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Stay Focussed, Boost Productivity & Enjoy what you do.

For sales people, ‘To Do Lists’ are not a useful tool in today’s hectic, information-rich, competitive business environments.  Here’s an alternative:

 

  1. Spend 10 minutes every morning planning the day!

 

We know it makes sense – but we rarely do it properly.  Spending just 10 minutes in the morning reviewing our main business objectives and personal goals, then physically writing out a maximum of 3 or 4 results (not tasks!) we want to absolutely achieve by the end of the day, is essential for keeping us focused.  Just as important, is the reason WHY we want to achieve the result i.e. what it will mean to us personally (£) as well as professionally – this keeps motivation high when times get challenging.

 

  1. Learn the art of the 80/20 Principle!

 

According to Pareto’s famous law, most of us spend 80% of our time working on things that will only ever give us 20% of the results we’re looking for.  This includes: doing tasks others have passed to us; trying to clear a ‘To Do List’ (because it makes us feel a sense of achievement); and avoiding difficult tasks by distracting ourselve s watching news and/or unimportant emails etc.  Instead, try prioritizing during the 10 minute planning sessions, batching up similar or related tasks, and delegating or simply deleting more ‘stuff’ – remember simplicity and clarity is power.

 

  1. Spend 10 minutes after work reviewing the day!

 

It’s easy to get so engrossed in our businesses that we forget to take time out to reflect.  By investing just 10 minutes at the end of the day to recap on what we’ve achieved, what we’ve learnt and any great moments we experienced, we stay more motivated. We’re also able to switch off before returning home to connect with family and friends – the basic human need that should be behind why we do what we do in the first place.

 

 

Free download: Healthy Habits Guide

For loads of resources check out: http://www.healthysalesexec.com/

Thursday, March 11th, 2010 Carlene
No Comments Categories: Blog

Call Centres Job Guide

Call centres have had bad press over the years for being bad places to work, a lot of which is untrue. Acquiring a call centre job however is one of the only things that may have got easier in the current economic climate. Companies are not willing to outsource their call centre’s overseas anymore and the customer service industry is booming. This guide outlines what is required for call centres jobs and how to find either full time or part time call centre jobs.

Finding a Call Centre Job

  • Call centres jobs often fall under the banner of customer service although they can also be considered sales (telesales). People who have a call centre job are expected to either make or receive calls and log the details on a computer database.

  • The nature of a call centre job can vary dramatically depending on what they call centre operative is being tasked to do. Those who are selling a product or a service will be given a daily target of sales and be expected to meet that. Those who have taken up a call centre job that specialises in market research will be expected to complete their target number of surveys.

  • Call centres jobs that focus on customer service are slightly different in that the call centre operative receives calls from members of the public and deals with their complaint or request accordingly

  • The average wage for somebody with a call centre job is £6-£8ph but sales jobs often offer incentives and bonuses for meeting and exceeding targets. The nature of call centres jobs means that the hours can be quite varied but staff are generally required to work 35-40 hours per week.

  • One of the main advantages of call centres jobs is that the hours can be somewhat flexible and there are lots of part time call centre jobs available that allow people to fit work in around other commitments.

  • People who are successful in call centres jobs are confident, friendly, resilient and motivated. Having a good telephone voice is essential as is being calm under pressure. Good spelling and computer/typing skills are also an advantage.

  • When searching for call centres jobs, make sure that you look on as many websites and in as many publications as you can, most cities often have several call centres and so choose one that appeals to you. Some specialise in telesales whilst other specialise in customer service or market research.

Call centres have had bad press over the years for being bad places to work. Acquiring a call centre job however is one of the only things that may have got easier in the current economic climate. Companies are not willing to outsource their call centre’s overseas anymore and the customer service industry is booming. This guide outlines what is required for call centres jobs and how to find either full time or part time call centre jobs.

Finding a Call Centre Job

  • Call centres jobs often fall under the banner of customer service although they can also be considered sales (telesales). People who have a call centre job are expected to either make or receive calls and log the details on a computer database.

  • The nature of a call centre job can vary dramatically depending on what they call centre operative is being tasked to do. Those who are selling a product or a service will be given a daily target of sales and be expected to meet that. Those who have taken up a call centre job that specialises in market research will be expected to complete their target number of surveys.

  • Call centres jobs that focus on customer service are slightly different in that the call centre operative receives calls from members of the public and deals with their complaint or request accordingly

  • The average wage for somebody with a call centre job is £6-£8ph but sales jobs often offer incentives and bonuses for meeting and exceeding targets. The nature of call centres jobs means that the hours can be quite varied but staff are generally required to work 35-40 hours per week.

  • One of the main advantages of call centres jobs is that the hours can be somewhat flexible and there are lots of part time call centre jobs available that allow people to fit work in around other commitments.

  • People who are successful in call centres jobs are confident, friendly, resilient and motivated. Having a good telephone voice is essential as is being calm under pressure. Good spelling and computer/typing skills are also an advantage.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 Simply Sales Jobs
No Comments Categories: Blog, Sales Jobs Advice, Telephone Skills / Cold Calling

Sales Tip of the Week – All about attitude

Sales is as much about attitude as technique. And by that we mean motivation, a willingness to learn and a desire to keep pushing for improvement rather than the ‘attitude’ displayed by so many stereotypical salespeople – ‘I know best’, ‘There’s nothing new you can teach me’ and ‘This is how I’ve always done it’.

 

No wonder some of the best salespeople are ex-sports professionals or from the military: they have the desire, the hunger and the discipline.

Olympics

Take a look at the competitors in the Winter Olympics – all elite athletes but only one able to win in each event. Some key points:

  • the athletes want to be there and enjoy the experience;
  • they have something to prove;
  • they give of their very best even if it doesn’t mean they win – they’re still competing against themselves and striving for their ‘personal best’;
  • they take feedback from their coaches – working as a team;
  • they pick themselves up and dust themselves down and can go on to win in later events even after a huge set-back; and
  • they are supportive of each other even when competing.

Source : CIM.

Thursday, February 25th, 2010 Carlene
1 Comment Categories: Blog

LESS IS MORE WITH DIGITAL MARKETING

Just because emails and web-based social-networking communications are relatively cheap compared with snail-mail and traditional marketing collateral, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about message content just as carefully.

 

And just because an individual – consumer or businessperson – agrees to join your email list, this does not give you carte blanche to hammer their inbox.

Very definitely think quality not quantity.

With direct email there is a ‘noise threshold’ you must keep below to prevent opt-outs. Some experts suggest limiting communications to a maximum of:

  • one email every three weeks for B2B; and
  • one email a week for B2C.

Similarly, with Twitter, there is absolutely no way the average person can keep up with the general level of traffic in any case, so those organisations which consider the best way of driving traffic to their website is simply to make multiple generic postings several times a day are sadly mistaken. 

What will happen is that recipients will firstly ignore you, then they’ll ‘unfollow’ you, and eventually they’ll block you.

Source : CIM

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 Carlene
No Comments Categories: Blog

Sales Tip of the Week – FOLLOW-UP STRATEGIES

Once you’ve made the initial call or meeting, it can sometimes be hard to know how to follow up to keep yourself ‘front of mind’ with the prospect.

 

One thing you mustn’t do is waste the prospect’s time: you’ll simply be adding to the general level of ‘redundant noise’ so prevalent in business these days. So, there’s no point in ringing up with a simple courtesy call, unless you genuinely have that kind of relationship.

New information

Far better to provide your prospects with something they’ll actually value – perhaps some new information to share or the answer to a question you were unable to respond to initially. Try calling with the line: ‘I’ve got some good news for you’ or ‘I’m phoning with an update for you’.

Relevance

Other ways of maintaining your profile with the customer is to email or send them relevant articles from trade publications, success stories, case-studies and testimonials – but I stress the word relevant here.

Referrals

Finally, you can in some circumstances, also draw on your own contacts to refer business to the prospect or even, in the current economic climate, help out decision-makers you know are being affected by a reorganisation or redundancy. Occasionally, you may be able to tip them off about similar roles available you hear about amongst your other customers. But do tread carefully in these circumstances.

Source : CIM

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 Carlene
No Comments Categories: Blog

The 10 highest paying jobs (and the 10 lowest)

The annual average wage for full-time employees rose by 2.6 per cent to £25,800 in 2009, according to The Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

The data, which covers the average pay for full-time workers covering nearly 300 trades and professions, also found that public sector workers enjoyed average rises of 2.8 per cent last year.

In contrast, employees in the private sector received pay rises of just 0.8 per cent.

Here is the full list of the ten best paid job categories and the ten worst paid. The annual figure is the mean average of all workers’ salaries included in the job categories as defined by the ONS.

 

Highest paid

 

1. Directors and chief executives of major organisations.

Average annual salary: £115,576

Job titles include: Chief executive, company director, general manager, managing director (of major organisations).

 

2. Medical practitioners

  

Average annual salary: £78,366

 

Job titles include: Anaesthetist, doctor, hospital consultant, GP, physician, psychiatrist, psycho-analyst, registrar, surgeon.

 

3. Senior officials in national government

Average annual salary: £68,283

Job titles include: Assistant secretary, diplomat, MEP, MP, permanent secretary.

 

4. Brokers

Average annual salary: £61,117

Job titles include: Commodity trader, financial broker, foreign exchange dealer, insurance broker, shipbroker, stockbroker.

 

 

 

 

 

5. Air traffic controllers

 

Average annual salary: £60,548

Job titles include: Air traffic controller, controller of aircraft, flight planner, ground movement controller.

 

6. Financial managers and chartered secretaries

Average annual salary: £58,295

Job titles include: Company registrar, company treasurer, credit manager, finance manager, financial director, merchant banker.

 

7. Senior officials in local government

Average annual salary: £55,921

Job titles include: Chief executive of local government, town clerk.

 

8. Police officers (inspectors and above)

Average annual salary: £53,937

Job titles include: Assistant chief constable, chief constable, chief inspector, chief superintendent, deputy chief constable.

9. IT strategy and planning professionals

Average annual salary: £50,143

Job titles include: Computer consultant, software consultant.

10. Solicitors and lawyers, judges and coroners

Average annual salary: £48,908

Job titles include: Articled clerk, barrister, coroner, judge, solicitor.

Lowest paid

1. Waiters and waitresses

Average annual salary: £11,930

2. Bar staff

Average annual salary: £11,930

3. Kitchen and catering assistants

Average annual salary: £12,410

Job titles include: Canteen assistant, catering assistant, counterhand, dining room assistant, kitchen assistant, kitchen porter, washer-up.

4. Travel and tour guides

Average annual salary: £12,561

Job titles include: Coach guide, courier for tour operator, escort, guide

5. Launderers, dry cleaners, pressers

Average annual salary: £12,657

Job titles include: Carpet cleaner, dry cleaner, garment presser, laundry worker.

6. Retail cashiers and check-out operators

Average annual salary: £12,736

Job titles include: Cashier, check-out operator, forecourt attendant, petrol pump attendant, restaurant cashier.

7. Leisure and theme park attendants

Average annual salary: £12,767

Job titles include: Arcade attendant, fairground worker, funfair attendant, usher/usherette.

8. Hairdressers and related occupations

Average annual salary: £13,194

Job titles include: Barber, beautician, hairdresser, make-up artist, manicurist, slimming consultant, barber.

9. Cleaners, domestics

Average annual salary: £13,807

Job titles include: Car valeter, chambermaid, cleaner, domestic cleaner.

10. Nursery Nurses

Average annual salary: £13,872

Job titles include: Creche assistant, nursery assistant, nursery nurse

Source : The Times

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 Carlene
No Comments Categories: Blog

Sales Tip of the Week from CIM

Many experts consider the most common mistake made by salespeople to be in their choice of poor prospects. Basically, we fail to distinguish between a ‘suspect’ and a prospect through a proper qualification process.

 

This leads to all sorts of problems, not least to false expectations and wildly misleading sales forecasts.

Poor prospects

Examples of a poor prospect include:

  • the value of the sale is too small or unprofitable – ie, even if we win it, the business does not cover the cost of the sale or is uneconomic to service;
  • the sale is too big – it’s a very tempting target but simply too large for our organisation to cope with during the sale process, let alone if we win it;
  • the buyer is too polite to say no – the ‘prospect’ may be easier to talk to than other more suitable targets but is never really going to place the business with us.

The latter problem is often a welcome distraction – ‘At least somebody’s talking to me!’ – but, if we get entangled in chasing poor prospects, we tend to use them as an excuse to avoid the  more difficult jobs we should be getting on with

Hence, we all need a sound methodology for qualifying our leads.

Source : CIM

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 Carlene
No Comments Categories: Blog

How to … pick a job with staying power

1 Get back into banking

Savvas Savouri, the chief economist at Tosca, the hedge fund, recently predicted that 100,000 new financial services jobs would be created in London over the next decade. Specialist consultants are also needed, with growth in demand throughout the financial services sector, Alan Leaman, chief executive of the Management Consultancies Association, said. There will be an emphasis on restructuring, helping banks to remain competitive and, particularly, dealing with new financial regulations, he said. View Simply Sales Banking Sales roles.

2 Think temporary

Companies took on 33 per cent more temporary and contract staff at the end of last year than 12 months before, according to KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. As the economy picks up, a number of employers — keen to avoid more redundancies if the market worsens again — will choose to hire potential new staff on interim arrangements before deciding whether to make things permanent, Charles Russam, the chairman of Russam GMS, an interim placement agency, said.

3 Learn a language

Euro London Appointments, a financial and banking specialist, reports an increase in demand from brokerage houses for people with fluent French, German, Dutch or Scandinavian to work in equity sales. Annette Cox, an associate director at the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), suggests Mandarin, particularly for anyone working in an export-related business: “The Chinese economy is set to boom … and in the long term looks set to overtake the US,” she said.

4 Delve into digital

Digital communication is expanding and will continue to do so for some years yet, creating opportunities in IT, communications and marketing, Charles Logan, the managing director at Hays, the recruitment company, said. “The capacity for growth and investment in this area is huge,” he said. “Digital marketers, online strategy managers and technical and strategic professionals, such as SEO [search engine optimisation] experts, will continue to be in demand.” Search for these roles on our sister site Simply Marketing Jobs.

5 Go green

The Government has promised to invest £100 billion in renewable energy, creating 70,000 jobs. Mr Logan expects to see jobs created in nuclear power and throughout the energy sector, not only in new technologies. “Decommissioning [old nuclear power stations] will continue to be in high demand, as will those candidates with retro-fit experience [upgrading existing facilities],” he said. Ian Jenkins, managing director of RUSTON wheb, a clean technology search firm, identified offshore wind and anaerobic digestion as areas looking for both engineering and project management skills.

6 Turn to science

Our ageing population means that anything related to health and wellbeing looks a safe bet. Those with cross-disciplinary skills — for example, engineers who understand biochemistry — will be in a particularly strong position, Dr Cox said. And there will always be a need for medicine, so the pharmaceutical industry is another good place to look.

7 Move on to the front line

Nursing, medical and care staff are the most sought-after employees in the UK, according to KPMG’s and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s latest Report on Jobs, while the Children’s Workforce Development Council has started a publicity campaign to attract more people to train as social workers. “And we’re always looking for teachers,” said a spokesman for the Training and Development Agency for Schools, which hopes to recruit 36,000 in 2010-11 — qualifications in science, engineering, maths and technology are particularly sought-after.

8 Start your own business

Recessions are the classic time for entrepreneurs to get going. No inspiration? Consider a franchise; about 90 per cent of franchisees are still reporting a profit despite the recession, including 81 per cent of those in their first two years of operation, according to the British Franchise Association.

9 Give yourself a sporting chance

With Britain scheduled to host the Olympic Games and at least two world cups — cricket and rugby — in the next ten years, jobs related to sport and tourism look strong, Dr Cox said. “Sports coaches at every level are likely to be in demand, as will people with skills in event management and all the service industries that visitors will need. We’re always short of chefs. And anyone who works in visitor economy sectors like hotels, restaurants, retail and cultural activities will be [in demand].” View our Travel Job Search site.

10 Retreat to a garret

Research by the Institute of Employment Studies has concluded that graduates of creative courses — art, design, fashion and the like — are well-placed to survive tough economic times because they value creativity above wealth. Many of them make their living by mixing a range of freelance projects and part-time jobs; this doesn’t make them wealthy, with half earning £20,000 or less, but it does make them happy — three quarters are satisfied with their jobs (the national average is 44 per cent).

Source : The Times

Monday, January 25th, 2010 Carlene
No Comments Categories: Blog, News

DRAGON FRONTS ‘THE BUYING GAME’

Behind the scenes at Britain’s retail giants, buying teams have the power to create trends, make or break careers and decide exactly what the public buys.

Coming soon on BBC Two, Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis presents The Buying Game. The new 7 x 60-minute series, produced by Maverick Television, goes behind closed doors at some of the biggest names in UK retail to expose the secret world of buying for the first time.

British public

In a twist, these buyers won’t be turning to their trusted suppliers for the ‘next big thing’. Instead, they’ll be gambling on the talents of the British public in their quest to find the best and most innovative new products. For the fledgling designer, this is a chance in a lifetime.

Retailer Paphitis knows and loves the business of buying. He’ll be at the helm of this ambitious project: demystifying shop talk and revealing the competitive inner workings of retail, from prototype to product development to the finished article on the shop floor.

Emerging markets

Paphitis is also presenting Theo’s Adventure Capitalists on BBC Two later this month. This new three-part series examines the risks and rewards for British companies looking to expand in three of the world’s most dynamic emerging markets – India, Vietnam and Brazil.

These markets are weathering the global recession better than the economies of the West. If Britain is to remain a major player in world trade, it is essential to establish firm business interests now.

In each film, Paphitis follows the progress of three British companies considering expanding in these high-growth markets. Viewers will experience international trade through the eyes of successful companies, and explore the role of Britain in the global economy. Some of the companies are household names, while others are based on fresh inventions, retail success and intellectual property.

Supporting material

Meanwhile, the Open University Business School will support a website providing in-depth material on high-growth markets and international trade.
 

Source : Modern Selling.
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 Carlene
No Comments Categories: Blog

THE SELLING SHOW: 24 FEBRUARY, THISTLE CITY BARBICAN

The Selling Show has launched an award for the best book on sales by a UK author.

Visitors to the event’s website have until 5 February to vote online for their favourite read, with the winner due to be announced at an awards ceremony during the event’s conference programme on 24 February.

Event director at organisers BSMSP, David Sturn told ModernSelling.com: ‘This element adds further experience for our visitors and highlights the excellent range of sales publications.’

Conference format

The event has recently changed format since its launch in 2007 to a one-day conference format with an exhibition running alongside. The show has moved away from its original Islington Business Design Centre venue down the road to the Thistle City Barbican hotel and now runs alongside the Entrepreneur Show.

Speakers include:

  • Fiona Challis discussing ‘Creating a high-performance sales culture’ and ‘The seven deadly sins of sales management’;
  • Grant Leboff presenting ‘Why traditional selling doesn’t work anymore’ and ‘New rules of lead-generation and how it affects salespeople’; and
  • Bruce King explaining how to ‘Train your brain to win the sales game’ and ‘How to double your sales – fast!’

There will also be a review of current thinking within the sales sector and a question-and-answer panel session at the end of the programme.

The delegate rate of £249 includes conference programme access, expert panel, exhibition access, refreshments, lunch and sales goodie bag. For bookings, please telephone 0203 086 8690.

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 Carlene
No Comments Categories: Blog, News
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