I did a really interesting yoga session recently where the instructor talked about how we react when we meet resistance in a stretch or pose. It was interesting because it relates to business and life in general not just yoga practice.

She told us about one of two ways that most people react when they meet resistance:

1. Shy away or hide from it and try to avoid it.

She got us thinking about when a pose is mentioned and we groan because we hate it. The result? We don’t attempt it. Remember from an earlier post of mine how yoga teaches us that it’s not what we accomplish that represents success but that we attempt it. My groan pose is the headstand because it is so painful to the top of my head.

What makes you groan when you’re asked to do it? How do you deal with it?

2. Push through or drive yourself through it and into the pain barrier to beat the resistance.

The problem when you do this is that pushing against resistance makes it push back. That shows up as tightened muscles and even pain. It’s very hard to advance the stretch when your muscles are all tight. That’s probably true in other areas of life and business too. When you drive yourself to do something and you’re finding it hard, the harder you try the harder it becomes – right? Then when you walk away suddenly it all becomes clear. Sound familiar?

But today I learnt there is another way, the third way:

3. Meet the resistance (which in yoga is called the edge). When you meet your edge you stop. You don’t push through it. Stop and breathe into the resistance until the body relaxes and then lets you go further until you meet your next edge.

If you still feel resistance, come back from the edge and revert from the breath back to the physical body. Consider where your body is tense. Relax that area and go back and meet the edge again. Rinse and repeat. We carry a lot of tension in our jaw so next time you’re feeling resistance in whatever you’re doing check and see if your jaw is tense.

The key learn was that resistance is an opportunity for growth.

I’m going to be using this technique a lot more in my daily life and definitely in business. I’m going to be a lot more yogic in my approach. Sound ‘woo-woo’? Not if it allows you to grow and attempt more. You can apply it how you choose, but I strongly recommend you try it next time you meet resistance.

Do you want to achieve more and attempt more things you find difficult? If you’re answer is yes, then first, check in with yourself when you meet resistance to see what your default setting is for dealing with it. Try using method 3.

If you’d like a guide in your life and business who can help you achieve more with less resistance and without having to shy away from things or painfully force yourself through them, then book a call with me today. We will be successful together .

Just click the link here to book your free 30 minute call with me.

The post How to Succeed by Taking Yourself to the Edge appeared first on Vertical Sales.

The focus on price has made it so competitive. A lot of companies already have their VP, but maybe haven’t updated them recently. Meantime, the world and the way their customers do business has changed beyond recognition as a result of the last few crazy years.

5 Steps to a Compelling Value Proposition

To inspire your customers to buy from you and set you apart from your competitors.

1. Ask – your customers to tell you why they buy from you

One of the best ways to identify why people buy from you is to ask them! We use a VP questionnaire designed to get under the skin of what’s important to your customers. What do you do that they really value? I recommend your sales team do it with their customers. Firstly, it will provide invaluable feedback for your VP. Secondly it helps build stronger customer relationships. Thirdly, it’s a great way to gather opportunities for repeat business, and deal with any problems head on.

2. Harness – the power of your people to differentiate you from the competition

We find that when we involve the whole business as the second step that you get a wealth of information from every level of the business. Sometimes the business leaders are unaware. Yet here’s where you can find the key differentiators that set the business apart from its competitors. Why customers choose it over its rivals.

3. Design – Your Value Proposition to make you different rather than better

 Next steps are to draw out the key themes from the feedback. Then complete them to produce a really creative, yet practical and commercially focused, VP that’s deliverable across the business from sales to operations.

4. Test – Communicate with customers to check you’ve nailed it

In our experience, sharing the findings of your research with your customers will help test and hone your VP, ensuring it delivers what the market wants. Plus it reinforces the high value you place on your customers’ opinions, building loyalty and giving them that all-important feeling of ownership of your business.

5. Activate – Train your sales team to bring your VP to life

Once we’ve helped a business define a VP that meets its customers’ needs and desires, the work doesn’t stop there. Then it’s on to training the sales team to deliver it in a consistent and compelling way. We use Simon Sinek’s Why | How | What approach. We find using a mix of learning techniques, including workshops, allows the team to practice delivering the VP across various real-life scenarios. Then it’s time to unleash the new VP on the market!

Summing up…

Your value proposition should firstly be about what makes you different. Secondly, it should be compelling and resonate not only right across the business, but also with your market. Thirdly, getting your staff and customers involved ensures that your VP accurately reflects your business and your audience. Remember to keep the communication channels open to ensure your VP changes with your company and your market.

The post Why should your customers buy from you instead of your competitors? appeared first on Vertical Sales.

Do you find sometimes that when you make a sales call or do a sales presentation it feels quite clunky? What you’re lacking is probably not talent but practice!

In his book Bounce, Matthew Syed talks about the myth of talent and the power of practice. If you are looking to improve your performance or your team’s his book is definitely worth a read. Matthew dispels the myth that success is all to do with talent by relating it to a wide range of areas and skills where we think it’s definitely all based on talent. The proof comes a lot from his sports examples because we can all relate to them but it’s so applicable to business and Sales too.

I even have to remind myself to just pick the phone up and practice if I’m finding it hard to get things moving and grow my own business !

I have my own very good example of this, a sports one, from when I used to show jump. How could I be so good one week and so bad the next? On the same horse in the same sort of competition.

The Power of Practice

Well it all came down to how much I practiced. In the weeks when I had a lesson [with a really good coach!], had practiced at the yard once or twice and been to a competition recently it was all just so easy – it just happened! That is power of practice.

Purposeful Practice

However, with business as well as sport you have to schedule the practice to make sure it happens. And make sure you have a coach or mentor to help make sure that your practice is, as Matthew Syed calls it, purposeful, with rigorous feedback from an expert who’s overcome the same challenges that you are facing. When you see those amazing sports people beat world records or win gold it’s not talent it’s hours of purposeful practice.

I really recommend you read Matthews book. It’s a really easy interesting read, not steeped in technical stuff just in reality with some really interesting examples. And then get out there and practice whether it’s picking up the phone making another new proposal to show jumping in a new competition!

If you’d like to learn more about how you can embed purposeful practice into your business then let’s have a chat. You can book a complimentary session with me right here – Discovery Call with Cathy – just click the link.

The post Does Practice Make Perfect? appeared first on Vertical Sales.

I love coaching because of its potential to deliver results. A session last week reminded me why I love it so much.

I’m always over the moon when somebody gets a great result after we’ve had a coaching session together. It’s all about their success – not mine!

That success is measured by the sales or the big decisions they make. But, even more importantly, by their increased confidence and enjoyment in the job.

“Success is not achieving your goal, success is attempting to achieve it.”

Here are my three reasons why coaching is so powerful:

1. Flexible – coaching allows me to move to whatever my individual client’s priority is right now. In January, a lot of my coaching was to help people close deals in the pipeline that had stagnated from 2021. In December, lots of focus on setting goals and developing robust growth strategies for 2022 and beyond. February has been a lot about finding time for busy sales managers so, as a result, they can focus on their priorities.

2. Real – with coaching I’m able to work on real, and I mean really real, situations. I can do a coaching session in the morning and my client gets a result that same day. It embeds confidence and shows them that they can do it.

“In our sessions you always say that sales people get orders all the time after a session with you. You can add another one to that list I have closed 4,500 euros on the event today and received the contract as well. Really appreciate your help and support.”

3. Sustainable – depending on who you listen to training lasts for 7-90 days. With coaching the person you are coaching takes on responsibility for the learning. As a result three things happen: first, they start to look for the answers within themselves, secondly, they take responsibility for acting on what they’ve learnt and thirdly, it actually changes their behaviour.

If you are finding that sales cycles have slowed or stalled completely, that there’s never enough time in the day to get it all done or that you are stuck in the weeds and struggling to get your head up and work on the strategic priorities that will really make your business grow then click here and book a call with me here and experience The Power of Coaching.

Have a look at these recent articles for some more ideas and inspiration:

How to Delegate More To Increase Sales

How To Follow Up Effectively

The post Why Coaching Gets Results appeared first on Vertical Sales.

In this blog I’m going to discuss a few key reasons why sales leaders aren’t always focused on their top priority – sales? And as a result they don’t always increase sales in the way they could.

Firstly, they are just so busy. Secondly, they get called in to all sorts of other things that aren’t income generating tasks. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, many don’t find it easy to delegate. If they had a bit more time to delegate more they’d increase sales for sure.

Delegation

But why do they spend so much of their time on other things? It’s usually because they don’t delegate enough. Without delegating how can you focus on your priorities? Things that get more sales like coaching your sales people or doing joint calls with them as opposed to spending hours in meetings or producing spreadsheets.

Take a Risk

The thing is most people think that it’s more efficient to just do it themselves. But remember -if delegating is risky – not delegating is riskier still!

Rob Moore says all the time ‘If you risk nothing, you risk everything.’

First you have to accept that you can’t do everything yourself. Next recognise that if it’s going to work people have to learn how to do it – and to learn…. they have to make mistakes. Let them have a go, take a short term risk for a positive long-term outcome.

3 Steps to Successful Delegation 

1: Make it absolutely clear

Explain what you want done not how to do it;  agree timelines as well as the final deadline. Checking they understand is as much a test of the clarity of your brief as their capability to do it. Cover it until it is 100% clear.

2: Offer Support

Check if they’ve got it. Find out if they need additional training, resources and even reassurance. Enable them to do what you need them to do.

3: Follow up

Don’t wait for them to fail – follow up and see how they’re getting on. Offer more support, direction or reassurance. Recognising their efforts and what they’ve done well is a good way of finding the balance between micro management and laissez faire.

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” – General George Smith Patton, Jr.

Not hitting targets?

Finding it hard to keep ahead of the market?

Sales Leaders too busy?

Can’t afford for things to go wrong?

If the answer to any of these is yes book a call here and we can explore how you can free your leaders up to drive growth 

The post Delegate More To Increase Sales appeared first on Vertical Sales.

B2B buyers always have protracted decision making processes with endless back and forth, sadly often still no decision.

The uncertainty caused by the pandemic has only made it harder and slower to get decisions from prospects.

Are you hearing “We haven’t got the budget for this right now” or “We need to wait six months” or “Call me in 6 weeks”?

If your traditional follow-up calls – “I’m just checking in on our proposal” – aren’t getting any response, then I can help.

Have a look at these 5 tips and skillful questions for ideas on how to restart those deals stuck in your sales pipeline. They are 90% likely to be ready to close.

Get those stalled deals into this month’s forecast using my tips and questions:

1. How interested are they?

When you hear ‘that’s very interesting’ or ‘we’re keen to progress this’ but still don’t get a decision it’s tough. If you’ve done a great job of selling it’s possible that they’re just not ready to buy right now.

Remember only 5% of buyers are ready to buy at any one time. The other 95% will be anywhere between status quo, committing to change and making a decision.

To uncover if they are ready to buy try asking:

What’s stopping you doing this now?

You won’t be alone if you feel uncomfortable asking this. But you and your prospects are busy people. Asking this question will save you both time, find out if they are ready so you can both focus on your real-time priorities.

2. Who’s making the decision?

Do you always tend to sell to the person you’ve built a great relationship with? Is it working for you? You probably know that research points to over 5 decision-makers involved in every B2B purchase.

But Contacts feel undervalued if you ask them ‘Who else do we need to talk to” or “Who else is involved in this”. It might even stop you getting access to the other decision makers. Try this instead:

How are decisions like this typically made?

One of my clients dealt with a company selling high value capital goods for over 15 years without any contact with the CFO. When they started talking about the financial element of their proposal the CFO was introduced, the deal was won and the relationship strengthened.

3. Risk Vs Return?

Purchasers are being asked to account for every penny they spend, budgets are tight and the risk of getting it wrong is high. Many are sticking with Suppliers and ways of doing things that they know work because it’s risk-free and easy. However, risk free has a cost – it often stops people from considering different, untested options with potentially better and more cost-effective outcomes.

Instill confidence using case studies and proof of concept trials to demonstrate that your solution will work.  Check out if you’ve missed anything by asking:

Why wouldn’t you do this?

They will see themselves why their deal has stalled and the reason to do it.

4. Do you really understand them?

Deals are lost all the time because they don’t ask the right questions early on. I heard recently about the loss of a £1m account; the deal wouldn’t have been lost if they’d been given the last price sooner.

Using a project or opportunity qualification sheet can help you gather all the critical information to develop your proposal and before you leave, do a Columbo and ask,

Just one more question…?

5. Why now?

Spending time persuading your customers why they should choose you and demonstrating the advantages of working with you is really important. But when a deal has stalled it’s probably time to get them to consider:

What are the financial implications of not doing this now?

They’ll thank you for helping them save money or time or make more money.

It works, I know because I do it and use these tips and questions every day.

Share

• Email
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

The post How To Revive Stalled Deals appeared first on Vertical Sales.

Follow up is one of the hardest things to get sales people to do well and consistently – or at all.

Unfortunately, most sales people give up after one attempt. That’s a problem because 80% of prospects buy somewhere between the 5^th and the 12^th contact.

It’s important to understand though how well your team are following up. And  if they are doing a better job than the stats suggest, could they be even better? And don’t forget to really drill down into the data to fully understand where the problems are – and the opportunities that are hidden in plain sight. Deals that are stuck in the pipeline, ready to close but have been left to languish for whatever reason.

I have to follow up with my own clients and prospects so I get just how hard it can be. You don’t want to appear desperate or pushy.

5 Follow Up Tactics For Success

Tip #1 – Believe in what you’re selling

Don’t assume that if you don’t hear it’s because they’re not interested. People are so busy. They often won’t come back to you and it’s not because they don’t want what you’re offering.

Tip #2 – Make it easier

Make a sandwich of your follow up calls, particularly the ones you’re not looking forward to. They’re the bread with calls to existing customers the jam in between. It usually makes it a lot easier when you’re in a position of comfort and know what you do is valuable to your customers.

Tip #3 – Find something useful to talk about

You’ve heard those calls – ‘Just checking in to see if you’ve made a decision yet’. Instead, do a bit of research about what’s happening in their company/market/industry and lead your call with the latest insights. Even if it doesn’t lead to a sale right then it will position you as a ‘thought leader’ and ‘trusted partner’ rather than a simple sales person.

Tip #4 – Change the environment

A lot of sales people tell me they do follow-up calls when they’re out and about seeing customers. If you can’t go out and about change the environment in another way. Go and make those calls from a different office or when you’re driving to work or from work.

Tip #5 – Plan them in

Put them in your diary and do them! Don’t overload it but don’t under load it either. Book the next follow up on that call.

Check out my video on Make That Call NOW!Click here to view it 

If you’re finding that traditional follow-up calls “I’m just checking in on our proposal,” aren’t getting the right response, or even any response, then try the five follow-up tactics in my article here to get results.

For all the latest news, advice, tips and special offers straight to your inbox all you’ve got to do is subscribe

We won’t overload your inbox. Monthly summaries of all every article for you to pick and choose from to read at your leisure.

The post How Do You Effectively Follow Up Sales? appeared first on Vertical Sales.

I totally agree with educating and investing in the future of our young people. However,  I believe there’s miles too much focus on exams and high grades in education.

The Government and the education sector seem to treat high grades like the holy grail. I believe they focus on it to the detriment of other things –  including students’ mental health. 

Ask any employer what they are desperate for? I guarantee you won’t hear them say ‘More A*’s or more first class degrees’! What they really want is people who can drive the success of their business and be true to it’s values.

What Employers Want

In a recent conversation with a CEO, Entrepreneurial spirit was top of his wish list. Closely followed by his people taking ownership and accountability. These were the main things that were missing and stopping revenue growth.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m passionate about education and learning. I absolutely believe our young people are our way out of the perfect storm the pandemic has created because they are the ones who are going to drive the economic recovery.

But to help them do that we’ve got to teach skills that create an entrepreneurial work force. Not just people who’ve studied hard to get good grades in exams. Tests that often don’t bear any relation to the real world problems they will face in life and the workplace.

My top tips for nurturing the entrepreneurs of the future:

1. Stop focusing on exams and grades because they only give a snapshot at one point in time. Often, the top people don’t excel or exams aren’t the best way to uncover their true ability.
2. Teach skills that will help them be instrumental in a business’ success. Think about your best people and what makes them a great asset to your company. For instance, is it things like financial know how, commercial awareness and the ability to work with a variety of people?
3. Make things like work experience, volunteering and intern projects part of students’ grades, as as well as pure academia. As a result you’ll get the whole picture of what they can do for you and your organisation.

Academic integrity is part of a University’s registration commitment but entrepreneurial flair isn’t as far as I can see.

If you’d like to find out more about how we build entrepreneurial spirit in the organisations we work with then please get in touch – cathy.bennett@verticalsales.co.uk

And don’t forget to subscribe for all the latest news, advice, tips and special offers straight to your inbox!

Here’s to your success!

The post Top Grades Vs Entrepreneurial Flair? appeared first on Vertical Sales.

Hopefully, now we’re in the first week of January, most of you will have your 2022 goals to aim for. That’s going to give you an even better chance of succeeding.

Goal Setting Made Clear

Often though people find it hard to distinguish what’s what. So what’s the difference?

• Goal – is the outcome you hope to achieve.
• Target – is similar to a goal but usually the smaller steps aligned to the details and deadlines of larger goals.
• KPI – is a metric to let you know how well you’re doing working towards that goal.

My Simple Tips

These have served me and my clients well in setting goals and targets. If you’ve already done your 2022 goals then you can use these tips to validate or challenge them.

#1 – Make sure they are set in line with your business and sales plan

#2 – Make sure they add up

#3 – Drill down into the assumptions to see if they withstand scrutiny

Aim Low?

This is a bit controversial and goes against the ‘aim high’ talk you normally hear. The thing is, I’ve learnt from running and turning businesses around that it’s far better (and much more motivational for everyone) to hit a lower target than to miss an unrealistic target that just looks good in a sales or business plan.

I’m going to be doing more posts and articles on strategy and goals so stay tuned to hear more about what I’ve learned through failure as well as success in 30+ years building profitable businesses.

Act Now

If you need to know more now to kick start your 2022 success then I’d be happy to help.

Book a complimentary call with me here – no spin, no sell, just help and ideas.

I’m deeply curious about what makes the difference for anyone looking to double their revenues in 2022 so I’m happy to give half an hour of my time to the cause.

To your success in 2022!

If you want to get these articles straight to your inbox and with special offers and resources subscribe here

You’ll get all the latest, news, advice and tips when you subscribe

The post All Set For 2022! appeared first on Vertical Sales.

Whether you run your own business, are a sales director or manager leading a team of sales people, a salesperson yourself or a student looking for your first job, being able to quickly and convincingly explain to people exactly why they should work with you has never been more important.

Here at Vertical we’ve identified three key steps to help you uncover your true value and be able to tell your story with confidence.

1. Know what you do

2. Understand how it’s valuable

3. Believe in your ‘Why’

1. Know

How easy do you find it to answer when someone asks “What do you do?“

Knowing exactly what it is you do or what your company or business offers is the first step. A sales director told me recently about going out with a new salesperson to present a proposal for business. The salesperson was able to explain to the client the full range of services the company offered by using the new ‘sales quote pack’.  Unaware of all the things that this company could do the customer stopped the meeting, wanting to review their requirements in light of this and be presented with a new, more comprehensive proposal. Assuming your customers know exactly what you do is a pitfall to avoid.

When this starts to work you’ll begin to see those interactions turning into opportunities. So how can you move that opportunity to the next stage?

2. Understand

Once you’ve got ‘What’ you do nailed the next step is understanding “How am I valuable?” There’s a subtle distinction here between that and “How valuable am I?” Try focussing on the problems you solve and the ways in which you are useful to your customers rather than being preoccupied with your experience, skills and expertise.

One of our key associates, Jon Baverstock of Studio 18 Design says “we develop original brand communications that help businesses to engage effectively with their customers” in addition to “we have branding expertise, fresh thinking and inspired design”

Be curious and ask yourself – and ideally your customers too – “What difference does it make when I/we get involved?”

You can download our Value Proposition questionnaire here to help you hone your story.

A number of people have said recently when we got to discussing pricing “but I didn’t do anything“. One when an IT consultant had managed to restore a company’s email that had crashed. His intervention stopped the company losing a multi-million pound deal. So how valuable was he?!

3. Believe

Simon Sinek said “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. Knowing what you do and how you are valuable is the start but what is it that gives you a sense of purpose and why is what you do important?

Talking to one of the mentees on Reading Business Club’s Mentoring Scheme recently gave a good example of this when, as an event planner, she didn’t say “I’m really good at making sure everything runs smoothly on the day” but instead and with passion “everything I do is about making their special day special“

So what is everything you do about…?

Understanding why you do what you do and, importantly, what makes you feel fulfilled can also help you to start valuing and believing in yourself as well as what you do.

“What’s your ‘Why’ and how does that make you feel?

Email me at cathy.bennett@verticalsales.co.uk if you’d like to discuss developing your story and find answers to your questions.

To get future insights straight into your inbox visit Vertical Sales and sign up to receive our articles, tips and advice.

The post Know-Understand-Believe appeared first on Vertical Sales.