In his Pulitzer prize winning play ‘Death of a Salesman’ Arthur Miller presents a sobering vision of the fear and isolation confronting an ageing salesman, struggling to come to terms with his declining fortunes, in an industry which is rapidly evolving around him. In my almost 20 years in the enterprise sales industry, I’ve witnessed… Read More
About Cian Mcloughlin
Explore. Dream. Discover.
“Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover” Mark Twain In 2006, I was lucky enough to spend a week exploring the Galapagos Islands, with my then fiancee, now wife of almost 10 years. We flew from the capital Quito across the Ecuadorian coast… Read More
So you want to meet the C-suite?
I interviewed a customer recently, as part of a workshop I was running for a client in the technology industry. One topic they asked me to talk about was harnessing the ‘Voice of the Customer’ and getting inside the head of a C-suite executive. This particular sales strategy topic is very close to my heart, so close… Read More
The ‘So What’ Card
The sales rep stood with an air of quiet confidence, as a hush fell over the room. All the key stakeholders were present, CEO, CFO and CTO, the head of the steering committee, the governance, risk and compliance team and a smattering of the user community. This was the final presentation from the three vendors… Read More
To Increase Sales, Are All Leads Created Equal?
Near the beginning of Orwell’s masterpiece, Animal Farm, the animals embrace the powerful philosophy that “All animals are created equal”. During my 20-year career in the b2b sales industry, the majority of sales organisations I know seemed to work on the basis that ‘all leads were created equal’. The burning question to answer, if you genuinely want to increase sales is…… Read More
What Do Your Scars Teach You?
“You don’t learn from successes; you don’t learn from awards; you don’t learn from celebrity; you only learn from wounds and scars and mistakes and failures. And that’s the truth” Jane Fonda I have a jagged scar running up the inside of my left foot courtesy of a rusty nail, a relic from my days climbing… Read More