Graham Roberts-Phelps

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contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:05:00 +0000

Linking ROI and customer service

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:31:00 +0000

Just found this excellent article on http://www.kinesis-cem.com/Insights/ROI.html

A Guide to ROI in Customer Service

Introduction
Most business people would agree that there is value in good service. An abundance of literature exists supporting the notion that service can affect retention, spending, word-of-mouth endorsements and other customer activities that make a company more profitable. However, there are also many examples of companies with excellent service that chronically suffer from poor financial performance.

Good service is expensive. It requires research, training, measurement and the payout of incentives to managers and employees. Because it costs so much, companies struggle with the question of what their return on investment should be. Some even ask whether the investment is worth making at all. Could the money dedicated to improving service be more profitably spent in some other way?

The question is a fair one. Simply assuming that good service is a good investment is not very businesslike. Investment opportunities should be weighed against each other, with expected risks and returns assessed to determine the best choices. Unfortunately, few companies have had success calculating the ROI of customer service, making it difficult for them to determine whether their money will be, or has been, well spent.

Faith in Service
Approaches to calculating service ROI appear to fall into two major camps: "Blind Faith" and "Rube Goldberg"*.

The Blind Faith approach begins with the unchallenged belief that good service always leads to higher profits. Companies launch service crusades, making grand promises to their customers as they whip their staff into a frenzy of friendly service activity. They intone ritual phrases, like, "We're dedicated to excellence," and "The customer is number one." And they contribute a substantial amount of money to the effort, confident that it is all going to a good cause.

In the end, the miracle they had hoped for seldom appears. Customers may be more satisfied, but the expected rise in profitability rarely occurs. There may be profit changes, up or down, but it is devilishly difficult to figure out how much effect service quality had on the change.

At this point many companies experience a crisis in faith and revert to their old practices: cost-cutting, reductions in staff, new ad campaigns. Poorer but wiser, they look back at their crusade and wonder how they could have been so naïve.

The Service Machine
The Rube Goldberg camp takes a more mechanistic approach. These folks don their white lab coats and attempt to build predictive models that explain the links between service attributes, customer satisfaction and profitability. They use statistical techniques to uncover correlations and coefficients and co-variation, revealing that a twelve-second reduction in average wait times will result in a one-point rise in customer satisfaction, which will turn into a half-cent increase in per-transaction revenue at a cost of a quarter of a penny, etc., etc.

Such models can, in fact, be valuable as a means for understanding the associations among different service and profit factors. They can also provide insight into how service attributes interact with each other to influence customer perceptions. A major drawback, however, is that these models tend to have too many moving parts to function as a practical, day-to-day business tool. In addition, they tend to give the appearance of being far more precise than they actually are. Many companies have spent considerable effort and money constructing such models, only to find that their applicability is marginal and their useful lifespan limited.

The Third Way
There is another approach - a third way that is simple, practical and intuitive. It does not purport to be as precise as the Rube Goldberg predictive models, nor does it treat service as sacrosanct, as with the Blind Faith followers. Rather, the Third Way takes the view that service isn't profitable because it's good, it's good because it's profitable.

The Third Way begins with the company making a list of customer behaviors that directly affect revenues or costs. The company asks itself, "What, specifically, do we want customers to do more of or less of?" Attitudes (such as satisfaction) and feelings (such as delight) aren't included - only measurable, observable behaviors, such as, "use our service more often," "call our support line less often," "purchase more items on an average visit to the store," and "return merchandise less frequently."

The next step is to reduce the list by eliminating any items that cannot plausibly be influenced through service interactions. (Note that service interactions do not necessarily involve employees. ATMs, web sites and unmanned kiosks are all, from a customer's point of view, service providers.) Working backwards, the company next makes a second list composed of specific, measurable service activities that are likely to affect desired customer behaviors. This list should only include items for which a realistic, cause-and-effect scenario between service behavior and customer behavior can be articulated. Again, attitudes and feelings are not included. The company asks itself, "What can employees (or machines or web sites) do more of or less of, or do differently, to influence how customers act?" If it can't be measured, if it can't be trained (or programmed) or if it has no likely effect on measurable customer behaviors that effect profit, it is removed it from the list.

This process of deconstruction next moves to the subject of training: What specific knowledge and skills are needed to provide the service that will affect desired customer behaviors? Then, incentives and measurement: What rewards will be most effective at reinforcing the use of those skills? What metrics need to be gathered to trigger rewards?

Each list is winnowed to ensure that it applies only to the items on the previous list. In this way, the picture is never cluttered with irrelevant or ambiguous elements. Because every item on every list is concrete and measurable, the people who are accountable for delivering service and making it pay will know precisely what is expected of them.

The next step is to link the first list (customer behaviors) to costs and revenues. To do this the company calculates the financial effect of an incremental change in each item. For example, what would be the effect on revenue of increasing the average customer purchase by one dollar?

What would be effect on costs if the volume of complaints to call centers were reduced by five percentage points? It quickly becomes clear that even a small change in some customer behaviors can have a substantial financial impact. It also becomes clear which service changes will have the biggest effect.

The company has thus far identified the customer behaviors it wants to change, the general effect of each behavior on revenue or cost, and the dollar value of an incremental change in each behavior. In addition, it has identified the service activities that are likely to influence changes in customer behaviors, and a strategy for promoting those activities through training, measurement and rewards. All of these steps can be accomplished in a day with a few managers and pot of strong coffee. But from this point on, the process gets a bit trickier.

The major element missing from the formula is magnitude. How much change can the company expect to create? Can complaints be reduced by 1%, 5%, 10%? Will average purchase amounts increase by 50 cents? Ten dollars?

Also missing is the interaction among different variables. For example, aggressive up-selling may lead to a 10% increase in the average transaction amount, but it could also lead to a 2% increase in customer turnover, which might counteract the benefit.

The only way to answer these questions is to experiment. The company must identify the most promising service investments and test them on a small scale. Service units (stores, call centers, etc.) should be compared, using test and control groups. The groups should be small enough to keep the experiment manageable, but large enough to wash out the influence of temporary, outside factors, such as bad weather or a blow-out sale by a competing store.

The experimentation does not stop with one test. The process is iterative, allowing the company to fine-tune its tactics and find the optimal mix of service activities that result in the highest return on investment. With patience, a reliable formula for ROI will emerge and the company can decide which service improvements it should invest in - or whether it should invest in service improvements at all.

To return to an earlier statement: The Third Way takes the view that service isn't profitable because it's good, it's good because it's profitable. This doesn't mean there is no benefit to customers. On the contrary, the types of behaviors desired of customers will only come about if they are satisfied, loyal and occasionally delighted. The point is, companies cannot make the world a better place for customers unless they show a profit. By defining good service in terms of its effect on the bottom line, everybody wins.

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - http://www.grahamphelps.com

Developing a structured sales process - new program

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Developing a structured sales process

Potential benefits

Improve prospecting results, leading to higher percentage of business from new customers.

Shorten the time from first appointment to first business.

Enhance the value added to the customer’s experience during the sales process.

Differentiate more strongly, especially by how you help customer’s buy

Increase sales value and customer spend from existing customers and accounts.

Achieve greater consistency, accuracy and conversion of pipeline or pending business opportunities.

Focus areas to developing a more structured sales process:

Predictive metrics	Structured sequence	Best practice skill set
These are key indicators that drive sales results. By reviewing your current measures, we can identify potential improvements before the course and embed them as goals and objectives. In particular, we examine predictive metrics around new business.	There is almost certainly a degree of variance between salespeople and also the month-to-month performance of individuals – the sales ‘roller-coaster. This approach to sales improvement looks at ways to smooth the graph and achieve more consistent results.	As well as core sales skills delivered to a high-level, the course looks at developing ‘set-pieces’ for use at critical points in the sales process. This might be appointment making, making an impact, differentiation, high-impact questions, tailored benefit presentations, proposals, pricing and more.

Free, no-obligation Sales Process Analysis report

In order to help you understand the nature and quality of this program, and if it is right you, we offer a free two-hour consultation and brief initial report.

This will based on a series of short but highly targeted questionnaires and sample telephone discussions, plus a face to face meeting with a senior sales manager or director.

The finished report will summarise our findings, highlight any areas that might be targeted for improvement, and how this might be achieved.

The report will summarise

Current predictive sales metrics, not just sales results.
Variances or weaknesses in sales process, particularly around developing new business or increasing sales.
Clarity of understanding around sales materials, tools, skills and approach across a team.

The results of this sales improvement program can be achieved by consulting with senior executives, one-to-one coaching, training workshops, or a combination of all three.

Graham Roberts-Phelps contact@grahamphelps.com

Business development consultant - and business, sales and customer service training - http://www.grahamphelps.com

Developing a structured sales process

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:40:00 +0000

Developing a structured sales process

The results of this sales improvement program can be achieved by consulting with senior executives, one-to-one coaching, training workshops, or a combination of all three.

Potential benefits

Improve prospecting results, leading to higher percentage of business from new customers.

Shorten the time from first appointment to first business.

Enhance the value added to the customer’s experience during the sales process.

Differentiate more strongly, especially by how you help customer’s buy

Increase sales value and customer spend from existing customers and accounts.

Achieve greater consistency, accuracy and conversion of pipeline or pending business opportunities.

Focus areas to developing a more structured sales process:

Predictive metrics	Structured sequence	Best practice skill set
These are key indicators that drive sales results. By reviewing your current measures, we can identify potential improvements before the course and embed them as goals and objectives. In particular, we examine predictive metrics around new business.	There is almost certainly a degree of variance between salespeople and also the month-to-month performance of individuals – the sales ‘roller-coaster. This approach to sales improvement looks at ways to smooth the graph and achieve more consistent results.	As well as core sales skills delivered to a high-level, the course looks at developing ‘set-pieces’ for use at critical points in the sales process. This might be appointment making, making an impact, differentiation, high-impact questions, tailored benefit presentations, proposals, pricing and more.

Free, no-obligation Sales Process Analysis report

In order to help you understand the nature and quality of this program, and if it is right you, we offer a free two-hour consultation and brief initial report.

This will based on a series of short but highly targeted questionnaires and sample telephone discussions, plus a face to face meeting with a senior sales manager or director.

The finished report will summarise our findings, highlight any areas that might be targeted for improvement, and how this might be achieved.

The report will summarise

Current predictive sales metrics, not just sales results.

Variances or weaknesses in sales process, particularly around developing new business or increasing sales.

Clarity of understanding around sales materials, tools, skills and approach across a team.

The results of this sales improvement program can be achieved by consulting with senior executives, one-to-one coaching, training workshops, or a combination of all three.

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - http://www.grahamphelps.com

Right brain selling

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:40:00 +0000

Right Brain Selling

Presentation and training workshop

It is now well established that ‘people buy on emotion and justify with fact’. Regardless of what you sell – B2B or consumer, the decision making process is 100% inside the customer’s head, and involves certain ‘unconscious’ psychological factors.

In this presentation or workshop you will learn what these are and how to begin to influence them. Including:

How to tap the hidden power of ‘story selling’
Understand how effective sketch pad presenting can be
Learn practical examples of persuasive right-brain language patterns
Know the six tools of influence

Graham Roberts-Phelps, contact@grahamphelps.com 07515 851 691

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - http://www.grahamphelps.com

Principle of three - keys to personal financial independence

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:18:00 +0000

The Principle of Three

There are three legs to the stool of financial freedom; savings, insurance and investment. One of your major responsibilities to yourself and to the people that depend on you is to build a financial fortress around yourself over time.

Your job is to create an estate within which you can be safe from the financial insecurities experienced by most people. To achieve this goal, you need to maintain the correct proportions of your finances in each of these three: savings, insurance and investment.

In order to be fully protected against the unexpected you require liquid savings equal to two to six months of normal expenses or around three months salary. Your first financial goal is to save enough money so that if you lost your source of income for up to six months, you would have enough put aside to carry you over.

The act of saving this amount of money and putting it into a low to medium risk high-yielding savings account, fund or a money market account will give you a tremendous sense of confidence and security. Not having to worry about money ever again should be one of your major goals. Knowing that you have this money put away will make you a far more effective, and probably a nicer person, than if are always worrying about your next payslip, your next bag of groceries or having enough money to retire at an age you choose.

Next, you must insure adequately to provide against any emergency that you cannot pay for out of your bank account. Always carry sufficient insurance to protect yourself against an emergency that you cannot write a cheque to cover.

Carry sufficient health insurance to provide for yourself and others in any medical emergency. You insure your car for liability and accident, so insure your life so that, if something unfortunate happens to you, the people who are counting on you will be provided for.

Perhaps the deepest need or craving of human nature is the desire for security, and without adequate insurance, you are taking risks that you simply cannot afford.

Finally, and the third leg of the stool, is that your ultimate financial goal should be to accumulate capital until your investments are paying you more than you can earn on your job.

Your life is divided into roughly three parts, although these three parts tend to overlap. First, there are your learning years, where you grow up and get your education. Then, there are your earning years, from approximately 20 to age 60 or 65. Finally, come your yearning years, when you can retire, with the average life expectancy today approaching 80 years and rising. We are also staying healthier and fitter longer during our retirement years.

The simplest and most effective of all financial strategies is for you to save and invest your money throughout your working lifetime until your investments are paying you more than you can earn on your job. At that point, you can begin to phase out of your regular job and spend more and more of your time managing your assets.

This seems like a very simple lifetime planning strategy, but it is remarkable how few people follow it and how many people end up at the age of 65 with very little put aside. The average retired person today has a total net worth well below what they could have had with proper planning. Do not let this happen to you.

Your Money²: The Keys to Creating Greater Personal Wealth and Long-Term Financial Security.

This article is an extract from the book Your Money ²: The Keys to Creating Greater Personal Wealth and Long-Term Financial Security. To comment, discuss or get more information please contact me, Graham Roberts-Phelps, contact@grahamphelps.com

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

Graham Roberts-Phelps

contact@grahamphelps.com www.grahamphelps.com http://www.8020-pareto.co.uk

UK Mobile: +44 07515 85 1691 Office (24 Hour): 0845 050 6386

Money conservation - extract from book Your Money 2

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:58:00 +0000

Money Conservation

It is not how much you make, but how much you keep, that determines your financial future. Many people make a lot of money in the course of their working lifetimes. Sometimes, during boom periods, people greatly exceed their expectations and make more money than they ever thought possible.

The true measure of how well you are really doing is how much you keep of the amount that you earn. Successful people are fastidious about putting away chunks of money regularly and paying off debt during prosperous times so that they have reserves set aside when the economy or business turns downward.

Calculate your true net worth as of today. Make a list of all your assets and value them at the amount you can actually get for them if you had to turn them into cash quickly. Add up all your bills, credit card balances and mortgages and then subtract them from your assets to get your net worth today. Now, divide the number of years you have been working into your net worth. The result is the net amount you have actually earned each year after your costs of living.

So, here is the question. Are you happy with it? If you are not happy with how much you have earned each year since you started working and how much you have kept, start today to do something about it...start today to do something different.

He that wants money, means, and content is without three good friends. William Shakespeare

Your Money²: The Keys to Creating Greater Personal Wealth and Long-Term Financial Security.

This article is an extract from the book Your Money ²: The Keys to Creating Greater Personal Wealth and Long-Term Financial Security. To comment, discuss or get more information please contact me, Graham Roberts-Phelps, contact@grahamphelps.com

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

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Posted By Graham Roberts-Phelps to Graham Roberts-Phelps on 6/17/2009 09:00:00 AM

Sales Genius part 5 of 12: Flexiblity - Creativity

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Sales Genius part 5 of 12: Flexiblity - Creativity

SALES GENIUS

This article is one of twelve elements from an NLP-based study into qualities of high performing salespeople and entrepreneurs. To comment, discuss or get more information please contact me, Graham Roberts-Phelps, contact@grahamphelps.com

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

Image: Confidence, Humour, Presentation

Flexibility: Responsiveness, Creativity, Self-directed learning

Energy: Enthusiasm, Courage, Perseverance

Integrity: Self image/concept, Goal motivated, Empowering beliefs

Rule breakers

Everybody has a favourite film. For me people it is the Blues Brothers. As well as being great entertainment it reminds us of an important principle of sales success; get a purpose, attempt the impossible and bend a few rules to get what you want !. Top salespeople are often rebels and mavericks at heart, and will find ways to bend the rules when they stand in the way of their goals. They believe that the rules are there for other people, not for them, and the ends can be made to justify the means. The job of the sales manager in managing such sales super stars is to control the rule-breaking just enough to keep them out of trouble, and yet allow them enough slack to be effective.

Creating resources and personal choice

Most people don't do certain things because they don't believe they can. Top salespeople, alongside top performers in every field, create the possibility and resources mentally first, so that they become a possibility; a "choice". In order to bring anything into exist in your external reality; you must first vividly create it in your internal reality. As your mind cannot always tell the difference, and the experience becomes something you can do; a behaviour or outcome that you can choose. Visualise regularly.

Thinking big

Top salespeople go for the top accounts. As most of them are a little "lazy", that is, they look for the greatest return for their efforts. So, they carefully select the largest accounts with the best chances of success. A large order, or success with a particularly large account, can pay many bills, and create fame and fortune within a company and marketplace. However, they are careful not neglect the everyday business - big accounts are long-term projects with no guarantee of success!

Self-challenging

Top salespeople enjoy coming first, but most of all they enjoy competing and winning against themselves. Continuous and never-ending improvement and achievement of ever-higher or more demanding personal goals is far more motivating and satisfying than conquering others. However, never shy from competition. . . athletes do not run personal bests or break world records in training, only in competition.

Creative thinking. . . on the spot

The "gift of the gab" as is it sometimes known is that ability people have to think of just the right thing to say or do, just at the right time. The secret of this is to put your self confidently into such risky situations, focus on a clearly defined outcome, and make sure you have a back-pocket full of things you can use. This is the real secret of thinking on your feet is to first of all trust your inner intuition, and then have enough experiences to relate to the situation.

Graham Roberts-Phelps

contact@grahamphelps.com www.grahamphelps.com http://www.8020-pareto.co.uk

UK Mobile: +44 07515 85 1691 Office (24 Hour): 0845 050 6386

Sales Genius part 4 of 12: Flexibility - Responsiveness

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Sales Genius part 4 of 12: Flexibility – Responsiveness

SALES GENIUS

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

Image: Confidence, Humour, Presentation

Flexibility: Responsiveness, Creativity, Self-directed learning

Energy: Enthusiasm, Courage, Perseverance

Integrity: Self image/concept, Goal motivated, Empowering beliefs

Advanced patterns of verbal persuasion

Years of experience gives top salespeople skills that they aren't aware of. Only through video or tape recording of their sales calls do very complex and subtle patterns of persuasion emerge. They listen for nominalisations and challenge global assumptions. They say things that customers easily agree with and connect statements to create new persuasive suggestions.

They look for specifics in a sea of generalisations, and reframe doubts by changing angles. They use words that are artfully vague that mean something to everybody. And, perhaps most importantly, they intuitively work in a palette of sensory colours that customers can relate to and understand.

Pacing and Leading; the ability to build trust

Three facts: 1) Ninety three per cent of your communication is non-verbal. 2) The first five minutes can dictate the outcome of any sales calls and 3) It is possible to build rapport with anyone. We can build this rapport by pacing or matching peoples behaviours, personal characteristics, beliefs, attitudes and opinions. Based on the principle that people like people who are like they are, we cause people to like us and lead to move in our direction.

Treating all customers the same (unique maps)

Is there a common approach that you can take towards your customers and prospects that will ensure greater success? Is it possible to define a formula that will work with everybody? Yes. Top salespeople treat ALL customers exactly the same - that is they approach each one completely differently.

Every customer is a unique individual and must be treated as such. Treat every customer as your ONLY customer. . . as your MOST IMPORTANT customer. Remember, when you are talking to that customer, they are your only customer at that moment in time.

Behavioural flexibility (versatile styles)

Is it possible to change our personality to suit different people, like a chameleon changes it's skin to suit different environments? You already do. You probably are a "different" person with different people, whether your boss, partner, colleagues or strangers. In any meeting of two human minds and personalities, the person with the greatest behavioural flexibility has the greatest power. By grouping behaviours in to four distinct "styles" (Drivers, Expressive, Analytical and Amiable), we can more easily map these styles and have a framework on which to adapt our own.

Selling HOW people like to buy (decision and thinking models)

Have you ever wondered why some sales are almost effortless, and others effort-intensive? The answer lies in the fact that everyone of us has a buying "blueprint" or strategy. Rather like a combination lock on a bank vault. Turn the chambers the right number of steps in the right order and the door swings open. Top salespeople unconsciously look for and read this strategy, and then present their solution in the right way to match it. One simple way to do this is to ask someone how they decided on their last purchase of a similar product, and then present your solution in the same sequence.

Graham Roberts-Phelps

contact@grahamphelps.com www.grahamphelps.com http://www.8020-pareto.co.uk

UK Mobile: +44 07515 85 1691 Office (24 Hour): 0845 050 6386

Parkinson's law of money

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:58:00 +0000

Parkinson's Law

This adaptation of Parkinson's Law ("Work expands to fill the time available") is that expenses rise to meet income. Parkinson's Law is one of the best known and the most important principles of money and wealth accumulation. It was first formulated by English writer C. Northcote Parkinson many years ago and it explains why many people retire short of funds, either what they would like to have or what they could have had.

It seems that no matter how much money people earn, they tend to spend the entire amount and a little bit more besides. Their expenses rise in step with their incomes. Many people are earning today several times what they were earning at their first jobs, but they seem to need every single penny to maintain their current lifestyles. No matter how much they make, there never seems to be enough.

The first effect of Parkinson's Law is that financial independence comes from violating Parkinson's Law. It is only when you develop enough willpower to resist the powerful urge to spend everything you make that you begin to accumulate money and move ahead of the crowd.

Next, if you allow your expenses to increase at a slower rate than your income increases, and you save or invest the difference, you will become financially independent in your working lifetime.

If you can drive a wedge between your increase in earnings and the increase in costs of your lifestyle, and then save and invest the difference, you can continue to improve your lifestyle as you make more money. By consciously violating Parkinson's Principle, you will eventually become financially independent.

From this point onward, resolve to save and invest 25-50% of any increase you receive in your income from any source. Learn to live on the rest. This still leaves you the other 50-75% to do with as you wish.

Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust. Oliver Wendell Holmes

Your Money²: The Keys to Creating Greater Personal Wealth and Long-Term Financial Security. link

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

Graham Roberts-Phelps (grp)

contact@grahamphelps.com www.grahamphelps.com http://www.8020-pareto.co.uk

UK Mobile: +44 07515 85 1691 Office (24 Hour): 0845 050 6386

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Posted By Graham Roberts-Phelps to Graham Roberts-Phelps on 6/19/2009 03:18:00 AM

Sales Genius Part 3 of 12: Image - Presentation

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Sales Genius: Presentation

SALES GENIUS

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

Image: Confidence, Humour, Presentation

Flexibility: Responsiveness, Creativity, Self-directed learning

Energy: Enthusiasm, Courage, Perseverance

Integrity: Self image/concept, Goal motivated, Empowering beliefs

Well presented

Salespeople come in many different shapes and sizes. You will find salespeople of almost every age, sex, colour, race, educational level, experience, training, and background. The one connecting factor is that they are always well presented, relative to their industry. Whilst you would tend to wear different clothes selling seed to farmers or city investments to brokers, you should always look good. This also means sound good, and make people feel relaxed in dealing with you.

Build credibility

The critical question that goes through people's mind when considering a purchasing decision is "Why should I this buy from them and why now?" The two things that stand in the way of all sales are, 1) The fear of making a mistake by the customer, and 2) The fear of rejection by the sales person. Create credibility into your sales conversation, approach and presentation, and you can quickly remove both of these obstacles, and let the customer realise that the answer to the universal question is "because we can deliver what we promise."

"Complete" presenters

Successful salespeople are good, accomplished and persuasive presenters. That means practise, planning and preparation. They are also usually "complete" presenters in that they communicate using all the senses and use both tonality and physiology to make their message get across. Good presentation skills can be learnt. . . from other salespeople, your managers, film and television actors and presenters, and take every opportunity you can to get in front of people and start presenting. It builds credibility, respect and most of all, admiration, even if people disagree or don't listen to your points!

Use of proven "scripts"

If you have never used a properly planned and rehearsed sales presentation, then the chances are you have yet to sell at your best. Time spent in front of prospects is so precious and so valuable that it should not left to chance. A planned, not a "canned", script can carefully develop all your key and unique selling points and make sure you are prepared for 95% of all objections, questions and buying signals. The four "Ps" of presentation are purpose, preparation, planning and practise.

Graham Roberts-Phelps

contact@grahamphelps.com www.grahamphelps.com http://www.8020-pareto.co.uk

UK Mobile: +44 07515 85 1691 Office (24 Hour): 0845 050 6386

Learn to save

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Your Money²: The Keys to Creating Greater Personal Wealth and Long-Term Financial Security.

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

Learn to Save

Financial security can be gained by saving 10% or more of your income throughout your lifetime. Therefore, one of the best things that you can learn to do is to develop the habit of saving part of your salary, every single month. Individuals, families and even societies are stable and prosperous to the degree to which they have high savings rates. Savings and investments you make today help to guarantee the security and possibilities of tomorrow.

In the book 'The Richest Man in Babylon', George Classon explains a simple lesson - “pay yourself first”. Begin today to save 10% of your income, off the top, and never touch it. This becomes your fund for long-term financial accumulation and you should never use it for any other reason except to assure your financial future.

The remarkable thing is that when you pay yourself first, and learn to live on the other 90%, you will soon become accustomed to it. You, like me and most other people, are a creature of habit. When you regularly put away 10% of your income, you soon develop a habit of living on the other 90%. Many people start by saving 10% of their income and then move to saving 15%, 20%, and even more and their financial lives change dramatically as a result. So will yours.

You should also take full advantage of tax deferred or tax-efficient savings and investment plans. Because of high tax rates, money that is saved or invested without incurring taxes accumulates at a rate of 30% to 40% faster than money that is subject to taxation. So, you should invest in company pension and retirement plans and legal offshore, tax-free or low-tax investments, so long as they are secure.

Begin today to put away 10% of your income; it is rarely too late to start. Set up a special account for this purpose and treat your contributions with the same respect that you do your rent or mortgage payments each month. That is, you never miss them! If you are in debt today and 10% is too much for you, start by saving 1% of your income and living on the other 99%. When you become comfortable living on 99% of your income, increase your savings rate to 2%. Over time, work the rate up to 10%, 15% and even 20% of your income, and your financial future is guaranteed.

When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.

Oscar Wilde

Graham Roberts-Phelps

contact@grahamphelps.com www.grahamphelps.com http://www.8020-pareto.co.uk

UK Mobile: +44 07515 85 1691 Office (24 Hour): 0845 050 6386

Beliefs and feelings about time - questionnaire

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:05:00 +0000

Beliefs and feelings about time

	True	False
1. Unless the company is understaffed, people who use time wisely are normally able to find time for really important work activities.
2. It is always best to wait until you have collected all of the relevant information and data before making a decision.
3. In most jobs, people use their time in repetitive patterns that can be effectively analysed.
4. You can achieve greater improvements by analysing how you handle crises rather than how you go about your daily routine.
5. The amount of time spent trying to achieve perfection is always time well spent.
6. Good time management and being busy during the entire day are the same.
7. Most people already know exactly how they use their time.
8. The greatest time savings will normally come from preventing interruptions.
9. Frequent interruptions make setting priorities an unproductive activity.
10. Most people know exactly what their time management problems are.
11. Hard work is an effective substitute for good time management.
12. Time management techniques will turn you into a machine with no freedom to do the things you want to do.
13. In the short run, delegation and teamwork to others will automatically result in time savings for you.
· How you manage your time will directly influence your effectiveness in working with and motivating your colleagues.
15. Most of the important results you achieve stem from only a handful of activities.

Graham Roberts-Phelps 07515 851 691 (UK)

Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

Structuring a call for a one call close

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:03:00 +0000

Structuring a call for a one call close

Create a positive mental image of you being successful and closing the sale.
Start by quickly gaining rapport – talking about their needs, business or topics.
Qualify what stage they are at in the buying process.
Be very clear about getting them to buy today.
Break the ‘pact’ (The pact they sometimes make with themselves they are not going to buy today.). “So, you what are you looking for today?
Use a carefully structured ‘agenda’ for all calls. One call closing is a about persuasive selling, process and persistence.
Overcome objections by anticipating them and building the answers into your sales pitch. The final objection might be price – which you should be ready for.
Use questions to uncover one or more compelling reasons to buy or change to C&B.
Use high impact questions - ask questions directly.
Only sell to the decision maker or problem owner: qualify early –“who else would be involved in this decision?
Use the principle of social proof – 3rd party stories to convince. Avoid dumping ‘facts and features’.
Remember, even in a one-all sale, ask questions to allow the customer to sell to themselves, rather than you telling them why they should buy or change to C&B. People are much more persuaded by their words than yours.
Look for buying signals and test close early and often.
Use the price isolation close – and leave something to trade or give away – make people believe they have a got a good deal!
Build incremental commitment – using yes-set questions.

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

Sales Activity Goal Setting Worksheet

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:56:00 +0000

Activity level planning

Stage	Your number	Conversion ratio	Example
New customers per month		---	1
Proposals/quotes			4
Call backs			6
New prospects/opportunities			8
New opportunities closed on the first call			10
Connected calls			20
Current metrics	Future goals (next month)
Number of orders per week: ______________ Average order value: ______________ Ratio calls:orders: ______________ Number of connected calls per week: ________________	Number of orders per week: ______________ Average order value: ______________ Ratio calls:orders: ______________ Number of connected calls per week: _____________

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:11:00 +0000

Things Not To Say at a Job Interview

We've all been interviewed for jobs. And, we've all spent most of those interviews thinking about what not to do. Don't bite your nails. Don't fidget. Don't interrupt. Don't belch. If we did any of the don'ts, we knew we'd disqualify ourselves instantly. But some job applicants go light years beyond this. We surveyed top personnel executives of 100 major American corporations and asked for stories of unusual behavior by job applicants.

The lowlights:

Said he was so well qualified [that] if he didn't get the job, it would prove that the company's management was incompetent.
Stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application.
Brought her large dog to the interview.
Chewed bubble gum and constantly blew bubbles.
Candidate kept giggling through serious interview.
She wore a Walkman and said she could listen to the music and me at the same time.
Balding candidate abruptly excused himself. Returned to office a few minutes later wearing a hairpiece.
Applicant challenged interviewer to arm wrestle.
Asked to see interviewer's resume to see if the personnel executive was qualified to judge the candidate.
Announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and French fries in the interviewer's office.
Without saying a word, candidate stood up and walked out during the middle of the interview.
Man wore jogging suit to interview for position as financial vice president.
Said if he were hired, he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.
Interrupted to phone his therapist for advice on answering specific interview questions.
Wouldn't get out of the chair until I would hire him. I had to call the police.
When I asked him about his hobbies, he stood up and started tap dancing around my office.
Had a little pinball game and challenged me to play with him.
Bounced up and down on my carpet and told me I must be highly thought of by the company because I was given such a thick carpet.
Took a brush out of my purse, brushed his hair and left.
Pulled out a Polaroid camera and snapped a flash picture of me. Said he collected photos of everyone who interviewed him.
Candidate asked me if I would put on a suit jacket to insure that the offer was formal.
Said he wasn't interested because the position paid too much.
While I was on a long-distance phone call, the applicant took out a copy of Penthouse, and looked through the photos only, stopping longest at the centerfold.
During the interview, an alarm clock went off from the candidate's briefcase. He took it out, shut it off, apologized and said he had to leave for another interview.
A telephone call came in for the job applicant. It was from his wife. His side of the conversation went like this: "Which company? When do I start? What's the salary?" I said, "I assume you're not interested in conducting the interview any further." He promptly responded, "I am as long as you'll pay me more." I didn't hire him, but later found out there was no other job offer. It was a scam to get a higher offer.
An applicant came in wearing only one shoe. She explained that the other shoe was stolen off her foot in the bus.
His attache [case] opened when he picked it up and the contents spilled, revealing ladies' undergarments and assorted makeup and perfume.
He came to the interview with a moped and left it in the reception area. He didn't want it to get stolen, and stated that he would require indoor parking for the moped.
He took off his right shoe and sock, opened a medicated foot powder and dusted it on the foot and in the shoe. While he was putting back the shoe and sock, he mentioned that he had to use the powder four times a day, and this was the time.
Candidate said he really didn't want to get a job, but the unemployment office needed proof that he was looking for one.
He whistled when the interviewer was talking.
Asked who the lovely babe was, pointing to the picture on my desk. When I said it was my wife, he asked if she was home now and wanted my phone number. I called security.
She threw up on my desk, and immediately started asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.

For help in knowing the right things to say, contact me!

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

Sales mentoring...this time it's personal..

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:06:00 +0000

Sales Mentoring...

This time it’s personal...

Sales training is great! No really.

It boosts motivation, builds and shares skills, knowledge and confidence, plus much more...but (yes, there is always a ‘but’)! It can take people anyway from winning business, it does involve venues, travel, often the best training sometimes covers old ground for some people. It is also difficult to measure results and tailor to EACH individual.

The alternative? Sales Mentoring

Sales Mentoring gives you expert, experienced and enthusiastic support and guidance, when you need it, as you need it and 100% personalised and objective. It is like taking a top sales expert with you into a meeting, or sitting at your desk, plus structed telephone and email support at a time to suit you.

How does it work? Over a series of regular mentoring sessions we guarantee to improve your sales planning, call execution and closing effectiveness. No time lost, no expensive venues or travel. We even bring our own biscuits.

How much does it cost? Nothing, it’s free! (just kidding - we're in sales remember!).

Actually, we’re not. We will structure your sales mentoring program in such a way that it will achieve quantifiable results - results that cover the cost of using a sales mentor. A sales mentoring program normally runs for three months and might involve one or more days a month working with you.

Our prices are clear and less than you might think. In fact, with the risk of sounding like a corny insurance advert, "you can't afford not to!"

“I improved my sales closing rate from 24% to 31% in a month.”

“Thanks to your help we just landed our biggest ever deal.”

From new hires to top professionals, we can help you increase your results:

• Sales management
• Sales strategy
• Major bids
• Account managers
• New sales starters
• Technical sales
• Business owners and directors.
• Telesales
• Retail sales
• Consultative selling
• Professional Services
• Negotiation
• Franchising

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

WANTED: Negotiation skills trainer for major freelance opportunity - BRAZIL, RUSSIA, JAPAN.

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:58:00 +0000

WANTED: Negotiation skills trainer for major freelance opportunity - BRAZIL, RUSSIA, JAPAN. My client is one of Europe's top training and consultancy organisations. They are now looking for partners in Russia, Brazil and Japan. The ideal person must have strong native language skills (plus English) and extensive track-record.

International Partner Alliance

International Partner Alliance - Partner Profile

Main UK contact

Jeff Benveniste
Jeff.Benveniste@thegappartnership.com

International Director
Tel: +44(0) 1442 291 900

The Gap Partnership
www.thegappartnership.com

Tel: +44 (0)1442 291900
Fax: +44 (0)1442 291901

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffbenveniste

Role and Responsibilities

Workshop delivery

The role of The Gap Partnership (TGP) International partner is primarily to deliver The Complete Skilled Negotiator (TCSN) workshop in local language in the local geography.
Confirmed workshop bookings from our clients will be fed through from our office in the UK by a pre-determined process.
All workshop details will be recorded on a web portal (intranet) for our partners to access.
All materials will be sent to the venue from our UK office or managed by the UK team through a centralised distribution process.
TGP will provide the partner with all required equipment to deliver the workshop.
The partner will be responsible for the on-going maintenance (unless on supplier guarantee) and set up of the equipment at the venue.

Client Relationship Management:

Our international Partner will, from a workshop perspective, need to maintain a level of client relationship accountability for their delegates.
It is critical that The Gap Partnership brand is maintained at all times, and therefore anything other than standard or factual communication about the workshop, should be managed by our Client Service Co-ordination (CSC) team in the UK.

Selection Criteria

Capabilities

Able to deliver high pressure workshops to board level
Ability to deliver workshops across a broad range of sectors (especially retail and FMCG) in local geography
Ability to account manage at a local level where necessary.
Understanding of local culture and commercial law.
Ability to perform, articulate clearly and promote credibility in front of an audience - engage, enthuse, inspire
Provide verbal feedback to local client sponsors on programme outcomes
Strong understanding of client relationship management and business development

Personal Attributes

Implementer – action orientated
Discreet and able to work within clearly defined NDA boundaries
Consistent approach, and adherence to policies and procedures or passing opportunities through to TGP
Focused, energetic and driven
Empathetic with team/clients
Communicative and open and honest
A team player able to work across geographically dispersed and virtual teams
High integrity and works towards long term mutual relationship and agreed goals
Motivated by the prospect of being involved with a successful global enterprise and proposition

Experience

Extensive experience of delivering high end commercial and behavioural development programmes
Some exposure to international business.
Direct client facing experience, and account/ client relationship responsibilities
Had corporate experience in a commercial role
Experience of organising and delivering workshops for corporate clients
Existing business network in local geography
Involvement in (if not leading) commercial negotiations in local territory

Aspirations

To be financially successful
To develop as an effective negotiation consultant
To compliment their existing proposition with negotiation
To compliment their existing revenue streams
To build a stake in a growing global consultancy

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

Sales person required for interactive mobile marketing company

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:23:00 +0000

SMS / MMS Marketing

A contact of mine is looking for....

Sales person required for interactive mobile marketing company:

A hardworking, innovation and engaging sales executive is required for a small fast-growing SMS / MMS marketing company.

Duties will include prospecting for new customers, visiting prospects and customers to present mobile advertising platforms and services, plus growing and developing clients. You will help clients to plan and manage interactive advertising campaigns. Experience of the mobile or advertising industry preferred. OTE 80K + share option.

Contact: ac@empuk.net

www.empuk.net

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

FOR SALE: 1997 MERCEDES 280 C SILVER AMG Styling, excellent auto

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:53:00 +0000

FOR SALE: 1997 MERCEDES 280 C SILVER AMG Styling, excellent auto. £2,250 ono

This car has been owned three times and covered a below average 118,000. It has clearly been extremely well looked after with none of the normal chips, dings, dents etc. In the inside is brilliant condition too. The C-Class from the late 90’s, as you probably know, are some of the best cars MBZ ever produced and the 2.8 litre petrol the perfect engine. Very, very smooth, with quiet power just when you need it. This car is an absolute delight to drive, and and still looks brand new, with many admiring looks and comments. It is also the best colour combination - silver with full black leather. Automatic gearbox with cruise control. Elegance trim level.

The car has M.O.T and Road Tax, all four tyres are brand new !
New disk's
New brakes
New oil
New filter
New Air Filter
New Air condition Air Filters
All fitted in recently! Interior; Full leather brand new, no scratches, not ripped, The mats are originally from the Mercedes factory.
There is also a Sony CD/Radio which has been upgraded from the original unit I think. Also has the added extras of electrically adjustable seats and wing mirrors, as well as special allows and low profile tyres. The dash is in wood effect in very good condition no scratches
The body work of the car is AMG style. There is a good service history, with only a couple of missing service receipts and owner manual with two keys.

If your interested but not sure you can always contact me and come to have a look! its an amazing car.! Cash on collection.

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

Your Money 2 - confident expectations

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Taken from the book "Your Money 2" by Graham Roberts-Phelps

http://www.grahamphelps.com/yourmoney2.html

Confident Expectations

As many successful people will testify - whatever you expect with confidence becomes your own self-fulfilling prophecy.

You are always acting as a psychic for your own life by the way you think and talk about how things are going to turn out. When you confidently expect good things to happen, good things usually happen to you – although not always exactly as you might have planned. If you expect something negative to happen, you are usually not disappointed either.

Wealthy people expect to be rich. Successful people expect to be successful. Happy, popular people expect to be happy and popular; and your expectations are largely under your control.

So expect the best of yourself. Imagine that you have unlimited abilities and that you can accomplish anything you really put your mind to, and of course take action to achieve them. Imagine that your future is only limited by your own imagination and that whatever you have accomplished up to now, it is only a fraction of what you are truly capable of achieving. See today as a starting point for a better future, and then see that every day.

Imagine that your greatest moments lie ahead and that everything that has happened to you up to now has merely been a preparation for the great things that are yet to come.

Whilst confidence, or self-belief, in itself, is not enough on its own it is often the precursor for all other elements to be effective.

Taken from the book "Your Money 2" by Graham Roberts-Phelps contact@grahamphelps.com

www.8020-pareto.co.uk

http://www.grahamphelps.com/yourmoney2.html

Sales genuius part 2 of 12: HUMOUR

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Sales Genius part one: Image - Humour

SALES GENIUS

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

Image: Confidence, Humour, Presentation

Flexibility: Responsiveness, Creativity, Self-directed learning

Energy: Enthusiasm, Courage, Perseverance

Integrity: Self image/concept, Goal motivated, Empowering beliefs

Humour

Humour - To ease tension

In any sales situation, particularly at the beginning of a sales call, there usually exists nervousness and tension. Successful salespeople instinctively know that if they can get a client to laugh or smile with them, that tension can be reduced and rapport quickly established.

Humour - To laugh at life. . .

Next time you find yourselves in a terrible predicament, or down on your fortunes, ask yourself: "In a few months or years, when I look back on this, will I laugh and joke about this?" If the answer is "yes!", which it probably will be, then why not laugh now. Why waste time!

Humour - To laugh at ourselves

Can you imagine trying to explain your job to someone who had never meet a salesman or woman? Try explaining that you spend 50 hours a week trying to talk to people who won't speak to you or make an appointment, in order to persuade them to buy something they didn't know they needed or wanted, and probably can't afford, and that they can probably buy from a dozen different people.

And when they do see you they spend most of the time telling you why they don't like your product or service, or why your competitions better. And when you do a good job, your CEO proudly proclaims that the products sell themselves! You got to admit. . . it's a funny business.

Humour as a communication tool

A conversation without humour is hard work. Humorous stories and observations, allow people to admit mistakes and disclose information that they normally wouldn't. More importantly, when we laugh or smile the body releases ‘feel-good’ chemicals into your brain and nervous system. Great communicators seem to understand this intuitively.

Selling as a "game", not a "war"

Listen to the words that you use to talk about your business. Is there a "battle" for market share, are you out to "kill" the competition, or perhaps you work in the "front line". All of these commonly used "war" analogies lead us to take selling as some deadly serious life or death event. Instead, use sporting metaphors, scoring points, play-off, top of the league, or below par. When you adopt this attitude, you will be able to maintain a competitive spirit, enjoy winning, and taking losing as something to learn from and put into your next game.

Graham Roberts-Phelps

contact@grahamphelps.com www.grahamphelps.com http://www.8020-pareto.co.uk

UK Mobile: +44 07515 85 1691 Office (24 Hour): 0845 050 6386

Your Money 2 - The law of attracting wealth

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Taken from the book "Your Money 2" by Graham Roberts-Phelps contact@grahamphelps.com

www.8020-pareto.co.uk

http://www.grahamphelps.com/yourmoney2.html

Law of Attraction

Think of yourself as a living magnet. That is, consciously or unconsciously, you attract into your life the people, situations and circumstances that are in harmony with your dominant thoughts. This is one of the great principles that can explain much of success and failure in business and personal life. It says that everything you have in your life today, you have attracted to yourself because of the way you think. You can change your life if you can change the way you think and the 'success' habits that you develop on a consistent basis.

Many people who achieve great success will tell stories of chance meetings, ideas, circumstances or events that have proved pivotal in their endeavours.

When you develop a burning desire for financial success and think about it all the time, you set up a force-field of positive emotional energy that attracts people, ideas and opportunities into your life to help you turn your goals into realities.

Consider your financial life today and see how it harmonizes with your thinking. Take full credit for all the good things in your life. They are there because you have attracted them to yourself. Then, look around you at the things you do not like and take full responsibility for them as well. They are there because of you as well, because of some principle in your own thinking. What is that principle and what are you going to do about it?

_________________________________________________________________

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.

The Dhammapada

Twelve questions to analyse and improve your sales performance

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:56:00 +0000

The twelve 80/20 Sales 'improvement areas'

Use the 80/20 rule to select the 3-4 most critical for you and your business, or call to discuss. We can help analyse each area and build and implement an improvement plan.

1. Unbalanced sales portfolio - How heavily do you rely on a few key customers for your sales revenue?

2. Lead generation overspend - How cost-effective are your lead-generation and marketing activities?

3. Sales roller-coaster - How consistent are month-to-month sales results?

4. Inconsistent follow-up - Do you have an implemented ‘personal contact strategy’ for keeping in touch with your customer base, prospects and useful contacts?

5. Lack of differentiation - How well do you know, and can explain clearly to customers, what makes you different from your competitors?

6. Sales conviction - Does your sales team believe in what they are selling? And your prices? Can they close?

7. Poor use of sales time - How much time is actually spent with customers, talking to customers, or working directly on business development activities?

8. Sales productivity - Can you differentiate between your best sales people and the most productive?

9. Customer development - How well do you maximise individual customer potential through up-selling and cross-selling?

10. Ineffective sales pipeline reviews - How well does your sales reporting, qualification and pipeline management contribute to improving sales effectiveness?

11. Lack of real sales skills development - How confident are you that the money you are spending on sales training is delivering additional revenue?

12. Wide variance in sales performance - What is the gap between the highest and lowest performing sales people?

Email: contact@8020-pareto.co.uk for more information.

Telephone: 0845 050 6386 Graham Roberts-Phelps

8020 pareto ltd

Graham Roberts-Phelps
Business development consultant - www.8020-pareto.co.uk and business, sales and customer service training - www.grahamphelps.com

Parkinson's law of money - extract form the book - Your Money 2

contact@grahamphelps.com (Graham Roberts-Phelps) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:18:00 +0000

Your Money²: The Keys to Creating Greater Personal Wealth and Long-Term Financial Security.

www.grahamphelps.com www.8020-pareto.co.uk +44 (0)845 050 6386

Parkinson’s Law

This adaptation of Parkinson’s Law (“Work expands to fill the time available”) is that expenses rise to meet income. Parkinson’s Law is one of the best known and the most important principles of money and wealth accumulation. It was first formulated by English writer C. Northcote Parkinson many years ago and it explains why many people retire short of funds, either what they would like to have or what they could have had.

The first effect of Parkinson’s Law is that financial independence comes from violating Parkinson’s Law. It is only when you develop enough willpower to resist the powerful urge to spend everything you make that you begin to accumulate money and move ahead of the crowd.

Next, if you allow your expenses to increase at a slower rate than your income increases, and you save or invest the difference, you will become financially independent in your working lifetime.

If you can drive a wedge between your increase in earnings and the increase in costs of your lifestyle, and then save and invest the difference, you can continue to improve your lifestyle as you make more money. By consciously violating Parkinson’s Principle, you will eventually become financially independent.

Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust. Oliver Wendell Holmes

Graham Roberts-Phelps

contact@grahamphelps.com www.grahamphelps.com http://www.8020-pareto.co.uk

UK Mobile: +44 07515 85 1691 Office (24 Hour): 0845 050 6386

Graham Roberts-Phelps

Rightmove Search Widget

Linking ROI and customer service

Developing a structured sales process - new program

Potential benefits

Focus areas to developing a more structured sales process:

Free, no-obligation Sales Process Analysis report

Developing a structured sales process

Potential benefits

Focus areas to developing a more structured sales process:

Free, no-obligation Sales Process Analysis report

Right brain selling

Right Brain Selling

Principle of three - keys to personal financial independence

Money conservation - extract from book Your Money 2

Sales Genius part 5 of 12: Flexiblity - Creativity

Sales Genius part 5 of 12: Flexiblity - Creativity

SALES GENIUS

Rule breakers

Creating resources and personal choice

Thinking big

Self-challenging

Creative thinking. . . on the spot

Sales Genius part 4 of 12: Flexibility - Responsiveness

Sales Genius part 4 of 12: Flexibility – Responsiveness

SALES GENIUS

Advanced patterns of verbal persuasion

Pacing and Leading; the ability to build trust

Treating all customers the same (unique maps)

Behavioural flexibility (versatile styles)

Selling HOW people like to buy (decision and thinking models)

Parkinson's law of money

Sales Genius Part 3 of 12: Image - Presentation

Sales Genius: Presentation

SALES GENIUS

Well presented

Build credibility

"Complete" presenters

Use of proven "scripts"

Learn to save

Learn to Save

Beliefs and feelings about time - questionnaire

Beliefs and feelings about time

Structuring a call for a one call close

Structuring a call for a one call close

Sales Activity Goal Setting Worksheet

Activity level planning

Things Not To Say at a Job Interview

Sales mentoring...this time it's personal..

Sales Mentoring...

WANTED: Negotiation skills trainer for major freelance opportunity - BRAZIL, RUSSIA, JAPAN.

Sales person required for interactive mobile marketing company

SMS / MMS Marketing

Sales person required for interactive mobile marketing company:

FOR SALE: 1997 MERCEDES 280 C SILVER AMG Styling, excellent auto

Your Money 2 - confident expectations

Taken from the book "Your Money 2" by Graham Roberts-Phelps http://www.grahamphelps.com/yourmoney2.html

Confident Expectations

Sales genuius part 2 of 12: HUMOUR

Sales Genius part one: Image - Humour

SALES GENIUS

Humour

Humour - To ease tension

Humour - To laugh at life. . .

Humour - To laugh at ourselves

Humour as a communication tool

Selling as a "game", not a "war"

Your Money 2 - The law of attracting wealth

Twelve questions to analyse and improve your sales performance

The twelve 80/20 Sales 'improvement areas'

Use the 80/20 rule to select the 3-4 most critical for you and your business, or call to discuss. We can help analyse each area and build and implement an improvement plan.

Parkinson's law of money - extract form the book - Your Money 2

Parkinson’s Law

Taken from the book "Your Money 2" by Graham Roberts-Phelps

http://www.grahamphelps.com/yourmoney2.html