On December the 9th my book was finally published: ‘How to be Great at the Stuff you Hate: the straight-talking guide to Persuading Networking & Selling’. I was chuffed to bits, as well you might imagine. Congratulations cascaded in from friends, family and clients alike; wishing me well, declaring that it was ‘’such a [...]
Archive for the ‘Developing business’ Category
Business Development: It’s down to you.
Posted in Business Development, Developing business, Legal, Running your own business, Self employment, Selling, tagged sales; business development, sales; selling; business development; phone; cold calling; making appointments, Selling on January 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Luxury v Budget
Posted in Business Development, Developing business, Legal, Running your own business, Self employment, Selling, tagged sales; business development on August 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Louis Vuitton recently opened its second largest store in the world on Bond Street, London. I had cause to go in there a few weeks ago and it was packed full of people buying some very expensive stuff – £150 for a key ring! Those people who run the Orient Express train also do equally [...]
Keeping Your Nerve: Part Two
Posted in Business Development, Developing business, Legal, Running your own business, Self employment, Selling, Working for yourself, tagged business development, Running your own business, Sales on May 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Hello, I thought it might be sensible to follow up on what has happened since my last blog, which was about keeping one’s nerve when you feel that your business is stuck in the mud because of a lull in orders/requests for business/bookings. As was fairly clear from that post, I was in the doldrums [...]
Keeping your nerve
Posted in Business Development, Developing business, Legal, Running your own business, Self employment, Selling, tagged business development, focus, Running your own business, sales; selling; business development; phone; cold calling; making appointments, Self employment on May 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Funny thing developing business; it’s never constant. Well, ‘the developing’ bit should be but one never knows with the ‘business’ element: it comes in fits and starts and that can be very disheartening if your income depends on it. Take this April for instance. No, please, take it! It’s been a nightmare of a month [...]
Belief in what you are selling
Posted in Attitude, Developing business, Persuading, Selling, tagged belief; self-belief, business development, Selling on March 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A few months ago I published a post that talked about the fact that you don’t need to know all there is to know regarding a potential customer and their business before going to see them, in the same way that you don’t need to know everything about selling in order to be doing it. [...]
Why people lose customers
Posted in Business Development, Developing business, Legal, Running your own business, Self employment, tagged customer service, keeping customers, looking after customers, Sales, Strategy; Business development; sales on January 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Look at this: 1% die 3% move away 5% follow a friend’s or relative’s recommendation 9% find an alternative they perceive to be better quality or value 14% are dissatisfied with the product or service 68% leave because of indifference. They go elsewhere because they don’t feel valued or loved! These figures represent reasons why [...]
Hotel Babylon: How to lose a sale
Posted in Business Development, Developing business, Selling, tagged email, phone, Strategy; Business development; sales on December 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Over the past 3 years my preferred method of accommodation when doing business in London has been to rent an apartment by the night. Recently, however, the place at which I have stayed since July 2009 shut down following the owner’s decision to sell up. Although a bit sad – it was in a delightful [...]
Don’t go too specific too soon
Posted in Appointments, Business Development, Cold Calling, Developing business, Legal, Running your own business, Selling, tagged sales; selling; business development; phone; cold calling; making appointments on August 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I like going back to Manchester, because even after 10 years of living in the beautiful countryside outside Edinburgh, I still regard it as ‘Home’: the people talk like me. A trip to one of my clients was the excuse I needed but, not wishing to travel all that way for the one meeting, I [...]
Sales: you don’t need to know everything.
Posted in Business Development, Cold Calling, Developing business, Legal, Working for yourself, tagged Sales, Selling, Strategy; Business development; sales on July 30, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Monday evening. Claridges, in Mayfair and a networking event with me, two other guys and 248 women. 248 women who had come to listen to 3 entrepreneurial and inspirational women share their experiences, thoughts and tips about starting a business; about stepping away from the 8 to 6 drudgery and in to the ‘every waking [...]
A Sales Model (process)
Posted in Business Development, Developing business, Legal, Running your own business, Self employment, Selling on May 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The Sales Model Last week, a delegate on one of my courses asked: “Is there a model for the sales process you go through, when trying to secure work from a new client?” My instant reply was “No” (and anyway, I don’t have a process.) However, I then hesitated, looked at him and found myself [...]
