In this edition of the Aforza Insights Podcast, Dominic Dinardo hosts longterm colleague and board member Lindsey Armstrong, and talks about how today’s buying environment is changing the way we sell.
Lindsey is a highly successful business leader with an extensive background in law, hardware & software sales and the start-up environment. She has held senior sales strategy and executive leadership roles in organisations such as Oracle, Veritas, Symantec, Salesforce, XANT and Bluewolf. Having built high-growth engines in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as Japan and Latin America, she has a wealth of experience on this topic.
In this latest episode, Dominic and Lindsey reflect on the selling environment and just how much has changed. Buyers are now more informed than ever before. They are often 70% through their buying process before they even engaged with a sales rep. They demand personalised, consultative selling experiences that align with their unique needs and preferences. As Lindsey shares “Buying is changing the way we sell”.
But with all of this change, one thing remains consistent, and that is the need to build strong, trusted relationships with your customers and truly understand their pains. By building strong relationships with customers and focusing on their success, companies can not only weather the storm but also thrive and grow stronger. As Lindsey shares, “Our existing customers will carry us through these tough times, not necessarily the new customer.”
Alongside all of this change, Lindsey draws out the one consistent factor that makes sales such a brilliant profession, and that is its simple measure of success. Performance is easily charted; you either sell or you don’t. It’s very binary, but there are some secrets to success!
Lindsey then turns the questions to Dominic and they discuss the pains Aforza is addressing for its customers. With a Margin Emergency in the Consumer Goods industry, no sector has been hit harder than CPG manufacturers and distributors with increased costs, supply chain challenges and retailers who do not tolerate pass-through.
Working with these manufacturers and distributors around the world, Aforza is helping them to address their challenges of margin erosion, missed revenue opportunities and ineffective trade spend. It’s all we think about.
As Dominic shares, we have a webinar on March 23rd where we will focus on addressing these challenges and how to accelerate margin control. You can sign up here.