Talk Selling

CEO John Chambers sees CISCO as plumbers

"you make a lot of money doing plumbing on the Internet" says CISCO CEO John Chambers in an interview with McKinsey... BUT he also sees that significant change is needed to thrive in a Web 2.0 world- change both in himself and his company. He has already moved CISCO from a company led by ten people in a command and control style to a much more social structure with 500 leaders at the top.

Just like the 50 cent approach in the previous article John Chambers sees the need for a radical shift in the way companies operate in a Web 2.0 world. A shift away from command and control and a shift away from what we are comfortable with. Whichever way you look there seems to be a qualitative push for change that may well only accelerate because of the recession.

read the Mckinsey interview here

50 cent Hip Hop Rapper meets Machiavelli in the 50th law

Both Chris and I have been a huge fan of author Robert Greene who has written best selling titles 48 laws of Power, Art of Seduction and 33 strategies of war. All of these books are based on history and the changes that have caused leaders to win or lose wars/battles. Going out and leading sales business campaigns on a daily basis is what we endure. If we were to apply the material and principles we would dramatically increase our Win Ratio. I would suggest you read all three of these books as they are insightful into proven ways you can WIN.

The Hood culture in the US of working the streets with realism have been inspired by 48 laws of power and this is what caused ex dealer world famous 50 cent to contact Robert Greene to jointly write the 50th Law.  What’s the following got to do with me sitting in my nice corporate office, about to do a bid review for quarter end numbers?

Overcoming common presentation mistakes

In this video Dave takes us through nine of the common mistakes that he sees when coaching bid teams to win. The mistakes he sees are

Buyers guide to sellers Episode 3: Winning presentations that "Achieve Yes"

In this interview Barry takes us through how to present to win. Some of the topics he covers are:-

A truly poor presentation

See the presentation below that we found on YouTube for a great illustration of the things that Dave talks about in his article on improving your presenting.

Presentation resources – Garr Reynolds goes beyond bullet points

Theory and practice is constantly progressing in the world of presentations. We are connected to some of the world’s leading practitioners in this area and in this article I’d like to bring three of them to your attention.  I’m not going to go into the detail of how because the books speak for themselves but reading and applying any one of them will take your presentations to the next level.

Presenting information is only part of the story

If I offered you the chance to sit through a presentation from the Finance Director or the Chairman from a FTSE 100 company which would you instinctively prefer? When we apply our Achieving Yes approach to improving presentations a very common issue is that there is not much story and not much emotion. Yet stories and the emotions that go with them are part of the fundamental way that the human psyche understands and evaluates messages.

We distinguish four different styles of presentation that, when combined together correctly, significantly increase the chances of your audience taking the action you want. The four styles come from two ways of dealing with information and two ways of working with emotion.

PowerPoint anniversary slips under the Windows 7 hype

It seems to me that the last few months from the marketing behemoth that is Microsoft has been all about the birth of Windows 7. Yet do any of you remember 35mm slide carousels? Or maybe you still have an aging OHP sat at the back of some of your meeting rooms?  Twenty five years ago PowerPoint was launched running only on Apple Mac by a company called Forethought. A quote from the New York Times when Microsoft bought the company back in 1987  said:

Using Cialdini - Influence your sales results

Last week I wrote about Steven Covey and the seven habits(now with an 8th habit) that can help with selling. I put the book into our favourites list below and saw another great book that we like which is  by Robert Cialdini called influence (see herefor a review). I wondered what he was doing currently and found out that he has just recently retired so to celebrate Cialdinis work here are some thoughts about how to apply his main principles of influence specifically to selling.

Steven Covey 7 habits meets LinkedIn?

In his book, The 8th Habit—From Effectiveness to Greatness, Steven Covey wrote about some major shifts that have created a rapidly changing world. He said they define the Knowledge Worker Age and present new challenges that confront individuals and companies world wide.

One such shift is the use of web sites like LinkedIn that harness the power of networks and the idea of everyone being within six steps of everyone else. The 7 habits prescribe a way of working individually and with others but the 8th habit says that the key challenge facing the world today is to find our voice and also to help others to find their voice too. Here is a key excerpt from Covey: