This Girl Means Business - Issue 8

Jacqueline

Gold

CEO of Ann Summers talks about how she spotted a unique opportunity and turned it into a multimillion-pound business

ISSUE

08

How to build a big list of targeted leads fast!

1 Question

That Can Help You Make More Money

Discover How to Stop

Holding

Yourself Back

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If so, we’d love to hear from you! We’re always on the look out for people to contribute great articles.

To find out how you can contribute, CLICK HERE.

I’m going

“to own it! ” (Don’t let anything stand in the way of your dreams, get out there and own it.)

Meet the Team

4

Carrie Green, UK

Natalie Walstein, USA

Editor-in-Chief

Design & Illustration

Carrie started her first business at the age of 20 whilst studying Law at university. Over the years she grew it into a successful global business and in 2011 she launched the Female Entrepreneur Association – an online platform where women from around the world can be inspired and connect with like-minded women.

She loves sharing stories about inspirational people who are achieving amazing things and encouraging people to have the belief in themselves to actually do the things they really want to do in life. Her favourite quote is by Anthony Robbins, “Your destiny is determined by the choices you make. Choose now. Choose well.”

Natalie is the founder of Half Asleep Studio, a dreamy design & illustration studio based in Minneapolis, MN, that is focused on propelling the image and message of small businesses & creative professionals. Natalie has a passion for art, creativity, and inspiring herself and others to find the beauty in everything.

She blogs about her projects, life, inspiration, & more at halfasleepstudio.com, and her favorite quote is, “Your dream job does not exist. You must create it.”

This Girl Means Business

Samantha Green, UK

James Stephens, UK

Style Editor

Features Editor

Samantha likes all things stylish and sparkly and firmly believes that the key to dressing and living well lies in the accessories you choose for your wardrobe and your life. She is the founder and editor of the blog Every Shade of Green, which features daily posts on design, interiors, fashion, accessories and more.

An aspiring graphic designer at heart, Samantha started her blog in 2011 as an outlet for her passion for fashion and design, and is happily extending this love into the This Girl brand, where she enjoys sharing her stylish finds with readers across the globe.

James is a passionate writer and entrepreneur. He started his first business in 2005 and built it into a success. He is enthusiastic about inspiring others to achieve amazing things. He’s also an avid fan of photography, with an eye for detail and regularly enjoys going out with his camera. His favourite quote is, “Do something today that your future self with thank you for.�

Meet the Team

5

{This Girl Means}

BUSINESS ISSUE #08

e on th : cover

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with

Jacqueline Gold

The CEO of Ann Summers talks about how she spotted a unique opportunity and turned it into a multimillion-pound business!

Personal Development 12

It’s Time to Let Go of Superwoman by Jane Kenyon

16

6

Tell the Negative Committee That Meets Inside Your Head to Sit Down & Shut Up

by Carrie Green

This Girl Means Business

Style 50

This Girl Loves...

by Samantha Green

Business Development 10 24

36

Powerful Question of the Month How She Did It: Interview with Jayne Lawton of Grobox Gardens How to Get Anything You Want for Free Through Joint Ventures

by Michelle Holmes

This Girl 10

Quote of the Month

11

Note from Carrie

22

Advice from Female Entrepreneurs

60

What We’re Reading

62

Top 10 Tips

42

Cover Story: Interview with Jacqueline Gold

52

Sales Series: How to Sell Yourself by Lara Morgan

QUICK LINKS: Share This Issue Subscribe / Contribute View Past issues Share Your Story

s dqwertA S Hy yY Table of Contents

7

Contributors Michelle Holmes, UK The Superfly Tribe Michelle Holmes is a Relationship Marketing and Joint Venture Specialist and Speaker with a passion for the stage. She spent most of her life (until her late twenties) working on and around the stage as a singer, presenter and vocal coach. Her mission is to help you enjoy more fame, fortune, fulfilment and free time by designing and implementing award winning marketing strategies and campaigns that allow you to “be everywhere, at the same time, making your difference even while you’re sleeping”.

Jane Kenyon, UK Jane is a serial entrepreneur, respected coach, speaker, youth advocate and champion of female empowerment. For the past 10 years she has worked exclusively with women and teenage girls in the UK. In 2007 she founded www.wellheelddivas.com an organisation dedicated to inspiring and empowering women to step up and shine and in 2009 her work with women led her to create a social enterprise www.girlsoutloud.org.uk with a mission to raise the aspirations of teen girls in the UK. She is a powerhouse of inspiration, courage and authenticity and a sought after speaker, internationally.

Lara Morgan, UK Company Shortcuts Lara Morgan is the founder of Company Shortcuts and best selling Amazon author of “More Balls than Most”, her story about building a global enterprise. Lara is a straight-talking entrepreneur who understands the frustrations felt by small and medium-sized businesses that have lost their way. Rather than administering generic big picture advice, Lara is dedicated to delivering honest and practical help to enable businesses to achieve their full potential.

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This Girl Means Business

Powerful Question of the Month How much time do you spend every day reaching out to your customers and selling your products and services?

Be honest with yourself. Are you doing enough of the right activities? What are you spending your time doing? Is it getting you to where you want to be? >> Check out Lara Morgan’s article on selling on page #52.

Powerful Question of the Month

9

GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WORK THEIR ASSES OFF AND NEVER GIVE UP

Note from Carrie If I were to ask you, “What’s the biggest thing that stands in the way of you achieving your goals?” what would your answer be?

I was recently contemplating what my answer would be and realised that I am the biggest thing that can ever stand in the way of my dreams.

I personally think this is true for all of us.

How many times have you come up with a great idea and then started to question yourself and your abilities to make it happen?

I used to do this all the time, until I realised that I had the power to decide whether or not I was going to stop myself from reaching my goal.

We all have the power within ourselves to move out of our own way and to achieve the things we want. We have to be our own best friend, not our worst enemy.

On page #16 I share my strategy for how I managed to stop holding myself back. I hope it helps you to soar.

Enjoy this issue and remember to get out there and own it – live the life you want to live, fight to make your dreams come true and don’t let anything stand in your way.

Carrie

P.S. Come say Hi on Facebook and Twitter, or join our LinkedIn network!

Note from Carrie

11

By Jane Kenyon

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This Girl Means Business

It’s Time To Let Go of Superwoman - she who is all controlling, she who will never display vulnerability, she who will never ask for help, she who will never say no – she is feeding our insecurities, she is damaging our self belief, she is sabotaging our businesses and relationships and she is NOT a great life model to pass onto our young girls. It is time to let her go…..

The shoulder pads may be dated but superwoman as an identity and way of being is still alive and well.

Over the past 10 years my work with women has given me an insight on the way we are managing our new roles as working women and entrepreneurs with some interesting observations. In 2007 I coined the term Strong Woman Syndrome. This is a superwoman version 2 and goes like this…

STRONG WOMAN SYNDROME – THE BEHAVIOUR MODEL

Women displaying the behaviour traits of this model are perfectionists.

They have high expectations of themselves – they have to be the best Mother, best boss, best team player, best social host, best lover, best daughter, best neighbour, best sister, best domestic goddess, best wife, best

friend and so on. They also subscribe to the media’s position on beauty, so alongside being the best, they have to do it in heels looking like they have just stepped of a L’Oreal ad!

As we all know this self imposed perfectionism is totally impossible to sustain, so when they fail to deliver, or fall off this self built pedestal for even a minute, these women are the first to beat themselves up, eg. late to pick up child from school, burn the tea, forget to sky plus husband’s favourite show.

Because they have such high expectations of themselves and high standards they believe the people around them have pretty low expectations because no-one can do anything as well as them. (Why would they want to?) They will say things like ‘You just cannot get the staff, by the time I have shown you how to do this

It’s Time to Let Go of Superwoman

13

I could have done it myself’ or ‘No one else can do this like me.’

So they end up controlling the whole show at home and work. It’s their way or no way. They become intimidating, scary control freaks!

Women stuck here tend to complain a lot about lack of work/life balance, they talk about juggling and doing everything and being exhausted with no ‘me’ time.

Juggling can only ever be a temporary state so it’s not long before a plate or two come crashing to the floor and things go wrong.

But guess what? When this happens strong women simply blame everyone else! It cannot possibly be their fault, remember, they are doing everything! if you blame everyone else for your life decisions and choices you become a disempowered victim. Interestingly, this is a position of weakness not strength. So all the time we think we are projecting a strong, in control woman, underneath we are weak and vulnerable. The two states we fear most.

This is a very confusing model

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This Girl Means Business

of behaviour. We switch from superwoman to victim continuously, sometimes several times a day or even in the duration of a conversation and we wonder why we are misunderstood?

One minute we are in total control, invincible and strutting along in our high heels, the next minute we are a bumbling wreck of insecurities, blaming the world for our plight, feeling unloved and unappreciated and exhausted!

We have confused control with power.

The strong woman syndrome appears to be a position of strength but in reality, it is a place of weakness.

Controlling everything does not give you power, it gives you a migraine! It is emotionally exhausting to think that the only way to demand respect, or to be loved, or to be needed is to DO everything, for everyone, perfectly.

THROWING AWAY THE CAPE AND THE INVINCIBLE BADGE...

There is a better place to live. A more nourishing place where you are allowed to embrace your vulnerability; a place where you can be true to yourself and be loved for who you are, not what you do; a place where being female is a joy, where you can tap into your intuition, passion, emotions and courage; a place where it is OK to ask for help, to say NO and to hand over control, sometimes!

New Rules: 1.

Dump little miss perfect,

embrace the real you. Authenticity is real power. Know who you are, your hot buttons, your passion and compromise them at your peril.

2.

Know that striving for perfection at work and home is fake and weak. The business plan is

never done, the website can always be improved, the kitchen could always be cleaner – New mantra: ‘Get going and get better’!

3. Embrace failure. We are

supposed to make mistakes, it builds emotional resilience and teaches us about life. If you are not making mistakes you are not living your best life.

4. Accept and give help.

This is the new sisterhood. We are not supposed to be completely self sufficient we need community.

5.

Be proud to be an emotional creature, it is not a crime,

it is real, get over it!

6. Value your uniqueness and

teach your daughter to do the same – we are not all supposed to look or behave in the same way.

7. And the big one - embrace

your vulnerability. Have the courage and compassion to share your story, flaws an all. If you numb vulnerability you also numb joy. 

It’s Time to Let Go of Superwoman

15

Tell the

negative

committee that

meets inside your head to sit

down and

shut up!

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This Girl Means Business

I think Ann Bradford was right when she made that statement – the negative committee do need to shut up. They are the voices that meet in your head and tell you unhelpful things that make you feel bad and stop you from achieving what you want.

COMMON STATEMENTS FROM THE NEGATIVE COMMIT TEE USUALLY INCLUDE:  You can’t do it!  What makes

you think you’re the expert?  It’s impossible.  You don’t have the time or money to do it.

Sound familiar? I think from time to time we all have a negative committee that meets in our head – some of us can switch it off and pay no attention to it, while others spend a lot of time and energy battling with the negative thoughts – it can be exhausting.

As entrepreneurs we like to think big. We come up with great ideas and then set off on a journey to turn our ideas into a reality. Quite often from the word ‘go’ the negative committee starts meeting, because the road to achieving amazing things is bumpy.

However, with those negative voices

jabbering away in your head it’s hard to keep going, you end up just wanting to go and curl up on the sofa and do nothing, which is the last thing you need to be doing when you’re trying to achieve amazing things.

But it’s not all doom and gloom!

Just as quickly as the negative thoughts flood into your mind, you can just as quickly kick them out and focus your energy on thoughts that will help you to feel good, feel positive and feel like you can achieve anything you set your mind to achieving.

So, how exactly can you do this?

Tell the Negative Committee...

17

By taking control.

While we can’t control the bumps

What you think becomes your

we experience along our journey, we can

reality. That is a good enough reason for

control how we choose to respond – we

taking control and kicking the negative

get to choose what we think, how we

committee out. If you can focus your

feel, how we act and react. This is a power

energy on thinking positive thoughts, on

most people don’t even realise they have.

visualising things going amazingly well,

What’s more important to know is that

on believing with absolute conviction

the thoughts you are thinking have an

that you will make it happen, instead

enormous impact on your life. There’s a

of focusing on negative and destructive

quote I love, which sums this up well…

thoughts, you will start to manifest what you truly desire.

“

“Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch you words; they become actions.

Watch your actions they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” {Lao Tzu}

7 Steps to Get the Negative Committee to Sit Down and Shut Up: 1. Take Control

When the negative thoughts start

flooding into your mind, don’t let them take over. You’ve got to pull yourself out of them – you can do this by taking a step back. Take a step back and realise that you have the power to choose your thoughts and if you want, you can choose

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This Girl Means Business

to tell the negative committee to go

throw it behind you (in your imagination).

away. Or just say “stop” really firmly – say

it with conviction and stop the negative

you use it all the time, probably without

thoughts.

realising it. So many people spend time

Your imagination is powerful –

imagining the worst that could happen – now it’s time to take control and imagine those negative, no good thoughts going away.

3. Change How You Feel

Next, let’s look at how your neg-

ative thoughts are making you feel.

When you’re thinking about them, how do they make you feel? Hopeless? Sad?

2. Change the Picture in Your Mind — The next step is

Unproductive? Where do you feel it? Is it a feeling in the pit of your stomach? Does it make your chest feel tight? Do you feel

to get visual and use your imagination.

like there’s a weight on your shoulders?

When you think negative thoughts there

is an image that accompanies them.

our thoughts make us feel physically, but

For example, if you keep thinking that

there are often clues in our words, for

you can’t do something you might be

example, “It made my stomach turn,” and

picturing all the things that are stopping

people often talk about feeling like there’s

you. Focus on that image and then

a weight on their shoulders. It might take

visualise it turning black and white

you a while to figure out how the negative

in your mind, then make the image

thoughts you’re thinking actually make

smaller and smaller until it’s a little

you feel, but once you know where you

dot. Then you could kit it away, crush

feel it and how the energy moves you want

it or maybe you want to pick it up and

to change the direction of the movement.

We don’t often think about how

Tell the Negative Committee...

19

4. Think of a Positive Thought — Replace the negative thought with a positive one, a thought that makes you feel good. It could be a thought about someone you love or a thought about an amazing holiday you went on or something that you’re looking forward to in the future. You could

think

about

all

the

things

you’re grateful for in your life anything that changes how you feel and makes you feel better. Hold that positive thought in your mind and really feel it.

5. Smile So if you feel a turning sensation in your stomach, start to turn the feeling in the opposite direction – you can do this by imagining the feeling spinning the other

Simple, but effective. Often just

smiling can help snap you out of negative thinking and make you feel better.

shoulders – push it off. Feel the weight

6. Listen to a song you love — Music is powerful! A song can

lifting; mentally imagine the weight lifting

change how you feel in a split second –you

off of your shoulders. By doing this you

can go from feeling miserable one minute,

should start to feel a change physically,

to feeling amazing the next! If you want

for example your posture might change,

to pull yourself out of negative thinking

as you shift out of a negative frame of

then find a song that makes you feel

mind and stance.

really happy and amazing and listen to it.

way. Or if you feel a heavy weight on your

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This Girl Means Business

When you say the words (preferably out loud) feel them, believe them, say them with conviction. This is such a powerful exercise and it can have a profound effect on your mental and physical state in a matter of seconds.

If you’re really busy and just need a

quick boost to help you in the right frame of mind try carrying out steps 1, 5, 6 or 7.

7. Say a mind-shift motto

A mind-shift motto is where you

say something out loud and really feel it and let it shift your mindset.

For

example, if you’re feeling like you can’t do something then you could say to yourself,

“

“I have the power and the ability to make it happen! I attract success into all areas of my life.

I am successful.”

Remember that negative thoughts lead to a negative reality, so while you can’t stop them from entering your mind, you can choose how much focus and energy to give them. You’re in charge of your thoughts, if you want to kick the negative thoughts out, you have the power to do it – never forget that.

Tell the Negative Committee...

21

words of advice from

Female Entrepreneurs “Any business starts with a big vision. The key is to understand that something big cannot be done overnight. So to go from non-existent to existent, that vision needs to be broken down into small daily action items for change. After some time, we lift our heads up, look back and see all the baby steps adding up to form a new reality - that we designed.”

— Nona Black, Black Operations, Inc., USA

“Don’t fall into the trap of creating a ‘job’ rather than a business - remember to act as a business owner and make sure you cover all the key areas a business needs to succeed (Marketing, Customer Service, Operations etc.). This doesn’t mean doing it all yourself though - work to your strengths and get help with the rest.” — Alison Bradford, Alison Bradford Coaching, UK

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE? 22

This Girl Means Business

“The most important thing is to realise that there is no easy way to success! Have big goals and vision. Have drive and passion to achieve it. Always be positive and enjoy the present while creating a very successful future.” — Ramune Kuskyte, DK Connect Ltd., Ireland

“If you believe in something, you can make it happen. Life is tough, but the more you try, the easier it becomes.”

— Yasmine Khater, Transpiral, Spain

“Don’t let others snatch away your dreams. Don’t allow outside opinions to muddy your vision, for information overload to overwhelm you or for the judgement of others to add doubt to your mind. Give your dreams time to grow and to become strong and solid BEFORE you share your vision.”

— Vannessa Vinos, LUXURIA Jewellery, UK

Click here to submit your advice for our next issue!

Advice from Female Entrepreneurs

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This Girl Means Business

How She Did It

By Carrie Green

Name:

Jayne Lawton Company:

GroBox Gardens Ltd. - since 2004 Location:

United Kingdom Jayne Lawton took voluntary redundancy back in 2004, because she wanted to start her own business, but she didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do. After a lot of thinking she came up

with an idea – to invent biodegradable plant boxes. By 2005 she was getting prototypes made and by the end of 2005 her company began trading. She now sells over 170,000 products a year.

We interviewed Jayne to find out how she turned her idea into a successful reality…

How did you come up with the idea to set up GroBox Gardens?

I’ve always had a passion to start my own business. It was always inside of me. It was something that I wanted to do. In the last year of teaching they offered a redundancy package. I remember saying to another teacher when the redundancy was offered, “I’m thinking I really want to start my own business.” I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I just thought I’m going to take voluntary redundancy and use the money that I get from the redundancy to maybe start this small idea. I wanted to have a career that was really solely based on something

How She Did It

25

“I wanted to have a career that was really solely based on something that I absolutely loved.” that I absolutely loved. It was firmly entrenched in my beliefs that it was about creating a better world for my children really. I knew that my passion was my plants, so it would be about plants and horticulture. Something that I firmly believed in is the fact that as a gardener, I was absolutely fed up with waste. Whenever I planted a garden, I turned around and there were 30 or 40 plant parts behind me.

I couldn’t believe that my gardening, my planting would create so much waste plastic. I wanted a product that wouldn’t create waste. I wanted something that we could use in our garden intelligently. It was a case of juggling those 3 ideas around before I could think of a product.

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So what was the process from being in that position where you had a few ideas, but you weren’t really quite sure, to actually getting it all together and put together a proper plan for a business?

I spent more time thinking about what I could do. One of the big problems that I had when I was teaching the blind, the brain-injured, and people generally: a) they had no knowledge about plants and bulbs, and b) they didn’t have any time to garden. It was a case of working out how I could put a product together that would fit both those consumer types. When I was teaching my blind students, we used to put all our products in egg boxes and plant them. I then thought that’s a really good idea. Why don’t we maximize on that and create something where we have a whole designer garden almost in a board box that biodegrades, helps the environment and there’s no plastic involved. That’s when we started to

get prototypes drawn up of what our product would look like.

How long did that actually take you from the time you thought you’d quite like to start a business to actually getting the first prototype created?

I took my redundancy in July and in September, I knew the name of my company. Your company should demonstrate what your product is

about so it was GroBox. I knew I wanted it to be GroBox Gardens Ltd. Within 6 weeks, I formed a limited company called GroBox Gardens Ltd. That was the start of how our products were going to be; focusing on making boxes and packaging that grew.

Once you had this idea, what were the next stages? You said you had prototypes made but what was the actual process for

How She Did It

27

getting the prototypes made?

Did you already know where to go because you already knew a lot about gardening, or did it take quite a lot of research?

Yes, prior knowledge was really important. Most importantly for me was that I knew I had to protect my idea. It had to be a product that ultimately would not be copied by

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This Girl Means Business

anybody else in the UK. So patenting, trademarking and copyrighting were the most important things for me.

The second thing was to see if my idea was a good invention. I went to see the free Inventors’ Workshops that were offered by the Majesty Library, where they have patent experts and patent attorneys come and give free

advice. I very much believe that setting up a company with a small idea should be funded minimally. So I sought every bit of free advice I possibly could. I went to see patent attorneys. They told me at that point it would be a viable invention.

I then went and researched myself on the patent websites, looked at all the inventions that could be deemed as similar to mine, looked at how patents were written, and started writing my own patent. I took it again to another patent workshop attorney and asked if it was near to where it was going to be. The first thing the patent attorney said to me was, “If you want to get a patent through, it’s going to cost you £10,000.” I didn’t have that money. So I asked him if there was any way to do it for less and he said, “If you can more or less get your

claims sorted, if you can get 90% of the patent worded, a patent attorney could finish it off for you for about £2,000 to £3,000 and submit it for you. Most importantly, if you submit the patent yourself now with what you’ve got, you can use that priority date of your first submission and the patent attorney resubmits it.” That’s what we did. So I got the patent through. It took a year to get the patent through.

“I very much believe that setting up a company with a small idea should be funded minimally.”

How She Did It

29

Jayne’s Top Tips for Getting a Patent Research any product or invention that is similar to what you want to create.  Think about how you could make your patent or invention a little bit smarter. Can your product solve another problem that that other invention isn’t doing? It’s creating inventive steps. Another patent might be out there but it might not be solving another problem. If you can show creative step, at that point you can then get your patent through.  Never ask friends and never 

How did you actually go about creating this invention in terms of physically producing it?

We knew what we wanted. We knew we wanted a product that was going to going to contain seeds or bulbs. It was going to be made out of waste product that was going to grow.

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ask family because you’ll get a skewed perspective.  Join any of the inventors’ groups, join the city libraries’ patents and attorneys’ groups and seek advice. You can get half-anhour free with a patent attorney.

They will give you honest advice.  I would say that 60% of submitting a patent you can do yourself.  Ask your local college or your local university to test your product - talk to them and they will give you feedback.

To be honest, I did it the wrong way, because I went to a product design company and gave them a brief. I wrote a brief of what I wanted my product to do and to achieve, and the experience I wanted my consumer to have. That cost me about £4,000 to £5,000. Then when I went to a large packaging

manufacturing company, because I always believed that if you’re going to do something, go to the biggest in the market. Don’t go to the smallest company; go to the big boys. If you’re going to replicate it into every country and have it in every country in the world, you know then, at least, they’re going to do it on a massive scale, which you want. When I took my design to the big packaging companies, they said, “No, we can’t make this.” They give you free design advice. They actually create prototypes for you free of charge. I then went to the biggest packaging manufacturer and they created a prototype that would fit with the machinery and tooling, which was a much better product and it was free. So that’s how that works.

Once you had the prototype, what were the next steps after that?

We had the prototypes made and then the next step was to identify who my customer was. At that point, I had my prototype and I then sought advice from anyone and everyone in business that I knew and I said, “How do you

get your customer? How did you make your business successful? What do you look out for?” They all came back with the 3 pieces of advice: it’s all about price, it’s all about marketing, and it’s all about product performance.

“It’s all about price, it’s all about marketing, and it’s all about product performance.”

How She Did It

31

get it to what would be mass scale. I

From having the prototype to doing all of the research, how long would you say that took?

had to identify my customer. Who was

going to buy? Why are they going to

After you had the feedback from people, what were the next steps then? How did you actually get it out there?

First of all, I had to get my price

right for my product so that I could

buy it? Once I identified the customer, the marketing of the product and the design of the product artwork could then be fitted around it. Once that was formulated, we took it to customer focus groups we held all over the UK.

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Probably about 5 months.

We then decided to target trade shows and garden centres. The product cost ÂŁ12.99, so we chose two markets

that were recession-proof: the gift market and the funeral market. We sold into the gift market and we did gift shows at the NEC Birmingham.

We also sold into funeral parlours. We had a Memories GroBox for people to plant for loved ones at gravesites.

One of my friends said, “There aren’t enough flowers for me in graveyards” so I wanted them to plant this box to remind them. We have a flower that comes up every month of the year.

So those were the two markets that we went for. At that point, we sold into some of the smaller independent retailers and garden centres as a nice gift box.

So was that literally a matter of identifying the companies you want to sell through and then literally picking up the phone or emailing them and organising meetings?

Yes, completely, and ultimately just being relentless. There is no easy way to get products into a shop be it a small independent or garden centre.

You have got to be wholly committed

to making about 20 to 40 phone calls just to get one appointment.

“There is no easy way to get products into a shop.”

Once you started to get them into some smaller stores and funeral parlours, did you then take it bigger and sell through bigger garden centres and supermarkets?

Yes, the product was selling well at the £12.99 price point people liked it and got it. So then we wanted to look at entering the mass market. That was the point when we went back to our packaging companies and said, “We need to get our cost price down to this.

Let’s redesign the product, reconstruct it. It’s still the same thing, but I need it to be a quarter of what it cost now.” I knew that if we went into Sainsbury’s for £5.99 and Wilkinson’s for £4.99, it would sell volumes. That’s what we

How She Did It

33

did, we deconstructed it, we brought down the price point and we got into the big supermarkets (Sainsbury and Wilkinson’s) for those prices.

When you are facing challenging times or when you have to make big decisions, how do you handle it?

It’s horrible, to be honest. It’s overwhelming and it consumes you.

You don’t sleep. It’s hard, but you’ve just got to work through it. The only thing you can realistically do is just deal with the stuff that’s in your control, the stuff you can practically sort out. For example, when we knew there were a lot of issues with the sales guy, I knew that I had to get rid of him.

It’s just relentless, hard, hard, hard work. You just have to keep working through the strategy, sticking to the plan, knowing what you’ve got to do, making those small steps forward to make progress. For example, we’ve got so many companies going bump on us this year. You know you’re going to have to write off £40,000 to £50,000 with the stock that we’ve got. We just

34

This Girl Means Business

have to literally plan what we’re going to do, which market are we going to hit. You have to keep going through it and keep positive. You can’t ever get sucked into stuff that you can’t control. When they go bump, that’s their control. We can only react to make sure that our business can take it and be sustainable.

What do you think are the key things you’ve achieved since starting your business?

A product that’s sustainable, beautiful, and makes people smile.

What’s your top piece of advice for others looking to turn their idea into a successful business?

It’s just great to do something very, very different. I think the key for us is the fact that −for women, particularly− we are such problemsolvers, which ultimately makes us great ideas factories, great inventors, which is what we need. We need to get back to having great inventive products that solve problems, make people smile a little bit. 

Programme Your Mind for Success

Would you like to attract more success into your life?

This 20 minute programme takes you into a deep, relaxed state and then provides suggestions for becoming more successful and allows you to really visualise feeling and being more successful.

- CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD How She Did It

35

How to Get Anything You Want for Free THROUGH JOINT VENTURES

By Michelle Holmes

36

The first step in getting anything you want in life is knowing what that ‘thing’ is... and sometimes, it’s not the thing you think it is either!

For example, many people believe

Step One: Inner Collaboration - What do you want?

that want they want the most is more

More work with a certain type of client?

money, but this is rarely the case. Most

Helping more people with the work

of the time it’s what that money can buy

you do?

you that people really want... and if you

drill down even further they want to buy

what you WANT - i.e. what it is that will

those things because they believe they’ll

make YOU happy (and it’ll be different for

make them happy. Success is happiness

everyone) next it’s time for you to think

in my book. Do you agree? If so, here are

about what you need to achieve in your

my steps for how you can get anything

business in order to allow you to actually

you want for free through joint ventures.

make it happen!

This Girl Means Business

Start off by doing a little ‘Inner

Collaboration’ and think about what it is that will make you happy?

More free time? More holidays?

Once you’ve got really clear on

Step Two: What do you need in order to get what you want?

Joint Ventures are THE most

much wider audience.  But you must decide what you need to achieve in order to be able to do the thing that will make you HAPPY and then just GO FOR IT!

powerful form of marketing on the planet - FACT - and you can achieve ANYTHING YOU WANT with them:

 You can build a big list of

targeted leads FAST!  You can get new clients and customers for free through referrals.  You can access any expertise or knowledge you need in your business to bridge a gap - in fact you can build your dream team with Joint Ventures!  You even if you’re brand new in town.  You

Step Three: Get to Know ‘Em! - First, make a list of the people

can position yourself as the expert very

you think could help you to do it. Don’t

quickly.  You can get more sales. 

hold back... include all those big names

You can create products.  You can get

you have in mind too, because it’s possible

content for your blogs, emails and more.

to get to know ANYONE these days thanks

 You can start with NOTHING and build

to the social web!

something fabulous in super quick time.

 You can save loads of time.  You can

already know... who do you have in your

make a bigger difference.  You can turn

circles right now who could help you?

into a Business A-List Celebrity virtually

overnight.  You can have more time to

joint venture partner you need to know

do what you enjoy.  You can slash your

you’ve got a strong, genuine relationship

marketing spend and double your profits!

with them, that’s built on trust and

 You can get your message out to a

friendship first. You need to add value

can gain credibility within any market -

Now think about all the people you

Before you approach any potential

How to Get Anything You Want for Free

37

to them first, you need to give first and

“Joint ventures can only be successful if there’s a strong relationship in place; both between you and your partner and between your partner and their audience.”

frankly, you need to work out whether or not you like and trust each other too, because if not, you definitely DON’T want to be doing a JV together!

With people who are already in

your circles you’re likely to have that relationship already so it’s important to look around you with your new super stylish ‘collaboration goggles’ on at who you already know if you want to get fast results here.

products, get results with their products,

be their best customer and let them know

If you don’t already know the people

on your list, do all of the following: Subscribe to their mailing

life in a well thought out testimonial that

list and open their emails. What sort

will help them sell more of their products!

of information do they send out? How

often? Is it heart warming, valuable stuff

right reasons and this is important! You

or is it a constant pitch fest?

need to know that the people on their list

A.

You will get on their radar for all the

Remember: You only want to team

have received QUALIT Y products from

up with people who spend a lot of time

your partner. If that’s the case they’ll

‘loving their list’ not bombarding it with

respect their recommendation when

offer after offer. The relationship is very

they promote YOUR product and expect

unlikely to be there if that’s the case and

it to be of a similar quality. On the other

joint ventures can only be successful if

hand, if they’re used to buying rubbish

there’s a strong relationship in place;

from them they’ll expect your stuff to be

both between you and your partner and

rubbish too!

between your partner and their audience.

if you don’t have a list right now, I’m

38

how their products have changed your

B. Buy their products, use their

This Girl Means Business

C. Promote their stuff first! Even

willing to bet you know some people on

Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter! Promote

a deep relationship with the people on

their product long before you ask them to

their list so you need to offer them a really

promote you - it’s just the right thing to

great way to do that.

do AND there’s this law called the law of

reciprocity which means that if you help

fantastic for FREE which they can drive

them out first, they’ll want to help you

traffic to - a webinar where you teach

when the time is right as well.

valuable content and then make them an

Step Four: Make it an ALL AROUND Win

They want to continue nurturing

Maybe you can offer something

offer perhaps? Whatever you do, I believe that a general rule of thumb is this:

Make sure that, whether or not

Now it’s time to start thinking about

they end up spending money with you

how you can add some real value to these

this time, if they spend time with you

lovely folks BEYOND the above.

learning from you at the free stage, they’ll

Bear in mind that if they already

have enough information to enable them

have a large community of subscribers

to change their lives for the better! I

and customers, they are unlikely to simply

promise you, if you do that, you’ll never

want one of those “50:50” deals where you

go hungry!

say “please promote this product to your

list and I’ll give you 50%” - they’re after

you put into place must and I repeat

more than that.

must, must, must be an all round win for

Remember: EVERY joint venture

everyone involved.

It’s got to be a big win for the

customer and a big win for your partner as well as helping you to get what you want out of the deal too. That’s the biggest rule - Zig Ziglar once said, “You’ll get what you want if you help enough people get what they want.” This is my mantra. If you want

How to Get Anything You Want for Free 39

“You’ll get what you want if you help enough people get what they want.” - Zig Ziglar to start using joint venture marketing at

do is nod their agreement and press send.

the core of your strategy for growth, I’d

suggest you make it yours too, because

response, set out what you will do and by

if you go into every partnership with

when and what you need them to do and

that approach you’ll be really successful

by when in a letter agreement and DO

with it.

WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL.

So few people follow through on

Step Five: Make Your Move! - When you’ve worked out the

what they say they will do these days, but

best way to make your joint venture an

it’s really important that you do.

all round win, approach your partner in a

creative, non pushy way that stands out

use them as a LONG TERM strategy -

(I’ve been known to send cupcakes with

when you find a strategy that works well

my photograph on them by courier to

for you, repeat it often!

accompany a proposal just to make sure

I stood out from the crowd!) and make it

blueprint for getting anything you want

really, really easy for them to say yes!

for free... forever!

Don’t expect them to do any work

- they’re BUSY... if you want this to happen take it upon yourself to do all the copywriting, to create all the affiliate resources, to build the squeeze page and the sales page etc, all they should need to

40

Once you get a ‘Yes! Let’s do it!’

This Girl Means Business

if you want joint ventures to work for you Joint ventures work best when you

When you do that you’ll have the

>> Michelle Holmes helps women who have a message that belongs on the global stage to attract, design and implement highly lucrative joint ventures. You can find her at www. michelle-holmes.com.

: e b i r Subsc Every month, we’ll send the latest edition of This Girl Means Business right to your inbox! Each issue is packed with inpirational stories, amazing interviews, useful how-to guides, tips, advice, help and much more.

This magazine is all about inspiring and encouraging women to succeed.

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Cover Story

Jacqueline an inter v iew w ith

Gold

Jacqueline Gold is the Chief Executive of Ann Summers, however, her journey there started 30 years when she started out doing work experience. Since then she has turned Ann Summers into one of the most profitable private companies in the UK, with over 130 stores and an annual turnover of £155m. Along with that she’s won countless awards, she was named as one of Britain’s Most Influential Women, the Most Inspirational Businesswoman in the UK and the second Most Powerful Woman in Retail. Here Jacqueline tells us

how she’s built such a successful company... { By Carrie Green }

You joined Ann Summers on work experience 30 years ago and now you’re the CEO - during that time you have helped to completely reshape the business. Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like at the beginning and how you’ve turned Ann Summers into one of the most successful businesses in the UK?

I joined Ann Summers on work experience 30 years ago with no intention of staying for any length of time, 30 years later and I’m still here!

The Ann Summers we all know today is very different to the business I took work experience in.

Thirty years ago it was very male dominated and catered more for the raincoat brigade than women!

“After spending some time in the business I spotted a real opportunity to create something completely unique, a business by women for women.”

The idea for party plan came after I attended a Tupperware party at a friend’s house. Whilst chatting to the women a couple of them mentioned that it would be good if there were parties like this for the products Ann Summers sold. I knew instantly that there was real opportunity in this and set about preparing a proposal to take to the board to launch Ann Summers at home parties.

I presented my idea to the

board and after some deliberation and one board member telling me that the idea wouldn’t work because women didn’t even like sex (!) they eventually agreed to my idea. Once I had the go ahead I went about recruiting women to hold the parties, buying new product that would appeal to a female audience and drumming up interest in the parties. Party Plan became successful very quickly and soon women everywhere were having Ann Summers parties!

I knew that with the success of party plan, Ann Summers could work in retail as well. We came up against some fierce opposition from local councils to opening certain stores, but after bullets through the post and numerous court cases I’m pleased to say that we were successful and now have 145 shops across the UK and Ireland. I wanted Ann Summers to be a true multi channel retailer and after the success of party plan and

retail we launched online, offering our customers three great ways to shop.

The last 30 years have been full of many challenges but even more success stories. I am so proud of what Ann Summers stands for.

What challenges did you face whilst implementing your idea and how did you overcome them?

Because what we were doing

was so different we faced a lot of people who questioned how it would work. For so long women had been seen as second class sexual citizens and for lots of people (men in particular!) they didn’t see the need for what Ann Summers was offering. I knew from the beginning that Ann Summers parties would work, I knew we were filling a gap in the market and that women wanted us to provide this

type of environment for them. I stayed true to my ideas and belief and was extremely pleased to see that my instincts were right.

Since you’ve been working for Ann Summers the customers profile has completely changed – female customers used to be around 10% and now they’re 80% - how did you manage to steer the business in a new direction?

We started talking and selling to women. The brand had previously been set up to speak to men and ignored the needs and desires of women. We addressed this balance and set about creating

a business for women. From the beginning I knew that our parties had to be for women only, the concept wouldn’t work if men were allowed and I’m pleased to say that 30 years on our parties are women only and I wouldn’t have them any other way.

I want men to feel welcome in our stores and to shop online and we are seeing an increase in couples shopping with us so men are an important part of our growth strategy, however we will always primarily be a business for women.

I feel very strongly that as a brand we have empowered women and offered them a way to express

themselves. As a brand, everyone knows what Ann Summers is and for every woman it stands for something different.

You faced some tough challenges when you decided to open up a store in Dublin. What happened and how did you overcome this challenge?

You cannot compromise on who you are, and what your brand is about. We realised early on that causing a bit of controversy and testing the limits would ultimately play a big part in our success.

Initially we faced some opposition from Landlords who were unsure about the brand and tried to prevent us from opening stores, and we were also warned against a negative backlash in cities such as Dublin – but we were willing to take some risks which I’m pleased to say paid off.

I don’t like being intimidated and in the early days a lot of

Landlords and especially the people in Dublin who opposed our opening tried to intimidate us.

At one stage I even received a bullet through the post warning me not to open. This was of course frightening, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me. I knew Dublin was an ideal place for a store and we pushed on despite some pretty scary tactics to stop us. I’m pleased to say that this determination paid off and Dublin is one of our regularly top performing stores.

What have been the biggest lessons you’ve learnt as a businesswoman?

To trust your instincts and always listen to your customers.

They are at the heart of everything you do and you should listen to their feedback regularly and carefully, they can help you shape your business and support continued growth.

What’s a typical day like for you?

I’m very lucky as the world of Ann Summers means there is never a typical day! A day can include board meetings, store visits, press meetings, supplier meetings, public speaking, performance reviews and product development and that’s just for starters!

As CEO, what’s the most important element of the business you have to focus on in order for it to be successful?

At the heart of everything I do is the brand and making sure that the decisions we make as a team are right for the brand and stay true to our values.

How do you keep your team inspired and motivated?

Our staff are our biggest asset and I’m so proud of the service they offer our customers.

Whenever we employ staff we look for them to show passion

about our brand and a desire to provide a unique service to our customers.

As a business we promote the following values which all of our staff follow:     

Passionate about our business Respectful to each other Inclusive in the way we work Daring in everything we do Experts at what we do

If you could go back in time to when you were 25, would advice would you give to yourself?

To not emulate men! When I first started in business I thought I had to dress a certain way, think big shoulder pads (!) to be taken seriously. It was only when I bumped in to one of my friends who told me that I looked like a politician that I thought, ‘I have to be true to myself’. I’m feminine, I didn’t like wearing suits, so from then on, I’ve just been me.

What are your top tips for aspiring female entrepreneurs?

Be confident in yourself and your idea, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and make people listen to what you have to say.

Do you have a favourite quote?

“To make every woman in the world feel like the sexiest woman in the world.” This is our new vision and whilst not a well-

known quote now I’m sure in time we will all be repeating!

What’s next for you and Ann Summers? My next big goal for Ann Summers expansion is international expansion, that’s very much in our 5 year plan. More immediately is to continue to build on the fantastic success we have had following our re-brand and ensure every woman in the world feels like the sexiest woman in the world…! 

This Girl Loves...

by Samantha Green

1

2 3 50

This Girl Means Business

4 5

6 1. Necklace from Bauble Bar / 2. Heels from Nine West / 3. Coat from Karen Millen / 4.

Bracelet from Monica Viander / 5. Satchel from Mulberry / 6. Dress from Karen Millen

This Girl Loves...

51

Sales Series

Step Two: How to Sell Yourself

By Lara Morgan, Founder of Company Shortcuts

Before people buy from you, they have to buy into you - they have to like you, trust you, believe in you. So, how do you get them to do that? Follow these steps...

52

Your First Meeting: The Preparation and the Important Points to Deliver - Originally I

in terms of the client’s expectations

was taught during Yellow Pages to do

my research as much as possible on my

simply must have done preparatory work

clients sector, their competition and

of this kind; it is simply inexcusable

the product range which they sold.

to go to a meeting having not taken

Clearly today with the internet this is

basic research steps into the company

all information at your fingertips and

whom you are convinced your products

therefore the sales process has changed

will add value.

This Girl Means Business

for the discussion points to be had at a meeting.

To show professional intent you

Important Things to Bear in Mind  Before you begin the meeting

about the competition. The more you

the receptionist or secretary will initially

treat people with respect, and the

greet you. Too many sales people make

more positive you are, reflects your

the same silly mistake of not treating

level of professionalism – and it will

these people as assets in your client

be noticed.

building relationships. Make friends

with these people, as they are the

everyone by a firm handshake –

gatekeepers for the decision-makers

nothing is worse than receiving a weak

and can make or break you depending

unconvincing sloppy paw – insultingly

on how you treat them.

uncommitted and likely to disengage –

 Make sure that you greet

 Incidentally, don’t ever be

fast. Also, make sure you look everybody

rude, negative or nasty to anybody,

in the eyes – this shows your sincerity &

and that includes when you are talking

confidence – manners maketh the man.

Basics Include:

image but actually may be performing

 Google the person you are meeting.

poorly and struggling as the marketplace

 Visit the client website and review

and sales process changes all around us

recent press releases and publicity.

due to digital propositions.

 In product sales, I would usually have

 In our business we had a specific

a client’s product in hand, often that of

model template carrying all the basic

their competition.

details we would expect an account

In major deals, I will have drawn

manager to know BEFORE entering a first

company accounts to see the viability of

meeting – this was in effect an evaluation

the company whom often have a big outer

sheet allowing us to understanding the



Sales Series

53

scale of the opportunity, the potential size of the overall business potential to be transacted and a guide sheet to show that we knew the obvious information and had cared enough to show genuine upfront interest in the clients services…

Every business has basic para-

meters that it needs to know to establish the value of a potential new account and every sales person must learn to evaluate through a few basic point the priorities they should put to order their pipeline and their own personal sales focus and

“

As always in sales, put yourself in the customer’s shoes.

Once you have set a meeting time you must make sure you show up fully prepared. The more prepared you are for your meeting with actual goals – possibly an agenda outline prepared jointly with the customer in advance and your own personal objectives of the points you need to communicate, the more successful every meeting can and will be (see www.companyshortcuts.com for an example template).

effort. NOT all clients deserve the same equal care when a major client could

I advise to try and additionally fact find

be as much as 100 times as valuable

in the early stages of a discussion face to

as another…

face – it builds rapport, relationship, and should, if your questions are intelligent and well planned, build you a platform of reasoning to support the product intentions that you propose. Never, ever,

ever try to sell a product that does not genuinely FIT a client’s needs, you are wasting their time and worst – yours!

No business builds on one off leaky bucket disingenuous sales propositions from chancing sales people.

54

This Girl Means Business

MEETING OBJECTIVES:

opportunity. Two ears and one mouth to

be utilised in equal proportions…

The purpose of the first meeting

is always to sell yourself (people buy from people first), the product that you feel fits the clients needs, and at the same time you are aiming to establish the credibility of the company your product is made or represented by.

Irrespective of all of this the most powerful thing to do in any meeting is to listen much more than you talk.

Take notes and do not ever be

A bag full of ammunition to support sales introduction and fact-finding meetings:  Always show up to the meeting armed

with brochures (if relevant)  Possibly a short video sales proposition  Possibly a very short, preferably pic-

ture full, PowerPoint presentation  BUT most importantly, turn up with

embarrassed by writing down things

and be able to verbalise in greater detail

you learn that could be of value or

the elevator pitch you made to win the

relevant to you later in a proposal.

appointment. From your sales tele-

You may well be intending to

prove to your contact that you are knowledgeable about what you do, and that you can eagerly offer solutions to needs that will save them time and money, while enhancing their own customer’s perceived value of the business. BUT unless you have established a real need and understood the customer’s challenges or intentions

phone/meeting booking cold-call you should have noted the point of interest that turned on the light of interest in the client…

“People remember 70% of what they see and only 9% of what they hear, so pictures are very important.”

you will never maximise the sales

Sales Series

55

People remember 70 per cent of

touch, feel and smell the product to

what they see and only 9 per cent of what

appreciate its value – creative and design

they hear, so pictures are very important.

innovator types, and others want to hear

Irrespective of this there are different

a professional pitch smoothly presented,

types of learning and different people

pictorially supported. You may be selling

can be appealed to in different ways –

the three different buyer types in one

technically this is referred to as NLP

meeting, therefore knowing whom might

(Nero linguistic programming – simply

be in the room at your presentation is

understood I see this as some people

important. Cater for the eventualities…

like to learn through numbers (primarily

use language that appeals to the different

the finance types, some people like to

styles of the individuals.

Examples of fact-finding questions: In the interests of making the best possible pitch to you I hope you might first share with me your key priorities in the company or greatest challenges where you feel a product like ours would bring a solution? 

I appreciate I have briefly pitched the excellence of our product to you by phone, and of course I would like to give a more detailed presentation, but before doing so, and in order that I can tailor my proposition, can you



56

This Girl Means Business

explain to me the top priorities you have in the company?

I am delighted to pitch to you my proposition and to answer any questions you may have, but I wondered if you could perhaps outline for me the key priorities in your business where you feel our service may meet your needs?



I am interested to learn about your company’s latest developments.



Small things can count

they have talked about themselves and

When you arrive at the contact’s

outlined their needs. This stage is very

office or boardroom, always make sure

important – and your physical position,

you sit down last (to show respect)

the way you sit, the way you express

unless they invite you to sit, and if you

engagement and the way you interact

are faced with a choice of chairs, as in

will all build on your possibilities for

a boardroom, ask where you should sit.

sales. Do not underestimate the gems of

Once you are in the room make utterly

information a relaxed client will share,

sure you have planned the presentation

which could help you in your business

or discussion, which you aim to deliver

introduction.

(easier said than done, but without even

a five-minute plan you will not be able to

has finished introducing their business

work the opportunity for everything you

and then without overwhelming them

could get).

with information, make your sales pitch.

You should sense when a client

I encourage you to constantly practise

“If you do not show genuine interest and do not demonstrate knowledge of a client’s issues, do not expect to sell much!”

and revise your presentation until it perfectly flows – every sentence giving a point of value in meeting a client’s needs or sharing a piece of knowledge that demonstrates solutions to their issues.

World-class sales people can present

all they need to in a memorably short, flowing, cohesive fashion, competent

Your energy and passion for the sector,

and factual, whilst also being engaging

experience, interest and enthusiasm will

and underlining the fit of their products

all count. You can keep a customer after

to the client’s needs. You need to ensure

Sales Series

57

that you remain on the same wavelength

with people and they will respect it. At

as the other people in the meeting, so

some point during your conversation

constantly ask open questions and gain

make sure these words leave your mouth:

responsive engagement from the client

‘Is there anything I can do to make

as you progress. Your understanding of

your life easier?’ This demonstrates

their needs is really important – you need

to the contact that you have their best

to clarify this and then aim to propose a

interests at heart and are not simply

way that your product meets these needs

selling a product or service.

in different ways.

Remember:

WATCH YOUR CLIENT’S RESPONSE to the different points made

Take notes / Sit forward / Be

and try and gain a sense for the things

enthusiastic / Smile / Look

you say that really clearly tick a box of

interested / Be energetic in your

interest – some great sales people build a

physical approach / Listen hard

sixth sense, which puts them well ahead in meetings.

58

ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS.

During a meeting, always capture

Conversely, if the contact asks you a

the action points for ensuring you

question that you don’t know the answer

maximise the value of your learning. I

to, do not lie. Simply tell them the truth

always try and revert back to these with

and say you will get back to them with

the client at the meeting close, and share

the answer, but make sure you follow up

the notes afterwards if both parties

– if you don’t, then how are you going to

have actions – already you are building

expect the contact to have faith in you

a proposition working together. (See

further down the line? Similarly, never

www.companyshortcuts.com for

make a promise you can’t keep. Be honest

an example template.)

This Girl Means Business

DEALING WITH REJECTION:

Actually I rather think there is little

to be said on this topic. Fortune favours

the brave. If you are rejected, review what happened - what was it you said that turned someone off? Check your overall attitude and remember that your product is not always right for someone at the time you call. If this is really the

Top Tips:  It is much easier to arrange the next meeting diary date commitment when you are sitting in front of the person rather than by phone or email a few days later.

case – make the next call and move on. If it is NOT clarify what it is that the client does not like and come up with a solution.

If you have properly qualified the person you are talking to – and professionally hooked them into your product upfront, it should be a quick process if the product is not suitable. The sooner you get to a clear “no” that you cannot combat, politely move on. There are lots of fish in the sea for most products.

“Waste no time mulling past failure, look forward for positive success.”

 Do you score your own performance after a meeting?

Are you self-critical about what you achieve? Make scoring yourself a habit and learn from every encounter. I have also learnt a lot since I learnt to ask others with me at meetings for their feedback.  One important note here: even at the end of the first meeting, try to ask for the sale.

This can be done in various ways, for example: ‘If I can meet your quality and service needs and meet your budget, will you order from us?’

Sales Series

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What We’re Reading The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream by Paulo Coelho Book Review by Paul S. Green, AGM Telecommunications

“The book conveys a message that we must persevere no matter what: we must never lose sight of what our dream and ultimate goal in life is.”

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This Girl Means Business

This is a story about life that

could, and in many instances does, apply to all of us; of opportunities that present themselves to us for consideration. Winston Churchill once said, “In their lives all people will stumble over opportunities, most will simply pick themselves up and carry on as if nothing had ever happened”.

In the Alchemist, Santiago is presented with a myriad of opportunities with people coming into his life, albeit very briefly, on occasions to help and guide him.

The message, however, is clear – the ultimate decision is left with Santiago, as indeed it is with us.

It is an enchanting and inspiring story of a poor shepherd boy, living in Andalucía following his dreams and learning the lessons of life on his journey. He travels from Spain to Africa and cross the desert to Egypt in search of his dream.

As with us, it is really the journey that is important. The book conveys a message that we must persevere no

matter what: we must never lose sight of what our dream and ultimate goal in life is.

Does Santiago achieve his dream – ah well you will have to read the book to gain the answer to that question.

This is one of the most enjoyable and insightful books I have ever read and I commend all to lose themselves, as I did, within the story.

// GE T YOUR COPY HERE.

Read any excellent books lately? Tell us about it here and your book review could appear in a future issue.

What We’re Reading

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{this month’s}

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10 TIPS This Girl Means Business

Ten Things to Remember ON YOUR JOURNEY

1.

2.

If you want something, go and get it.

Give it your very best.

6.

Take time every day to imagine reaching your goals.

7.

Be prepared to do what it takes to get over the obstacles placed in your way.

8.

Strive for progress, not perfection.

Don’t overthink things - it generally leads to negative thoughts and doubts.

3.

When you feel like you’ve got nothing left to give negotiate with your mind.

Dig deep and find the strength to carry on.

4.

Tell those negative thoughts to shut up.

9.

5.

When in doubt, just take the next small step.

10.

Don’t look back. You’re not going that way.

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