In The News

David Sables, CEO, and the Sentinel Team appear regularly on and in various media, commentating and giving insight on industry issues. David is a regular columnist within ‘the Grocer’ magazine, as well as being a contributor to Forbes.

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I'm often asked what makes a good salesperson. It's obvious, isn't it? Great salespeople are likeable, respectable, not up themselves, positive, persistent, skilled communicators, great with facts, persuasive with figures and ambitious team players. Plus, you need an element of dynamism and cynicism. Shall I continue? They are tough but caring, flexible but strong, and it helps if they have good product with relevant short-term proposals and a long-term plan... Read More

From time to time, I see it as my duty to dismantle some of the old myths of selling. How about this one: ‘ABC — Always Be Closing’. What on earth does that mean? Don’t buy it. This is an Abstract Bleedin’ Cliché, and At Best Codswallop. If you check online you will find 50 types of closing techniques, all of which reek of pressure sales. This is not banking... Read More

How to sell? Well, that rather depends : on what you are selling. There’s the ‘technical sell’ in engineering, the ‘pity sell’ if you are door-to-door, the ‘pressure sell’ for double glazing or, of course, the ‘mis-sell’ if you’re in banking! In grocery we generally have suppliers wondering why they struggle to get the ‘visionary relationship sell’ instead of their workaday ‘transactional sell’. Suppliers see their inability to maintain a... Read More

Read these words: footfall, basket spend, purchase frequency, cash cycle, margin mix, promotional mix, shelf productivity, stock investment, stock cover, waste reduction, mark-downs. Feeling a bit nauseous? Don’t assume the only way to motivate your customer is by conceding margin and paying fees. The buyer’s commercial motivation is driven by all these business fundamentals. But do you have the capability to play them to your advantage too? Reach for your... Read More

Let's say you can clearly see that a customer is missing a trick in category. There is a gap in their range for a product that has shown huge incremental category sales where you have introduced it in other customers, say. It's an open goal, a 'no brainier', yet still your buyer is not listening. Often the answer is in the buyer's mindset and this is the secret of how... Read More

Have you noticed the retailers talking about their wonderful supplier relations, just when the new Groceries Code Adjudicator is announced? Funny that. Christine Tacon seems keen to do her bit to ensure fair play in the supply chain. However, I sit in a trusted position among suppliers and I can guarantee that most think invoking GSCOP would be as effective a business strategy as torching their factory! The retailer's obligation... Read More

Twenty five years ago, selling in the grocery industry it was all very relationship dependent. The old lags slapped each others’ backs and told jokes. Then powerful customers became more demanding and relationship went out the window. Smarter sales teams replaced jokes with expertise and insight, and found that they had a new reason to be friends; buyers can’t resist being shown a way to make more money. Subsequently, customers... Read More

Have you ever got to the checkout and been told: “These are on bogof so you can have another one free”? Or have you been notified of deals you were unaware of by the self-scanner? OK, you saved money, and you feel EPIC, but think about it. The businesses funding these promotions have rewarded you for something you were going to do anyway. This costs money. While there will always... Read More

At a recent round or sales training events staged by the IGD, the speaker announced that justifying yourself was weak, and the more you sell the weaker you look. Sorry. That’s wrong. If you are part of a selling organisation you know with every fibre it’s wrong, and all your successes prove It’s wrong. Selling is the fundamental skill of an account manager. Selling is presenting your initiative to the... Read More

The latest round of talk about closer collaboration with suppliers made me smile. Many relationship-hungry suppliers reserve insight and innovation for the Tesco account — only to find disappointment around the corner. Tesco’s behaviour then backfires, as suppliers become cautious and only prepared to tweak a generic category plan. This latest wave of ‘being nice’ fits perfectly with Tesco’s periodical ‘power plays’ and suppliers should be guarded. Oh — but... Read More