Business Ideas For Smes And Start Ups

A week has passed since I made the veneration at the altar of Bruce Springsteen whilst making my first stay at the Merrion hotel. It made me think about what good customer service looks like - how good brands not only read the room, they anticipate it. Again and again. Against a back drop of the music, whiskey and craic was the headline dominating domestic abuse claim levied at an inter county manager. An example of how easy it is to misread the room.

How do you decompress from a hard shift in the office or out in the field? "Climb a mountain or jump in a lake?"

A busy time of year for many businesses as they close off 2023 and gear up for 2024. By the end of March 2023, 5 of my customers will have activated significant campaigns to target new business across the North of Ireland - from completely different sectors. Great to see sales and marketing teams working together for that common goal - I have always been an advocate of collaboration but sometimes I get scared by the amount of data that drives all activity - surveys, traffic analytics, predictive behaviour, and, and, and... People. One of the 4 Ps from back in the day. Isn't that what it's all about? When should the Human touch come into play in your business development activities?

This podcast takes a few left turns on the way to talking about the 3 fundamental reasons why you should consider sales training for your business...there might even be a fourth. On the way I talk about the cost of creativity - thanks to ChatGPT, MidJourney, Fiverr etc...creativity can be funded from petty cash compared to 'back in the day.' Less than 20 years ago, let's say. Then onto one of the most influential music programmes of UK culture...The TUBE...and a segue into the portrayal of Paula Yates in the media.

This episode is nothing short of a signpost to another podcaster and a specific podcast - Lex Fridman and Chris Voss on the Lex Fridman Podcast. If you're interested in fine-tuning your negotiation skills this episode gives a brilliant insight into human behaviour, emotional intelligence and helps explain some of the common stumbling blocks that we all face. I have listened to the episode 2 or 3 times at this stage - there's way to much for one listen.

In the world of sales, closing deals and generating revenue are often seen as the most important metrics of success. However, what is often overlooked is the role that empathy plays in achieving those goals. Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, is a crucial skill that sales professionals need to possess in order to succeed. Everyone might have heard of Emotional intelligence but how many of us continually practice it and how many of us recognise the importance of empathy in sales? In this episode I discuss Daniel Goleman's 1995 best seller, Emotional Intelligence and how having a better understanding of our own emotions can help us become better sales people.

Root cause analysis is a method used to identify the underlying reasons or causes of a problem or issue. The goal of root cause analysis is to uncover the source of the problem and address it at its root, rather than simply treating its symptoms. This approach to problem-solving has been widely adopted across a range of industries, including business and sales. The origins of root cause analysis can be traced back to the field of industrial engineering and quality control. The method was first popularised in the 1950s as a tool for improving manufacturing processes and identifying the root causes of defects. Think Toyota, Lean manufacturing and 6 Sigma Since then, root cause analysis has been adapted for use in a variety of fields, including healthcare, safety, and finance, and has become an essential tool for organisations looking to improve their processes and operations. In the podcast I discuss how RCA and the 5 x why's can be used in sales.

The quality of the work at the very first stage of any sales process usually defines the success of the campaign – get it wrong at the start and the ending will be predictably bad. Get it right and it can be a game changer. For salespeople and sales management alike, the art of prospecting is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it is the lifeblood of sales success – without a steady stream of qualified prospects, the sales pipeline will inevitably dry up, resulting in missed targets and lost revenue. On the other hand, prospecting can be a formidable challenge, requiring a unique set of skills, patience, and an indomitable spirit to persist in the face of rejection. In B2B sales, the importance of effective prospecting cannot be overstated. It is the foundation upon which sales success is built, the crucial first step in the sales process that sets the tone for the entire customer journey. Prospecting is about more than just finding leads and making a list of potential customers. It is about understandin

I reckon I'm qualified to post this podcast based as much on a legacy of failures in negotiation and the odd success. I have been holding back on recording a podcast on negotiation - it's a complex area, with hours of content but you have to start somewhere. Negotiation is the business end of sales - where you earn your commission or get sacked, as I once did. Sources I would recommend are the Negotiate like the pros, JP Dolan, Never split the difference, Chris Voss Harvard University to name but a few. Big question is - are you a townie or a culchie?

January is a tough month for most of us - it's especially tough if you work in sales, either as a sales leader or in business development. January is usually a time for rate increases. It's also the time of year that buyers and prospects can easily avoid your calls - which leads to no meetings for the month. Unless you have planned. Seasonal mood swing compounded by dark and cold mornings and evenings. Failed resolution making. No time to get to the gym. The boss is highly charged and rejuvenated after a long fortnight off over Christmas. It can be hard to get the engine started, lack of enthusiasm, motivation, inspiration, energy. In this podcast, I talk about one of the challenges facing sales people and how that adds to the other burdens of January.

If you've tried writing a blog for your website, what is the most important thing for you? Creating more SEO content? Posting engaging and meaningful content for prospects and potential customers? Satisfying Google? Making sales? Some of the above? Over the last year I had been looking at a number of AI content providers - Jasper being the first and more recently, ChatGPT. To get a sense of the current popularity of Chat, try accessing the platform on a Sunday evening as the world sits down to Netflix and Chat, preparing content for the week ahead. Big question - can AI replace humans when it comes to writing good content? Discuss...

Three weeks from now the Qatar World Cup will be over and our news media will be filled with other local, regional, national or international stories, all made important by editorial staff, driving circulations and audience figures to satisfy greedy media owners and large corporations. Think of everything else that's ongoing in our world just now - there are plenty of news worthy items to lead the way. Alas, there can be only 1 lead news item as we all compete for time and interest. When you are reaching out to decision maker its important to remember how far down a list of CEO's priorities you sit - and to remember the role you have in promoting 'that problem' that you solve. Getting their attention - and how you go about that is critical

If you think you don't have enough acronyms in your life then this podcast is for you. Thinking acronyms in sales - BANT, ANUM, FAINT...so many that are centred on the N word...NEED. I share a story about working in a start up and building a pipeline of sales to almost £2m...based on what the customer needed...Except it turns out that they didn't need it...

Oonagh O'Reilly has been involved in sales in one form or another from the early days learning on the farm to various high performing roles with the NI Chamber of Commerce, The IFA and the ICC Belfast. We have a varied conversation - the importance of having a purpose and vision, getting a handle on the basics of sales and marketing which allows you to not have to worry about revenue and some valuable life lessons from working on the farm. As a high performing athlete, playing GAA for her native county, Oonagh is clearly as focused on success in her role as Sales and Marketing Director of the ICC

With sales training there aren't many guarantees although the degree of certainty does improve dependant on a number of factors. A clear strategy, willingness to learn & coach-ability, strong leadership, a sound and understood culture, buy-in. I try hard to live by the idiom "it's not about being right but about doing the right thing that matters." Behavioural change isn't easy - especially if you own the business or if you are a sales leader at manager or director level. Guesting on this episode of the Shift Control Sales is Benjamin Dennehy - self titled as The UK's most hated sales trainer. A befitting title for someone controversial and outspoken? Perhaps, but Benjamin's iconoclastic approach to sales training is definitely worth considering if you are serious about performance improvement in your team. We cover a lot of ground that might make for some uncomfortable listening for a few people...mainly sales leaders and business owners as he (and me) call out some behaviours that are responsible for u

Emotional intelligence fits in as a logical 3rd episode in this series...all about being more self aware, understanding what prompts your feelings and the responses to those feelings. 2 men that I worked with in the past used to say: 'Try and see the picture in the other man's head.' Says it all - or most of it anyway - Daniel Goleman gets the credit for EQ and he is worth checking out in TED Talk format if not his books which can be somewhat heavy

We all suffer from setbacks - there is no escaping that fact. In sales we think that we encounter more of them on a daily basis - rejection, ghosting, the competition, the economy all can put greater pressure on us to perform. In this brief podcast, through my work as a coach and as a sales person, I share some tips that might help you build up your resilience and deal better with the challenges thrown at you everyday. Always remember nothing lasts forever - good or bad - just try and ready yourself for the turbulence which is guaranteed to show up.

A short series of podcasts on the stuff that sales people can look after on their own so as to make their sales time more productive and more craic. I hate the media - not irrationally I hope, but I've an understanding of how the machine works and how it impacts our well-being. Negativity and bad news is the order of the day - lets not include the call in shows etc...but the morning news is one bad news story after another and that kind of impact can be far-reaching if your going to start work at 8.30am. Change the channel - podcast, audiobook or music...anything but the news. How we forget the headline manipulation, phone-tapping, lies, promotion of self interest...it's nothing new...

Hugh Gilmore has spent over a decade providing sport psychology support to Olympians and Paralympians, coaches and the associated multidisciplinary teams. He is passionate about training people in Motivational Interviewing, (MINT Member) and has also trained in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT**) at the Albert Ellis institute in NYC. (**Acronym alert) In this podcast we discuss the broad area of building culture within teams - Hugh introduces many of the disciplines and theories that he has applied to Olympic & world class weightlifting and athletics teams. I learnt about OAP - Observable, Achievable, Promotable - if you are changing your cultural behaviour internally does it follow the 3...is it observable? is it achievable? is it promotable? I learned about the difference between informal and formal culture. And I learnt about REBT - Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. Much of what we do in the sales environment is process driven but at the very core sits people - employees, customers and prosp

I watched a brilliant documentary over the weekend on Ange Postecoglou and his 12 month transformation of Celtic. You look on in awe at the speed of the cultural transformation, the off-field impact that has turned around on-file performance. IT's important to take a sense check on what is possible with a sales team referenced from a sports team. There are some major contextual differences and i reference a few of them in this podcast - recovery, downtime, performance analysis, food, mental and emotional wellbeing and physical exercise all come into play. I reference the book Sales Cybernetics (again)- It's sold out on Amazon but you can get it on Ebay...Pricey but worth it in my opinion.