Salesjobs.ie recently surveyed over 14,000 sales professionals surveyed on the their current economic status, attitudes to work, remuneration, through to sales targets, to key motivators, to work-life balance and everything in-between.

Key findings of Survey

Helping their employers get through the current economic crisis is high on their priorities

• 40% would take on additional responsibilities without additional pay to help their company get through the economic crisis.
• 36% of respondents had been asked to take a cut and a further 40% noted they had been asked to take a pay freeze.
• 71% state they work over 40-60 hours a week with one third of the total working in excess of 50 hours.
• 25% work at weekends, only 12% of sales people surveyed have answered that they never work weekends.
• The sales sector is not immune to the recession by any means with 40% of sales professionals stating they felt their current role is under threat of redundancy in 2009

The survey revealed One third of sales people when asked if the current economic climate has impacted on their sales performance replied they were either on or above target, encouragingly there are some healthy sales out there and it is not all doom and gloom

Only 10% of people are happy with how their companies are dealing with the financial crisis. The majority thought investment in sales and marketing should be increased in order to deal with the crisis.

Of the many options which we gave for how employees within the ‘sales industry’ would measure their success, a huge 24% responded that they would measure their success on ‘peace of mind’ and how fulfilled they were. This compares to only 8% who value material wealth and money as an indicator of success.

A full PDF sales report on findings can be accessed here

Btb Guest Author

Una Coleman

Changes are a coming…

You don’t have to be a marketing expert anymore to put an ezine together or blast your prospects with an e-marketing campaign or a cool survey.  They are all great ways to engage with your customers and Web 2.0 has given us fantastic, easy to use tools.  However, there is a downside to having access to this functionality at the click of our fingertips: Mail Overload.  We all get them – newsletters with nothing to say (or, too much to say), service offerings that have no relevance to our businesses, no personalisation, or the one that for me guarantees a send to blocked emails, “Dear Coleman”.  The sender hasn’t bothered to check my name: so much for customer care.  That’s why I say you don’t have to be a marketing expert…  Need I say more!

Outbound – email marketing

Unfortunately, the down-side is that our email is rapidly becoming our most protected piece of personal data.  We tweet intimate (and inane) details of our personal lives, we post personal and family pictures on Facebook, we upload embarrassing videos on YouTube, all for the world to see.  But, we hold control of our emails sacrosanct: we are becoming ever more intolerant of interruption based or outbound marketing.

This desire to be in control and decide with whom we wish to correspond is driving inbound and permission based marketing.  Equally, it is driving ever more stringent data-protection rules.  Warning: DON’T FALL FOUL OF DATA PROTECTION LEGISATION

Outbound – tele and direct marketing

And it’s not just email marketing: regulation also applies to direct marketing and telemarketing.  New EU regulation is coming into place the end of this year.  You need to ensure you are familiar with the local legislation in each of the countries you operate.

From October 2009, an amendment to the Dutch Telecommunications Act has come into force establishing new rules for business to business email marketing. Primarily, prior consent must be obtained from the receiver if his/her email address is to be used for future commercial purposes.  If you have an existing newsletter with Dutch email addresses you MUST obtain their consent before sending another newsletter.  You may send an email under separate cover instructing them to “opt in” to continuing to receive your newsletter by replying to that email. Without a confirmation to that email, you are prohibited by law to email that person again.  You have until the end of December to ge that consent.  There are nuances to the legislation and of course, where an established relationship exists as a result of the sale of goods and services permission is deemed to exist.

Opt in email marketing legislation

The amended to the Dutch Telecommunications Act is extreme but likely to set the standard for the future.

In addition to B2B email marketing, there are new and severe restrictions on outbound telemarketing activity.

All telemarketers MUST offer a do not call to prospects and register that number, as part of the call script.

Fines and penalties

In the case of the Netherlands, OPTA (www2.opta.nl/asp/en)  is the supervisory authority. The can impose stiff  fines up to € 450.000 in the case of telemarketing offences, or can go as far as temporarily closing down an organisation involved in outbound  telemarketing

UK email rules are currently based on 2003 legislation.  It is similar but not as restrictive as the Netherlands.  Permission is required for “cold” emailing. You can continue to email exiting clients, without requesting permission, as long as the products and services you are offering are similar.  If you are offering something new, then you need permission: http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/topic_specific_guides/marketing.aspx

This ever more restrictive legislation requires us to be more active and creative with our inbound, permission based marketing.  Websites must radically change from static brochureware to engaging information gateways that help build your brand and draw your prospects back.

What are your thoughts?  Will this make our task more difficult or will it make us more creative.  I’d love to hear your comments.

Una Coleman is an International Strategy and Marketing Consultant with over 20 years experience in marketing and strategy and international operations both in the US and Europe. Broad functional experience in: Marketing and Communications Strategic and Financial analytics including Business Case Development Consulting and Operational management Client Relationship Management Deep financial services sector knowledge. Worked in organisations ranging from technology start-ups, fast-paced direct marketing agency to large corporates. Member of Enterprise Ireland Mentor Panel Member of IIA (Irish Internet Association) International Strategy Working Group

My Good friend Sean Weafer launches his SellingEQ™ programme on the 18th of Feb at the The Hampton Hotel, Morehampton Rd Dublin.

How do you easily create high-trust, long-lasting and compelling business relationships with your clients and customers? Through the unique SellingEQ™ 100 Day programme.

The root word for ‘selling’ is ‘Selje’ meaning ‘to be of service’ and this unique programme shows you how to be of indispensable service to your clients and customers.

1. Understand the role of a modern ‘high trust’ advisor

2.Understand the importance of PCR’s over USP’s and the ‘new’ v the ‘old’ models of selling

3.Acquire and retaining high value clients through focused and strategic networking

4.Build high trust relationships where clients see you – their supplier – as an essential ‘non-equity’ partner and high trust advisor in their business

5.Recognise and adapt to a customer’s communication styles to deliver solutions in the client’s preferred manner – ensuring long-term, sustainable, business.

6.Learn the latest questioning techniques to unlock the emotional reasons why the customers and clients buy, overcome objections, achieve absolute clarity in your communication with clients, control business meetings and build more business.

7.Share ideas with other business people in your SellingEQ™ group.

SellingEQ Programme 1

Master Class 1: 18th of February (10-12.30pm)

Master Class 2: March 25th (10-12.30pm)

Master Class 3: April 14th (10-12.30pm)

Master Class 4: May 12th (10-12.30pm)

Master Class 5: June 9th (10-12.30pm)

SellingEQ Programme 2

Master Class 1: March 25th (2pm-4.30pm)

Master Clas 2: April 14th (2-4.30pm)

Master Class 3: May 12th (2-4.30pm)

Master Class 4: June 9th (2-4.30pm

Master Class 5: July 7th (2-4.30pm)

Created and facilitated by Seán Weafer , an international corporate specialist in ‘high trust’ business relationships, the SellingEQ™ programme provides the skills of driving revenues by creating compelling business relationships. Your SellingEQ™ programme comes with 5 x 90 minute monthly ‘live’ sessions and your own personal SellingEQ™ workbook with full audio CD seminars, unique articles and coaching exercises – all for just €995 per person. To register for our Feb 18th 2010 programme and get a FREE sales DVD call us at 01-2101934 and register BEFORE January 19th next.

LinkedIn Events

Btb Guest Author

Gerard Tannam

More and more, customers are making their choices based on brand.

So what are you waiting for?

When I talk with business-owners who’ve been slow to set about building their brand, I find their reluctance often comes down to a belief that brand-building is an expensive business. Of course, the big brands often spend a lot of money on creating their brands and even more telling the world about them but building your brand doesn’t need to cost the earth. In fact, given that the strength of your brand is based on the quality of your relationship with your customer, you can build a great brand using little more than ‘blood, sweat and toil’.

Sounds like too much hard work? It is, but here’s my five ways (each with a practical step attached) to build a top brand without putting your hand into your pocket:

1. Roll Up Your Sleeves That’s right; the first thing you’ve got to do is roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. Brand-building can be a messy business and you need to show your customer that you’re ready to get your hands dirty in order to make things work for them.

Practical Step: Schedule regular meetings with customers where there’s no sales agenda.

There’s no better way to show your commitment to your customers than meeting up with them to find out what’s going on in their lives. Of course, depending on your business, your meetings don’t have to be face-to-face. You can reach out to customers by ‘phone, email, SMS or twitter just as well.

2. Make Your Story Your Customer’s Story Now you’ve got to show your customers that you’ve been listening. It’s no good just listing your qualifications and achievements as so many of us do. You’ve got to link your story with the stories of your customers.

Practical Step: Put together case stories that show what you can do for your customer.

It’s very powerful when we can demonstrate to our customers what we can do for someone just like them. It’s not enough that we’re excellent at what we do; we must be able to show our customers how that relates to them right now. Good case stories offer a really effective way to do this.

3. Be A Big Fish In A Little Pond Too many business-owners make the mistake of battling it out in over-crowded marketplaces. Unless you can jump higher or shout louder than your competitors, there’s every danger that you’ll simply get lost in the crowd.

Practical Step: Make yours a category of one.

Find some aspect of what you do that immediately sets you apart from the competition. That might be something you specialise in, a unique service feature or guarantee, or a particular theme to what you do. The important thing is that you don’t make the make the mistake of fighting it out with bigger and better-armed competitors.

4. Build Your Own Network This isn’t simply about joining networks, although naturally enough you’ll need to do that too. This is about building your own system of vital links; that network of connections that links you to the important people in your marketplace.

Practical Step: Prompt word-of-mouth.

Don’t think of word-of-mouth as something that happens by accident. It’s up to you to design the network that will carry your message to those you want to influence. Of course, you’ll use existing networks wherever you can, but you need to be prepared to forge links between and beyond those networks.

5. Become An Expert Somewhat surprisingly, expertise is underrated when it comes to building brands. But it’s hugely attractive to customers, particularly in areas where that expertise can really make a difference between getting it right and getting it terribly wrong.

Practical Step: Publish your expertise.

Become the go-to expert in your field. This isn’t about being academic or technical. Work hard to build your expertise and then give it away freely to those who are open to it. Customers are rarely tempted to take things on themselves; when it comes down to it, they’d much prefer to have an expert take care of things for them.

Over To You: It really is over to you now. Put these five ways to work for you in building your brand and keep me posted about how you get on.

Gerard Tannam has long been fascinated with brands and how they work, rest and play. This fascination has taken him from his philosophy studies in Dublin to Asia where he worked with brands including the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Remy Martin, Cathay Pacific, Prudential, MTV and Chanel. More recently, he set up Islandbridge where his clients include Maldron Hotels, Lee Valley Clothing, Children First and Aussie Ice. Gerard is a regular contributor to discussions on branding in both Ireland and overseas and offers a Brief Word on Brands on The Persuaders radio programme and podcast. He writes regular features: The Blend on the implications of branding for hospitality and tourism and The Pitch on branding for SME’s. He is also a frequent visitor to the Irish Management Institute, Dublin City University and Dublin Institute of Technology where he presents on brand innovation. Gerard set up Islandbridge in 2004.

Describing a “what is Leadership?” can prove a challenge for a great many organisations.  Unfortunately nowadays, leaders are expected to lead without ever being afforded the time to investigate what it means to lead.

Is leadership a about the result? Is it more to do with the process? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It is a complex subject matter and one in which we all have a personal take.

Looking at history books can sometimes only add to our confusion, while there are similarities, there are often stark contrast in how the great leaders did their thing. While there is of course merit in the exercise, we sometimes forget to also look forward and envisage how the role of leading may evolve.

The collaborative approach is now the name of the game for a great many businesses. I have sometimes heard collaboration downtrodden by those who perceive it to be fashionable or populist, but with respects this is kind of just missing the point. Real collaboration has significant advantages that can not to be sniffed at. Smart people along with smart businesses are embracing collaboration now.

So my point is this, why then should leadership be any different in this regard.
Collaborative leadership is a concept I like, hence the principles behind “shared leadership” are ones which appeal to me greatly.

Let’s be clear here, two traits that a leader must possess to operate shared leadership are courage and confidence – the courage to trust that people can do the job, and the confidence to not want to own leadership exclusively. Insecure leaders on the other hand, are much more likely to instead choose to surround themselves with yes men – who will provide reassurance over challenge.

The role of the leader changes in a shared leadership situation. The unburdening of his or her “William Wallace” allows for a new categorisation of responsibility. It can be summed up in difficult language or indeed, it can be summed up plainly. My tastes have always been for the less exotic.

•    Find the right people
•    Trust the right people
•    Support the right people
•    Let the right people get on with it.
•    Manage the Interactions between the right people
•    On occasion allow the right people to make mistakes

The collaborative leader is a strategist and manager of people but as importantly he or she is also a teacher and indeed sometimes even a parent. I repeated “right people” in my summing up; this is because one significant advantage I feel a collaborative leader brings is in their ability to recognise the right people. This is then coupled with an ability to develop these same people.

Crucially if you truly understand that it is the people that are the organisation’s greatest resource, you should now begin to realise how fundamentally important this ability is in terms of success.

So then, if you are a leader, ask yourself the question do I need to own leadership?  If the answer is yes, perhaps you may be in the wrong job??

Btb Guest Author

Cindy King

Most businesses would like to develop their markets and embrace the opportunity of developing internationally… but very few actually do anything about going global.  Part of the reason behind this lethargy is a lack of knowledge about their international market opportunities.  Some in-house international market research can provide you with the knowledge you need to move forward.

Let’s look at 7 mistakes in international market research that are keeping many businesses from developing their international markets to their full potential.

#1: You Don’t Research Your Own Client And Prospect Data Base Thoroughly

If you already have a few international clients spread out over the world you are should take advantage of this.  Your own data base on international clients is the most useful resource you have because it is the most relevant one to your own business.

Remember to dig through this thoroughly.  Look for any trends or trigger events concerning the sales you have already made that could help you develop effective strategies today.

#2: You Don’t Identify Where Your Competitors Are Overseas

It is a big mistake not to spend some time researching your competitor’s international penetration history and current international targets.  This information can give you a wealth of information for your own international markets.

Remember to spend time observing what your competitors are doing abroad.

#3: You Don’t Research Industry Data Well Enough

Many unpleasant international blunders can be avoided with a little in-depth industry research.  Although this research is usually easy to find online, your particular industry might need some feedback from the relevant local advisers, the key is to know when to ask for help.

Remember to research the differences in industry standards and regulations on the foreign countries you are looking at and to get the right advice your business need.

#4: You Don’t Listen To What’s In The Press

Staying current on topics related to your international business development can help you avoid errors and it can also help you open doors. You need to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in your industry, the country and the area of the world you are interested in, in order to have the right conversations.

Remember to keep an eye on what is published in your own country and also in both the country and the region of the world you are focusing on.

#5: You Don’t Do Local SEO Research

Localized web research can provide you with some useful insights into local markets. This will give you a better idea of who your real competitors are in these countries.

Remember to check out the most popular local search engines and do keyword research in those countries.

#6: You Don’t Go Beyond Online Research

Online research is great, but it can only take you so far. You need to get information from good local sources too.

Remember to make contacts within your local foreign markets.  Instead of spending most of your time with online research, as soon as you have identified the names of the players and possible trends, reverse this trend and spend more time networking with the right players in your local target market.

#7: You Don’t Talk To People In Your International Markets

Business is carried out between people all over the world.  If there is one thing you should do, it is to pick up the phone and connect with people.  You might need to call and reach out to different people continually for several weeks or a few months.  You might need to improve your cross-cultural communication skills to get more out of these calls. But reaching out and connecting with local people will always help you to develop your business internationally.

Remember the value of speaking to the right people in your international markets.

Spend Time On International Market Research

When looking at the 7 mistakes above, it is obvious that the biggest mistake of all is not spending enough time on international market research.  This is why it is a good idea to allocate time every day to combine international networking with international market research activities.  All you need is to include this into your daily routines. It usually only takes a couple of months before most businesses get a very good idea of what they need to do next and how to go about doing it.

Do you want to get international clients?  What are you doing about it?
What other mistakes do you think people make in researching which markets to develop?

Cindy King is a cross-cultural marketer and international sales strategist who specializes in social media marketing. She is the Managing Editor of Social Media Examiner. Follow Cindy on Twitter @CindyKing or visit her Facebook Fan Page

Btb Guest Author

Anthea Newburn

With lives as busy as they are and the current uncertainty placing a lot more pressure on our working time it would be great to gain some extra time in the day.

You may think this is overly ambitious but with a few simple changes to your day you can gain a few minutes here and there. Once you start to look at small things you do you will start to see bigger wins.

• Every week check your diary for the following week – what do you still need to attend, who do you need to meet? Is there anything you don’t need to attend? Could you tag two meetings on the same side of the city to minimise travel time? Can you move any meetings to make your day more efficient?
• Have a priority list not a ‘to do’ list. Each Friday afternoon decide what your priorities will be for the following week & what actions need to be taken to get you there. Slot your priorities into your diary.
• Confirm meetings by text or email at least 24 hours before (you can set this up on web text easily). This avoids wasted time preparing for and travelling to cancelled meetings.
• Curb those at the desk chats – you know when Johnny comes over to tell you about his latest achievement or moan about the football last night. Learn to anticipate these & stop it with a polite but firm ‘I really need to focus on this for a deadline, I’ll catch up with you later’. Instead plan to ‘have coffee’ with key people you want to speak with. This can be one-to-one time with a direct report, a stakeholder in a project you’re taking on, a mentor in the industry or someone who has a different perspective.
• Learn to say no to tasks you can’t take on as you are overloaded, focusing on your priorities or if you are not the right person for the job. Over the years, by saying yes to everything, we train those around us to expect us to say yes. Start by saying ‘Can I check my diary and come back to you?’ The key is to get back quickly – be honest saying that you won’t be able to complete that this week and don’t want to let them down.
• Check if there are tasks others can help you with. What can you delegate? Don’t try to do everything yourself, if someone else has the time, resources or expertise then ask yourself why you are doing the task. Put a value on your time & the other things you could achieve given the time.
• Take a lunch break – ok, skipping lunch this may seem an easy way to gain time in your day but its not. Not taking a break (mentally & physically) will leave you less efficient. Look at your lunch – is there an adequate balance of carbohydrate & protein to get you through the afternoon slump? Take the chance to get out for a walk, even if its only around the block.
• Interesting articles and trade magazines can be kept with your notepad. Catch up on reading when you are waiting to meet with someone or travelling.
• Set up rss feeds for your favourite blogs so that you can scan the feed for anything interesting without taking the time to visit each site.
• Start the day with an energizing herbal tea (or if you must get your favourite caffeine kick)! Choose something with mint, hibiscus and blackberry.
• Check emails at set times in the day rather than watching for ‘You have a new message’ flags. If you are out of the office put a message on your email stating when you will be checking your email & when you are likely to respond.
• Put voicemail on your phone saying that you will respond within 24 hours. If you are focused on a task ignore the phone & let it go to voicemail.
• Get a water bottle and fill it in the morning and after lunch – this ensures you stay hydrated, focused and don’t have to keep walking to the water cooler to top up.

Anthea Newburn is a qualified life coach who is passionate about stress management and emotional intelligence. She works with individuals and groups to enhance their personal and work lives with a holistic view of where they are now & where they want to be. Having experienced a busy corporate career herself she can empathize with her clients. Her background is in hospitality and human resources. Click here to visit Anthea’s website.