Selling sustainable solutions

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GAVIN COULL explains how a new approach to sales has put the environment and engineering centre stage Heavy engineering and the environment might not sound like an obvious ecological partnership, but SKF, market-leaders in machine bearings which keep the wheels of industry running, are working with customers to employ green solutions with positive results for both … Read more

Sales technology or sales training

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In today’s fast-paced business environment, many companies are making significant investments into sales productivity technology and allocating training budgets to the use of this technology. However, there is a concern this is not yielding results in terms of sales improvement, with many companies not seeing the anticipated return on investment (ROI) in sales performance. Why … Read more

Five influencing styles and how to use them effectively

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This article considers the psychology of influence and how great salespeople motivate people to act. The ability to positively influence others is an essential skill for any sales professional. It is central in guiding clients toward wise purchasing, making connections with new prospects and building stronger relationships with partners and colleagues. While influential people may … Read more

Welcome to our newly-endorsed training providers

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We are pleased to welcome several organisations as newly-endorsed providers of quality sales training. An endorsement from the Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP) means learners can have the confidence of knowing that their training has been certified by the industry’s professional body. For training organisations themselves, validation by the ISP is an important quality mark, … Read more

How good selling supports growing minds

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The Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP) is delighted to be working in partnership with Ucas, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, which has launched its own sales and marketing academy and achieved our prestigious Investor in Sales award. Ucas is an independent charity and though it is funded by application fees and by universities and … Read more

Roundtable briefing: How to focus on the best sales opportunities

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Understanding which sales opportunities to pursue, and which to drop, is a key skill for everyone in business-to-business selling, but particularly for managers who want to make sure their teams’ efforts are focused and effective. In a recent roundtable session chaired by Bob Apollo, founder of Inflexion-Point Strategy Partners, we were pleased to hear from … Read more

Salespeople, it’s time to develop your personal brand

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As salespeople, we expect our company to drive product and sales awareness for us. Justifiably so, we’re the salespeople. Our job isn’t to attract prospects but to close them. Marketing does the attraction; they do the branding; they create product and company awareness, and sales closes the deal. This functional contract has been the agreed-upon … Read more

Sales Training: The top barrier to delivering effective sales training

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59% of companies reported that: The top barrier to delivering effective sales training is salespeople not being held accountable for applying the skills they have learned. 1 Is this surprising? Probably not. In today’s world, companies view the sales force as a single entity,  to be directed and taught in a standardized way.  Training interventions are prescribed in … Read more

Sales Training: Why it often fails and how to fix it

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Companies invest massive amounts of money into sales training programs each year, yet research shows that 85-90% of this training has no lasting impact beyond 120 days. Billions of dollars are being flushed down the drain on initiatives that provide little more than a temporary bump in sales performance. When sales training falls flat, it … Read more