Blog

Closing Techniques

It is rare for customers to offer salespeople the business. They naturally expect that as you are there to sell, you should ask for it. You should not be afraid that you will suffer in any way by asking for the business. The worst consequence is ‘No’ and that will always give you the chance…
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Getting Past Gatekeepers to Make Appointments

It is becoming increasingly challenging for the salesperson to get through to the decision maker. Many customers have a PA or secretary, who will answer calls on the decision maker’s behalf. The PA fields numerous sales calls in a day and is therefore experienced in acting as a gatekeeper. Be prepared for dealing with the…
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Managing a Virtual Team – Part 2

By 2020 more than 50% of the UK workforce will be working as part of a virtual team. Managers need to recognise that leading such teams is very different from leading an office based team. In this blog we will look at some more of the issues and solutions for managing a virtual team. (more…)
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7 Tips For Giving Constructive Feedback

Managers and supervisors often find it difficult to give effective constructive feedback to their employees. As a result they either avoid giving it, or give it in a way that is either ineffective or makes things worse not better. So here are 7 tips to giving effective critical feedback. (more…)
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Managing A Virtual Team – Part 1

Virtual teams are on the increase and it is estimated that by 2020 this way of working will be the norm for half the UK workforce. But research also shows that most managers simply aren’t equipped to manage a virtual team because managing a virtual team is very different from managing office based staff. Perhaps…
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Making Agile Working Work

With business rates in the news almost weekly, it is not surprising that many organisations are looking at introducing agile working as a way to downsize the amount of office space they need whilst maintaining employee productivity levels. Obviously, agile working is not suitable for every business, but if you are looking to introduce it…
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Team Work – Ten Qualities

Assuming you had the opportunity to start a new team and could select anyone from your organisation to be on it, who would you pick? What factors, apart from the right technical skills, should you use to select your team members? (more…)
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Becoming A Sales Manager

'Your manager is leaving … you’ve been in sales for years and do a good job, so we will make you the new Sales Manager. I'm sure you'll be fine at it.'” This is an all too common scenario for many newly promoted sales leaders, but managing people, especially sales people, requires quite a different…
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How Many People Can A Manager Supervise?

Whilst managing a small team should not cause too many problems, if your team is too big then you may struggle to manage them effectively. However, the maximum size of team that a competent manager can manage, known as the span of control, is not a fixed entity - it depends on a number of…
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Communicating With A Remote Team

Communicating effectively is hard enough when you work in the same location as your team. It is made even harder if your team works remotely. So what platform should you use in which situation? (more…)
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