Filed under: Sales effectiveness | Tags: sales intranet dashboards, social networking stats
Okay so I’m sitting here on a Friday night researching intranet sales dashboards, sad I know but in another life this is what I do sometimes. Anyway, to break the boredom I’ve stumbled [excuse the self directed pun] across a graphic-heavy stat-magic piece of statistical goodness. Who doesn’t love a stat on a Friday night and on a sales dashboard site no less? Anyway, one to file away and use on a rainy day methinks. Oh and by the way, if you’re looking for examples of sales intranet dashboards, what a whopper I have for you, follow your nose here
And for those of us who just want the headline >
- 30 billion pieces of content will be shared on Facebook each month (Yes, that’s a lot of dashboard screenshots!)
- Tumblr will take over as the second most visited social network (I better start tweeting!)
- Books are the number one item that people intend to buy online in the near future, reaching 44% of all online shopping (I want a Kindle!)
- 3000 photos will be uploaded to Flickr every minute (now that’s quite a data storage issue!)
- More than 51% of internet users will suffer from ‘e-anxiety’ if they are unable to check their emails or Facebook page (Excuse me while I check my text messages!)
Filed under: Sales effectiveness | Tags: Dan Pink, motivation, Sales effectiveness
I was just watching this Dan Pink clip on TED (for those of you who don’t watch TED get thee to the site immediately) and he talks about how to motivate people, namely staff. His theory is that traditional notions of management are great if you want compliance but if you want engagement, self direction is better. Pink’s proposition is that autonomy, mastery and purpose are the new building blocks of an entirely new way of thinking about staff for the 21st century. It’s not about beating people with a bigger stick, it’s about tapping into our desire to do things because we like them, because they’re interesting, because they matter, because we’re part of something bigger.
Autonomy – because we all want to feel like we are in charge (to some extent) of our own destiny. The urge to direct our own lives.
Mastery – The desire to get better and better at something that matters.
Purpose – The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.
Filed under: Sales effectiveness
A great little ditty from Paul Sparks at Sales Effectiveness that I thought I’d share with you:
As salespeople, we often hear that we need to be passionate about our products to sell them effectively. And this is probably true.
But what does passion look like, and how do we display it?
This video is an example of what passion in business and life looks like. John Nese is the owner of Galco’s Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles. His shop carries over 400 types of soda and soft drink.
Is he passionate – yes.
Is he obsessive – it seems that way.
The video raises many questions we can ask about ourselves and how we “sell” to people with passion. Have a look – and then challenge yourself to ask some questions about what you’re doing to pursue your passion – and how, as a salesperson, do you connect with your clients’ passions.
Life’s short. Too short, to quote Wayne Bennett (the coach of the St George Rugby league team), to die with the music still in you. But we also need to be realistic about pursuing passion to make sure we’re not just tilting at windmills.
Here are some questions about passion and selling to get you going.
At a personal level:
- Do you have a passion that dominates your thoughts and your life?
- Does your work help you maintain and build your passion?
- Is it a stepping stone to a role which will align with your passions? Why – or why not?
- If you don’t think you’re a passionate person – that’s cool – perhaps it’s not an essential element of life. But have you reflected on your ultimate goals – what do you want to make sure you’ve achieved in your time on planet earth?
Most of us, when we really think about it, have something which drives our life.
OK – so you’re passionate about some things – to some degree at least. Now consider you current sales role:
- Do you connect with the passion of your clients and prospects?
- Does your work – and the opportunity to help your customers – add to the joy of your life?
- Or would your passion be better channelled elsewhere?
We all want to be with others who genuinely share our interests and dreams.
It doesn’t matter what you sell – you need to at least be passionate about what your products do for your customers. Even if your industry or products are boring – so what. If what you sell helps your customers achieve their goals, you’re on a winner.
If you have a passion to see your customers get what they need, you’ll succeed in sales. You’ll also be on a road to see your own dreams and passions be realised.
