Latest News

I know it's only TV and I can turn it off ... but I do find 'The Apprentice' compelling to watch. I'm only glad it is on after the watershed so hopefully kids don't think this is how businesses people really go about their daily lives! Would you work with any of these people, let alone invest in them?

Recently published Forum (http://www.forum.com) report on 'Sales Force Development Trends' reported that the focus has shifted from "sales efficiency" - installing CRM, reducing paperwork, increasing call volumes etc - to "sales effectiveness" i.e. not just about making more calls .. it's making valid calls. Social media pundits also talk about not just increasing traffic, but increasing conversion.

Interesting statistics on the business impact from coaching ..... A company?s investment in providing coaching to its executives realized an average return on investment (ROI) of almost six times the cost of the coaching.
http://www.coachwithjeremy.com/blog/benefits-of-coaching/coaching-benefits

A recent poll of the first 1,000 businesses to use 'Growth Accelerator' said their biggest barriers to growth were sales, marketing & strategy. Hence they wanted coached to posses experience in these 3 areas. So why do people go to coaches who claim to be "generalists"? I would never claim to be an HR or Finance specialist .. so why do people who have no (or limited) sales experiences claim expertise?

Quality customer service is not as widespread as I would always like ... so when I receive high quality service I like to recognise it. This months this "award" must to go Pravins http://www.pravins.co.uk/. Edited highlights: I bought my wife a ring, and after 18 months a stone went missing. We went back to the shop and they sent it off for examination and repair. They came back prompty and said they would replace the stone @ no charge. When the ring was returned to the branch they were unhappy with the workmanship, so they apologised and said they were resubmitting to the workshop. We then got a call to say actually they would like to replace the entire ring, with a better product, @ no cost .. "was this okay?". Briliant service and great communication throughout. Thank you Pravins ... you win this months award.

In collaboration with Cool Ventures we are running an 'Effective Sales Negotiation Workshop' on 12th June .... hope to see you there. To sign up please go to www.coolventures130613.eventbrite.co.uk
 

I was recenty asked for top tip for picking a business coach, here are my thoughts:

• Knowledge ? Clearly the coach has to have domain expertise and competency in the subject to add any value

• (Real World) Experience ? They need to have industry / market / subject area experience to know what really works and doesn?t work ... not just what it says in the text book!

• (Compatible) Style ? Be able to jell with the client and adopt a flexible personal style to work with the client (e.g. see ?Social Styles?). The coach also has to ?park their ego @ the door?, this is not about the coach it?s about the client

• Approach ? Willingness and ability to impart knowledge in a sustainable way i.e. knowledge transfer. The coach has to work themselves out of a job and not into one! If they get this right they will stay anyway!!
  

• Content - Part of this can also be the provision of tools and processes that the business can utilise, that the coach has previously developed and are hence proven.

Just got a recommendation to read 'The Chimp Paradox'. This is a book by Dr Steve Peters who has worked with many sports people (Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Ronnie O'Sullivan). Will let you know if it works!

Take a look @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cFdCzN7RYbw#
This is a great short video animation of Dr Robert Cialdin's work on 'The Psychology of Persuasion' .. does it work for you?