LEADERSHIP

Ruth has 25 years working within the software industry focusing on high value and complex sales. Consistently overachieving throughout her career she has taken personal success and worked with sales teams globally to replicate this through sales transformation. Ruth’s passion for ensuring sales organisations are delivering consistently and optimally is at the heart of her work. Summarising some of her key findings during her career, Ruth shared.

• Insight Selling: “the first time I sat in a Challenger session I realised I could put labels and names on the way I have always worked – it was great. It still surprises me the level of resistance within sales and sales management to adopt the approach when data and logic overwhelmingly support it. I love seeing the lightbulb moment and for everyone the journey is slightly different. And the question I would ask sales leadership is do they have supportable evidence that the approach is being used consistently and well.”
• Sales Transformation: “sales transformation is tough! Sales executives and management need to drive results, this is their priority. Finding and dedicating time to sales transformation is challenging and can lead to investment that does not deliver the expected results. Too many organisations start and stop with training and workshops. Driving and changing sales behaviour requires more than this. Stop investing in training alone and look at how you make it stick!”
• Sales Effectiveness: “what is your true cost of sale? Not your head count or campaign cost but the opportunity cost. It is much easier to sell by discounting than by getting creative and for many this is the default. Are your team running sales cycles that protect the quality of the deal? Simple maths says if you discount by 30% you have to do 3 deals rather than 1. Is discounting the first or last strategy your team deploys? Is your team operating at peak effectiveness?