Monthly Sales Insights: July 2019

Last month, we debuted Monthly Sales Insights – an assortment of compelling, ground-breaking, or just plain interesting sales research and thought leadership pieces. This month, we continue our series. Because however much you know, there’s always more to learn!

No Apple Presenter Speaks for Longer Than 10 Minutes, and the Reason Is Backed by Neuroscience – Inc.com

A fascinating article that points out neuroscientific research supports the idea that after 10 minutes, an audience’s attention wanders during a presentation. There’s also a deep dive into the breakdown of Apple’s presentation at the Apple Event in September last year and how it precisely sticks to those guidelines. In addition, Inc.com’s article provides a few suggestions for how to incorporate the concept in your own sales presentations.

A More Humane Approach to Firing People – Harvard Business Review

Former Investopedia CEO and current Columbia University adjunct professor David Siegel outlines a compelling argument for what he terms “transparent separation”, or letting employees who will be terminated know that they’re going to be let go before the actual severance date. While we ourselves are not offering an opinion on the matter, it’s a human management strategy that’s worth mulling over and considering adding as a possible approach to the worst part of sales management.

Millennials are buying your values, not your products – The National

This article, published just this month in the Middle East’s leading English-language news service, adds another thread to the discussion of how to approach millennial buyers. The piece sets out the case that millennials, more than any other generation, are buying based on companies’ values aligning with their own. Consequently, argues Manar Al Hinai, businesses should put more focus and emphasis on establishing and communicating the company’s values if they want to connect with millennials and Gen Z. While this might not apply to every industry or business situation, we believe it’s a factor for many to take into consideration when planning their sales and marketing strategies.

4 Sales Trends That You Need To Know About In 2019 – Forbes

While focusing on the present is of course important to sales, it’s also critical to focus on the future. And that’s what this Forbes article looks at – including the advent of Gen Z in the buying market (the oldest are now in their 20s), the need for a formal sales enablement strategy, leveraging artificial intelligence in smart ways, and creating an omnichannel strategy. The article also provides suggestions for how to implement each of these areas in the quest to be forward-looking.