Sales Training London: What Makes Entrepreneurs Successful
Sales Training London: What Makes Entrepreneurs Successful
Make entry easy (lubricate, lower the barriers to entry)
Identify their pains. Sell them something small first (a.k.a. a monkey's paw). Escalate their addiction to buying from you with regular cross and upsells. Go for value not volume. Better to have a herd of 1000 people spending $/£10,000 a year than 40,000 spending $/£100.
Do the basics consistently well. Take care of your customers as if they were the most precious possession (i.e. look after them, look after their data, keep in contact, speak to them as if you are speaking to them alone not as if you're spamming your entire database - are you listening, don't spam existing customers to buy the stuff they've already bought from you?
When you do communicate, make it worth their while to read/welcome your communication (i.e. welcome you again), speak to their pains, their wants, their interests NOT yours.
Take care to gather their feedback and concerns, take on board (some) of their ideas. 67% of all customers who leave suppliers do so because of perceived indifference (i.e. they didn't feel loved) not average or bad service.
Be ruthless in managing your cashflow. Barter may be smarter but Cash is King.
Learn how to sell, how to manage sales, how to recruit effectively and accurately first time every time, and NEVER compromise on recruitment. Make recruitment hard for candidates so that they are committed and serious before you waste time and offers on deadbeats. Cull your worst and replace with people who fit the best characteristics and behaviours of your evolving hiring template for each role. Recruit for the right habits and attitudes not just for experience and track record.
Promote or hire managers for their management ability not being the best functional operator e.g. the best salespeople often get promoted and make appalling managers.
Measure everything. Manage those things you can manage not the stuff you can't ... like behaviour NOT the numbers as the prospects control who and when they sign the cheques. Sack your worst, most expensive and time-consuming clients even if you won't be liked by them. Encourage them to go to your competition.
Forget worrying about whether people like you or not - get over it. You're in business to make profit first and foremost ...not to get your emotional needs met.
Never discount your gut. Even if it's occasionally wrong, trust your gut.
Never go 50/50 into a partnership - always have a controlling interest. Get rid of freeloading partners, staff, associates, suppliers before they drag you down, prevent you from paying your bills, paying your kids' school frees, paying your mortgage.
Learn how to negotiate well and never give unilateral concessions i.e. always get something of equal or greater value back in return for any concessions your side makes.
Develop a strong network of people who can support you (your employees have a different agenda to you - keeping their jobs - and you're not there to be their friend - doesn't mean you have to be a total monster but keep a respectful distance - you are the "them" in them and us - its lonely being the first to pay out and last to get paid). Build your network to provide you with education, advocacy and pipeline.
Never ever allow delivery to prevent you (or your salespeople) from prospecting - behave as if your best client is about to leave you and you have to replace them. Always be prospecting. Teach everyone in your business to have a prospecting habit - including the technical people.
Learn how to say "no" to do the stuff that is not "not urgent but important". Ask "what other commitment will I have to break if I do this instead or now?" You're known by the promises you keep not the ones you make.
Eliminate the fire-fighting and time-wasting. Ask yourself "what's our operational efficiency?" Seek ways to incrementally and consistently improve it. Always look for and encourage staff to look for tiny, incremental improvements.
Learn how to go for the "no" to eliminate deadbeats, those looking for free consulting, timewasters from your pipeline so you never waste scarce and costly resources - let your competition do this, in fact encourage these people to talk to your competition - what does my enemy harm does me good.
Compensate well and compensate the behaviours you want not those that you don't.
Get good advisors/suppliers, accountants, lawyers, consultants, coaches, marketing, PR, telemarketers - ditch those who are costing you money and have an agenda that is divergent from yours e.g. marketing consultancies who show off their awards are probably after more awards when your agenda is to put profitable, paying customers into your pipeline. Structure your business today for tomorrow. It costs a whole lot less to do this when you're small than fix this stuff later - tax, legal, HR, health and safety, share holdings etc. Does that make sense?
Invest when others are tightening their belt - don't be a total buffoon and cut back on your sales force, recruitment or marketing when the market is tough, invest now and trade through it. You'll be glad you did .... or you'll be broke - but chances are, your business will be dead anyway if you don't and it'll just take longer for you to realise it.
Accept that failure is part of the human condition - you learn most from your failures, not from your successes, so don't repeat the same mistakes time and again, and don't use the stick unnecessarily on employees who risk failing in good faith, treat this as part of your training budget! Reward innovation, hire mavericks, and learn how to steal, secure and manage troublesome talent.
Learn how to establish contracts you can enforce and be clear you'll apply consequences for non-performance. e.g. an employee consistently comes in late or fails to complete their timesheets, they get penalised in their pay packet OR if I do this for you you will do this for me by this date and time OR "at the end of this interview, I'll tell you if there is a job offer, we'll discuss the terms and you'll leave either deciding to go ahead or you'll tell me no thanks and we'll part friends. So we're in no doubt, any offer will be in the region of £45,000-£48,000 basic salary with on target earnings of £70,000-£375,000, a car allowance of £6000 and health and life insurance for you. Before we get started on this interview, is that likely to be a problem?" (If they say it is going to be a problem, qualify why and you can call the interview to a close and get back to doing your day job without wasting an hour to 90 minutes talking to a candidate who couldn't meet you needs). Does that make sense?
These are just a few basic thoughts on what makes a good entrepreneur. But three characteristics override all others to my mind.
1. Their attitude is that they have "no finish line"
2. They always do the basics well
3. Businesses don't fail, their owners give up - NEVER QUIT.
You may fail, circumstances may conspire against you, but great entrepreneurs rise up and learn from their failures. Resilience is a crucial cartelistic and just another acquired skill.
(C) Marcus Cauchi and Sandler Systems Inc 2006
Hope this helps. Any thoughts or additions, comments or challenges welcome.
Sales Training London What Makes Entrepreneurs Successful - To learn more about this author, visit Marcus Cauchi's Website.
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Gather the herd by asking them what they want/need/by their pain. Suck them into your evil web and then get their permission to communicate (market) to them regularly .... then produce product to suit them.
Make entry easy (lubricate, lower the barriers to entry)
Identify their pains. Sell them something small first (a.k.a. a monkey's paw). Escalate their addiction to buying from you with regular cross and upsells. Go for value not volume. Better to have a herd of 1000 people spending $/£10,000 a year than 40,000 spending $/£100.
Do the basics consistently well. Take care of your customers as if they were the most precious possession (i.e. look after them, look after their data, keep in contact, speak to them as if you are speaking to them alone not as if you're spamming your entire database - are you listening, don't spam existing customers to buy the stuff they've already bought from you?
When you do communicate, make it worth their while to read/welcome your communication (i.e. welcome you again), speak to their pains, their wants, their interests NOT yours.
Take care to gather their feedback and concerns, take on board (some) of their ideas. 67% of all customers who leave suppliers do so because of perceived indifference (i.e. they didn't feel loved) not average or bad service.
Be ruthless in managing your cashflow. Barter may be smarter but Cash is King.
Learn how to sell, how to manage sales, how to recruit effectively and accurately first time every time, and NEVER compromise on recruitment. Make recruitment hard for candidates so that they are committed and serious before you waste time and offers on deadbeats. Cull your worst and replace with people who fit the best characteristics and behaviours of your evolving hiring template for each role. Recruit for the right habits and attitudes not just for experience and track record.
Promote or hire managers for their management ability not being the best functional operator e.g. the best salespeople often get promoted and make appalling managers.
Measure everything. Manage those things you can manage not the stuff you can't ... like behaviour NOT the numbers as the prospects control who and when they sign the cheques. Sack your worst, most expensive and time-consuming clients even if you won't be liked by them. Encourage them to go to your competition.
Forget worrying about whether people like you or not - get over it. You're in business to make profit first and foremost ...not to get your emotional needs met.
Never discount your gut. Even if it's occasionally wrong, trust your gut.
Never go 50/50 into a partnership - always have a controlling interest. Get rid of freeloading partners, staff, associates, suppliers before they drag you down, prevent you from paying your bills, paying your kids' school frees, paying your mortgage.
Learn how to negotiate well and never give unilateral concessions i.e. always get something of equal or greater value back in return for any concessions your side makes.
Develop a strong network of people who can support you (your employees have a different agenda to you - keeping their jobs - and you're not there to be their friend - doesn't mean you have to be a total monster but keep a respectful distance - you are the "them" in them and us - its lonely being the first to pay out and last to get paid). Build your network to provide you with education, advocacy and pipeline.
Never ever allow delivery to prevent you (or your salespeople) from prospecting - behave as if your best client is about to leave you and you have to replace them. Always be prospecting. Teach everyone in your business to have a prospecting habit - including the technical people.
Learn how to say "no" to do the stuff that is not "not urgent but important". Ask "what other commitment will I have to break if I do this instead or now?" You're known by the promises you keep not the ones you make.
Eliminate the fire-fighting and time-wasting. Ask yourself "what's our operational efficiency?" Seek ways to incrementally and consistently improve it. Always look for and encourage staff to look for tiny, incremental improvements.
Learn how to go for the "no" to eliminate deadbeats, those looking for free consulting, timewasters from your pipeline so you never waste scarce and costly resources - let your competition do this, in fact encourage these people to talk to your competition - what does my enemy harm does me good.
Compensate well and compensate the behaviours you want not those that you don't.
Get good advisors/suppliers, accountants, lawyers, consultants, coaches, marketing, PR, telemarketers - ditch those who are costing you money and have an agenda that is divergent from yours e.g. marketing consultancies who show off their awards are probably after more awards when your agenda is to put profitable, paying customers into your pipeline. Structure your business today for tomorrow. It costs a whole lot less to do this when you're small than fix this stuff later - tax, legal, HR, health and safety, share holdings etc. Does that make sense?
Invest when others are tightening their belt - don't be a total buffoon and cut back on your sales force, recruitment or marketing when the market is tough, invest now and trade through it. You'll be glad you did .... or you'll be broke - but chances are, your business will be dead anyway if you don't and it'll just take longer for you to realise it.
Accept that failure is part of the human condition - you learn most from your failures, not from your successes, so don't repeat the same mistakes time and again, and don't use the stick unnecessarily on employees who risk failing in good faith, treat this as part of your training budget! Reward innovation, hire mavericks, and learn how to steal, secure and manage troublesome talent.
Learn how to establish contracts you can enforce and be clear you'll apply consequences for non-performance. e.g. an employee consistently comes in late or fails to complete their timesheets, they get penalised in their pay packet OR if I do this for you you will do this for me by this date and time OR "at the end of this interview, I'll tell you if there is a job offer, we'll discuss the terms and you'll leave either deciding to go ahead or you'll tell me no thanks and we'll part friends. So we're in no doubt, any offer will be in the region of £45,000-£48,000 basic salary with on target earnings of £70,000-£375,000, a car allowance of £6000 and health and life insurance for you. Before we get started on this interview, is that likely to be a problem?" (If they say it is going to be a problem, qualify why and you can call the interview to a close and get back to doing your day job without wasting an hour to 90 minutes talking to a candidate who couldn't meet you needs). Does that make sense?
These are just a few basic thoughts on what makes a good entrepreneur. But three characteristics override all others to my mind.
1. Their attitude is that they have "no finish line"
2. They always do the basics well
3. Businesses don't fail, their owners give up - NEVER QUIT.
You may fail, circumstances may conspire against you, but great entrepreneurs rise up and learn from their failures. Resilience is a crucial cartelistic and just another acquired skill.
(C) Marcus Cauchi and Sandler Systems Inc 2006
Hope this helps. Any thoughts or additions, comments or challenges welcome.
Sales Training London What Makes Entrepreneurs Successful - To learn more about this author, visit Marcus Cauchi's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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