Selling at Business 2012 Plumb right with a spoonful of Sugar

Selling at  Business 2012 Plumb right with a spoonful of

Sugar

Apparently former President George W Bush never said that the’ trouble with  the French was that they didn’t have a word for’ entrepreneur.’

It does however look like the USA is climbing out of the recession somewhat quicker than the UK. Their entrepreneurs are pulling away.

As for France ,the concept derived from Richard Cantillon (1680s – May 1734) was an Irish-French economist and author of Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général (Essay on the Nature of Trade in General “ One of his notable ideas was the entrepreneur as risk bearer.

In the UK our coalition Government is putting great store in Private business and the UK’s entrepreneurs to drive the engine of growth to pull our country out of this recession.

The  outside approach to the O2 from North Greenwich Tube Station on the Jubilee Line

Many might aspire to be a pop star, a soccer star or a business star, they see the end rewards and riches but  not necessarily  acknowledge the route of hard work energy and courage that must be taken to achieve such rewards.

There is more to the entrepreneur than Selling of course, but nonetheless Selling still has a very key part to play.

So I decided to catch the last afternoon of the  new three day business ‘fest’  Business 2012. Go with an open mind to any of these events and you pick up some ideas and the atmosphere and people do invigorate you as the show brochure said ‘…free your mind to soak up the inspiration”

The accompanying publicity and show brochures were filled with phrase  like ‘ you future potential’ ‘inspiration’, ‘aspiration’ ‘innovation’ ‘visionary’  ‘achievement’  ‘ passion’ ‘know-how’ and of course SUCCESS.

The conference for Entrepreneurs

There was a great line up Keynote and Celebrity speakers –although disappointingly few business women despite many female visitors to the show. Cherie Blair (the former PM’s wife) was unwell to speak on Monday apparently and was replaced by former BBC Dragon James Caan.  Unfortunately Nikki Hesford ( had a poor experience at the Show the previous day) decided to leave the show early whiich was a pity as I would have liked to hear her.

The Show was free which means that most of the workshops and seminar in the various prefab rooms were taster session sells for course, products etc. but hell there is no such thing as a free lunch. The organisation was a bit loose and the distances between Halls and Exhibtion  long and not very well signposted.

The headliner speakers were working in the more permanent halls or the theatre space of the Inigo Room .

Two sessions I attended were Ralph Plumb on ‘Passive Income’ and Lord Alan Sugar in interview and taking questions.

http://mindprotein.com/   In Plumb’s pacey presentation his session was a taster for his three day event

His systematic approach focuses on generating organic (FREE) traffic

The rather bleak approach after quite a long walk to the exhibition area
on the perimeter of the vast O2 centre

Some basic points of Internet marketing were shared for ‘free’ and  driven home repeatedly.

Plumb’s system centres on two key fundamentals

1.    Traffic

2.    Building a list

Of course both require a lot of work but  you don’t need to be an expert. He suggested like Richard  Branson you don’t need to be an expert of aeroplanes, or cola to work such businesses so long as you have the entrepreneurial drive.

The Internet is growing Amazon grew 400% over the last 5 years.

Plumb’s session used a lot of simple hands up questions.  Such as “Who used Google last week?” “ awesome”. Indeed Plumb uses the word awesome a lot which got on the audience nerves after a while but the point is the Internet ( ‘innerne(t) as Ralph calls it) is underlying  AWESOME ( ‘arsum’).

The O2 may well be 12 years old but there is still a massive amount of building work around the site
One of the many cranes around the site. The slogan "The Sky is the Limit" on this Liebherr Crane seemed so apt for Business 2012

He supposed 95 % of us will have used Google at least once a week.

Although paid adverts on Google and face book have their place the first Google page top 10 is where we would all like to be.

Ralph pointed out that the top ten list is unpaid ‘organic’  traffic. What certainly shocked me were a set of numbers Ralph shared on the share of  total traffic paid adverts represent. Apparently the top three paid adverts on represent 2-3 %

The first position of unpaid is 40-45 times more than the first paid advert. The list descends through 11-18% - 7-15% of traffic to the last position No 10 which is still 3-4 times the amount of the first paid adverts.

He also warned that Facebook and Google can cut you off on the paid adverts.

He then emphasised the importance of key words and phrases.

In Plumb’s system he points out the importance of affiliate marketing where by you promote affiliates’ offers.  This renders quick income, no product required from you, no service required from you.  In essence you are leveraging other people’s time, expertise, experience, tools and traffic.

List building Plumb suggests is your sustainable business wealth.

His three day programme will be running at the Plaza Riverbank 30^th March -1stApril

Ralph Plumb of Mind Protein in full flow in the Inigo Theatre

Ralph Plumbs session was followed by and chat style question and answer session between  Harry Singer and Lord Alan Sugar.

Despite some pre-framing  byasking for quality business questions and not Apprentice-gush the session was a little spoilt by the haphazard  roving microphone etc. You realise  that when BBC does its Question Time how professional such a style of interview needs to be.

I found some of the questions rather embarrassing and their tone quite often impertinent. No doubt water of a duck’s back to Lord Sugar whose does see through schmooze particularly  well.

However we did get some really good questions amongst the rubbish and some clear insight form Alan Sugar in his caustically honest way.

For all the banter style and ‘Apprentice’ you’re fired caricature- we did get some gems from him.

Lord Sugar in discussion with Harry Singer in the Inigo theatre

His first deal back 1966 was his ‘best’ ( favourite) deal. Buying with his own £100 a van , some stock of car aerials and selling them and making a modest profit. He reckoned or rather wanted to be remembered for his first B B Sky B box top deal with Rupert Murdoch . He also felt making the first affordable PC at £399 when the benchmark corporate PC at that time was £2,000. For all his down to earth  gritty gravitas there were lovely touches of humour. Sir Christopher Wren was remembered for St Paul’s Cathedral

“ I will probably be remembered for all the satellite dishes on the roofs of London!”

What advice he gave to young entrepreneurs is start small with your own money. Work in an area you really know about and those have a passion for.

Carry out weekly reviews of what you are doing.  If you set yourself a target e.g. to clear £500 per week how are you doing?

For those of us in Selling there was a purple patch response to a questions asking what he looked for as a Buyer. He stated his business life had centred on  “making stuff,  designing stuff and selling stuff.” He had not been agency or consultancy. The he fired off the following like a machine gun

1.    Price  ( Price is not everything)

2.    Delivery

3.    What experience –track record

4.    How will you deliver

5.    How will carry out the service / support

6.    What will make the customer want to deal with YOU

Lord Sugar advice to all was to keep to the basic principles. For all his  tough and caustic exterior though came out his very strong feelings about human character.

He felt it necessary to outline to the audience of (in the main) young entrepreneurs the quality of entrepreneurs should have and he stressed they earn these qualities not just have them. Some of which included:-

Honesty

Energy

Tell it as it is

Keep Promises

Be honourable

Self Discipline

·         "Essentially the world is not waiting for you"

·         "Business is a risk"

·         "Something always comes along" keep a positive outlook

Following Lord Sugar

·         Lord Sugar’s next serious business venture to follow is YouView  the interconnected television platform ( formerly Project Canvas)

·          if it’s  “show business”  plus some business exercises you are after - The new series No 8  of  BBC1's  TV The Apprentice is being aired  tonight

·         If it’s gossip and banter  - Lord Sugar’s twitter blog which he told the audience in the Inigo yesterday had more followers than the Daily Mail. @Lord_Sugar   has  1,699,298 followers  was an exaggeration. The  Daily  Mail circulation  30 Jan 12 - 26 Feb 12: 1,945,496 (Source: ABC) with a readership of 4,371,000 (Source: NRS)  but I rather suspect that his numbers may well overtake the mail in time to come. No doubt the new series of "The Apprentice" could help.Last years show had 8-9 million viewers.

A contemporary of Richard Cantillon was Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) playright o Le Cid  ( El Cid) (1606 -1684 ) who maybe can inspire all entrepreneurs possibly Lord Sugar but especially tonight's contestants.  

          “To win without risk is to triumph without glory” 

Good Luck and Bon Courage.

Sales for Non Sales Does Everyone live by selling something?

Former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion has just written a sequel to Robert Lewis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' entitled "Silver"* - return to Treasure Island. Whether Andrew Motion as a creative writer sees himself as a "Salesman"  I don't know, but the inspiration for his book  was the author Robert Louis Stevenson  (1850-1894) who once said

" Everyone lives by selling something".



The SIPOC Process approach to illustrate Sales for Non Sales

Those familiar with Six Sigma processes will be familiar with the SIPOC map. Suppliers,Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers.

A simple way to illustrate this. Think of the process steps of dining Out. You can see that at each stage the people involved will as likely as not be both Buyer and Seller either internally or externally.

Yet people who merchandise the stock and the cash and carry, those who write/create the recipes for the dishes, those who  prepare and cook the ingredients, those who wait on the diners and the customers may not necessarily see their roles in Sales .

Yet poorly or brilliantly sourced products will have an effect on sales
Poorly or brilliantly composed recipes will have an effect on sales
Poorly or brilliantly cooked food will have an effect on sales
Poorly or brilliantly served food will have an effect on sales
Disappointed or delighted diners will have an effect of sales 

It is in that sense that everyone is in selling ( and buying) even when a carry and carry buyer, the cook, waiter and so on may not see what they do as selling.

So RL Stevenson gets it right in that sense in the UK some 100 hears on.

So  for those who may not work directly in sales B2B .. We are all buyers and sellers  to each externally or internally in our jobs.

I have just completed a Sales for non Sales at Warwick Conferences Radcliffe House. It is a great venue with top quality Internet,  training rooms, spacious bar, good restaurant. But the make and break of such as place are the people.

They make the experience are much as the bricks and mortar. Thanks to Radcliffe for another great experience.


The delegates attending on the TACK Sales for Non Sales programme were from a wide range of roles and businesses e.g. technical solutions for waste management , construction industry, diesel engines to the news print world.

Early on the group plotted an adapted version of a SIPOC map for the business.

The key to this is identifying how they add value to customer.

 It is strange how when delegates arrive on such programmes they often introduce themselves as "not really in Selling but I deal with clients." 

The first thing is to work on their confidence and develop  a selling mindset appropriate to what they do. By the end of the day they are talking more fluently as professional salespeople.

SIPOC map adapted to the experience and role of Non sales

The Need for Non Sales Training - a very wide audience: 

Just because you  may work in the back office does not mean you are not in the front line of sales. Many people today are expected to support the operational objectives of their organisation.

When  a client calls and needs  your help the fact that you  'are not  really in sales' does not help them.

In reality anyone who interacts with customers, especially those who support or work alongside sales is in non-sales.

  A couple of delegates on the course were looking to move into a more sales focused role in their careers, others were seeking to maximise their personal effectiveness and add value to their firm can do so  through incorporating sales skills into their current role.

So a  basic understanding of the sales process will  never let non-sales  feel out of place when out on joint calls with salespeople.

Technically-minded specialists who have developed their career  to date in  their specialist expertise, will find sooner or later that they are required to develop both technical and commercial relationships which require selling skills 

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Scott, Alex and James set about identifying moments of opportunities for their businesses

Wayne and Andrea consider  at the moments of opportunity between Sales, Non Sales and Customer in their respective organisations

Increasingly today  it is consultants who need to bridge the gap between ‘trusted advisor’ and sales professional who need 'Sales skills for non sales'.

 Buyers don't want the old fashioned telling- selling person they want  a problem solver, and a business partner.

Operational staff with frequent client contact need to keep up to date in their skills to scope and leverage potential business opportunities.

Directors and partners who need to inspire and influence people internally and externally, who recognise that technical or specialist knowledge is not enough. They need to be able to sell.

Graduates without sales skills are seldom likely to progress as quickly as early potential showed. ( see links to Graduates in Selling.)

So the target audience for the TACK Sales for non Sales programmes come from a vast spectrum of job roles and industries.

Moment of Opportunity

Moment of opportunity Map

Much of the day is spent on Communication skills both spoken, written and non verbal communication with client interactions all based around TACK's KAYAK process.

•Establishing  customers’ needs and match your products/services to them Client Motivation

•Recognise loyalty and buying opportunities and act on them  Rational and Emotional triggers

•Gain and hold your customers’ attention Creating and sustain Client’s Interest

•Comfortably discuss commercial opportunities with customers  Business Conversations with Rapport

•Be more effective in gathering information – understanding needs and wants Effective Questioning and Listen

•Ask open questions and engage in active listening – summarise discussions and take effective notes ‘Taking Note’ of the Client and giving them a really good listening to!

•Deal with customer resistance – build an objection bank and develop persuasive responses handling as well as answering

•Keep the right people informed – who needs to know what? Busting the silo mentality

 Becoming better listeners to our clients is at the core

An anagram of LISTEN  is SILENT now that  is thought provoking!!!! 

Here is another quote of RL Stevenson that seems appropriate to end this post- its message is for all in Non Sales who have to interact with Clients each day . It is certainly good advice for  writers whether bloggers like myself or distinguished authors like Andrew Motion!!!

"All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language,

 until it finds a willing and prepared hearer. ”

Good luck in finding and preparing your client hearers!

Related Links

* The Book "Silver" by Andrew Motion

Publisher: JONATHAN CAPE

Publication Date: 15-Mar-2012                    ISBN: 9780224091190

Sales for Non Sales training

http://www.tackinternational.com/uk/Sales_for_Non_Salespeople

Six touch points for non sales

http://fruitsofsuccesswithhugh.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/6-touch-points-for-non-sales-to-press_08.html

The critical Role of Non Sales

http://fruitsofsuccesswithhugh.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/critical-role-of-non-sales.html

10 Questions about Digital Assets Let Sales Buy-gones be bygones and the right to be forgotten

Have you recorded your passwords in your will? Do you realise that you have digital assets of value? Have you read the terms and conditions of your digital services providers?

As our business, social and domestic lives increasingly overlap such purely personal questions may also have implications on our professional lives in Selling .

'Legislation will always be the tortoise to technology's hare'

warns IT and media law specialist Sarah Needham at International Law Firm Taylor Wessing in the Monday March 12 edition of Metro newspaper I picked up at Marylebone Station , London. (Metro claims to be the world's most popular free newspaper.)

The instant hurly burly of social networking in business through LinkedIn , Facebook and Twitter along with CRM data at the click of a mouse often prevents Sellers and Buyers  in business  to business ( b2b )from pondering much on the future.

The pressures of survival in recession and the thirst for short term metrics of sales management and demands for near instant response to client requests has similarly distracted our thoughts away from the longer term implications of Social media, CRM and Cloud computing.

 Some unintended consequences of this ‘denial’ are now becoming apparent.

Consider  for a moment some aspects about  our personal digital assets and we may well see some parallels for our business.

Much as people are no longer merely concerned about what might happen to their material possessions in the long term so it is with their virtual assets of social networking, photos and music downloads.

With the emergence of cloud computing  - the storage of computing has moved from a local server to a network of remote servers on the internet.. Such images , songs, movies, login, social network details and on-line banking are all part of this new digital property.

Sarah Needham cautions in the London Metro " control what is publicly available on line during your lifetime- don't wait for your executors or anyone else to sort out your public profile out after death".

" Digital assets could be used 'in an inappropriate and unexpected way' she warns.

"Always check site terms and conditions for details of how your content will be used and don't wait for the state to introduce protective legislation”

Here are some statistics on digital assets quoted in the Metro article : source Rackspace and Remember a Charity.

1.      80% of Britons own digital assets

2.      Britons have at least £ 2.3 billion in digital assets

3.      3 out of four people say their digital music and photo collections are strong sentimental value

4.      24% of Britons estimate they have £ 200 or more worth of music ,photos and video stored on line

5.      One in ten people has left their internet passwords in their will or are planning to do so

6.      3 out of ten say they expect to store all their music online by 2020

7.      1 in 4 says they will no longer print photos by 2010 instead sorting them on line.

How might/does this topic of digital assets impact sales management and selling?

Here are some questions and thoughts going on in my mind at the moment.

For many of the delegates (managers and sales executives) I meet on my courses I observe that the digital spaces they work in , cross over. The lines between business, social and domestic life are more blurred.

It is increasingly occurring that people’s personally owned devices - Smart phones, Blackberries, I pads PCs.... have far superior specifications than company owned PCs and mobiles. Since speed and performance is so often the priority of the day, their personally owned devices are used in preference.

Personal and business digital data are assets that have a value and are a kind of property.

1.    How does legislation like the Data Protection Act apply to data in the social media space in B2B?

Many salespeople have contact lists on their personal LinkedIn, Twitter

with information about their clients and digital conversations.

2.    Does it make any difference that the data is held on a personally owned device/ software rather than one owned by the employer ?

3.      If your address book and contacts in your personally owned  Microsoft Outlook has information on Clients who does this data belong to if the software was bought by the salesperson but holds client details of your employer?

4.      Who owns the data on you on your profile on in Linked In?

5.       Who owns the data on Linked In group forums you belong to?

6.      Who owns any video clips you create to demonstrate your products and services that you have filmed on your smart phone for business?

7.       Who owns business related videos you have downloaded?

 We have now become video reporters with the smart phone.

8.      Who 'owns' your twitter profile ?

9.      Who 'owns' your copy and content on your work blog?

10.  If your CRM is stored on the 'Cloud' who owns these digital assets? ( let alone security concerns you  or your clients may have)

I guess there are many more and even better questions we should be considering.

 I would welcome comments and advice from sharers of this blog. Please add your comments.

Of course in the original story of the tortoise and the hare we should remember the  tortoise did eventually win the race.

Will the digital tortoise win this digital race?

 Related Links

Taylor Wessing

www.taylorwessing.com

Sarah Needham

http://www.taylorwessing.com/lawyers/details/sarah-needham-4102.html

Networking to generate business 17 Point Checcklist

" The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about!" - So the playwright Oscar Wilde is reputed to have said. It is not a bad maxim for salespeople.

An increasingly popular method of  new business generation through priming the likelihood of people talking about you and your company through introductions, referrals, recommendations and word of mouth advertising is networking.

Networking provides you with an channel through which you can  publicise  yourself and your business by personal communication with as broad a selection of individuals as possible.
The more people talk about you and what you offer, the more business you are likely to pick up through referral and contacts.

Popular networking situations include:-

1.       Formal networking events organised specifically for potential buyers and sellers to meet each other e.g. lunch clubs

Gulls Networking event in City of London

2.       Business events which are organised for a different specific purpose but as a sideline provide a a networking opportunity . e.g. trade exhibitions

3.       Social, family and leisure events where some of the people you meet are potential prospects to give business or recommend you to people who they know. ( suspects) e.g. parties, sports clubs, pubs, Round Table

4.       Ad hoc  spontaneous contacts who by pure chance may be able to connect you with business opportunities e.g. near seat neighbour on a train, plan etc. ex –school friend on Friends united website.

Networking Objectives

·         To win business

·         To collect details of people who may give you business or refer to others who may give you business ( so that you can follow them up)

·         To give these people details of you, your company and your offer so they can proactively contact you.

·         To create a positive and accurate impression of what benefits people can achieve by working with you.

·         To get yourself and/or your business remembered so that you will come to mind when people come across a suitable opportunity for you.

As with so much in selling there is no such thing as luck in networking.



'Luck is where preparation meets opportunities.'

So here a simple but useful checklist for networking

Event:_____________   Date:_________

·         Timings of event ______________________________________

·         Acceptable sent?______________________________________

·         Venue_______________________________________________

·         Host Organisation_____________________________________

·         Directions and car parking details_________________________

·         What is my role?______________________________________

·         Who is the likely role?__________________________________

·         Is there a guest list?____________________________________

·         Who are my key contacts?_______________________________

·         What is their reasons attending?__________________________

·         What are my objectives?________________________________

·         Have I prepared my elevator speech?______________________

·         Will I need a “Just a minute” speech_______________________

·         Colleagues attending?__________________________________

·         Business cards in pocket/case?___________________________

·         Research – FT.com, web, Newspapers/local newspapers?______

·         Other information or actions required? ____________________