Tesco, Britain’s largest grocer, unveiled modest UK sales growth in the first half of just 2.7 per cent to £20.6 billion while overall profit before tax edged up just 1.5 per cent to £1.42 billion.

Sir Terry Leahy, the chief executive, said the supermarket giant was successfully tackling the “challenges of recession”.

“Last year’s acquisitions — Homever in Korea and Tesco Bank — are already making good contributions to sales and profits,” he said, although he acknowledged that the overseas stores had been hard hit.

“In International, the markets with the greatest growth potential for the long-term have been some of the hardest hit in the short-term but we have nevertheless delivered a good performance against strong headwinds,” he said.

Trading profit in Europe fell 5 per cent to £191 million, hit by economic problems in Hungary and Ireland, and at its fledgling US chain, Fresh & Easy, losses increased by 42 per cent to £82 million.

“Our UK business is delivering solid growth and improving volumes,” Sir Terry said.

He said UK like for like sales growth of 2.7 per cent, or 3.7 per cent excluding VAT, was “converging” with figures seen across the grocery industry, driven by strong volumes.

But he admitted that sales growth had moderated in the second quarter — June, July and August — compared with the first, reflecting reduced inflation.

Tesco is raising the interim dividend by 9 per cent from last year to 3.89p per share.

Sir Terry said that he was renaming Tesco Personal Finance — which offers insurance and credit cards from larger stores — as Tesco Bank to reflect “our longer term objective of creating a full-service retail bank for Tesco customers, offering a range of banking and insurance services through branches in store and online”.

The Government hopes that Tesco will be among those showing an interest in buying the branch network and mortgage origination services of Northern Rock which it intends to put up for sale.

Tesco set up Tesco Personal Finance as a joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland but bought RBS out of the venture last year.

In the past six months Tesco Bank made £115 million trading profit on a £420 million turnover. Sir Terry said that this was a “good performance” in a challenging retail banking market, despite extra costs as it relocated to its own offices in Edinburgh and builds its team “in preparation for a faster rate of growth”.

It grew the total number of customer accounts by 300,000 in the past 12 months to more than 6 million across all product lines and Tesco is now the seventh largest credit card issuer in the country.

But bad debts increased to £92 million, though Sir Terry said this was better than the banking industry average.

Speaking about the group as a whole he said: “This progress across the group, combined with our strong financial position funding continued investment in new space and new businesses, means we’re well-placed for the global recovery.”

Tesco has had a raft of promotions in recent weeks in what some analysts have seen as a sign that it was desperate to keep its comparable sales growing.

Dave McCarthy, an analyst with Evolution Securities, began coverage of Tesco with “sell” advice yesterday saying “Having lost momentum in the UK, sales are underperforming the industry average, marginal returns are falling and importantly, the industry is returning to adverse differential inflation (costs rising faster than sales), which could be bad news for all.”

Source : The Times

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Britain’s largest profession needs an effective institute to see it safely into the 21st century.

Looks like there’s ‘trouble at mill’ at the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management (ISMM) – Britain’s only ‘professional’ membership organisation for salespeople drawn from across the commercial and industrial spectrum.

When veteran ISMM chairman, Sheila Watson-Challis rang up ModernSelling.com headquarters a few weeks ago to bemoan the loss of yet another boss of the institute, we couldn’t help thinking that the organisation must be having rather a torrid time. As they say, to lose one director is unlucky; to lose two is careless; but to lose three in as many years…  what does that say about your organisation?

Strong institute

It is a pity that things have come to this pass. Whatever readers might think about the quality of the ISMM as an organisation, the UK sales profession really does need a strong institute – probably more than one – to represent and promote the interests of Britain’s largest grouping of business professionals.

From the outside, the ISMM has appeared to be an organisation in decline for some time now (even back in the 1980s one questioned its solidity and wondered whether it existed to serve its members or was more self-serving – Ed) and if, it does continue to slide, we will be left with a vacuum.

What organisation will represent the interests of sales professionals in the business world and with government? Who will promote a common syllabus of education and training for salespeople and their leaders? How will we prepare school leavers and graduates to enter a tough and demanding profession?

These are just some of the questions that need answering. Already there are signs that some fledgling organisations are aiming to enter the space, but of those which have gone public, none has yet presented the credentials to suggest it has the experience, track-record or credibility to create a truly professional institute capable of representing the interests of hundreds of thousands of UK sales professionals.

Support

Our view – for what it’s worth – is that we would be happy to support any organisation with the vision and a convincing plan to represent the interests of UK sales professionals, so long as the individuals involved are credible and the funds and support are available to make the institution solid. We’d be happy to support more than one. We’d be happy to support a re-vitalised ISMM or an entirely new organisation – or both – because, currently, the vast majority of sales professionals are not represented at all.

Salespeople have always liked to do things their own way: independence is practically encoded in the DNA of the salesperson, one might say. However, while there’s no denying that salespeople are fiercely independent – they don’t take to being organised – they’re also intensively conservative (with a small ‘c’) – and don’t necessarily adapt to change easily. But adapting to change is exactly what salespeople are going to have to do right now and for the foreseeable future: the world of sales is going through fundamental changes.

Immense changes

These changes are going to be immense – let’s be clear about that! And sales professionals could do with a strong, collective organisation to help them through what amounts to a sales revolution.

For instance, technology not only promises great innovation – social networking, webinars and teleconferences – but it also presents enormous challenges: information overload through inappropriate use of email and the proliferation of blogs and new channels to market or the converse problem of legitimate communication being stifled by catch-all spam filters and voicemail, to name just a couple.

Salespeople are losing control of the sales process: global competition, time and cost restraints conspire to make the life of sales professionals much more difficult than it was even 20 years ago. They’re finding it harder and harder to locate prospects, let alone talk to them and, when they do, many are finding that buyers and decision-makers are not interested in what they have to say.

Out-of-date skills

Unfortunately, many of the skills and ideas being used today actually originated 20 or even 50 or more years ago. Fortunately, today’s successful salesperson has moved on, while the budget-beater of tomorrow will be an entirely different beast, even if she shares some of the drive, attitudes and attributes of her predecessors.

The motor industry and the aviation sector are in chaos – as oil supplies dwindle – forcing us to reassess whether it is economic to travel on business in the same way that we used to. Technology from the web is rushing in like a tsunami to fill its place: we can talk and present to many people across the country (or around the world) simultaneously; consumers are flooding on line to discuss and buy the latest products and services; competition is rampant.

The rep on the road clutching a catalogue and a sample case has largely been consigned to the pages of history. He’s quite simply too expensive to employ and equip, in all but a few specialist cases.  

New techniques

It’s no easier for office-based salespeople. Familiar tools like telemarketing are starting to look outmoded and increasingly ineffective. Legislation and controls are, quite rightly, reining in the worst excesses, while voicemail is the bugbear of every salesperson. Instead, we’re quickly coming to grips with new techniques like social networking, micro-blogging and mining data from the internet.

Yes, selling is quite simply going through a revolution right now.

Diversifying skills

Effective salespeople are rapidly becoming technological ‘jacks-of-all-trades’, tracking down prospects online and learning enough about new web-based marketing channels to re-open the doors which prospects have been slamming in their face, while retaining enough of their telephone and verbal presentation skills for when they do actually get to speak to a buyer in person. But, a jack-of-all-trades has traditionally been ‘master of none’, and that’s not really good enough in the 21st century business world.

Master of all trades

That’s why we need some intervention in the form of a strong sales institute – possibly backed by legislation – to ensure that salespeople (and future sales professionals going through higher education) become masters of all the necessary skills to make them effective in this century’s supremely competitive business world. And such an educational system needs to be a continuing process to ensure our salespeople keep their skills up to date.

Salespeople need to part of this revolution or, alternatively, we can stand by and watch as spectators… and be overwhelmed. We need to understand the processes and techniques that will help us; we need to be ethical and modern in our approach; we need strong professional organisations to support us and ensure we’re equipped with the right attitudes and skills.

Source : Modern Selling

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Largest survey of sales professionals in the UK is published by Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment

We’ve just completed the largest survey of sales professionals in the UK and it has produced some really positive and fascinating results. The survey of 70 questions covered all aspects of sales from remuneration through to sales targets to key motivators to work-life balance and everything in-between.

The survey was fully completed by 642 sales professionals and partially completed by a further 140. This has enabled us to provide a powerful insight into the ‘State of Sales in the UK in 2009’ and the report is the most substantial survey of its kind. The aim of the survey was to give us all greater understanding on how to manage and motivate our sales teams through tough financial times and beyond.

Overview

The survey was launched in late July 2009 and was live for 6 weeks. It was promoted across a wide range of media including major sales job boards, sales forums, social networks and sales related magazines. The survey was also promoted by our survey partners that included sales trainers, sales training companies and specialist job boards. The survey was similar to another that I commissioned back in 2007 so it has been a great exercise to compare attitudes and perspectives between the buoyant economic times of 2007 and the tougher ones of 2009.

The response was a generous spread across all industries and across the whole of the UK; relevant to this publication 18% of responses were from the South East, 8% from the East Midlands and 9% from London. 6 out of 10 respondents were experienced sales professionals with over 10 years experience and 84% earned in excess of £25,000 p.a. The responses were from a general spread across all industry sectors.

Key Findings

• 96% of the respondents enjoy working in sales. Of the remaining 4% only 1 in 10 had planned to embark on a career in sales.
• Getting clients to make decisions, cold calling and sales admin/paperwork were cited as the 3 most difficult aspects of selling in 2009
• A whopping 72% judged their career to date to be ‘7 out of 10’ or more
• The two biggest motivators to keep sales staff (or what they’d look for in a new job) , was i) opportunities for progression/career development, and ii) Their employer’s products, reputation and competitive edge
• The way that the respondents personally measured success was i) ‘being respected by friends, boss and peers’ followed by ii) ‘loving relationships’ and iii) ‘peace of mind’. Status and material wealth was deemed as the major success measure by just 13% of the sales professionals surveyed.
• 70% of those that were unemployed had been recently made redundant
• Only 11% of those in employment felt that their employer was dealing well with the financial crisis
• Over 4 in 10 of the female respondents were Sales Managers, Sales Directors and Managing Directors, almost a two fold increase on 2007’s results. However all respondents that earned over £100K in the last 12 months were male.
• 53% had been 100% honest in every interview they have attended throughout their career
• 44% were educated to HND or higher
• Despite the economic situation 52% were given an increase on their 2009 targets
• 56% of respondents felt that sales was the most influential department/division of their business
• An impressive 31% are currently over target. And as 28% of respondents were non-targeted that left only 41% that were either ‘on target’ or ‘below target’
• 65% felt that they could perform their line manager’s role more effectively than them (84% of these were male!) even though more than 8 out of 10 described their relationship with their boss as average or better!
• Surprisingly three quarters of respondents did not feel that an increase in green initiatives by their employer would have any positive increase on sales
• More than 8 out of 10 of respondents considered themselves to regularly work under stress levels of medium or higher.
• 79% of respondents typically worked in excess of 40 hours per week with a third of the total working in excess of 50 hours
• ‘Aggressive and Dictatorial’ were the most popular words to describe their line manager’s style though this was thankfully followed by ‘Supportive and Empowering’
• 58% felt they did not receive enough training in their role and 36% had not received a single day of training in the last 12 months
• The majority, 64%, would prefer the opportunity to earn £10,000 in commission than a straightforward £5,000 basic salary increase.
• Half would not accept a 50% pay rise if it would severely impact on their ‘work-life’ balance
• ‘Better management and direction’ was cited as the biggest way to make a salesperson more successful (2nd was ‘Increased Marketing’, 3rd ‘Better Work/Life Balance’ and 4th ‘Training’)

What can we learn from the survey results?

Sales professionals are hard working, looking for stability and looking for companies that respect the contribution that they make to their organisations. They are looking for reputable employers with good management and solid direction that offer good products/services that are backed by a genuine ‘competitive edge’.

Over half of the sales professionals surveyed have taken on the responsibility of increased targets in tough times and a third is exceeding them. Despite what the media likes to portray only 41% are either ‘on target’ or ‘below target’! 44% felt that their employers should increase their sales and marketing initiatives to see them through the current economic situation and 45% would take on additional responsibilities without additional pay to enable this. Thankfully, 3 in 4 of the respondents had not been asked to take a pay drop or a cut in benefits in the last year.

It still astounds me that many employers feel that sales people are solely motivated by money, material status and their potential to earn. Sure, sales people to a large extent have to be ‘money motivated’ to ensure they have the drive and purpose to put themselves on the ‘front line’ each day. However, for the majority it is the thrill of the sale and the achievement and recognition that they’ll receive as much as it is about the reward.

The survey highlights that the best way to motivate and retain your sales staff is to offer training and development together with opportunities for career enhancement. There is an undeniable and obvious link between ‘training days received’ and ‘performance against target’ yet it’s incredible that over half of the sales professionals surveyed had less than two training days over the last year. This is particularly poor bearing in mind the various government initiatives available to most employers to fund training. The top three training requirements cited were ‘new business generation/cold calling’ (26%), ‘Time Management and Planning’ (15%) and ‘Motivational Training’ (12%).

Having met thousands of sales professionals looking to leave their employer the most commonly cited reasons for leaving are ‘not being recognised’ or ‘not being respected for the contribution that they make’. This is once again corroborated by the 2009 Survey and backed up by other similar surveys that I commissioned in 2007 and 1999. A little recognition and the occasional ‘thank you’ go a long way to ensure your sales team upbeat and engaged with your business!

Our fear was that companies would have become more ‘finance led’ over the last 12 months so it was great to see that 56% of employers were still deemed to be ‘sales led’ and that the ‘sales department’ is retaining its status of being the most influential department within a business.

To conclude, don’t think that bonus and financial incentives are the sole way to motivate your sales teams. Rather invest in training for your sales staff, regularly appraise them and recognise the hard work and long hours that contribute to your business. Remember that a regular ‘thank you’ and the occasional ‘slap on the back’ of recognition costs little and goes a long, long way.

The report ‘The State of Sales in the UK, 2009’ is available for free download by visiting www.survey2009.info

Aaron Wallis is a specialist sales recruiter that offers the best recruitment service available to UK employers that’s backed by a 12 month rebate scheme. To find out more call 01908 764280 or visit www.aaronwallis.co.uk.

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