APSCo Members Conference, 2010, Brave New World
I am delighted to have been invited to speak for the 2nd time at the APSCo Members Conference on Thursday 30th September at the Hilton London Tower Bridge. I spoke at the APSCo (or ATSCo as it was then) conference in 2008 (ATSCo 2008) and it was a great event. I know this isn’t for all of my readers but if you are in recruitment and you’re a member, then why not come along? This may well be the only recruitment specific event that I attend in 2010.
The APSCo Members Conference is firmly established as the largest sales conference in the recruitment profession in the UK and is market specific, content rich and enlightening day for both sales and sales management professionals in the recruitment sector. The focus is on providing information, techniques and tactics that will help to improve the consistency of success for even the most experienced of recruiters. Speaking at the event this year are…
- Ann Swain, Chief Executive, APSCo.
- Anthony Hilton, Financial Editor, Evening Standard. The Business Lessons of The Post Credit Crunch Recession.
- Chris Matchan, The Chris Matchan Partnership. Engagement in a Brave New World.
- Me, Gavin Ingham, How to Make Quantum Leaps in Your Sales Results.
There will also be several break out sessions away from the main stage with options for managers (Charles Bates, Know Why & Keep It Right & Duncan John, Transactional Analysis & Communication), salespeople (Graham Smith, How to Let Other People Have Your Way & Colin Forster, The Sales Relationship in a Brave New World) and executives (Rob Gee, Authentic Leadership).
The conference will the finish up with a panel discussion on “How Can Recruiters Adapt to Provide the Service Clients Need in Today’s Environment – And Still Make Profit?”
You can see the full APSCo Members Conference brochure here. And you can find members and non-members booking form on the APSCo website here.
How To Mess Up A Cold Call
A cold caller has been trying to get hold of me for a few days with the message, “I would like to invite you to an event?” We finally spoke today and he launched into a series of questions (which weren’t all bad) and then a reasonably well crafted and well presented pitch. This guy should be making a lot of sales but, whether he does or not, I bet that he does a lot of head banging on a daily basis and he could do a lot better…
Why?
Lack of research, planning and preparation. You might ask how I know he wasn’t prepared properly? Well, these two little gems to start with…
- His opening gambit, “I don’t know much about your company”. For that, read, he knows nothing.
- Having the nerve to ask me, “What are the main products and services you sell?”
Seriously, can you believe that? And to a sales motivational speaker too. He needs to attend one of my sales seminars!
Intrigued, I asked him how he got my details. The answer was not clear but it was something like, “Well, I have a list that came from research and my manager recommended you and I had a look and…” Oh, come on. No, you didn’t and no he didn’t and we both know that someone bought a list of numbers from somewhere and you rang it without a second thought. You’ve done nothing.
A lot of people think that cold calling doesn’t work anymore. A lot of people think that cold calling never worked. A lot of people think that cold calling doesn’t and won’t work for them. A lot of speakers are making a lot of money perpetuating this myth (watch out for my forthcoming video series where I set the stall straight on that one!).
The truth is that cold calling does not work for many salespeople. And it doesn’t work for several reasons…
- They’re not in the right state of mind.
- They don’t make enough calls.
- They don’t know enough about their prospects.
- They don’t personalize their calls for every individual.
- They don’t ask enough questions.
- They don’t know how they are most likely to be able to help that prospect.
- They don’t listen.
- They don’t tailor their solutions.
- They don’t offer up enough (any) value.
- They give up too easily.
Cold calling can and does work. I am not going to bore you talking about the clients that I have helped to explode their sales results, nor am I going to drone on about how I have helped individuals to create and sustain the lives they desire by being able to attend more proactive sales meetings and sell more when they get there. Instead, I am going to share with you the success a friend of mine, Clifton, who led a professional services sales team by running powerful sales meetings stemming from professional cold calling techniques…
They grew a division taking 700 meetings a year and turning £7m pa to a team running 1000 meetings a year and turning £25m pa within 2 years. On one specific project they had 250 meetings (gained through cold calling) and won £22m worth of revenues.
Cold calling doesn’t work when coupled with powerful sales strategies? As Bart would say, “Eat my shorts!”
But cold calling has to be coupled with powerful, proven sales strategies and it also has to be professional, purposeful and legitimate and this requires effective planning and preparation to even get off the starting line. If you review my list of the 10 reasons cold calling doesn’t work you will see that at least 8 of them (if not arguably all of them) could be addressed or massively improved by doing the right preparation in the first place.
I hope my cold caller reads this article. It might help him. It probably won’t as I don’t think he will think to check my blog, certainly not now… I’m just the guy who spoiled his morning and said that I wasn’t interested.
The Business Supremacy Summit, 2010 With Doug Richard…
“Dedicated to the Exponential Growth & Success of SME’s – Spend a day Immersed in Leading Edge Growth Strategies with World Leading Entrepreneurs!!!”
Thursday 1st July – Madejski Stadium, Reading, Berkshire
Hey readers, I thought that you might be interested in this event that I am speaking at. If you read on to the end you will see how to book and please note that there is a code that will get you a discount as you have been referred by me so make sure that you use this…
From BBC’s Dragon’s Den, see Doug Richard live on stage! Sharing “The Mistakes Behind The Scenes: How to succeed when you don’t know what you’re doing!” Making a business go from “Potential to Exponential” Don’t Miss it! See Sahar Hashemi – Co-founder of Coffee Republic Live on Stage Sharing “Switched on” – How to keep the entrepreneurial spirit as you grow!
Joining Doug & Sahar on main stage are: Leading expert in Explosive Sales performance – Gavin Ingham & Reputation, Networking & Referrals Expert – Rob Brown. Gavin Ingham will be sharing his Sales Explosion Secrets Live on main stage and Rob Brown will be sharing his knowledge on “How to Build Your Reputation” – The secret of becoming a “Go To” choice in a crowded marketplace.
And that’s just for starters…
We are running exclusive hard hitting interactive workshops in the main hall all afternoon, all featuring the most current topics that leaders, business owners & entrepreneurs face when addressing & planning for business growth.
Come and spend an explosive, business changing day in the company of 100’s of other SME’s and immerse yourself in today’s most powerful business growth techniques & strategies with world leading enterpreneurs. Our experts will show you how to drive your sales and business forward, against all odds and thrive!
Covering all the essential elements for business success from Sales Explosion Secrets, Breakthrough Marketing Techniques, Motivational Leadership, Streamlining Strategies for rapid profit acceleration to “The Entrepreneurial Mindset” that will change your business life!
Quite simply this is a must attend event for anyone serious about increasing their sales & growing their business…
We look forward to welcoming you at the event.
Book now to secure your place and don’t forget to use my special discount code “GAVIN30″.
Win! Win! Win!
Book now and win the chance to dine with Sahar and Doug and our keynote speakers on the day (that’s me by the way… 
). Every ticket purchased will be entered in to a prize draw to win the chance to dine with our Special Guests on the day in the exclusive Glass Boardroom. The winner will be announced the week prior to the event!.
Off the main stage our delegates will be treated to 8 exclusive hard hitting interactive workshops in the main hall all afternoon, all featuring the most current topics, Leaders/Business Owners/Entrepreneurs face when addressing/planning for business growth.
Choose from…
- “Business Turnaround”. The complete “how-to” workshop.
- “How To Get An Extra 60 Minutes Out Of Your Already Hectic Day”. You can find another hour in your busy day and this workshop will transform the way you look at your time and what you do with it.
- “Secret Of Successful Networking”. The right strategy, the right events, the right execution, the right conversations, the right people, the right results.
- “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Jourmailst?” How to harness the power of the press to raise your business profile.
And then at 400pm you can choose from…
- “The Influential Presenter”. The insider secrets of presenting with power (this one’s with me so highly recommended!)
- “Cyberpsychology”. The answers to gaining huge profit increases using social median in “the right way”.
- “The Right Brand”. Show the world you mean business by using the simplest of marketing messages in the most powerful of ways.
- “The Flip Top Head Phenomenon.” Get inside the heads of your leadership teams and build a powerful business using psychometric profiling for serious results.
Book now to secure your place and don’t forget to use my special discount code “GAVIN30″.
Better Business Focus Magazine, May 09
One of my articles was feaured in Better Business Focus magazine, the essential key for business owners and managers, again this month. Better Business Focus magazine focuses on the way in which successful businesses in the UK compete and manage their organisations. It focuses on how people are recruited, coached and developed; on how marketing and selling is undertaken in professional markets as well as in markets with intense competition; on how technology and the Internet is reshaping the face of domestic and home business; and on how people are being equipped with new skills and techniques. In short, it offers expert inspiration for a better business.
To read this issue click here now. Featured in this month’s issue are…
- Game of chance by Bob Apollo. Tips and tricks for practive pipeline management. Article for sales directors, CFOs and finance directors.
- Coming over clearly by Amanda Vickers. How to make the right first impression. Article for sales directors, sales managers and salespeople.
- CSR or so what? by Graeme Crossy. How to use CSR to open doors for your business. Article for entrepreneurs, business owners and managers.
- Entreprenurial tips by Theo Paphitis. 5 tips to help you to improve your business. Article for entrepreneurs and business owners.
- How the Bowen technique can help yourposture and increase your productivity at work by Jo Lunn. How to correct your posture and feel more confident and positive. Article for everyone.
- Your slip is showing by Barry Urquhart. How to be different and to maintain your standards. Article for business owners, managers and retailers.
- Time to manage by John Niland. Time management and finance tips for consultants and business owners.
- Successful selling lying on your back by Gavin Ingham. Tips for improving your sales skills. Article for salespeople, sales managers, sales directors and business owners.
- 10 strategies to ensure that your marketing is a success by Chris Cardell. Tips on how to market your business more effectively. Article for marketing personnel, business owners, entrepreneurs and managers.
To read this issue click here now.
Getting The Sales Superstar Mindset, Sales Training Video 1 Of 3
The first of 3 sales training videos on how to adopt the mindset of a sales superstar and make more sales.
On Being A Motivational Speaker…
I was interviewed this week about being a motivational speaker by Simply Sales Jobs who are running a series of interviews to help sales professionals and people thinking of commencing a career in sales to better understand the benefits, challenges and rewards of a career in selling…
You own and run ‘Gavin Ingham Ltd’ – tell me more about your role, company and what motivated you to establish the business.
My time is split between running open sales training seminars, speaking at sales conferences and working on new books, audios & DVDs. I also spend a very limited amount of time doing training and consultancy. As a company, Gavin Ingham is focused on helping salespeople, business owners, entrepreneurs & sales leaders to create the sales, businesses and lives that they desire.
Throughout my career I was really into personal development and sales training and found them to be an incredibly powerful resource for me. As I progressed I found that my biggest buzz came not just from selling but also from helping others to sell more and achieve their goals.
What is your background and where did the idea come from to start Gavin Ingham Ltd?
Salesperson, sales manager, sales director, head of sales and marketing… the further I progressed the more of a kick I got from helping others to achieve their ambitions too. Having employed several training companies to train my teams and having studied many sales and personal development gurus I believed that it was an area in which I could add massive value. It’s sounds like I swallowed the manual but I really do see it as calling!
What are the top 5 skills and characteristics you believe makes a consistent over-achiever in Sales?
Gosh, that’s a hard one – there are so many. So in no particular order…
Top salespeople are motivated. Motivation is critical for sales success. No-one wants to buy off an unmotivated salesperson. Ultimately, everyone is motivated… some are motivated not to cold call, motivated to sell to easy clients, motivated to discount… so when I say motivation I mean motivation to do the right things and at the right time.
Top salespeople have proven sales skills such as questioning, listening, sales process, presenting, rapport building and so on. Top salespeople know that sales skills are simple to understand and more difficult to execute. Top salespeople do the simple things really, really well. Most salespeople know how to sell but they don’t do it consistently enough. This is because they haven’t practised their skills until they are second nature.
Top salespeople have belief. They believe in themselves, they believe in their products, services and solutions, they believe in the value that they add for their clients and they believe in the profession of selling itself. If you believe, you really can achieve!
Top salespeople have the right mindset. They are persistent, consistent and tenacious. They are genuinely interested in their clients and they aim to work in partnership with them.
Finally, and by no means last, top salespeople understand the psychology of selling. They know why people buy and how their behaviour affects both the sale and the other parties in the sale. They know how what they say and how they act affects others. What’s more, they are tuned in to this when they speak with clients and prospects on the phone and face to face and can flex their approach to get results in any situation.
What do you love about your industry?
Being able to help people to create the lives and businesses that they deserve, the diversity of my role and the fact that one day I may be speaking to thousands of people and the next I may be working one on one with an MD of a small business or sitting quietly in my place in Spain writing the next chapter of one of my books.
Any recommendations for job-seekers looking at a career in Sales, especially in the current climate?
Know that a good salesperson will do well in any market. Top salespeople will always excel whatever the market. Take responsibility for your own development and your own career and create your own sales success study programme. Stay motivated and learn from the best.
What would you do, as a career, if you weren’t working in Sales industry?
Professional fly fisherman (I wish!) in the summer, stage hypnotist in the winter!
Within my LinkedIn network of contacts you are the person with the most recommendations! Here is just one of them “Gavin is one of the most focused, energetic and lateral thinking Managers that I have worked with. He is credible, good fun and inspirational!” How does that make you feel?
I didn’t know I had that many testimonials on LinkedIn… I’ve never asked for any! I love what I do and I am passionate about it and I think that shows. I guess it’s always nice to know that people appreciate what you do!
What keeps you awake at night?
When I’m in London, usually traffic as you can only hear owls from my bedroom window at home! At home, not much, although I do find it difficult to stop working when I am on a roll even if it’s 3am in the morning! Once I go to bed though it is rare that I struggle to sleep.
As a busy business owner, what are you never without?
A sense of humour!
5 of the most exciting things currently on your desk...
The proofs for my next two books, Real World Sales Skills and Real World Sales Attitude; the framework for my new distance learning sales programmes on cold calling, lead generation and selling; my Eee PC – I still cannot get over how small and portable it is; a bid on a rare first edition book on Ebay; my diary – I don’t think that I will ever lose the excitement of a diary full of sales potential!
Outside of work, do you have any unfulfilled ambitions?
As a child, I wanted to be in The Professionals, the real ones not the show, but I’d hate the hours and being shot at all of the time. I also wanted to be a vet like James Herriott but there’s no way I would stick my hand up a cow’s arse so that wasn’t really a starter either.
One of the first things I did when I got involved with personal development was to get on and take action towards my true ambitions. I do have things that I am going to do however and next is to buy myself a Blokart – check them out, they’re wicked!
Beware The Dark Side Of The Sales Training Force
Strikes me there are two types of trainers / speakers who have gone over to the dark side in an attempt to win more business…
The you must “never cold call clan”. They’ll tell you it doesn’t work, they’ll tell you it costs money and they’ll tell you it’s outdated. They’ll also tell you that anyone who disagrees with them is a charlatan! They’re wrong. I’ve worked with teams who have set up on average 2 qualified sales appointments with senior decision-makers in an hour each. One large corporate I worked with landed a £350,000+ contract (year 1 only) from a cold call made whilst actually on one of my training programme. Doh!
These so called sales trainers are cashing in on the fear of cold calling because they know that people will pay good money to try and avoid it… There’s a sales tip there… fear sells!
The you must "only cold call crew". And guess what? They’re wrong too. Even though I have trained £100k+ per year sales aces to cold call more effectively it’s not the only way. No-one likes a one-trick pony and if cold calling is your only route to market then that’s what you are!!! So no matter how good you are – find more than one way to win new business!
Incidentally, I bought the CDs and workbook of one of the “never cold call clan” and guess what? Well, firstly it was pretty good, outlining several other ways to create business opportunities but…
And it’s a big but… at one point in the course there is a whole section devoted to… having your PA ring their PA and set up an appointment! So you never have to cold call but your PA does!
Smells like good old call avoidance to me!
What The Mile High Agony Aunt Can’t Teach You About Cold Calling
I was flying back from a small town in the South of England the other day. The flight was quite pleasant and I had just been delivering a very effective sales training programme for the sales team. One of the main thrusts of the sales coaching was helping the staff to overcome fear of cold calling and prospecting and empowering them to go out and win business.
So there I was, on the plane, drinking my coffee and reading the in-flight magazine when I chanced across a letter to a sort of Mile High Agony Aunt. It read something like this…
Dear MH Agony Aunt
I keep getting cold calls and they upset me. I’m a little mouse and I can’t say “No”. What can I do? It’s ruining my life, boo hoo.
Yours
Scared of Wimpsville
Ok! Ok! I know – getting calls at home can be upsetting for elderly people and all that but it wasn’t really the letter that interested me – it was the answer!!! It went something like this…
Dear Scared
I’m sorry to hear you keep getting cold calls. The first thing that you need to know is that cold calling is the worst job in the world. You should feel sorry for them. They are clearly not educated enough to get proper jobs. Now what you can do is…
Yours
Mile High Agony Aunt
Wow! And Wow! again. With people out there spouting verbal garbage like that is it any wonder that people who “fall into” sales jobs end up feeling a bit down on themselves. Crikey! If you rang someone and they said, “Are you a cold caller?” and you believed that, all you’d hear is, “Are you the shit on my shoe?”
Don’t be a wimp, be a winner…
Now, I don’t want to get into the rights and wrongs of cold calling people at home – not today anyway – but I do have a message for salespeople everywhere…
Hold your head up. Take a deep breath. Remind yourself that nothing happens in business until someone makes a sale. Think of all the good things that you can manifest in your life by being a great salesperson and go out and make today a great day.
Sell with passion.
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