Sales Training Motivational Speaker | Gavin Ingham» Management & leadership

Take Stock, Take Charge & Take Action!

Gavin Ingham — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:10:14 +0000

Why do some people achieve so much more than others? Why do some people seem to have all of the time in the world to get things done whilst others constantly seem to be frazzled? How can some people win new clients every month, service existing clients amazingly, manage sales teams, become industry go-to resources, deliver awesome lectures, write books, climb mountains, run marathons, have fabulous social activities? And live the life of their dreams as well?

And yet others struggle to remove themselves from firefighting, admin and dealing with challenges and spend their mornings, noons and evenings glued to their email?

It’s an important question. It might be one of the most important. Ultimately, you will be defined by what you do and by what you achieve not by how busy you are!

Being busy is not the same as being successful. Working hard is not the same as working smart. Putting the hours in is pointless if you’re working on the wrong activities.

When I work with businesses I see busy people, energetic sales teams and frantic business leaders. I see many, many people working hard to “get things done”…

But “getting things done” is sometimes not the same as achieving your objectives!

My lifelong passion is all about understanding what differentiates top performers and then helping others to achieve it too. What makes one person a sales superstar and another a sales wannabe? What empowers one person to be a rock star presenter and another a washout? What is it that enables one leader to lead their team to “victory” whilst another couldn’t lead theirs to the pub?

And one of the key differences is that top performers spend more time working on activities that lead to results.

Simple truth…

If two people of equal ability, passion and knowledge work the same market in the same way but one spends 50% of their time on activities that lead to results and the other only spends 25% then the first one will outperform the second one. Every time.

This is simple and obvious and yet it is not something which drives many peoples’ behaviours. Over time, most people fall into habits…

We do things because “we should”, we do things because “we always have”, we do things because “that’s the way others do it”, we do things because “we were told to”…

But we ought to be doing things because they get us the results that we want.

Here are 3 simple steps to get you more of the results that you want in your sales, in your business and in your life…

Step 1: Take stock.

Ask yourself what results you want and then work out what activities directly lead to those results. Map how you spend your time… How much time do you spend on these results based activities versus how much time do you spend doing other things?

Step 2: Take charge.

Commit time to results based activities. Protect this time. Make it sacrosanct. Do not be distracted. Drop “time-wasting” activities, stop acts of procrastination and learn to say “No” (to yourself and others).

Know that everybody has the same amount of time in a day and how you spend yours is down to you.

Step 3: Take action.

Make it happen. Change happens in an instant. How you spend your time will determine your results so take action now to get on the road to the results that you want.

And finally, be your own coach, assessing how you do, refining your approach and holding yourself accountable.

And here’s the magical thing. This is a never-ending process because the more successful you are, the more you have to work on this process and the greater the opportunities are to improve.

Let me know how you get on…

Do Manners Still Matter?

Gavin Ingham — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:20:29 +0000

This morning I was on my way down to London on the train and I had the “pleasure” of travelling in rush hour into Central Leeds. It’s been a while since I have travelled in rush hour (something I try and avoid when attending motivational talks where possible!) and like many activities it was good for a bit of people watching! The train was already full when it pulled into my home town station with many people standing and commuters crowded into the seats. I struggled onto it with my laptop, kit bag and suit carrier and sought to find a place which didn’t leave me balancing the bags and with nothing to lean or hold onto.

After a couple of minutes, the train pulled out of the station and moved on to the next station and then the next where several people got off to switch trains for Bradford. As they did so one seat was left empty and maybe 30+ people were still standing. A man, aged about 30, whipped past everybody and sat down. He was, I would say, old enough to know better (?!!) but young enough to stand without coming to any harm. I looked around the carriage. Standing up were two women over 60, one man who was even older, one guy with a stick, a slightly pregnant woman and a whole host of other people… at least half female.

Now certainly, I was taught to stand for women, children and older people let alone pregnant women or people needing a stick to help them stand. And even if this is not de rigueur anymore, is it too much to expect a totally fit man not to use his speed, agility and bulk to force his way into a seat?

I think not. And this selfish, “it’s all about me” behaviour is not isolated to travel either! We see it in all walks of life…

Leaving political comment about greedy bankers, thieving rioters, corrupt politicians and people too idle to work out of it… let’s talk about shopping! When shopping, people mill about and get in each other’s way from time to time. Every trip, creates at least one situation where one person or another has to step out of the way to avoid a collision. I am pretty aware of my surroundings and people around me so it is not often me walking sideways, bumping into people or randomly stopping or changing direction!

Yet…

It’s always me saying, “I’m sorry,” even when it is clearly the other person’s fault. I can’t help it, it’s innate, its deep inside me. I just say it! I’ve tried not to but I cannot stop myself no matter how hard I try! (My Mum would be pleased). And yet, few other people murmur anything at all. I reckon less than 1 in 20… not that I’m counting or anything! It’s like, “Who are you? Get out of my way.”

So there I was, standing on the train, wondering whether I was wrong? Wondering whether offering my seat to someone else, holding a door for someone or showing politeness to someone was wrong? By refusing to ignore people, not wanting to slam doors in faces and by being unwilling to grab the last seat and play Angry Birds on my iPhone, does this make me sexist, ageist, out of touch?

Maybe you think it does? Maybe you think it doesn’t? Maybe you think I am wrong? Maybe you think I am right? I’m sure you will tell me but I think manners do matter. I think manners make society. I think manners show respect for others, respect for society and respect for yourself. Manners maketh man. And I am a man not an ape. And as a man, I care about others. I respect others. I am aware of others. I am aware of their existence and I value them. And I think that is important.

But I also think that manners stem from respect for and caring for others. And these are some of the things that make me a good speaker, a good salesperson, a good friend and good business partner.

If you want to be a good salesperson you need to care about others. If you want to be a good salesperson you need to respect others. Great salespeople respect their clients, their colleagues, their peers and their profession. For sure, you might be able to point at some money-grabbing, non-feeling, dinosaurus-rexus of a salesperson who chases their clients around biting huge chunks out of any they can catch but they are on the way out, they are soon to be extinct. Just like T-Rex.

It’s not all about sales skills. It’s not all about sales ability. It’s not all about sales training. It’s also not all about the company you work for or the product you sell. And it is most definitely not all about the market and the economy. Who you are and how you behave have a profound impact upon your client relationships, your sales conversations, your sales results and your life.

So on your way home tonight, think about it a little before you bump into the person next to you and say nothing, before you dive into the nearest seat without a thought for others, before you walk off leaving the door to swing into someone’s face. Not being aware of who lost out does not make them lose out and suffer any the less. And it does not make you a better person.

Me, I am going to continue to stand up and offer my seat, I am going to continue to hold doors and I am going to continue to say, “Sorry.”

Leaping From The Shoulders Of Sales Giants…

Gavin Ingham — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:40:53 +0000

What is it that separates great salespeople from merely average ones? What is that helps one business person grow their new business whilst another languishes, struggling to make a living? Why can two sales presentations of the same product with the same client have radically different outcomes? Why can great new business executives consistently reach key prospects that mere wanabees cannot?

Why can sales superstars sell value over price time and time again whilst mediocre journeymen fight battle after battle and end up selling on price?

Questions like these and just the simple, “What differentiates top performers from mere average ones?” have over the years been the focus of my attention, my passion and my career. Helping others to realise them in their careers and in their lives is something that gives me great fulfilment.

As many of you know, I am tapping away on my laptop in Spain, where I am spending a couple of weeks in the sun, and I have been reading about the reactions to the recent UK riots from afar. The usual suspects have said the usual things but what has interested me is the reaction of the UK police chiefs and many of the MPs to the mention of taking any kind of advice in any capacity from Bill Bratton, the ex-police chief of Los Angeles who oversaw a fall in crime for six consecutive years. Several said that the US was different to the UK and, more significantly, that they had NOTHING TO LEARN from him. Where does this stupendous arrogance come from? And what purpose does it serve other than to prop up their own fragile egos?

For sure, Los Angeles is different to the UK but there’s always something to learn even if it’s what not to do. There’s always something to learn even if it has to be adapted to your situation. There’s always something to learn if you want to be the best.

I see people every day who seem intent on reinventing the wheel out of sheer bloody mindedness. The concept of utilising OPE or Other Peoples’ Experiences seems to have passed them by. Why spend years clambering, climbing and crawling to the top if you can hop up onto someone’s shoulders and start from there with a huge advantage?

This week’s task is to have a think about who you know and how you can utilise their skills, experiences and insights to give yourself a shortcut to sales, business and personal success. Take some time to think about someone who you know who is excellent at something, someone who excels in a particular area and then go and pick their brains to find out how you can give yourself a sales boost.

Sales Leadership, Are You A Duck Or A Goose?

Gavin Ingham — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:16:03 +0000

Over the last week I have been making the most of the glorious sunshine and have had trips to the Yorkshire Dales (beautiful weather) and the Lake District (raining as per usual!). I’ve also been out jogging along the canal near my home and although I run along it all year, perhaps the beautiful weather has caused me to pay more attention to my surroundings than normal.

Something I have been watching with interest are the ducks and the geese and their “management” of their young. It’s pretty interesting…

The ducks seem to have lots of ducklings, often into double figures. Being in a family of ducks is a pretty chaotic business. Even when the ducklings are teeny-tiny little balls of fluff, they seem to be expected to fend for themselves. It really is sink or swim. Mum and Dad duck just swim off and do their own thing and the ducklings straggle out all over the canal. For Mum and Dad, the responsibility often seems too much and the ducklings fall by the wayside, get into trouble and get lost.

When a duckling gets lost they cry plaintively and if they work out where Mum and Dad are they have to paddle like crazy to catch up. And if they can’t, tough luck! It’s sad watching their numbers dwindle and wondering what happened to all of those beautiful, hopeful, balls of life and energy? One pair of ducks even left entirely and the whole brood died. But hey, they had another brood so who cares?

Geese on the other hand seem to be pretty devoted parents. They have far fewer goslings and several along the canal only had two or three. When you see them swimming along the canal Mum (well I like to think its Mum anyway) swims at the front with the goslings close up behind her and Dad (?) swims conscientiously behind to check that no-one gets lost, injured or eaten!

When a gosling goes adrift, they are quickly helped back into line with a few squeaky noises which I guess are word of advice, encouragement and mentoring on how to survive and thrive. And this carries on until the goslings are quite big and well capable of looking after themselves.

Now you might be wandering what I am banging on about ducks and geese for and you may even think that I have lost my marbles and had too much sun? Or maybe you already made the connection?

Are you a duck or a goose?

Do you hire sales staff all coming to work hopeful and fresh only to see them fall by the wayside over the coming weeks and months until too few are left? Or do you support your teams, nurture them and help them to succeed?

Do you believe that hiring sales staff is a lottery so there’s no point spending too much time on them until they prove that they’re strong swimmers? Or do you ensure that they are given all of the help, guidance and back-up that they need?

Your approach in this will make a huge difference to your staff, your customers, your business and your success.

The Sales Apprentice 2011: Sales Training & Business Development Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 8

Gavin Ingham — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:28:15 +0000

Week 8 of The Sales Apprentice and it’s time for our two teams to head over La Manche to sell some wacky British products to the unsuspecting French. With only 8 Apprentices left, tonight’s task saw Suzy leading Jim, Helen and Zoe facing off against Tom “leading” Leon, Melody and Natasha.

It also did a lot to clarify my thoughts about the candidates and I’m sure by now you must have your favourites too. First task of the night was to pick two products to sell. After some deliberation and some bizarre questions from Suzy (“Do the French like their kids?”) Suzy settled on a portable child’s car booster seat / rucksack and a gadget grip that would hold a mobile device and attach it to your car, desk etc. Over on the other team, Tom also wanted the car seat but, after being pressurized by his team, he went for a pop up greeting card in which you grow cress (better than it sounds) and a bone china teapot shaped light…

And this lack of any backbone or any sense of leadership summed up Tom’s whole contribution as leader. He’s obviously a nice guy, he appears smart, he has been quite astute at times during this series and his hankering for the haversack tonight was spot on but he shouldn’t have let his team walk him down the wrong path.

But they did and primarily because of Melody’s input. Melody decided right from the start that the rucksack seat was a bad idea despite not seeing it. On being asked by Tom to research La Redoute (“part of the world’s 3rd largest home shopping organisation”) where Lord Alan had set them up a meeting she decided to do “market research” in the street instead. This seemed to consist of asking a handful of people and “filtering” their answers to agree with what she wanted to hear… namely that the French had no need for a rucksack / booster chair because they didn’t drive. What?!

And I don’t think this was deliberate. I think she genuinely thought she did ask the questions genuinely and that she did do proper research…

Sales training tip: As individuals we all have our beliefs about what is and what is not true. Once we get beliefs we tend to stick to them and then we only hear what we believe rather than believing what we hear. If you want to be a sales superstar you need to start hearing what your clients say, not what you thought they said or what you had already decided they were going to say. I’ve heard clients say, “Yes, I’ll take it” and yet the salesperson carried on selling because they didn’t hear what the client said because they believed that they weren’t ready to buy yet.

But in other ways, Melody was kicking some ass and showed it by getting on the phone and setting up 6 appointments to attend the next day…

Sales training tip: Cold calling done right works. I really don’t want to get into it (again) in this post but it really does. I’m not saying that it’s harder or easier than it used to be and I am most certainly not saying that it is right for everyone or every situation. Nor am I saying that everyone could or should do it. And nor am I saying that you shouldn’t be doing lots of other things too (like blogging, lol!)…

But at the right time, in the right situation and done in the right way cold calling works. Make it PART OF your route to market and do it right and you’ll thank me. And don’t listen to naysayers. Most never liked cold calling anyway. Many are in markets where it doesn’t apply. Some have other ideas to sell. And plenty couldn’t / can’t do it. And some are just plain wrong.

I have people on every No Fear Cold Calling seminar who set up meetings the very next day. Melody set up 6 in France on a mobile in the back of a car.

Meanwhile Leon sat there like a spare part. “I don’t speak French. I cannot contribute,” he said. Next to him Melody was speaking English to someone… you hear what you believe remember. And Leon believed he could not contribute, ergo he was right.

Sales training tip: Failure is not an option. Drop your head, lose your attitude, give up and you are done for. Getting a knock is fine. Getting a push is fine. Being bowled over is fine… but you have to get up again.

Leon didn’t get up again for the whole show and signed his own death warrant. In the Hall of the Mountain King he will not get a nice word and a sandwich… the best he will be able to hope for is a merciful beheading.

And then the coolest thing of the night happened… Gendarmes on roller blades… whipping down the street. I rewound the Sky box and watched them again… awesome!

But awesome was not a word you would use to describe Natasha’s pitch to La Redoute. It was not engaging. Frankly, it was boring and she clearly had not done her research. And as if “merde” did not do a good enough job of describing things Tom pitched in by suggesting they make a trial order of 10. Picking up that 10 was too few for La Redoute Natasha intervened suggesting a “high” volume of 50. Of course, part of this issue lay with Melody not doing the research she was asked to but then why did Tom and Tash go in without doing anything themselves? OK, so they had asked Melody to do it but would you show yourself up to be a fool and go in unprepared and pointing the finger at someone else or would you have just done it yourself?

Sales training tip: Do your research. I say this every year, several times and it seems darned obvious and everyone knows that they ought to… and yet… And it’s not just on The Apprentice either. I see lack of research, lack of preparation and lack of practise hampering salespeople and businesses every day. How hard would it have been to research La Redoute? There… follow this link and I did it for you!

Representing team Suzy however Helen’s pitch was a class apart. Starting with an engaging smile she said that she knew their product lines and had bought off their site. The panel smiled and voila the Entente-Cordiale was restored.

A little research and preparation goes a long way. It’s not rocket science.

And neither is selling, something that Melody was doing a good job of in several of the sales appointments that she had set up, selling the somewhat bizarre teapot in reasonable numbers. OK, so she was a bit greedy but then if Lord Alan had wanted them to play as a team he should not have made such a point of them having individual order books. And Melody made a good point when she said that the others had singularly failed to set any meetings up (remember what I said about not everyone having the right skills, attitudes and strategies to set up meetings?)…

But selling or not, Melody was unlikely to finish this task on the winning team so she’d better hope that Lord Alan overlooks her obvious flaws (full of herself, doesn’t listen, does her own thing, ruthless…) in favour of her bullish, self-belief and sales success. Because Tom, Leon and Tash were making a cochon’s ear of this one…

Tom couldn’t manage his way out of a paper bag and was totally out of control of the whole team and spent most of the task looking like he didn’t even know quelle country he was in. Leon showed himself up as out of his depth, beaten and defeatist and Tash did, well, nothing much.

In the Boardroom…

The results were in.

Tom and Logic had made E11,705 sales to retailers they found and 0 to La Redoute.
Suzy and Venture had made E14,699 sales to retailers and E214,000 to La Redoute.

Oh la la! A fabulous result for Suzy based mostly on the cracking pitch from Helen who is looking like a really strong candidate this year (although we are missing a huge piece because we know so little about what Lord Alan is looking for)…

Suzy, Helen, Jim and Zoe headed off to fly planes no doubt glad that they had Helen and not Tom and Jerry (Tom and Leon) on their team…

Back in the Boardroom…

Tom elected to bring back Leon and Melody. Lord Alan looked crestfallen that he wouldn’t get to tear a strip of the sullen looking Natasha and consoled himself with laying into the others. Tom immediately tried to blame Melody and the rest of the team for not supporting him in wanting the rucksack. Part fair I agree as he did want the rucksack but there were 9 other products and had they got the research and the pitch right for La Redoute, who’s to say that they might not have sold more?

Sales training tip: Bad salespeople blame their products. Bad salespeople blame the markets. Bad salespeople blame their clients. Good salespeople, do their research, do their preparation and work out why their clients want and need to buy their products and services and then sell them. And that’s it!

But no-one was blameless here. Melody had forged her own path, ignored instructions and hogged the sales opportunities. Leon had wilted, folded, shrivelled and given up. Tom had ~~lost~~ never had control.

Melody fought her corner. Lord Al kind of liked her chutzpah. She was safe.

Tom decided to lay his credentials on the line… he had invented stuff, patented it sold it. Yes he might have got this wrong tonight but he was bidding for Lord Alan’s attention. And he had it. (We wants it). Even Dragons invest when they see good ideas they can sell. (We needs it). Lord Alan might say he wants something (Must have the precious) but if Tom really does have good ideas worth money then Lord Alan can always structure this thing differently.(No-one is going to steal it from us).

Leon would need to kick some ass now…

But he didn’t. He blushed instead. I could kind of see him wondering if he could hold Lord Alan’s pinky like he had in the B’ham Bullring with all the nice ladies. He thought about it… Probably not.

“Look Leon. You’re a nice geezer but you’re the nice kid who always gets flattened in the East End movies and I’m afraid I ‘aint gonna do no different so you’re fired.”

The Apprentices left. Lord Alan turned to his sidekicks. “She’s a tiger, She’s ruthless. She’lll walk all over anyone. That’s what I like about her.” Nick looked coyly at Karen Brady, “Leon and Tom should be more manly if I can put it that way?” he half asked. She smiled and bared her fangs.

And you know, it’s a shame that this is what gets lauded on TV as good business. Melody has some good traits and some that are running out of control and need taming and they’ll probably only be worse next week.