Do I need a coach or a mentor?

Coaching or mentoring These are different, but often discussed in the same context. Both focus on helping you develop and grow but they do it in different ways. Understanding this will help you to decide whether you need a coach or a mentor. Coaching is more likely to be question-based, content-free and agnostic. It provides…

What’s a sales culture and how do I get one?

Building a strong sales culture is critical to building a successful business. But it’s much easier said than done. Sales culture isn’t really about sales; it comes from a combination of leadership and teamwork. In this blog post, we’re exploring ‘what’s a sales culture and how can you build one in your business?’. Perhaps the…

5 steps to building a high-performing sales team

Have you ever baked a cake? A few people who are expert bakers can throw together a few ingredients and come up with something sweet and fluffy in a matter of minutes. Most of us, though, need to follow a recipe. That recipe tells us what the component parts are and in what order to…

What is Value-based selling?

You’ll probably have a very accurate idea about what your business costs you. The bricks and mortar (or your desk, laptop, printer and supply of chocolate Hob Nobs) Your people – either on your payroll or as associates or suppliers. Your manufacturing, purchasing or tech development costs. What you spend on marketing your business and…

How to use questions to improve the skills of your sales team

You’re busy, it’s been a long day and another sales-person is asking for guidance or help. Is answering your sales team’s questions a good thing to do or not? And what’s the alternative? Does it save you time to jump straight to the answer? Undoubtedly in that moment it does – and if you’ve been around…

How to be an effective sales manager

Being a sales manager requires effort. It means joining the dots between your business strategy, sales plan and sales activity. It means knowing which sales goals to aim for, and which sales people to recruit. It means keeping a number of plates spinning at the same time. You’re the owner, the founder, the mender-in-chief. The…

Feedback is a Gift

feedback with an image of three sleeping ducks in a row

Over the last 12 months we’ve completed a number of 360-degree feedback for senior people across a number of different business sectors. All lead others. All set the agenda for where others are headed. All have a significant and wide-ranging impact, and all commissioned their own feedback. None of it was hoisted upon them as…