Master Sales Group

What is a Master Sales Group?

Members of each Group will receive a synergy of energy, commitment, engagement and mutual support, together with expert input from Boston Clarke and its associates. The unique benefit of the Master Sales Group is that participants raise each other’s standards by challenging one another to create and implement goals, brainstorm ideas, and support each other with total honesty, respect and compassion. Master Sales Group participants act as catalysts for growth, become devil’s advocates and support their colleagues.

The Groups will explore various aspects of the sales process, with any advice tailored to members’ needs. In a Master Sales Group, the agenda belongs to the Group, and each person’s participation is key. Your peers give you feedback, help you brainstorm new possibilities, and set up accountability structures that will keep you focused and on track. You will create a community of supportive colleagues who will brainstorm together to move the Group to new heights. 

What Will You Get From It?

·         Answers and ideas, which come from brainstorming within the Group as well as the expert participation of Boston Clarke

·         Experience, skill and confidence

·         Accountability and real progress

·         An instant and valuable support network

·         A sense of shared endeavour - there are others out there!

Proposed Venues (these may change)

Leeds – Hillside, Beeston Road Leeds, LS11 8ND

Bradford – Park Lane Business Centre, BD5 0LN

Cost

£90 plus VAT a month for 2 two hour sessions including room hire and light refreshments. Special Offer: 3 months in advance £250 plus VAT.

Contact

Paul Clarke 07876173444

pc@bostonclarke.co.uk

Networking Stuff

 Networking

Networking is all about building relationships with people and building trust.

Cards – get the best cards you can afford

Email – get one that is jim@jimsbusiness.com  not jim@yahoo etc

Why the above because first impressions count a lot – it looks tacky to do otherwise and it costs little but could cost you more.

I may be a business and sales coach , you may think so what , but who do I know that could help you? Who do you know who could help me ?

Have your pitch ready – but talk about benefits – have a mini case study ready…- I did this for a client which meant …

Talk to people , above all don’t sell to them . Think about what you can do for them as well as what they can do for you .

I may be a business and sales coach , you may think so what , but who do I know that could help you? Who do you know who could help me?

Send out emails to people you meet , link up on social media  . If you receive an email , reply – remember it’s a relationship.

Look to help people if you can.

Above all remember don’t sell too hard if at all – be yourself at your best 

Thanks  Paul 

07876 173 444

Noah and Leadership

I’m sure plenty of us will have heard one of the classic definitions of the difference between Leadership and Management:

When Noah heard the weather forecast he ordered the building of the ark. That’s Leadership.

Then he looked around and said, "Make sure the elephants don't see what the rabbits are up to." That’s Management.

So, not to put too finer point on it, Leadership is having the longer-term strategic vision for your organisation, how it will grow, develop and mature. And Management is the day-to-day overseeing and tactical supervision & administration of the business.

Now, that’s not to detract from either role. After all, both a Manager and a Leader must know the business well. But the Leader must know it better and in a different way. Now, by ‘better’ I don’t actually mean knowing the names of the spouses of everyone on the shop floor, nor what the canteen serves for lunch on a Thursday…

What I do mean though is the ethos of the organisation. What it stands for. What its future vision is. Where it will be in five years time. And that’s not something I’d expect a manager to have a grasp of, nor even think it necessarily desirable that they would.

Now, when it comes to coaching, I’d happily say that both groups can benefit from genuine, sustainable business-oriented non-directive coaching. Because, although they both have very different functions and needs, they each require assistance in determining their clarity of thinking.

Just because Managers improve the process and Leaders decide if that is the right process, it doesn’t make either group an island.

Einstein and Change

Change

Albert Einstein. One of the most famous and celebrated men on the planet. Someone who’s theories have been proven again and again, by countless physicists and scientists.

But what’s a little lesser known about one of our 20^th Century’s true heroes is that he was something of a philosopher, able to turn his mind to complex thoughts just as easily as complex equations.

And one of the conundrums that he solved in that immensely talented mind of his was a definition of insanity, which goes something like: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

Think about it for a moment. It’s absolutely blindingly obvious, beautifully succinct and utterly incontrovertible, isn’t it? So, just to reinforce the absurdity of this line of action, and to put another way for the benefit disciples of Anthony Robbins, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.

So, what’s the relevance to the conundrum of conjuring sales from thin air, in these challenging economic times? Well, the point is, unless we change our behaviour, our patterns of dealing and coping with matters, our sales are just going to a) run out of steam and b) dwindle while our competitors steal a march on us.

After all, there’s no doubt that, to coin a phrase, we live in interesting times. Thanks to the state of the global economy, it’s getting increasingly difficult to differentiate your product or service, and to close the sale. And all this begs the question, how do we ask for the order? How do we actually get the prospective buyer to sign on the dotted line?

Well, one of the most obvious statements to make is this: You can’t be all things to all people. In essence, you can’t be an expert at everything. So, if your skillset lies in product development, or back-office, or logistics, then why dilute that ability with a half-hearted attempt at sales? Better to get the relevant experience and understanding by engaging the services of an expert coach, who can train you and point you in the right direction.

So, my advice is, don’t be like everyone else, muddling through, making do and doing the same thing again and again. Think differently, and watch the rewards come in.