competitive advantage Archives

The secret life of revenue within industrial organizations (and why salespeople don’t generate it)

I’m not joking. The following is precisely how most executives within industrial organizations conceptualize revenue. Q. Where does revenue come from? A. From salespeople. Q. How do salespeople generate revenue? A. Um. From relationships. This conception of revenue is not even vaguely correct. And, unfortunately, this fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of revenue leads to… “The secret life of revenue within industrial organizations (and why salespeople don’t generate it)”

Achieving Success in Industrial Sales: Liberating Salespeople from Production Challenges

The Holy Grail of technical sales: how to disentangle salespeople from production Whenever we work in a technical-sales environment, this – bar none – is the most valuable idea we bring to the table. Here’s the most obvious symptom of the problem: When salespeople make a technical sale, they inevitably become entangled with production. Their… “Achieving Success in Industrial Sales: Liberating Salespeople from Production Challenges”

The importance of ‘getting religion’

How to develop an ideology-based business marketing strategy. So you think you’re going to publish a newsletter? Hey, that’s not a bad idea! If you make it an e-mail newsletter — like the one you’re reading now — it’s a particularly cost effective exercise. Your distribution costs are nil. Your publishing costs are equivalent only… “The importance of ‘getting religion’”

Is customer service overrated?

I’m sure you’ve attended one of those seminars where a self-proclaimed expert wows the audience with his or her tales of ‘awesome customer service’. Have you ever wondered whether the long-term success of a business really does rest in the hands of grinning bellhops, airline stewards who forward-guess your every need, and receptionists who answer… “Is customer service overrated?”

Go ahead. Compete on price!

A message for those business people who insist on competing on price: go ahead! That’s right. If you have a cost advantage, flaunt it. Cut your prices, build marketshare, consolidate that cost advantage and annihilate your competitors. So what’s the catch? Well, to successfully compete on price, you need to be able to manufacture, market… “Go ahead. Compete on price!”

You guys took a good business and you transformed it into an absolutely outstanding one

Gavin Ross is one of those special people who seems never to be short of energy. Today, however, he is particularly animated. He’s relating the story of how, with the assistance of Justin Roff-Marsh Advertising (now Ballistix), he has shifted his business’s growth into overdrive. “Consider this,” he says – in an effort to justify… “You guys took a good business and you transformed it into an absolutely outstanding one”

How a second-hand promotional strategy helped a Sydney gym owner acquire 34 new members in a single week!

America Online and Body Express. At a glance, they mightn’t appear to have a lot in common. America Online (AOL) is the Internet service provider that recently acquired Time Warner – the world’s biggest media company – in a $US165 billion deal. And Body Express is a boutique gymnasium, in Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Look behind… “How a second-hand promotional strategy helped a Sydney gym owner acquire 34 new members in a single week!”

The wild man of pharmaceuticals and his even wilder ride to riches!

It’s highly unlikely that any pharmaceutical company would give Peter Nicolas a job! He rarely gets out of bed before 11:00 a.m. He seldom visits his office — and when he does, his only brush with any activity that even resembles work is a noisy tour of his troops, exchanging high-fives and boasting of market… “The wild man of pharmaceuticals and his even wilder ride to riches!”

How the Hudson Institute turned its hyper-efficient sales process into a sustainable competitive advantage

"Incredulous. "Yep, that’s the best word for it", concedes Phil McGann. Phil is struggling to describe the reaction of fellow financial planners when he explains how things work at the Hudson Institute. "When they find out that our financial planners perform 8-9 consultations a day … that these consultations are all conducted over the telephone… “How the Hudson Institute turned its hyper-efficient sales process into a sustainable competitive advantage”

On pushing string uphill

From time to time, I come across managers who battle valiantly and unflinchingly to accomplish what appears to be downright impossible. To their credit, these noble individuals manage to notch up occasional successes! I even see entire businesses that owe their existence to the belief that, with enough passion, determination and brute force, miracles can… “On pushing string uphill”

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