Latest insights

Experts rely on open-ended questions to provide expert advice. Salespeople looking to provide potential customers with expert product or service advice can use the same technique to increase trust and close deals. Among the 12 best pieces of sales advice from Team Skynamo was Alliances Director Brian Howe’s advice to ‘ask many, many, many open-ended questions’. Why is it so important for salespeople to ask (many, many, many) open-ended questions? And, why is it so difficult to ask these questions? Open-ended questions build understanding and trust Our family doctor often tells us that, ‘Good doctors are good

What is the number one piece of sales advice you’d give someone? Ever wished you received more regular advice as an inexperienced salesperson? We asked members of Skynamo’s business development team to share their best advice with readers. In 10 habits successful sales reps incorporate into their daily routines we suggested that field sales outcomes are connected to personal habits acquired over time rather than shotgun approaches. ‘The structure of the daily habits of successful salespeople matters far more than any one secret strategy. Superstar salespeople are doing little things over and over each day in order to

While most sales reps using GPS tracking apps tell of their many benefits, some remain concerned that it’s simply used as ‘policing tools’ by their managers. There’s a simple reason for this suspicion. GPS tracking apps improve the sales process Sales teams are reporting on the many benefits GPS technology bring to their performance. They tell of how it improves relationships and collaboration within the team and between reps and managers. We’ve recognised in feedback from Skynamo users that they’re enjoying similar benefits to many sport teams who embraced GPS technology. Among these benefits we see better rep

Discussions about the urgency to adapt to a mobile sales team environment is nothing new. The idea that businesses who haven’t yet adopted mobile sales solutions will look on as their competitors thrive, is a scary one. But it’s certainly not too late (or complicated) to go mobile. In the business world, the ‘going mobile’ trend started as a smart sales strategy but has now become a bare necessity. The effective use of mobile sales apps helps salespeople thrive and maintain a competitive edge. Businesses using mobile sales apps report improved productivity, a better understanding of customer needs and, very

Spending too little on business travel and not enjoying enough face-time with customers are likely to cost your business in the long run. Tightening travel budgets to cut costs isn’t an unusual reaction to ongoing economic pressures. With so many brilliant online platforms and collaboration tools available, it’s no surprise that people turn to the web and video conferencing to conduct business instead. And yet, as a recent global Harvard Business Review survey confirms, travelling to meet in person with both existing and potential customers remains essential for building and maintaining long-term relationships as

A staggering 89% of field sales reps interviewed shared that they don’t trust the data they themselves record during customer visits and process into their company’s reporting system. We uncover various reasons for this self-sabotage. How are sales reps sabotaging their own selling efforts? It’s impossible to deliver a quality service and achieve sales success if you don’t have a true understanding of your customers and what their needs are. Nearly 9 out of 10 reps interviewed in our UK sales survey believe their own reporting processes fail to deliver information that accurately portray their customers’ business

Sales teams operate according to a rhythm of gathering and scattering. Gathering to discuss things and scattering to do stuff. Herein lies the difficult challenge of managing a team to facilitate creativity and productivity. When do you gather? How often do you gather? Who gathers and who scatters? Creativity depends on the quality of the conversation Whether team gatherings are collaborative and stimulate creativity or not, depend largely on the kinds of conversations you have when you have those in-person meetings with your team. If face-to-face conversations consist simply of report backs of field activities or

Product returns can be prevented and too often have a totally unnecessary impact on your profit margins. Consider these 7 ways to reduce the number of products making their way back to your warehouses, even before you sell them. Almost 1 in 3 products bought online will be returned while a recent study suggests that 95% of these returned goods will have nothing wrong with them! Although the numbers might not be as staggering when delivering goods to existing customers, many producers and distributors face similar challenges. High rates of product returns are incredibly costly but thankfully they are also totally

Skynamo has big dreams – ones that stretch far beyond the borders of South Africa. After opening our UK office in 2017, we are now planning our move to the States so a few of us went to ‘Murica to explore how realistic our dreams are. What we discovered was both sobering and exhilarating, and quite tasty! Go Big. Or Go Home. America is big. That probably sounds a bit trite. But seriously, it’s vastness is on a scale that most South Africans can’t quite comprehend. We had a meeting with the city of Dallas Fort Worth’s chamber of commerce and found out that its GDP is three times the size of South Africa. One City in

As AI becomes a more everyday part of business, questions arise around its consequences for sales jobs. The good news is that, while the salesperson of the future will look rather different, their role will not become obsolete. The fastest growing skill on LinkedIn When 200 of LinkedIn’s Top Voices were asked about their Big Idea for 2019, one in four mentioned some application of AI as a major shaper of business structures and strategies. ‘While 2018 was the year of AI hype, it feels like we’re at an inflection point where these technologies are being incorporated into more of the tools we use every day,’ explains