MANAGE YOUR LIFE

Old school rules, new school tools

Kate had a snap lesson with sales coach Simon White and took some handy tips away with her

IN THE CURRENT economic climate we could all use a bit of help to maintain and expand our businesses, be it a large corporation or a sole trader. I met Simon White of Simon White Business Development Ltd, a sales trainer, sales coach and LinkedIn consultant, and was impressed by his advice.

On his website Simon promises to help businesses ‘win more deals, retain more customers, and grow key accounts.’ But is it really that easy I wondered? he first thing you noti e hen you meet Simon is his energy, friendly, easy-going manner and straightforward way of explaining anything to do with sales. It’s no surprise to hear he has over 25 years’ sales management experience, the last eight years running his own consultancy. Most of his work is sales coaching and training but he still continues to sell for one or two clients ‘to keep me sharp and constantly developing my own skills.’ As he points out, ‘if I’m standing up in front of a room of people giving them sales skills, it’s nice for them to know the day before I was using those same techniques.’

The world of sales has changed over the years. The internet has helped hugely in the early part of a sales process. ‘If you cold called 25 years ago,’ Simon told me, ‘and someone was interested in your product, you’d have jumped in your car and driven three hours to Slough say, and you’d lose days and days doing that. Now if you approach a company via LinkedIn or email or phone you may agree to have a follow up meeting over Zoom or Teams which would take less than an hour.

‘If I’d been coaching 25 years ago I’d be using my own knowledge and what I’d read in books which is based on someone else’s experience. Now a lot of what I share is based on fact or intelligence gathered via research I’ve done. And I know where to look for those facts. Selling is not telling, and telling is not training either. It’s not all about what I know but how I create the content and the activities and games that bring that knowledge to life. The old ‘chalk and tal approa h isn t as e e ti e anymore.’

As a sales trainer you’d expect most of Simon’s clients to be sales people but they’re not always. A lot of the time they’re small business owners or subject/technical experts like solicitors or engineers; someone

ho has to sell their produ ts or ser i es ut ho are not sales people hey e still got to net or ualify e aluate leads to determine their li elihood of ma ing a purchase) and close opportunities. Why would you choose to employ one particular soli itor out of a hoi e of three t ill ome do n to their a ility to sell themsel es and their ser i es ome of the training do is around ey a ount management so loo ing after the a ounts you e got he are minimum is that you ant to eep them and if you an you’ll want to grow them by selling to other di isions or upselling or ross selling produ ts and ser i es ou might also get referrals from them nd you o iously want to be adding new clients, but it’s al ays easier to sell to an existing lient

than to a cold customer. Before a meeting Simon al ays as s his lients an M ANAGE YOUR LIF E someone who has been in sales for 30 years there is still so much to learn. We call it important question and it’s ‘old school rules, new school one that can be used in all sorts tools tu you may ha e of s enarios His uestion is fast learnt in the 1980s is still forward three months and what applicable but we’re now doing can your team (or yourself) do then it ia in ed n or hats pp or that they an t do no He then ta es sending ideo messages them into the future and loo s at if they Sales training is where Simon shares his ant to e more e ient in meetings for no ledge ith lients introdu ing example or to lose more deals rom that a ti ities to ring that no ledge to life He he tailors the ontent of his training to fit suggests that training or s est if it s hat they e told him r he arries out a reinforced by coaching. Coaching or training needs analysis to understand mentoring ta es pla e on a one to one asis people’s blind spots and opportunities for and addresses lients spe ifi hallenges de elopment may as hat s hanged sin e e last n a room there ill al ays e mixed spo e r hat do you ant to get out of a ility he says and e en if you ha e this parti ular session t may e to fo us on closing deals and we may critique the phone alls they e made or at h re ordings of their sales together e ll loo at hat they ‘Simon suggests a blended approach thin they e done ell and hat they to sales: this might include the ould do to impro e for next time e an re ie their sales pipeline y loo ing at phone, email, direct mail, LinkedIn, their data ase may as hen they are next going to see a parti ular lient nd hat is networking events and exhibitions.' the purpose of their next meeting hat ould go rong hat do you need to as them hat do you need to prepare in ad an e t s good to ha e someone to oun e thoughts o and hopefully there will be some lightbulb moments.’ He suggests a lended approa h to sales this might include the phone, email, direct mail in ed n net or ing e ents and exhi itions ou e got to go here your audien e is in ed n may not e the pla e for you but it is a forum where you can buy and sell ser i es olla orate ith and learn from people. There are thousands of training courses you can download if you’re a premium in ed n ustomer you an follow thought leaders in your industry, you can follow your competitors and your prospe ts ith the right approa h hi h tea h on my training ourses in ed n an be a goldmine of new opportunities and possibilities.’ hat imon really en oys is or ing ith ompanies o er a period of time He may coach a business owner once a month for a few months and that will be enough. Someone else may want coaching once a ee for years ome people don t no hat they ant when they contact me. That’s why we need a on ersation to egin ith hen if m the right fit for them e an or either in person or ia oom hi h means no or all o er the orld e already got three sales training courses in Dubai oo ed for next year!

www.swbusinessdevelopment.co.uk