But on the other, research shows that 75% of Generation Y’ers say they might change brands based on ethical factors. These 10-24 years olds care greatly about ethical causes, particularly the environment.

You might ask what this has to do with the business you are in. I am in the business skill training business – not much to do with the environment. But we have found a way to prospect for new clients using the environment as a hook. It’s working well for us, so I won’t be broadcasting the nature (pun intended, sorry!) of our approach to our competitors just yet. But I do suggest you consider ethical issues, and the environment in particular, when you draw up your marketing plans.

Kieran Bird

Even though the bag was hers, she needed to process me as well. Who was I? Was I a threat? The judgment came quickly. I was wearing a suit. I was not wearing a tie though. I asked myself if a tie would have made a difference. Could a tie have slightly reduced the time needed to decide I was no threat?

Does it sound silly to suggest a tie could make that much difference to my credibility? During the 70s some interesting experiments were carried out in New York. Americans tend to be good about waiting for the WALK light before they walk across the street – jaywalking laws ensure that. But this series of experiments found that it was possible to encourage waiting groups to cross illegally against the DON’T WALK light. All it took was a person breaking from the waiting group, and crossing the street illegally, and others broke their usual behaviour pattern and followed. But here’s the interesting part. The effect was strongest when the person crossing the street first was male, tall, white and, crucially, well dressed. A suit and tie made all the difference.

Let’s put aside height, which we can’t do much about. Ditto gender and race which hopefully are less of an issue in the 21^st century! Business dress makes a difference to credibility and to trust. IBM knew this of course. Back in the 1950s Buck Rogers Jr.  had not only the IBM sales force, but also the service technicians, dress in dark suits, white shirts and ties.

The white shirt rule no longer applies. But overall, conservative dress helps people immediately process us as being trustworthy. Forget fashion. Think trust. And next time I see an elderly woman drop a bag, I’ll think personal branding.

Kieran Bird

Kieran Bird

Retail is not an easy business. Low wages and high staff turnover. Because of this retailers are historically poor at staff training. And doesn’t it show! (Would someone PLEASE sell me a pair of shoes, I have been trying to buy a new pair two weekends in a row, with little help from salespeople!)

So, when we see a retailer investing in staff training, we should be thankful.

I repeat. Three cheers for Tesco!

Have you seen the email describing their “SELL THAT!” competition? It’s a great idea.

The competition works like this. They have listed a few items that, to put it mildly, don’t belong in the “these products sell themselves” category.

So, how would you sell:

• An acre on the moon
• A yellow ‘87 Ford Capri
• Your colleague
• An unwanted Christmas gift
• A timeshare in your hometown

Take a look at the website, and the video entries. Did I mention the prize is £2,000? Might be worth a pitch yourself!

And while you are thinking about your pitch, why not make a list of the questions you might ask a potential buyer of that product. Have fun with your pitch.

And remember, it’s the questions you ask before you pitch that will allow you to close the sale.

The sales people problem does not lie in outdated equipment but either outdated training or no training at all. Just imagine sending our soldiers into battle with no training, or just as horrific training based on the IRA conflict. Maybe similar but oh so different.

The marketplace has changed, customers have changed, buying behaviour has changed, and expectations have changed, hoped for discounts have changed, negotiation has changed yet most sales people have not changed and it is not their fault but the fault of the employers.

Blame the company for sending their sales people out in Cavaliers with skills that were right 10 years ago, do try not to get frustrated but hold the employer to account.

Now I really must be honest here. I personally get so frustrated by pathetic out of date selling practices. I really do try so hard not to chew the poor individual into pieces and spit them out but I confess this does sometimes happen.

How about naming and blaming the guilty employers? As you know I am passionate about professional selling skills. It is such a winner for the world, for companies, for sales people but above everything else for the customer and it is so easy, oh so easy, to learn the skills of 2009.

At a time which some claim to be the worst trading conditions for 70 years wouldn’t you think that every business and employee would be enthusiastic to meet, see or hear a customer? Kind of obvious really and probably even common sense!!

Well as we all know, sense is very uncommon and sadly, customers for many businesses and their staff are an interruption to their work. Customer care and service is non-existent. Yet no doubt their corporate website and literature claim “we pride ourselves in our service.”

Bob Wilson, one of our specialists in customer care development for our clients tells me of two experiences last week.

1. He went into a motor retailer to consider changing one of his cars and you would think, wouldn’t you, that a car salesman would be really excited and enthusiastic to have a real live customer on their forecourt? Well after approximately 5 minutes of him standing around, a salesperson appeared and said “I’ll be with you in a few minutes, I am finishing some paperwork.” Bob, being the charming delightful chap he is waited with his wife for a further 5 minutes. The sales person appeared again and said “I am sorry to keep you waiting, but I am nearly finished and will be with you soon.” Bob and Mrs Bob were now no longer feeling quite so nice and after a further 5 or 6 minutes left out in the cold on the forecourt they decided that changing their car wasn’t really that important. They got into their car, which now had a whole new attraction and drove home. They were genuinely a customer with money.

2. The same Bob working with our clients stayed in a reputable hotel in the North of England – it begins with an M has a couple of r’s in the middle and ends with a t. He went into the restaurant and was shown to a table and given a menu. He waited and waited and waited. After what seemed like an eternity of reading the menu front to back, staring at the ceiling, trying to attract attention eventually a person appeared to take his order. He made his selection and the order taker told him that his selection was off the menu at which point Bob replied “and so am I.” He walked out and went some where else.

If ever there was a time to invest in developing the skills of customer care, it is now. (yes I do have a vested interest because this is one of the things that we do) However, we put our money where our mouth is by guaranteeing our clients profits on a small investment.

It is tragic that so many people are losing their jobs because of gross incompetence in management towards the customer care culture.

So, my thoughts are based on the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good was the comment made by the store manager that he would not employ any of these sales people. The only other good point was that the winner did show some semblance of integrity.

The bad – modern day professional selling is built upon having sound product knowledge, this little band of jumped up, self-opinionated, brash, pushy so called sales people don’t understand that the modern day professional seller can only sell what they believe in, and modern day selling is really all about repeat business where the customer, thank goodness, is protected and allowed to change their mind. The telesales manager actually believing he could go out and sell in a completely different environment just demonstrates what any experienced business person knows – telesales is completely different from face to face selling.

The ugly was the sales person out in the car park trying to get members of the public to go into the store, in other words attempting to get people to buy things that they don’t really want or need.

All in all I would employ the winner of last night’s programme, but the rest ought to stick to their product where apparently they have had some modicum of success. Let’s hope the next programme doesn’t encourage these outdated sales practices that have no relevance in the modern business world.

The definition of selling is hard to explain as we are all involved in selling in some way or other. A sales person is a mind maker upper. Their job is help people make up their mind to buy the service or product that’s right for them. The job of the sales person is to guide that process through. We all buy things all the time, without the sales person, how would we know we’re buying the right product? You can spend hours or days researching, but the whole point of the sales person is that they know their product better than anybody.

Anybody can be a sales person, we’re all born with the ability to be a good sales person, and evidence of this can be seen in children as they’re so good at selling. The difficulty is that not many people want to be in sales. People are terrified of word selling especially in the UK, selling has a stigma attached to it, it’s not seen as a nice job. This needs to be dispelled as nothing happens anywhere in the world until a sale has been made. We are now starting to see the phrase ‘business development’ rather than ‘sales’. The reality is business development is just a sexier way of saying sales. The only real difference is business development will draw in more aspects of marketing. We still need to get over the negative connotations of the word ‘sales’. It’s the sales person who brings in the money which everyone else eventually lives off. Anybody can sell, the question is, do they want to? If they do, they can learn the skills to be a good sales person. The child who throws the tantrum will often get their own way in the end through persistence (and the desire of the parent for peace and quiet), once they’ve got their own way through this technique they know they can use it again and again to achieve the same results. This does not mean that you need to throw yourself on the ground and start shouting and crying to win that sale, it means you work out what your strengths are and what your unique selling point is, and that is what you sell. Selling requires skill and talent (both of which you can learn), and it can be highly rewarding, so why is it no one wants to be a sales person? The word no is the main factor which determines why people are so apprehensive about selling, people get scared of it. Unfortunately it is a word which we must all deal with on a daily basis, so once this irrational fear is conquered, anyone can make a successful living out of sales. The fact of the matter is, with the growth of the internet and the rising costs of employees, good sales people are becoming more and more sought after as it’s a profession which is becoming harder and harder.

So you’ve just presented an intelligent and organised pitch, you’ve spent a lot of time planning it and you’re sure you’ve done everything you can. You are then told ‘no’. It’s at this point you start to think maybe that child’s temper tantrum approach we looked at earlier may not be so unjustified after all. Before you get too disheartened, let’s get past this silly fear of such a small word. When anybody says no, it is only for that moment in time. When they say no, what they mean is, ‘no, not today’. Your product or service maybe perfect for them next month or next year but for whatever reason, it is just not practical at this moment in time. Circumstances change. For example, you were eyeing up that very good looking laptop in town last week but you already have a perfectly adequate computer, however, as the sales assistant saw you looking at it they came over and gave you their best pitch. You still said no, after all you were just looking, but when it comes time to replace your cold computer, or you’ve decided to treat yourself, you remember the helpful sales assistant. They weren’t pushy, they gave you all the relevant information you needed and were genuinely very helpful. The chances are that’s where you’re going to go when it is time for a new computer. A sales person will come back from a sales meeting with either, a business order, a sale completed or they come back with a ‘no, not today’. The biggest source of revenue comes from existing customers, the second biggest comes from the ‘no, not today’ people who didn’t want that service at the time, but keeping in touch and letting them know what’s going on with your business may mean they decide to invest in your service at some point, people shouldn’t be so scared of the word ‘no’ as it can always be converted.

The Business Development people that we place, and of course mentor through our unique Business Lifestyle programme, are nevertheless expected to be hunters as well as farmers and there of course lies the difference. The modern sales specialist has to be multi faceted, and therefore through our training division specialising in sales (business development) we are having to help people to become what our customers want.

One aspect that doesn’t change is that in order for companies to survive and grow they have to be customer led and sales driven