One of the things that I do every working day is to drive from my home to work and back, which is about 130 kilometers in total. As you can tell, I spend a lot of time in my car, so to make this time well-spend, I frequently listen to audiobooks and podcasts. I’m currently listening to The Culture Code, a book that was written by Marketing guru Clotaire Rapaille, in which, among others, the notion of the cultural unconscious of consumers is discussed.
Read more: The Cultural Unconscious – How Nestlé Managed to Sell Coffee to Japan
During the past years, there has been a growing discussion about how technology has been affecting the Sales profession, a discussion that has intensified recently, with the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence that already has been affecting many aspects of our lives. One of the main questions that has arisen is whether Legacy (Traditional) Sales models still have a place in today’s Sales environment.
Read more: Do Legacy Sales Models Still Have a Place in Today’s Sales Environment?
In the fast-paced and high-pressure world of Sales, team leaders and managers often face the temptation to micromanage as targets are ambitious, competition is fierce, and the stakes are high. In essence, micromanagement is to control every part, however small, and in practice typically involves close supervision, requiring insight into every step of a work process, limited autonomy for team members, not delegating tasks and taking over a project, if it’s not being done the “right” way. As a natural consequence, most of the time, micromanagers end up doing everything themselves.
When back in 1972 visionary George P. Mitchell introduced the concept of Sustainable Development, it is questionable if someone could foresee the global impact that this term would have nearly five decades later. According to Britannica.com, Sustainability is understood as a form of intergenerational ethics in which the environmental and economic actions taken by present people do not diminish the opportunities of future generations to enjoy similar levels of wealth, utility, or welfare.
“Sell me this pen!” If you are into the Sales profession, most probably, someone would have asked you this question either in a job interview or in a Sales training session. This question is meant to test someone’s ability to sell a product, even a simple one like a pen, evaluating his/her sales technique, creativity and confidence to make a sales pitch. Moreover, it is aimed to assess how well the responder can problem-solve on the spot, as he/she must articulate his/her thoughts and present an argument quickly and concisely, simulating the real Sales world where objections and questions come up frequently.
Read more: How to Sell a Pen to Someone that is not Using a Pen