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Sales is the key

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I think that there are far too many people who are teaching sales who have never sold anything. I have lived in Copenhagen since 1997, so I have had the opportunity to embrace the Danish culture and values, which I admire and respect. Having a natural cross cultural understanding, combined with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate with both internal and external stakeholders across the spectrum - from decision makers in the boardroom to factory workers - has been demonstrated throughout my career.


Selling is a wide subject, covering many selling methods, sales theories, models and sales training methods. Would you like to close the gap between global strategies and local execution?
I can guide your sales excellence team by optimising the sales process, developing sales programs, and conducting sales training globally. Remember, life is not designed to give us what we want or what we need, life is designed to give us what we deserve. Who is responsible for developing and implementing sales operating models? Who should I contact in your organisation?

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What is holding you back?

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Culture and employee engagement are a rising topic in business and when people know that their contribution matters to their company, they are less likely to leave. I think organisations that intentionally create and cultivate a healthy culture are more likely to earn the trust and loyalty of their stakeholders. According to David Sturt there are 6 aspects of a great company culture:

  1. Purpose - connecting employees to your organisation’s reason for being or the difference you make in the world.

  2. Opportunity - providing employees the ability to learn new skills, develop, and contribute.

  3. Success - giving employees the opportunity to innovate, do meaningful work and be on winning teams.

  4. Appreciation - acknowledging and recognising employees’ outstanding work and unique contributions.

  5. Well-being - paying attention to and constantly working to improve employees’ physical, social, emotional, and financial health.

  6. Leadership - connecting employees to purpose, empowering them to do great work, and creating a sense of camaraderie.

You can watch David Sturt’s brilliant “Can talking to strangers boost your creativity?” TED Talk here.

Everyone is looking for answers

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Yesterday an accountant asked me a question, “What is marketing for?”

My answer went a little like this: “I think marketing is about making change happen. Marketing works, therefore, as marketing professionals then each and every one of us are responsible for the effects and side effects of what we do.”


 

Accountant: “Who do want our customers to become?”
Me: “Marketing is the act of going into the world with intention to make a change happen. I use marketing to convert non-customers into customers. Sometimes, I help my customers become the person(s) they seek to be, and I help to create an environment that I think my customers want to see happen. Turning people from this to that!”


Accountant: “What are you going to spend all this time and money trying to do?”
Me: “I seek to help you become somebody who can make the change in the world that you want to be responsible for and be proud of. I seek to make an impact and clarify to the market the direction you are heading, leveraging the activity by using marketing tools to make a change happen.”

 

You are reading this because you are a passionate and caring human being. Contact me via e-mail and tell me about the change you are trying to make for your organisation.

Conscious crisis

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We are prepared by our biology to eat and sleep, mate and nurture, fight or flee, and exhibit all the other built-in survival responses in the human repertoire. Sometimes you must go down before you come up and most of these journeys must be taken alone. And in the dark times, one may have little but trust your own inner process and go on. I think that there is great power in self-reliance! And to me this simply means that you should look at yourself and take responsibility for your actions. I’m the person responsible and I have learned the necessary skills to help people learn their skills via my training and workshops. I have found this simple mindful awareness to be extremely rewarding because I have an empathic concern for others.

“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
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The magnificent obsession

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In general, leaders expect to influence how people think and behave at work, but they feel ill equipped to understand and actively manage how employees feel and express their emotions at work. I love sitting down with experts, people who have dedicated their lives to understanding more about human behaviour and the dynamics of how the mind works. Contact me if you feel stuck and you are trying to figure out your life purpose.

The Holocaust survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl stated in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” that a person can withstand just about anything as long as they have a purpose to strive for. I have found that people who have purpose in their lives, have something to go for. Purpose is the thing that pushes us into the future, some people are always pulled back by their past and some people are always pulled aside by distractions. I think that when you have a list high purposes in your life it will push you towards the future. The clearer the purpose, the stronger the desire to fulfil and achieve your purpose.

The keys to power

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There are times when we should be competitive and there are other times when we should share. According to my Oxford English Dictionary, the word, “courage” means the ability to do something dangerous, or to face pain or opposition, without showing fear. I think we need courage to brings us to new places, to new relationships and new results. What is your typical reaction when you are experiencing change?

·      Do you get defensive and retreat? 

·      Do you know what causes either of these reactions?

·      Do you engage in self-talk that may impact your courage to embark on change?

·      Do you fear losing something by being courageous?

Have you thought about what you could gain by being courageous?

Fear can be toxic

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Many business people believe that their success is solely dependent on their product and services. What I have learned through my experience is that what is going on outside of the organisation also matters. I think positive emotions are consistently associated with better performance, quality and customer service, and this is true, irrelevant of the industry or roles within the organisation.
Try adding the following words to your vocabulary:

  • I can

  • I will 

  • I know

  • I believe

  • I dream 

  • I am confident 

  • All things are possible 


Write a gratitude journal

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When you find yourself stuck in a constant state of worry, or hyper focused on what is not working around you, try to pause for a second and ask yourself one or two of the following questions:

1.  What have I learned recently that has helped me grow?

2.  What opportunities do I currently have that I am grateful for?

3.  What physical abilities do I have but take for granted?

4.  What did I see today or over the last month that was beautiful?

5.  Who at work am I happy to see each day and why?

6.  Who is a person that I don’t speak to often, but, if I lost them tomorrow, it would be devastating? (Take this as a cue to reach out to them today!)

7.  What am I better at today than I was a year ago?

8.  What material object do I use every day that I am thankful for having?

9. What has someone done for me recently that I am grateful for?

10. What are the three things I am grateful for right now?

By taking time to write down our answers, we consciously redirect our attention to that which we are grateful for. It’s also a great way to look back and realise what we may have thought of as insignificant was actually the things that brought us joy.

Make promises that you can keep

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I think that not promising things you can’t deliver is smart, it makes more sense to be realistic and modest. In my experience, I have found that delivering what you say you are going to deliver impacts your personal credibility. In general, people respect people that do what they say they are going to do, so setting reasonable expectations is a great skill to develop. If you are consistently late on deadlines and not achieving what you have promised, customers will become suspicious. What systems and processes do your organisation have in place to manage expectations?


I think that keeping your word, should be on top of your list! The post pandemic world is really uncertain, so if you can under promise and over deliver, you will not only keep your customers satisfied; you will keep your customers from taking their business elsewhere. One way to know how to overdeliver to your customers and gain valuable insights is to simply ask your customers what they want. Contact me via via e-mail for customer experience training and workshops.

Understand before being understood

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You filter everything you hear through your life experiences, your frame of reference. Everyone has different emotional thermostats and perhaps they have been set by how they were raised and developed by the traumas they may or may not have. I’ve learned how to tap dance around all the mental traps that most people who look like me tend to fall for. I have this wonderful ability to get moved by other people, some of whom I have never even met. I guess this is because I just the beauty in things. I have been training for years and years to develop practical empathy as people don’t know what I know and I don’t know what they know. And I am really comfortable with that - it’s all OK.


I don’t think that we change the whole world but if we try understand it, we will at least decode it and figure out a way to make it better for ourselves. If we can ask the below generic questions enough times, then this will help us change our perspectives and help us to evaluate where we stand:

  • What do you know? 

  • What do you need?

  • What happened to you that led you to believe that in this moment you are being reasonable?

Keep your eye on the target

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The first part of courage is the courage to start with a high possibility that you will face failure and rejection. The second part of courage is persistence - the power to keep going - to keep pushing and driving yourself. Passion and persistence are what matter. Dreams are achievable and you can make your fantasy come true, but there are no shortcuts. Nothing happens without hard work. Courage will you to look at the world in a new way, with both optimism and clarity.

“Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.”
— Bill Bradley

I think success in life depends on our willingness to never give up, even when the reward is delayed and perseverance is what separates the winners from the losers. Perseverance has other names - persistence, determination, a can-do attitude. Those who persevere understand that luck is something only failures believe in. Well the Roman philosopher Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” What do you think?

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Accelerate the path to delighting customers

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I recently had a 1:1 meeting with a CEO who was looking for a Sales Director. As we spoke I thought that this would be a great challenge for a hungry and driven sales leader who can grow, lead and nurture an enthusiastic sales team. Someone who could divide their time between the operational challenges and strategic support of the sales team in a fast-paced environment without losing sight of the mission. I used my knowledge about market developments and customer needs to help the CEO articulate the strategic initiatives for the organisation.


Humans engage with things they care about, and no one cares about something they don’t understand. Do you know your story? Why you do what you do? How you do it and what are you selling? If you are not clearly communicating this to your buyers, then unfortunately, they will never hear it. Dale Carnegie said, “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic but with creatures of emotion.” Contact me via e-mail for sales training or workshops.

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The currency of trust

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I think the currency of trust is when you sense the other person cares as much about you as they do about themselves. Here are some simple generic questions to evaluate where you stand:

  • How's it going?

  • How is what I am doing for you helping or not helping you?

  • What could I do better?

  • Where else do you need help?

  • Did what I do provide value for yourselves and if so, how?

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.”
— Simon Sinek
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The nod of approval

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c/o Financial Times

c/o Financial Times

Life is short and you don’t have time to figure everything out by yourself. Now if you could just align your work with your why.

·      Have you taken full advantage of the opportunities offered to you?

·      Do you have habits that are destroying your health and well-being?

·      Are there things that you could do that would make things around you better?

·      Have you said what you need to say to your colleagues? 

Contact me via e-mail for mentoring or coaching sessions. Another voice, another opinion, this could be the catalyst for the change you have been seeking to make.

“Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.”
— Stephen Covey in "The 7 Habits of Effective People"
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From talk to action

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Many people are lacking a connection to their purpose or creating fulfilment in their lives. I love telling stories and I’m passionate about the impact and the effects storytelling has on society. Getting clarity in my message so that I can share it with the right people in the right way, so it can help me grow my impact. I think the biggest communication problem is that we don't listen to understand, we listen to reply as you will never get what you love by attacking what you hate. 

As human beings we are moved by emotion, not by information and data. I help people build that emotional connection whether it's in a one to one conversation or if you have to give a presentation in front of many people. Being your true self and conveying the message in a way that is going to connect. Contact me via e-mail for training or workshops about: How to connect with people in ways that influences and moves them?

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Questions for designers

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George Heilmeier was the inventor of the LCD screen display which we use today in telephones, digital watches, computer monitors and flat-screen televisions. Heilmeierput together this list of questions for designers:

What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using no jargon. 

How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?

What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?

Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make?

What are the risks?

How much will it cost?

How long will it take?

What are the mid-term and final “exams” to check for success?

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Focus on the finish line

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Image c/o Strategy Sprints

Image c/o Strategy Sprints

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than land and it works the same way as the mind does not care what we plant, whether it be success or failure. A concrete worthwhile goal or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on but whatever we plant it must return to us. The human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth, it contains riches beyond our wildest dreams, it will return anything we were to plant. Well you might say that if that’s true why are people struggling to meet their goals?

Emily Balcetis explains how motivation is not enough if you want to achieve your goals, see the video here. Emily Balcetis, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology at New York University and author of “Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World.”

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You can figure it out by yourself

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I won the birthday lottery and have great parents who encouraged me to follow my dreams and do something of use. I think skills are far more important than talent, because we are all born with talent. Here are nine qualities I admire more than skills:

  1. Compassion

  2. Sympathy

  3. Empathy

  4. Kindness

  5. Gratitude

  6. Humility

  7. Patience

  8. Self awareness

  9. Sincerity

Contact me via e-mail as I will not tell you what to do, I will just guide and help you figure out how to best use the resources that are available.