A-B-C Sales – More A and Less C Please

There’s an old rule-of-thumb in the sales business, and it goes like this: A-Time is what you get paid to do; B-Time is preparing for A-Time, and C-Time is everything else. In Sales, the A-Time is what you want more of – being in front of customers, and the C-Time, typically administrative tasks, is what you want to decrease. Easy, right?

Except it isn’t easy at all. We want salespeople to keep good notes about their sales calls, manage opportunities through every sales stage, participate in a proposal

It’s a Buyer’s World – How Do You Live In It?

Years ago, there was a clothing store in St. Louis with the tagline “an educated consumer is our best customer.” While the story of that tagline is not important to this post, the fact is that most organizations have been caught a little flat-footed by the rise of the educated consumer. Let me explain.

• 9 out of 10 business buyers say they will find you when they are ready to buy
• Buyers get 57% of the way through the buying process before they even want to talk to you

The traditional model has Sales involved from the beginning. When the customers realized they had a problem to solve, especially one that they perceived could be solved

How One Bank Redefined Customer Experience

One of the key takeaways from the paper I mentioned yesterday is that, in the financial services industry, “multiple factors have had a negative impact on the bottom line, including low interest rates, shrinking margins, cost pressures, and increased competition, particularly from players outside the traditional financial services sphere” – and customer experience management is a key competitive differentiator.

I love the case study on Metro Bank, a UK-based institution which is “creating fans, not customers,” as it really speaks to the customer experience. It will take you less than two minutes to watch the video. While all of Metro’s ideas might not work for you, I guarantee you’ll find at least one thing that will make you say “hmmm.”

 

Customer Churn in Banking – Ugh

Who ever thought that the banking industry would be facing significant customer churn? I don’t think the bankers of the 1960’s would have predicted it, and perhaps not even the bankers of the 1980’s. You knew your banker, had a relationship with the bank – possibly for generations – and felt comfortable having all of your financial needs met by a single institution.

Now, 40% of banking customers