1. Its all about who you know (Networking) – lets face it Del Boy, always had a nice little earner with Monkey Harris’s sisters, brother in law’s uncle didn’t he.

2. Don’t be afraid of failure – how many times has Del Boy failed? and what does he do? he gets up dusts himself off and starts all over again. Take heed.

3. Mind your language – only use the lingo you understand no dodgy missed used, french, spanish.

4. Don’t employ plonkers – despite Del Boy employing Rodney “you plonker” you need to make sure that you realise your staffs abilities and potential as well as your own.

5. Outright Optimism – always remember the Trotters motto “this time next year Rodney we will be millionaires”.

6. Choose your company name carefully – Trotters Independent Traders might sound ideal but what about the acronym “TIT”.

7. Choose your sector carefully – Del Boy used to buy anything he could get his hands on from louvre doors to blow up dolls and of course watches, if you stick to a sector you know well and concentrate on it you will get better results.

8. Be a wheeler dealer – in business it is important to know when to get in and often more importantly when to get out. Getting either of these things wrong can be disastrous as only Del Boy knows.

9. Keep at it and we could all be sat in the van like this video!

Mentoring in the North West of England.

I can honestly say that mentoring and coaching business has brought a wonderful array of positive outcomes for both the mentoree and the mentor, from increased confidence, problem solving and motivation to achievement of personal and business goals, both long and short term.

So what exactly is coaching and mentoring and what can it bring for business?

This is a tough question, as mentoring, coaching, counselling and consulting have all begun to melt into each other over the last decade or so. Lets start with definition’s of each.

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring is about support and encouraging people to manage and maximise their own potential, skills, performance and to become the person they aspire to be. Eric Parsole The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring.

What is Coaching?

A goal oriented reflective process to enable clients to get from point A to point B.

To find out more about coaching and mentoring follow the links.

Positive Business Development have brought on some new services for business in the north west, coaching and mentoring for small to medium sized businesses and their key individuals. Both these are proving popular and the diary is starting to fill for December 2011 and January 2012. See our testimonial below:

Anon Franchise Owner, Fylde Coast, Lancashire – This process has made me a lot more positive and given me a great deal of confidence. It has taught me that you shouldn’t be scared of the jargon, as with help and guidance like I have had with Carl, you can find your way through and not only keep your head way above the water but hovering above! It helps you look towards the future rather than dwelling in the past, and gives reassurance to be able to meet your future head on. By the end of 2011 I will have signed a lease on my 3rd store.

Freelance Sales for Commercial Insurance is hotting up in November as companies and business owners, start to look for the most competitive insurance quotes with the widest level of cover.

The GoMyEmails.com team have been busy designing, creating and sending email marketing for our clients, and getting ready for the run up to Christmas, so expect to see an email from the team in your inbox sometime soon.

GoMysites.com have been busy putting together the final web design Manchester touches on one or two sites. Take a look at Stefs Body Art in Bolton

A Happy Sales Team is a Motivated Sales Team

Saying thank you is a really basic simple task, and yet how many times have you been thanked just for doing what you do? Today I received a postcard from a client that reads:

Dear Carl, I thought I would put pen to paper to thank you for your support last week. It has been a bit daunting launching a business in a sector / discipline you have never worked in. I feel a lot more confident and knowledgeable than I did before our meeting. Your time is very much appreciated. A big thank you.

It has really made my day, it is so nice to feel appreciated, so today I have implemented a programme of thanking my clients and suppliers for their business in the hope that I can make them feel as good about the support they provide to me.

Coaching and Mentoring in Bolton, Bury and the North West

However, repetition can sometimes make us lazy, and as a consequence we stop growing in our technique, so maybe its time for a change in sales methods. Break your daily routine, try just one thing that is new, something completely different and see if it improves your results.

Remember, only change on thing every day and you will grow. Freelance Sales for Small Business in the North West.

What's your highest business priority?

I would not only exceed the needs of my existing customers or clients, but look to actively gain new customers, especially with the knowledge that most of my competitors (57% of those surveyed) are looking to retain clients not grow.

But what would you do?

Twitter Followers

More importantly for business, the more followers you have – the quicker your message reaches maximum audience.

I am often asked. How can I increase the number of followers on my Twitter account? I seem to have stagnated at X. So for this reason I have put together my top tips for increasing followers.

1. The best example is the TV show “My name is Earl” use good Karma. – Listen to what the people that you follow, and those that follow you say and where possible reply to them with helpful and polite comments. One of the best things for this that I use is Tweet deck

2. Increase the number of your tweets, following a theme which is in line with your business. If you specialise in sports equipment, why not tweet about sports, and sports technology. Don’t panic, you don’t have to spend the whole of your day on twitter, constantly tweeting. Use technology to its best advantage, using the RSS feeds from your favourite news, industry magazines and other useful reputable resources, try Twitter Feed to supply your twitter account with up to the minute tweets.

3. Pick your time to tweet. Studies have shown that the best times of day to tweet are between the hours of 10.00 am and 4.00 pm, by tweeting between these hours your message should hit max exposure. Use tweet deck’s scheduling facility to post your tweets at the most optimum times.

4. Follow other people. Yes that’s right I said follow other people. If you expect people to follow you, why wouldn’t you follow them? But who should I follow? There are a number of theories here, I personally follow people who post interesting / thought provoking tweets, and those who follow me. I know of other twitter users that follow so called power tweeters within their industry, as it lets the industry know that they are there.

Follow @GoMyManchester

5. Interact with the people that follow you. Remember that Twitter, just like, Facebook and Linkedin is social media, so be sociable and follow those that take the time to follow you. Remember to re-tweet other tweet’s if you think that your audience would find them of interest.

6. Become a resource. If you really want to become a success on twitter, remember to tweet useful and interesting posts, this could be linking to an interesting article, posting a useful document or adding a thoughtful opinion on a wider discussion. For a quick and easy way to post a document on Twitter, why not try TwitDoc.com

Follow @CarlBradshaw

Cold Callling

Yet, it is most often the most rewarding of tasks, as over the last 20 years I have built many strong relationships with people I have never met or spoken too before.

This is where I go back to my six P’s : Proper Preparation Prevents P*** Poor Performance, for more on this take a look at my earlier article titled: Formulate a sales strategy.

Whether you are using the telephone, or the knock on the door approach using these simple steps you can dramatically improve your cold calling results.

1. Write down your targets for the exercise, what do you want to achieve by cold calling?
2. Break down your target into easily manageable chunks.
3. Record your failings along with your successes.
4. Plan what you are going to say, how you are going to approach your prospect.
5. Dress for the success you want to achieve.

Cold Calling Bad Habits

Having accompanied and listened in too many sales calls and visits in the last 20 years, I have compiled a list of bad habits to watch out for.

• Pulling up at the door, and without knocking saying the occupant wasn’t in, or lifting the handset and not waiting for the call to be answered.
• Starting a conversation with “Hi my name is John, but you don’t know me”
• Saying “I’m just calling to introduce myself” to which the prospects answer was “Hello, and good bye”
• Being asked “How are you?” when I don’t know the person calling, remember, that however, genuine you are when you ask, if you don’t know the individual why ask.
• Calling someone in your industry, just because there number was on your list. Remember the six P’s!
• Reading from a script, don’t get me wrong it is important to know what you want to say, but scripts sound like scripts so just don’t use them.

Good habits to instil in your sales force.

• Start your phone calls or visits in the morning
• Ask questions, get your prospect talking to you
• Have a conversation with your prospect
• Give your prospect a clear exit from the phone call or visit
• Don’t forget to track your results and set yourself rewards, for me the best reward was always lunch.

We would really love to hear about your experiences and successes, feel free to either email us or leave a comment below. Good luck with your future cold calls.

A Happy Sales Team is a Motivated Sales Team

There are a number of different ways to motivate sales people, when I first started in sales it was either the carrot or the stick and I always got the stick. But times have changed and financial incentives aren’t always the key to a happy and reliable sales force. Especially now most of us work over longer distances and often work completely remotely from the traditional office.

One of the key motivators that I have found is to make sure that you help your sales force to achieve not only your goals but also their own.

The following sales management practices apply across all industries:

1. Make regular contact with your sales force, where your sales force is field based, or it is difficult to make face to face contact, complete this practice by phone.

2. Have regular (I prefer monthly) sales meetings, get your sales force together, (do not use these meetings to review performance) talk and plan future growth plans with your sales people, remember that these are the men and women who will help you achieve your targets and they will let you know if your targets are unrealistic.

3. Make sure that you complete regular 1 to 1 meetings with each of your staff to review their progress against their individual targets. Either face to face, telephone or Skype if distance is an issue.

4. Make sure your sales people have a way to contact your sales manager with any problems or concerns at all times, I usually find phone and email are the most effective.

Each individual sales person will require different levels of contact, for example your experienced sales people may not need to contact you everyday to report activity levels and performance, you may prefer to work on a weekly basis. However, your new or inexperienced sales people will require much more input and I would recommend that you insist on a daily sales call usually at the end of each working day.

Simply stress that at the end of each work day or at the end of each week, each sales person MUST call you.

During these contact calls your sales manager should ensure that they cover the following points:

1. Activity levels, who, what, where, when.
2. Diary Management, what is next weeks diary like, are the sales people struggling to keep the customers to appointments, what help do they need to improve this?
3. How many prospects are in the pipeline what stage they are at, and what is the likely outcome for each prospect. Do they need your help in converting any of these?
4. What sales have they made today? Have they completed any necessary paperwork? Where there any problems? Special Requirements?

Remember these calls are to inspire and lift your sales team, not just to be BIG BROTHER breathing down their neck! Make sure that you praise your staff when they are doing well, and make sure you bring them to task when they need to improve. But remember at all costs these are the people on your front line, these are the representatives of YOUR company, so send out a happy and motivated sales team. For more information about freelance sales follow the link.