jonathan Farrington

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

If we start from a position of agreeing that as human beings we are all different, then we must also concur that all prospects/customers/clients are also different: In terms of […].

Positioning 35

Positioning Prospecting Customer Sales Process 35

Jonathan Farrington

AUGUST 20, 2019

I believe that the traditional customer call once seemed indispensable to the selling process – the time and expense involved were just a basic cost of doing business. In recent […].

Customer 45

Customer Sales Customer Service Trends 45

Jonathan Farrington

JULY 23, 2019

“The Less I See Of What’s His Name? The More I Forget Him.” Failing to focus salespeople’s activity reduces efficiency and consequently reduces results, because there isn’t a salesperson alive […].

Sales Management 44

Sales Management Sales 44

Jonathan Farrington

JULY 15, 2019

The dichotomy facing sales leaders is how they reconcile the fact that most corporations today provide less upfront training for their sales staff than in years past, yet attach increasing […].

Training 33

Training Marketing Sales Sales Leadership 33

Jonathan Farrington

JUNE 25, 2019

Let me begin today’s post by saying that in my opinion, the perfect leader has yet to be born – and I have studied most of the significant leaders in […].

Report 34

Report Study Sales Leadership Sales 34

Jonathan Farrington

JUNE 10, 2019

You have to sell and prove yourself first before you can hope to develop a relationship… Leading with the notion that you can build any sort of relationship from the […].

Proposal 25

Proposal Leads Marketing Qualified Lead 25

Jonathan Farrington

MAY 20, 2019

Short answer? Of course, and here is why … In my view, the role of a sales manager is to translate the organization’s vision, mission and values into a meaningful context […].

Sales Management 35

Sales Management Course Sales Sales Leadership 35

Jonathan Farrington

MAY 6, 2019

In his book Fundamentals of Selling, Charles Futrell identifies careful use of selling time as perhaps the distinguishing characteristic of the successful salesperson. Frequently, there are two main pitfalls that […].

How To 39

How To Sales Sales Leadership Strategy 39

Jonathan Farrington

APRIL 17, 2019

It would be very easy to be seduced into believing that in today’s selling environment the need to rigorously qualify every opportunity at the front end of the sales/buying cycle […].

Buying Cycle 39

Buying Cycle Opportunity Sales 39

Jonathan Farrington

APRIL 1, 2019

I have read extensively on the lives, characteristics and leadership styles of all the great leaders, including Alexander the Great, Montgomery, Elizabeth 1st, Churchill, Ghandi, Mandella, Luther-King et al (the […].

Sales Leadership 45

Sales Leadership Sales 45

Jonathan Farrington

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

This is a question that I am asked so often, and my response is always the same… I describe the “Running Away” personality and the “Running Towards” personality. The running away person is awoken by their alarm clock and they immediately hit the snooze button. Ten minutes later, the buzzer goes off again. “Just ten more […].

Sales 20

Sales 20

Jonathan Farrington

AUGUST 10, 2016

Use of “Pareto Thinking” is highly relevant and important when applied to sales people. For example, 20% of a sales person’s activities will create 80% of sales achieved, which has enormous consequences on how to optimize and manage lead generation activities. Generating leads is of course, an important sales activity that plants the seeds of […].

Lead Generation 20

Lead Generation Leads Marketing Qualified Lead Course 20

Jonathan Farrington

AUGUST 2, 2016

Unlike most other professions, there are no qualifications required to become a professional salesman or woman: I find that very disappointing, and I am also deeply concerned that even the super-rich corporations who used to put their latest intakes on a solid two year program before letting them loose on an unsuspecting audience, now believe […].

Trends 20

Trends Sales Leadership Sales 20

Jonathan Farrington

JULY 5, 2016

One of the key tasks of a sales manager is to continually seek ways to improve the manner in which their team operates – constantly challenging paradigms and questioning “the way we do things around here”, will ensure the team remains at optimum performance levels. However, it is also important to stay within an overall […].

Sales Management 28

Sales Management Sales 28

Jonathan Farrington

JUNE 28, 2016

It is a fact that we as managers should accept – our people perform better when they feel positive about their job. In my view, we absolutely must: Recognize that active motivation is necessary Resolve to spend regular time on it Not chase after magic formulae that will make it easy (there are none) Give […].

Motivation 29

Motivation Positioning Sales Leadership Sales Management 29

Jonathan Farrington

APRIL 27, 2015

The ink is barely dry on the contract; everyone is satisfied that they have a good deal – “win-win.” In fact, you have already mentally spent the commission, and now you are salivating at the thought of the next big kill. These guys are happy, and if they need anything else, they’ll call you. They are in the bag, you can relax, they are now your client for life.

Closing 20

Closing Harvest Commission Call-back 20

Jonathan Farrington

APRIL 14, 2015

'Every successful sale is made not so much because of the excellence of your product or of your sales pitch, but because consciously or unconsciously you have found the human reason why your prospect should buy: You have found the door to their motivation and have opened it. The more you understand the function of human motivation, the more successfully you will sell.

Buyer 20

Buyer Motivation Maximizer Influencer 20

Jonathan Farrington

MARCH 31, 2015

'During one of my senior management coaching sessions last week, I posed the question: “ So just what is it that makes a company successful?” ?. I had the group whiteboard the exercise and brainstorm around it with some interesting results. For example: Unsurprisingly, the finance orientated managers talked about healthy cash flow; strong financial foundations; low debtor days; controlled stock levels and robust management reporting systems.

Loyalty 20

Loyalty Exercises Report Trends 20

Jonathan Farrington

MARCH 23, 2015

'Eight years ago I wrote this article … “ Far too many companies have devalued selling for far too long and some business leaders have even convinced themselves that they would do better if they did not employ salespeople – after all good products sell themselves, don’t they? As a consequence, until very recently, salespeople have done everything possible to avoid calling themselves “ Salesman or a Saleswoman” They have developed a series of euphemisms such as: “Sales Engineer”

Marketing 20

Marketing Lead Rank Lead Scoring Engineering 20

Jonathan Farrington

MARCH 16, 2015

'I have been thinking a lot about this recently – the differences between so called “specialists” and the alternative, which must logically be “generalists” It is easy to imagine what a specialist is; someone who is perceived to be if not an expert, then certainly someone who is focused; has chosen to focus on one specific area, thing, sector, topic, subject … you see what I mean.

Course 20

Course Lead Generation Social Media Cold Calling 20

Jonathan Farrington

MARCH 10, 2015

'It’s interesting that we regularly read articles or comments about high levels of staff turnover, but it is very rare to discover any commentary about customer turnover – it is almost as if it is a taboo subject; that there is shame attached to it, an embarrassment. Why? I suppose it is an admission of failure. The fact remains that most companies do not face up – or do not want to face up – to the potentially high cost of losing customers, and in most instances prefer t

Customer 20

Customer Face-to-face Lead Nurturing Comparison 20

Jonathan Farrington

JANUARY 13, 2015

'Becoming a Top 5% sales performer requires significant changes in your “world view” – how you think about yourself, and how you think about your relationships with key stakeholders. You are faced with new ways of thinking, many of which directly challenge what you have been taught and believe. When faced with significant innovations in thinking, we tend initially to find ourselves in one of the following three characterizations: The “Authoritative Critic”?.

Face-to-face 20

Face-to-face Motivation Intent Sales 20

Jonathan Farrington

DECEMBER 15, 2014

'Far too frequently, competent salespeople are expected to channel their own activities into the areas that will produce the quickest wins. Unfortunately, left to their own devices, they don’t develop and pursue a formal strategy for moving a sale tangibly forward during each prospect interaction, neither do they have a clearly defined set of goals against which to measure the progress they are making.

Sales Process 49

Sales Process Margin Quota ACT 49

Jonathan Farrington

DECEMBER 8, 2014

'From quite early on in our sales careers, we are encouraged to explore every sale opportunity that presents itself. In fact, in some companies, the sales teams are “brainwashed” into believing that “all business is good business.” And of course, we do not challenge this fallacy, simply because we don’t know any better – we are on the first rung of the ladder… We are anxious to make our mark, get “runs on the board” and impress our manager – even o

Epiphany 47

Epiphany Decision Maker Pipeline Buying Cycle 47

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 23, 2014

'The very best consultative sales professionals operate exclusively in “me only territory” and that demands an explanation, so let’s begin by examining the traditional sales environment. For the sake of this exercise, let’s use a baseball park (not that I know too much about baseball) So traditional salesmen and women are operating left field; they are usually totally focused on a single sales event, and they sell products.

Territories 39

Territories ROI Penetration Decision Maker 39

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 22, 2014

'Use of “Pareto Thinking” is highly relevant and important when applied to sales people. For example, 20% of a sales person’s activities will create 80% of sales achieved, which has enormous consequences on how to optimize and manage lead generation activities. Generating leads is of course, an important sales activity that plants the seeds of growth for sustainable business development.

Lead Generation 42

Lead Generation Ideal Customer Profile Sales Qualified Lead Leads 42

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 21, 2014

'One of the most obvious reasons you should be building brick walls around your existing clients, is to reduce the impact of aggressive competitor activity: Whilst you are off flirting with seemingly more attractive and exciting new opportunities, your competitors will be targeting your “home base”?. The motivation to do this should be strong. Whilst this has almost become a cliché, it is a harsh reality – it now costs fifteen times, yes, that’s what I said , fifteen times – as much to lo

Customer 39

Customer Face-to-face Margin Commission 39

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 9, 2014

'I have never contemplated the fact that I might be even slightly voyeuristic, but now I am not so sure. You see, for the past month, from the comfort of my study, I have sporadically been witnessing the exploits of a very resilient pigeon, who I have affectionately named “Percy” – and yes, my choice of name may have a deeper Freudian meaning, after all wasn’t it Freud who said “ Anatomy is destiny?

Follow-up 44

Follow-up Survey Call-back Up-Sell 44

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 8, 2014

'I used to be indecisive – now I am less certain! Disclosure: I really struggle with “ditherers” Life is far too short. Prudence? Yes. Due diligence? Of course. But in business if you want to distinguish yourself from the average, you have to trust your judgment – absolutely have to. While some decisions are easy (what to eat for supper) many more are extremely hard.

Scale 39

Scale Objections Course Resources 39

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 6, 2014

'It is essential that all frontline sales professionals fully understand both the value and importance of rigorous objective qualification, not just at the front end but right the way through the sales cycle. Qualification is a process not a single event and everyone should be fully skilled in asking a small number of basic questions regarding precise requirements, time scales, budget, competition etc. before they are prepared to reveal their price and delivery.

Buying Cycle 39

Buying Cycle Scale Face-to-face Sales Cycle 39

Jonathan Farrington

OCTOBER 5, 2014

'As you can imagine, I am often asked by sales leaders anxious to recruit the best salespeople they can afford, just what is it that makes a consistently top performer; what are their characteristics, where are their strengths, and what differentiates them? Over the past twenty-five years I have trained and developed more than one hundred thousand sales professionals from foundation right up to “master craftsman” level and this has given me the opportunity to formulate an accurate profile of a T

Top of Funnel 50

Top of Funnel Penetration Decision Maker Cold Calling 50

Jonathan Farrington

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

'What do you do when you need time to reflect; to ponder; to plan; to renew the saw? Yes, me too. It’s time to hang out the “Gone Fishin” sign for a month. I hope you will use this time wisely, and get yourselves across to Top Sales World as often as you are able. This sales hypermarket has shelves stacked with every conceivable resource you can imagine plus a superb weekly magazine – and it is all free.

Resources 36

Resources Sales 36

Jonathan Farrington

AUGUST 29, 2014

'I am often asked just what it is that makes a highly successful and effective sales team – what differentiates them from an average one? Actually, the answer is simpler than you might imagine – all roads lead back to the leader! The role of a sales leader is to translate the organisation’s vision, mission and values into a meaningful context that sales teams can relate to and feel excited by.

Lead Rank 45

Lead Rank Policies Lead Scoring Promotion 45

Jonathan Farrington

AUGUST 17, 2014

'As I have said on numerous occasions, sales success today demands a radical shift from the “peddler” mentality of merely demonstrating products and expanding on their features. It requires treating the customer as a participant. More often than not, a “flashy” sales presentation alone alienates rather than persuades. The best salespeople regard the sales call as a two-way conversation – not a one sided pitch.

ACT 51

ACT Buyer Face-to-face Social Media 51