Thursday 24 June 2021

Today, we are proud to launch the Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP), a single, united voice for the entire sales profession. 

The new organisation brings together the Association of Professional Sales (APS) and the Institute of Sales Management (ISM), led by one team, under one name, dedicated to setting professional standards in sales.

As one organisation, the Institute of Sales Professionals can focus on the interests of the whole profession, building standards and skills, and speaking with one voice to government and the wider business community.

By the end of this year, the Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP) is also planning to submit an application to become a chartered institute with the same status as other respected professional organisations.

In the meantime, the ISP will continue to:

:: Provide highly relevant events and insights to help sales professionals excel in an ever-changing world
:: Expand its list of nationally-recognised sales qualifications and work with the education sector to ensure those qualifications are widely available
:: Work with MPs, government and industry to ensure sales is given the standing it deserves as a true profession

As we look to the future, we are also launching the Emerging Professionals Network (EPN) to encourage and support people starting out in sales.

The EPN will be a vibrant and inclusive network for emerging salespeople to share their expertise, support each other and develop their skills and knowledge through tailored content and guidance.

To mark the launch of the Institute of Sales Professionals, we are building a new website, and starting to add content and develop the site’s design and functionality.

For now, the existing APS site will still be the go-to address to check on events and news, and for members to to log on.

New ISP site: https://www.the-isp.org
Existing APS site: https://the-aps.com

Andy Hough, CEO of the Institute of Sales Professionals, said: “Today’s launch of the Institute of Sales Professionals is a landmark moment for the sales industry.

“Our new organisation combines the distinguished history of the ISM with the progressive approach of the APS to provide a strong, forward-looking body for everyone who works in sales.

“Business-to-business selling is critical to the UK economy. It creates wealth, sustains millions of jobs and supports our hospitals, schools and other vital public services. Selling is skilled work, but too often it is overlooked, that’s why the Institute of Sales Professionals is so important to campaign on behalf of our amazing profession.

“Our dedicated membership is a credit to our profession and together we are building a revolution in sales.“

Thursday 24 June 2021

In another first for the sales industry, the Institute of Sales Professionals is pleased to announce a new initiative to support people at the start of their selling career.

Today, we are launching the Emerging Professionals Network (EPN) - part of the wider Institute of Sales Professionals.

The EPN is a vibrant and inclusive network for those new to sales to share ideas, build expertise, support each other and develop themselves through tailored content and guidance. The network will also provide a friendly environment to discuss opportunities and challenges and get advice from experienced salespeople and sales leaders acting as mentors.

Recognised career paths leading to sales-specific accreditations and qualifications are key to driving up skills and standards across the profession, and the EPN is there to support those leaving school or college, as well as those choosing to change jobs and work in sales for first time.

Economics and politics graduate, Jasmine Thompson, a sales apprentice and joint leader of the EPN said: “We have already had a lot of interest in our network and are welcoming new salespeople from a variety of companies and sectors.

“The EPN provides a great opportunity for career development and support. Selling is exciting but it’s competitive and belonging to our network means you will stand out from the crowd by showing your customers and future employers that you are dedicated to improving your skills, knowledge and behaviour.

“The EPN will not only help with sales education and development, it also provides a friendly network where we can meet like-minded professionals and enjoy some down time, away from work.”

Fellow EPN leader Josh Travers is a degree-level apprentice with Royal Mail. He gave evidence to a recent parliamentary inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Professional Sales and spoke about the importance of changing the perception of sales and selling.

Josh said: “The EPN offers a great opportunity to define a new standard for dynamic professionals working in sales.

“Sales is a fun and rewarding career but it was never spoken about in school; it just seemed to be something that people fell into. That’s partly why we wanted to set up the EPN. We wanted a network to support and encourage new sellers, but we also wanted to change the often negative perception of sales and encourage more people to consider our profession.

“The EPN is friendly and energetic and we are looking forward to driving positive change together. Businesses can’t survive without selling and having talented people working in our industry is crucial for the future of the UK economy.”

Wednesday 19 May 2021

A new parliamentary advisory committee launched by the Association of Professional Sales has its first working meeting today.

The expert panel of leading academics, businesspeople and consultants was set up by the APS to help the Association engage with the government and devolved assemblies to promote the importance of business-to-business (B2B) selling on the UK economy.

The group, known as the Parliamentary Advisory Committee on Sales (Pacs), is supporting the APS mission to:

:: Convince the government that sales needs to be regulated by a chartered institute

:: Persuade ministers and civil servants to work with industry and academia to provide young people with training pathways into sales careers

:: Support British sellers in acquiring world-class sales skills that will help us build new markets overseas

This afternoon’s meeting will be addressed by Mark Pawsey MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Professional Sales.

The committee will also hear a presentation from Mark Hart, professor of small business and entrepreneurship at Aston Business School, who was instrumental in developing the government’s flagship ‘Help To Grow’ scheme, announced in the February 2021 budget.

Mark Hart is the Deputy Director of the national Enterprise Research Centre and advises a number of UK government departments and devolved administrations on enterprise issues. Mark is also the programme director and academic lead for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme in the UK.

Stephen Kerr, a fellow of the APS, co-chair of the advisory committee and newly elected member of the Scottish parliament said: “We hope this important committee of business experts can do for sales what the Sage advisory committee has done for the government. It will provide a bedrock of informed advice and support, to enable good decision-making and push forward the agenda of the sales profession.”

The recent APPG Sales report, Supercharging Sales, published in March, found that good business-to-business selling was the motor that will pull the UK economy out of recession. However, the needs of the B2B sales profession are too often overlooked by the government.

Professional selling - especially at small businesses - needs more recruits, better recognition and wider availability of high-quality, work-based training. Compared to other sectors of business it is widely misunderstood and under-supported by policymakers.

The parliamentary report is calling for action on a number of fronts to support the sales profession and help the UK to do business across the world as an independent trading nation.

The apprenticeship for bid proposal coordinators is raising the skills base of the wider UK sales profession.

Monday 17 May 2021

The Association of Professional Sales (APS) in partnership with the Association of Bid Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) is celebrating a new milestone in business development.

The APS, working with APMP UK, has been approved by Ofqual, the government’s exam regulator, to be end point assessors for an apprenticeship in bid and proposal management.

Bid and proposal professionals are key to how companies win work. Apprentices are trained across various business teams to learn the whole process of bid management, from tracking pipeline opportunities, through customer engagement, competitive tendering, presentations, negotiations, contract award, to implementation and delivery.

The apprenticeship for bid proposal coordinators runs for 18-24 months. The course is already raising the skills base of the wider UK sales profession and has the backing of organisations like Aviva, NG Bailey, Lloyds, Costain, Canon and DHL who were involved in creating the initial apprenticeship standard.

The first cohort of apprentices began their courses in 2019 and will have their final assessments by the APS over the coming month. About 60 apprentices are already on the programme with training from JGA Group and RHG Consult.

Dan Hodgetts, APS head of operations and quality said: “We are delighted that Ofqual has given the APS its approval to begin end point assessment for the level three bid and proposal apprenticeship.

“Working with APMP UK, the APS is setting the benchmark for this important qualification from sign-up to certification.

"The APS is pleased to add this apprenticeship to the growing portfolio of assessments that we are developing over the next 18 months.

“This is an important endorsement of the work the APS is doing to develop career paths in sales. High quality training is raising the bar for skilled sales professionals working across a variety of sectors."

John Usher, APMP UK chief development officer said: “It’s great to be working alongside the APS, winning Ofqual approval to assess this important business apprenticeship.

“Bid proposal apprentices will develop commercial skills that are essential to organisations and valued across all sectors.

“This is a very accessible programme. It has an excellent course structure that gives apprentices a step-by-step training in creating strong, customer-focused proposals and opens the door to a rewarding business career.”

About the APMP

APMP UK is the UK chapter of the Association of Bid Proposal Management Professionals (APMP), the representative body for professionals in bid, proposal and capture management. Founded in 2001, APMP UK promotes the professional growth of its members by advancing the arts, sciences and technologies of winning business.

Safestyle UK commercial director Gary Pickering (front, third from right) with the commercial leadership team

Thursday 29 April 2021

Safestyle UK, the windows and doors company, has become a market leader in its campaign for professional, ethical selling.

The company is the first in the home improvement sector to be awarded ethical sales business accreditation after its sales team passed the professional registration assessment established by the Association of Professional Sales (APS).

Having set an ambitious target, all of Safestyle’s 350 salespeople have successfully completed the APS exam, demonstrating the company’s commitment to professional development and customer service.

Passing the APS assessment is now a requirement for any salesperson who joins Safestyle.

The APS worked with Safestyle to develop the current APS, ethics assessment to make sure it included industry and consumer-specific questions focused on customer care with a particular focus on vulnerable customers who depend on the integrity of Safestyle’s sales team.

Gary Pickering, commercial director at Safestyle UK, said: “Receiving such a prestigious award is great for Safestyle. As we take our sales culture to a whole new level to stay ahead of our competitors, it shows our customers we have a sales force they can trust.

“Each and every one of our sales consultants will have a professional accreditation and training to provide Safestyle customers with the very best levels of service.”

“We are promoting a culture of continued professional development and continuous improvement, because we want to grow our business in a sustainable way, by putting the customer first

“Membership of the Association of Professional Sales is of critical importance to Safestyle. It demonstrates our commitment to professional and ethical selling; and it demonstrates our commitment to our colleagues and to our customers.”

Andy Hough, APS chief executive said: “The APS is delighted to be working with Safestyle. Congratulations to their dedicated team of hard-working sales professionals for achieving ethical business status.

“Standards are important, and Gary Pickering’s commitment to ethical standards and a professional sales culture has played an important part in our decision to work with Safestyle.

“The Association of Professional Sales is developing sales knowledge, skills and ethical behaviour across all industries and our partnership with Safestyle is another important step in helping companies build strong, trusting relationships with their customers. This is not only good for business; it is the right thing to do.”

Watch the video:
Andy Hough of the APS in conversation with Safestyle's Gary Pickering

Thursday 18 March 2021

The Association of Professional Sales (APS) is merging with the Institute of Sales Management (ISM) to form a single, unified membership body for the sales profession.

In a momentous development for UK sales, the two bodies which have represented salespeople in the UK concluded negotiations this week. The merger will result in a new organisation, which is to be called the Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP).

Andrew Hough, the chief executive officer of the APS, said: “This merger is fantastic news for the sales profession. Together we are stronger and can achieve great things.

"The ISP will be able to speak with one clear voice for all salespeople and sales businesses across the UK in the work we do with industry and government.

“We are delighted to welcome ISM members to join us on our campaign to transform professional sales.”

The development comes after the ISM went into liquidation. Founded in 1911, and with an illustrious history that included a close association with the future Edward VIII, the ISM hosted the annual British Excellence in Sales Management Awards (Besma), and ran a digital magazine called Winning Edge.

Patrick Joiner, former director of the ISM, said: “I am convinced that this decision is in the best interests of the membership of the ISM, the former shareholders and the sales profession as a whole.

"The new body will be a dynamic, influential, and effective voice. It will more effectively represent the sales profession at a time when we will be on the front line in generating the commercial activity that will lead our economy out of the post-covid recession.“

Mr Hough said: “APS and the ISM have always shared the same values. We are both committed to professionalising sales by building skills and knowledge. We both want salespeople to be respected by other professions and by wider society, and we want to recruit the brightest and best to an exciting and well-rewarded career.

"As a unified voice, our campaign for chartership and our advice to government and business organisations will carry even greater authority, helping to ensure that our profession continues to grow in stature and respect.”

Tuesday 9 March 2021

MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Professional Sales have published a major new report on the vital role that B2B selling must play in the UK’s recovery from recession.

The report finds that the B2B sales sector will be key to the country’s fortunes in 2021 and beyond, helping to propel the economy out of its Covid-induced downturn and enabling the UK to make the most of new trading opportunities around the world.

But the MPs also noted that the pandemic had intensified the existing shortage of B2B salespeople. Selling during Covid-19 has required more advanced skills and capability with digital sales technology - but these skills and capability are in short supply, especially at SMEs.

The number of job adverts for B2B salespeople comfortable with operating in an all-digital marketplace rose in intensity by 25% during 2020, and demand for skilled sellers was already back to its pre-Covid levels despite the continued lockdown.

In the report, the MPs call for the government to:

• promote respect for B2B selling, including endorsing the Association of Professional Sales’s petition to become the professional body for the sales industry
• increase recruitment to the profession via the flagship higher and degree-level apprenticeships in B2B selling pioneered by the APS, and nationally-agreed standards of training in B2B selling from Kickstart upwards
• assist the spread of higher skills in B2B sales among the existing sales workforce
• offer tax breaks for investing in sales skills and digital sales technology

Some of the measures in the report, including more support for SMEs taking on apprentices, was included in last week’s budget, but many were not. With 75-80% of large corporates now saying they actively prefer transacting business via virtual meetings, SMEs need to use technology in order to remain competitive.

Mark Pawsey MP, chair of the APPG for Professional Sales, told MPs and sales professionals at the online launch of the report: “There is a real imperative for sales, and I drew attention, in my remarks in the Chamber yesterday to the fact that exports last year went down by 14.7%; that’s 54 billion pounds worth of sales that have gone begging. And if that’s not a call to arms, and a wake-up call to get out and get selling, frankly, I don’t know what is.

"The aim of the government is to provide us with new sales opportunities in new markets around the world, so let’s make certain that we attract the brightest and the best into the sales profession, and get selling. In the words of the report, 'supercharging' our sales."

The report, Supercharging Sales: Investing in B2B selling for jobs and growth, was published online at 13:30 on Tuesday 9 March. The 40-page report can be found in full here:

http://the-aps.com/resource/resmgr/appg/superchargingsales.pdf

Page 5 contains a summary of the whole report in 100 words and a list of three key recommendations, followed by a three page executive summary. The full list of recommendations starts on page 32.

A recording of the launch of the report by MPs can be watched online at the APPG’s Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/APPGProfessionalSales

Monday 8 March 2021

An MP-led inquiry is warning that Britain is suffering from a shortage of salespeople and of sales expertise. Much more needs to be done to recruit and train people with strong business-to-business selling skills, to drive the economy out of the recession caused by the Covid-19 crisis, and to find new global trading opportunities outside the EU.

The findings of the inquiry are being published on Tuesday by MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Professional Sales.

Mark Pawsey MP, the chair of the all-party group, is launching the report - Supercharging Sales: Investing in B2B selling for jobs and growth - from 13:30 - 14:00 on Tuesday 9 March, with contributions from inquiry witnesses. The event will be shown live on the APPG’s Facebook page:Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/APPGProfessionalSales

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on business. It has accelerated the digital revolution in how we trade, but exposed an acute skills shortage in professional business-to-business selling. Action now will equip the UK to do business across the world as an independent trading nation, boosting our future productivity and prosperity.

Speaking in June 2020, the Prime Minister set out his vision for the UK as an economic powerhouse which depends on our ability to sell the best of British.

Boris Johnson MP said: “We need now a new dynamic commercial spirit to make the most of UK breakthroughs, so that British ideas produce new British industries and British jobs.”

This “new dynamic commercial spirit” depends on the UK’s ability to sell.

About the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Professional Sales

The APPG for Professional Sales was set up to:

• Improve recognition by parliament and industry of the importance of sales and its impact on the UK economy
• Promote and advance sales as a profession
• Boost the success of British industry, especially in international trade

The cross-party group is supported by the Association of Professional Sales which provides its secretariat and research. The group was founded by APS fellow Stephen Kerr in 2018, when he was MP for Stirling. The APPG is now led by Mark Pawsey, the MP for Rugby, who also sits on the influential Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee - a select committee of the House of Commons.

About the APS
The Association of Professional Sales is the leading authority for salespeople, a not-for-profit organisation, reinvesting in the sales profession to build standards, trust and education. The APS is engaged with MPs to promote professional selling across UK businesses and has worked with the government and business leaders to establish sales apprenticeships up to degree and master’s level. The Association is campaigning for a Royal Charter to give skilled, ethical salespeople the same status as other professions like accountants, lawyers, architects and surveyors. Expert, ethical, professional salespeople are crucial for business success.

Wednesday 17 February 2021

The Association Of Professional Sales (APS) is moving into an important new phase of its work in Asia Pacific and Japan strengthening its support for professional salespeople across the region.

After three years building interest and connections, through its head office in Singapore, APS Asia has been formally incorporated as a business to provide a strong platform for development.

Leading this important venture is our new managing director and shareholder of APS Asia, Zeenath Kuraisha.

Zeenath is a veteran sales expert with three decades of telesales, inside sales and customer and partner management experience. She also serves as president of the Singapore chapter of the global association for inside sales professionals, the AA-ISP.

The challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of professional networks like the APS, and developing and supporting talented salespeople with recognised professional standards is a priority for many businesses across Asia.

Zeenath commented: "I am proud to pioneer and promote the APS across Asia Pacific countries, bringing in the best minds to set standards and behaviours and work with organisations to develop expert salespeople.

"Over the coming months you can expect to see the Association of Professional Sales Asia grow its activities by engaging with senior sales leaders across the region. This is a great opportunity to support the development of qualified sales talents and leaders of the future.”

Andy Hough, APS founder and chief executive officer, added: "Asia is an important region for the Association as we look to grow the standing of sales as a profession.

“Part of this journey is our support for sellers in differentiating themselves and their employers through self-development and aligning to recognised standards.

“Sales is a true profession which offers a rewarding, long-term career and we believe that Asia will see growth in the number of sellers and an increasing need for life-long career learning.“

The Association of Professional Sales has been meeting government ministers and MPs to support business-to-business (B2B) selling and boost UK trade through the coronavirus pandemic.

Recent research from B2BMarketing shows that business-to-business selling is worth £1.7 trillion to the economy. Professional B2B selling will safeguard jobs, support our public services and is vital for UK prosperity.

As part of our campaign, we have had talks with ministers from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Education.

The BEIS select committee has also published our written evidence on sales and post-pandemic growth. You can read our submission here: https://lnkd.in/dVvSgRE

Our work with MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Professional Sales is focused on a new inquiry about supporting SMEs to develop their selling skills and digital know-how through the covid crisis.

During our recent meeting with business minister Paul Scully MP we discussed representing the business of professional sales within government and talked about the need for up-to-date digital selling skills across the profession.

In a subsequent meeting with education minister Gillian Keegan MP, we promoted the value of sales apprenticeships which are making a significant difference to APS members like Royal Mail and E.On. We also discussed help for SMEs to take on sales apprentices to improve their productivity and profitability.

Andy Hough, APS founder and CEO said: “We are pleased to be working with government and MPs at Westminster to support the UK's vital B2B sales sector to help safeguard jobs and build a strong recovery through the pandemic. Professional, ethical selling is the key to developing new business opportunities and good trading partnerships which will be so important for post-Brexit Britain.

“Best-practice sales skills, supported by the latest digital technology, will make the UK economy more resilient, diverse and inclusive.”

Friday 23 October 2020

In a clear commitment to ethical selling, a new cohort of salespeople at Royal Caribbean Group have won the industry-leading Investor in Sales Award.

The award, conferred by the Association of Professional Sales (APS), is granted to sales teams who pass an exacting test to appear on the APS register of professional, trustworthy sellers.

In a cruise-industry first, Royal Caribbean’s sales teams in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) won the award in May 2019. Now they have been joined by sales colleagues across Singapore and South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Team motivation and retention rates increase when staff are given the opportunity to develop their careers and working with the APS, Royal Caribbean Group has expanded the capacity of its sales academy to focus on education and professional accreditation. The alliance shows trade partners and customers that Royal Caribbean Group employees are professional and ethical salespeople.

The partnership between the APS and Royal Caribbean Group features a revolutionary digital sales training academy with the latest, university-led sales education and ethics. The academy focuses on building long-standing, trusting relationships with Royal Caribbean Group’s travel partners and customers.

More than 50 percent of sellers need to pass the APS accreditation exam to win the coveted Investor in Sales Award. So far, almost 60 per cent of Royal Caribbean Group sales staff, in the international regions mentioned above, have gained professional accreditation. Many more salespeople are set to follow.

Of the new achievement, Grant Van Ulbrich, Director of Sales Transformation International, said: “I am exceptionally proud of our partnership with the Association of Professional Sales. The accreditation programme established in the EMEA markets was a great success, so to expand it around the world just made sense. The appetite for learning and gaining qualifications for professional sales is significant and has been welcomed by our sales teams and travel partners.”

Sean Treacy, Senior Vice President of International at Royal Caribbean International, added: “The work to achieve this accreditation focuses on developing trusted relationships between our customers and hard-working salespeople. We are very pleased to earn this coveted award for promoting professional development across our sales teams. Selling is a skilled profession and expanding our accreditation with the Association of Professional Sales makes ethical and business sense. It’s the right thing to do.”

Andrew Hough, founder and CEO of the APS, said: “Royal Caribbean Group is a globally-recognised leader of cruise lines, highly respected within the holiday, travel and tourism sector and we are delighted to be working with them. The APS is very impressed by the Group’s leadership and their ambition to build strong customer relationships by developing an ethical and highly professional sales force.

“In a competitive market, Royal Caribbean Group are putting guests first by developing skilled salespeople and valuing their important role at the heart of the company. We are pleased to work with partners who share our ideals of self-development and ethical, professional sales.

“We congratulate them on taking our Investor in Sales Award to the next level. The Group has 170 international sales members and so far 58% have earned their accreditation. The remaining staff are learning and making good progress towards earning their own professional, APS accreditation.”

About the APS
The Association of Professional Sales is the leading authority for salespeople, a not-for-profit organisation, reinvesting in the sales profession to build standards, trust and education. The APS is engaged with MPs to promote professional selling across UK businesses and has worked with the government and business leaders to establish sales apprenticeships up to degree and master’s level. The Association is campaigning for a Royal Charter to give skilled, ethical salespeople the same status as other professions like accountants, lawyers, architects and surveyors. Expert, ethical, professional salespeople are crucial for business success.

About Royal Caribbean Group
Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) is the new operating business name for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Royal Caribbean Group is the owner of four global cruise vacation brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea and Azamara. Royal Caribbean Group is also a 50% owner of a joint venture that operates TUI Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. Together, our brands operate 63 ships with an additional 16 on order as of July 10, 2020. Learn more at www.rclcorporate.com or www.rclinvestor.com.

Friday 21 August 2020

Two corporate members of the Association of Professional Sales (APS) have been named winners of the prestigious Princess Royal Training Awards 2020.

Royal Mail and Brother UK were among a select group of companies to receive the award, conferred by HRH the Princess Royal for training excellence.

Royal Mail was praised for its Business to Business Sales Professional (BSc degree) Apprenticeship Programme, based on the apprenticeship standard pioneered by the APS in 2018.

To win an award, organisations must demonstrate that training has had a measurable impact on business performance. Royal Mail were able to show this because their sales apprentices outperformed their sales targets whilst still spending time learning new skills.

Brother UK was commended for developing an employee appraisal toolkit that put learning and professional development at the centre of the company’s system of rewards. Brother has a 60-strong sales team based at their headquarters in Manchester. The whole team has completed professional registration with the APS to achieve our Investor in Sales award for their commitment to ethical selling.

In her citation, Princess Anne said Royal Mail had demonstrated that investing in their people through training and skills had delivered tangible benefits.

The Princess Royal commented: “The commitment of your organisation to the development of your employees, especially during these acutely difficult times and as we aspire to recovery post Covid-19, demonstrates that you will be prepared to play your part in the nation’s economic recovery.”

The degree apprenticeship in B2B sales was first conceived by the Association of Professional Sales. The Association set up and supported the trailblazer group of employers which created the apprenticeship standard in 2018.

Ben Turner, the chief operating officer at the APS, said: “This is great news. The degree level apprentices are a credit to Royal Mail and have proved their commercial importance to the organisation.

"Their sales apprenticeship programme is providing great career opportunities and increasing revenue at the same time, even though the apprentices are spending 20% of their time in off-the-job training.”

André Lahiff, the apprenticeship programme leader at Royal Mail, said: “This is great recognition of the approach we are taking in the continued professionalisation of sales.”

APS chairman Graham Davis, former group sales director at Royal Mail who led the trailblazer group, commented: “This is a huge achievement by the Royal Mail team. Credit should go to Consalia, and Middlesex University and all the others concerned with making the programme a success.

“When this left the trailblazer group it was a great concept. What André Lahiff has achieved in its execution in some very difficult times has been remarkable.”

Phil Jones MBE, managing director of Brother UK, said: “By ensuring the right people with the right skills are making the most of their talents, we have gained a competitive advantage that’s difficult to replicate.

"It gives me a lot of confidence that as a result, our business partners cite Brother UK as one of the best vendors they work with.”

Ben Turner added: “We are proud that membership of the APS is part of Brother UK’s learning and development strategy to increase employee engagement and sales performance. Brother has won this prestigious award three times, showing that CPD is central to their success.”

Click here to see full details of the Princess Royal Training Awards 2020

Tuesday 7 July 2020

They are the pioneers of the sales profession - 15 young salespeople who have become the first to complete a new, nationally-recognised apprenticeship in sales. Their success leads the way for thousands more to follow.

The fifteen, who have successfully followed the Level 4 apprenticeship for sales executives, were trained by their employers and the Bauer Academy,^[1] and assessed by the Association of Professional Sales (APS)^[2] which led the way in creating the apprenticeship.

The Level 4 programme requires aspiring B2B and B2C sales professionals to meet new national benchmarks in areas including ethics, customer relations, and the use of digital sales technology. As well as their completed apprenticeship, certified by the government’s Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA), the 15 have also achieved a separate Level 4 sales diploma from the APS, and have the right to call themselves qualified sales executives.

There are nearly 1,000 more sales apprentices taking the Level 4 apprenticeship at the moment; and with many others due to start soon, the APS looks forward to welcoming a growing number of skilled salespeople into the profession.

Ben Turner, the chief operating officer of the APS, said: “This initiative promises to make the UK the world leader in developing its salespeople. The injection of professional sales knowledge, skills and behaviours will stand the UK economy in good stead in the challenges that lie ahead.”

The APS - the non-profit, professional and awarding body for the sales industry – established the trailblazer group which agreed the course content and the standards for the 18-month programme.

Now, as the government-approved assessor,[1] the APS has quality-assured, tested, and passed this first cohort of apprentices as qualified sales executives. Level 4 qualifications are equivalent to the first year of an undergraduate, bachelor’s degree.

Bauer Media UK, which owns the Bauer Academy, was part of the apprenticeship trailblazer group which worked with the APS, industry leaders, academics and the IfA, to draw up the standard for the sales apprenticeship. The Bauer Academy then compiled their programme, based on the standard, and registered the first learners who have now achieved their apprenticeship and APS qualification.

The sales apprentices studied with senior tutor Rajni Birdi, development coach Astei Amirashayeri and their colleagues at the Bauer Academy.

Rajni commented: “We are delighted to salute the first fully-qualified sales apprentices. I know how hard they have worked, and to see them develop further, into skilled, knowledgeable salespeople is very gratifying.

“Bauer is so pleased to be part of this successful process to develop skills, knowledge and ethical behaviour across the entire sales profession and we look forward to welcoming more sales apprentices in the near future.”

Frankie Bannerman, account manager for radio advertising at Bauer Media UK, is one of the first apprentices to qualify: “I thoroughly enjoyed taking on the sales executive apprenticeship. My skills and confidence grew enormously in my role as an audio account manager.

“The content of the programme was extremely interesting, covering everything from customer engagement to time management. We all had the chance to develop our skills and build our customer base.

“I’m really glad I decided to take on the apprenticeship and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a career in sales.”

Ben Turner added: “Many congratulations to the hard-working apprentices who have just completed their training. This is another big step forward for the standing of the entire sales profession. It’s fantastic news. I couldn’t be happier.

“This has been a significant commitment for the apprentices and the companies they work for. I praise the apprentices’ dedication, and their organisations for supporting them through the process.”

References

^[1] The Bauer Academy is a government-approved apprenticeship training provider owned by, and operating inside Bauer Media, one of the world’s biggest media businesses. Bauer works with levy-paying businesses to create bespoke and flexible apprenticeship programmes. Bauer’s clients include ITV, Reach plc, Sue Ryder, Double Negative and the7stars.

Details of the Sales Executive apprenticeship: https://baueracademy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Bauer-Academy-Sales-Executive.pdf

^[2] The APS is the government-approved, awarding organisation and end-point assessor for Level 4 sales qualifications, and apprenticeships regulated by two government bodies: the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and Ofqual, the exam watchdog.

Background information

Level 4 apprenticeships for sales executives are equivalent to the first year of an undergraduate degree and are for both B2B and B2C salespeople. They run for up to 18 months.

Employers are able to claim a maximum of £6,000 for the training costs of each apprentice on this course, drawn from the apprenticeship levy which was set up by the government in April 2017.

Level 4 apprenticeships for sales executives were created as a result of committed work by the Association of Profession Sales alongside industry leaders and training providers. They received government approval in November 2018.

Further details are available on the Institute for Apprenticeship website: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/sales-executive/

About the APS

The Association of Professional Sales is the non-profit, professional and awarding body for the sales industry whose mission is to build standards, education and trust in selling.

The APS has led the development of sales apprenticeships across the UK, with standards for both Level 4 and Level 6 (degree-level) apprenticeships approved in 2018. We established trailblazer groups of employers, training providers and academics, who agreed the benchmarks for the new qualifications, and won the backing of the Institute for Apprenticeships and government departments.

Apprenticeship programmes offer thousands of sales employees the chance to secure higher level qualifications while working in fulfilling jobs, without the need to pay fees.

For employers, this is a perfect opportunity to develop a new generation of skilled salespeople who can forge strong and profitable relationships with their customers.

Monday 22 June 2020

MPs will tomorrow be discussing initiatives to keep the UK selling through the coronavirus crisis.

Sales leaders are welcome to attend and listen in to the virtual meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Professional Sales.

The evening session, on Tuesday 23 June, will be hosted by APPG chair, Mark Pawsey, the MP for Rugby who also sits on the influential Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee - a select committee of the House of Commons.

The agenda focuses on selling challenges and opportunities as the country starts to emerge from lockdown:

• How business-to-business selling is responding to the current situation, and the impact of Covid-19
• The likely shape of professional selling in the future and how sellers will adapt to a new way of doing business.
• Engaging government to help the profession and companies struggling with sales, particularly SMEs.
• An update on government plans for apprentices and economic growth, looking at initiatives from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and other departments.

The cross-party group on sales is supported by the Association of Professional Sales (APS) which provides its secretariat and research. The group was founded by APS fellow Stephen Kerr during the last parliament, when he was MP for Stirling.

Under Kerr’s chairmanship, the APPG recruited 60 MPs as supporters, making it one of the larger parliamentary groups, and held an inquiry on how sales can stimulate a better economic performance by SMEs.

The first meeting of the re-formed APPG, following December’s general election, took place on Tuesday 11 February 2020. MPs discussed the subject areas for their next report to Parliament, as well as registering a new cohort of MPs to continue this important work.

The initial inquiry report by the APPG (https://bit.ly/31fEDlN), published last October, studied the selling challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises. The group took evidence from business leaders, academics and economists and found that Britain was critically short of professional salespeople with the right leadership, negotiation and digital skills to win deals in new marketplaces.

The report sets out 24 recommendations that can be condensed into four key initiatives:

• 1 Study sales ethics and techniques in schools and colleges and create sales research centres at universities.
• 2 Help SMEs to develop sales skills, to manage sales better, and to embrace digital sales technologies.
• 3 Recognise sales as a profession with a standards body established by Royal Charter to ensure high ethical standards.
• 4 Appoint a sales tsar to take responsibility for driving change, and for ensuring that this vital part of the economy is understood at the heart of government.

Thursday 18 June 2020

When business is tough, key allies can help you not only survive, but thrive.

In today's lunchtime webinar, hosted by the Association of Professional Sales (APS) alliance experts Peter Simoons and Anoop Nathwani explained how successful collaborations could boost business through the coronavirus crisis.

Good partnerships between companies combine strengths and resources to mitigate risk and build rewards. Now for instance, when options and cash might be severely limited, the answer to developing essential digital innovation and building market share, could be a strategic business alliance, they said.

Nathwani and Simoons told sales professionals that in many cases, partnering had become a “must-do” option. They warned that creating and maintaining productive alliances required people with the right skills, competencies, capabilities and behaviours; but the returns could be stellar, with positive partnerships leading to innovation, growth and rewards.

Peter Simoons explained that effective alliances “create value together that we cannot create alone. We create synergy. We create 1+1=3.”

Nathwani said good business collaborations don’t just boost innovation: “I would say alliances and partnerships are the new innovation.”

Nathwani set out three main area which drive partnerships: knowledge transfer and digital technology; market development - where companies expand into new markets, or look at brand leverage with other organisations to enter those new markets; and thirdly, efficiencies, cutting costs and mitigating risk.

Trust between partners is key to a flourishing alliance, and so is planning.

Peter Simoons quoted a report by APS partners, the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals, which said that companies which follow a structured alliance process consistently report a better chance of succeeding – up to 80%, while companies that jump in, ad hoc, have only a 20% success rate.

Today’s webinar was hosted by Ben Turner and Nina Christiansen of the APS.

For more online masterclasses, to help professional sellers through the Covid crisis, click here: https://the-aps.com/page/Events

To: The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP Prime Minister 10 Downing Street London SW1A 2AA

Tuesday 9 June 2020

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing as the CEO of the Association of Professional Sales (APS) to support your 3 June proposal for a guaranteed apprenticeship for every young person who needs one.

Expanding apprenticeships, especially those leading to qualifications, will inject business skills into the economy and help to drive the UK out of recession. We would urge you to make good on your promise with a financial commitment to help employers offer apprenticeships across the UK.

As the non-profit, professional body for the sales industry, we have a particular interest in encouraging sales apprenticeships. An October 2019 inquiry report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Professional Sales, which we sponsor, identified sales apprenticeships as a vital way to increase the commercial capability of SMEs and boost UK productivity.

There is an acute shortage of modern, professional sales skills in SMEs, which account for 99% of British companies. Brexit is going to require UK firms to find new markets to sell products and services abroad. To take advantage of the opportunities presented by Brexit, it is important that Britain knows how to sell.

The APPG inquiry [1] heard evidence that while many SMEs are willing to take on apprentices, there are also obstacles that deter them. These include cost, extra bureaucracy, and a lack of expertise in managing trainees.

For these reasons, we urge you to commit funds for apprenticeships in the post-lockdown, economic stimulus package that the chancellor is due to announce in July. To give small businesses confidence to proceed, funding should be extended to include paying a percentage of apprentice wages - a point also made by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In our view, this return to the government’s former model of financial support for apprenticeships need only be temporary; but with a recession about to bite, and many redundancies in prospect, there needs to be a financial incentive to convince businesses to invest in extra staff.

Apprenticeships contributed a gross productivity gain of £2.4bn to the UK economy in 2019-20, according to the CEBR; and they offer many other benefits. Social distancing measures have made it essential for businesses to sell online in order to survive, yet many SMEs are critically lacking in digital skills.[2] Hiring ‘digital natives’ will help them to adapt.

I am sure you know that other countries are supporting in-work training as a way out of recession, with France announcing a €1bn boost for apprenticeships on 4 June.

Please see the link below to the APPG report. We hope you will give consideration to the APS’s suggestions.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Hough CEO

1 APPG inquiry report, section 4 https://bit.ly/2zmnIlU

2 APPG inquiry report, section 6 https://bit.ly/2zmnIlU

The Association of Professional Sales (APS) has written to the Prime Minister backing his guarantee of an apprenticeship for every 2020 school leaver who needs one,[1] and urging him to support the pledge with extra money.

Andy Hough, the APS chief executive, told Boris Johnson and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak in separate letters that investing in sales skills was particularly important given the worsening economic situation.

The UK unemployment rate is likely to rise from 4% to 11% this quarter, according to a forecast released today by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.[2] The OECD forecasts an 11.5% slump in the UK economy over the second half of this year.

Apprenticeships have already been an economic success story for the UK, adding £2.4bn in productivity to the UK economy in 2019-20. In the view of the APS, the non-profit professional body for the sales industry, expanding apprenticeships is essential to fill the skills shortages that are damaging productivity. Skills shortages are particularly acute in the sales sector.[3]

Guaranteed apprenticeships will not only be a lifeline to school leavers in this summer’s difficult jobs market, but will represent a wise investment in the UK’s future commercial capability. Sales apprentices with higher-level qualifications accredited by the APS [4] will increase productivity, and help to generate the revenue that will pull the country out of what is forecast to be the deepest peacetime recession in 100 years.[5]

Skilled sales people will also be essential to identify new overseas markets for British goods and services after Brexit.

Small and medium-sized businesses are however unlikely to offer more apprenticeships unless the government is prepared to offer further financial incentives. The APS is urging Rishi Sunak to include a contribution towards apprentice wages in the economic stimulus package he is due to announce in July, in addition to existing support for training costs.

Andy Hough, CEO of the Association of Professional Sales, said: “Investing in sales apprenticeships is an investment in Britain’s future, creating a solid skill base for sales in the UK.

“Apprenticeships in sales are already directly contributing to increased economic performance. Every apprenticeship that up-skills people will be important to the economy, however in the recession that will last well into 2021, it is sales with its ability to generate revenues that will be most vital.”

Ben Turner, chief operating officer of the APS, responsible for education and training, said: “Calling for salary support may seem like a temporary return to the old apprenticeship scheme, but it is in fact a targeted extension of the furlough scheme, building our nation's commercial skills to address both this recession and increasing our post-Brexit commercial revenue capability.”

NOTES

1 Boris Johnson, Downing Street daily coronavirus briefing, 3 June 2020. “For young people in particular, who the risk is they will be out of jobs for a long time, I think it’s going to be vital that we guarantee apprenticeships.”

2 Source: OECD, 10 June 2020, http://www.oecd.org/economic-outlook/

3 The Missing Link, APPG for Professional Sales inquiry report, October 2019, page 6. https://bit.ly/2zmnIlU

4 The APS is the accrediting body for B2B Sales apprentices at Level 6, leading to a degree, and at Level 4. Research suggests that higher level apprenticeships that lead to qualifications in business skills have a greater economic impact.

5 Laurence Boone, OECD chief economist: “By the end of 2021, the loss of income exceeds that of any previous recession over the last 100 years outside wartime, with dire and long-lasting consequences for people, firms and governments. Extraordinary policies will be required to walk the tightrope towards recovery.”

Click here to see letter to the Prime Minister.

One third of employers are reporting a rise in mental health issues among young people starting their careers, according to a survey highlighted at this morning’s APS webinar on developing a happier more productive workplace.

The survey of 711 corporate and SME employers also revealed a 40% increase in absence or sickness, with 26% reporting lower productivity because of mental health issues.

The research was conducted by coaching company Gen.Healthy Minds, working with the Open University to support apprentices and graduates stay healthy, happy and perform to a high level in the work environment.

Mike Thompson from Gen. Health Minds who presented this morning’s webinar told sales professionals about his work to encourage a growth mindset, training our brains to be more positive to help us rise to challenges and be happier at work and home.

Although his work focuses on younger employees starting their careers the lessons are valuable for all: building resilience, taking time off to recover if you do a stressful job like selling, and using mindfulness to understand your thought process.

And Thompson said workplaces needed the right pieces of the jigsaw in place to help people thrive. These included:
1 Creating a supportive community, where people really understand mental health and wellbeing
2 Developing positive behaviours
3 Providing online advice/support to help people deal with difficult challenges in workplace can get support
4 Making sure specialist care is available when needed

Gen. Healthy Minds also provides 24/7 digital support, with emoquo an award-winning digital coaching app which provides private and personal support. Although the app is confidential, it gives employers an overall, anonymous picture of how their workforce is feeling and prompts them to intervene when necessary.

The webinar called Creating a Culture Where People Thrive is part of the APS series from “Lockdown to Looking Forward”. These online masterclasses are free to everyone across professional sales.

Click here to book your place. https://the-aps.com/page/Events

For sellers, understanding your buyers’ needs and priorities is key to winning new business at any time, but especially true now, during the coronavirus crisis.

At this morning’s compelling webinar, hosted by the Association of Professional Sales (APS), sellers were given a buyers’ view of the market which revealed there is much less focus on price, and much more concern about securing supply.

Jonas Olsson, who has decades of purchasing experience as a senior procurement executive, told sales professionals that because of the pandemic, companies want local supply chains, and don’t want the risk of having one supply source.

He explained that under-pressure customers may also ask for longer payment terms but delivery was the top priority.

Olsson, the founder of Provente Consulting, based in Sweden, told his online audience that at times of crisis, procurement has more power, but “at the end of the day procurement doesn’t make the decision”. In 99% of cases the end user makes the decision. They are the most important.

“Make sure customers trust you, you give good solutions and good service. You are there for them and will hold their hands all the way to the finishing line,” said Olsson.

“If you are a family doctor you have to look at each individual family member and find the best solution for them. It’s the same with a customer. You have to look at the different parts of the customer organisation, finding out what’s good or bad and how you can help with your solutions in the different parts of that organisation.”

If procurement is threatening to throw you out of the process, make sure the key stakeholders understand you are the reliable partner who can be there for them and deliver.

And Olsson also advised sellers to hold the line when procurement get tough.

“It is my job as a buyer to be the crying baby,” he said. “I am going to continue to cry and whine. But If you [as the seller] are not firm to your children when they want Saturday candy on a Tuesday, they will continue to cry and ask for candy until you say a firm no. You cannot say ‘maybe, I will wait and see’. Be firm. They know. The second you say no to me as a buyer I will start to respect you more.”

And during the coronavirus crisis, Olsson offered a further three tips to keep winning:

1: Refresh past ideas and go back to your customer to see if, working together, you can implement them.

2: If you are the sole supplier, see if you can bring in a second factory that can supply the same thing. Procurement is not necessarily looking for two different supplier brands. They want to de-risk their operation by having two different locations.

3: Beware of letters from buyers asking for rapid re-pricing, saying it will improve your relationship if you cut your prices. “This is baloney,” said Olsson. “You will not become a better partner by giving away a lot of things. Give out as little as possible. Sometimes just say no. Think about the crying baby.”

But he acknowledged with surprise that the hit rate of such letters can be amazing. He said a businesswoman in Slovenia sent out 600 of these letters and 550 of her suppliers agreed to cut their prices.

The session part of our Lockdown to Looking Forward series was hosted by @Ben Turner at the @Association of Professional Sales.

Click here to see our programme of events and book your place. Our Covid-19 masterclasses are free and open to the whole sales profession. https://the-aps.com/page/Events

Thursday 4 June 2020

How do you know it’s time to walk away from a client?

Lively chat on the subject of “qualifying out” was one of the highlights of today’s APS webinar titled Understanding The Customer.

Nobody likes to admit defeat and the temptation is strong to carry on chasing, even when rivals are slashing prices and the customer is sounding indifferent.

“Eventually you must walk away from something where you’re not getting success, because hope is not a strategy,” advised Mike Hurley, in the second of four masterclasses looking to the future as the Covid-19 lockdown starts to ease.

Win rates of 90% are achievable if best practice is followed, Hurley continued. He recommended no skimping on the vital preludes of information gathering and relationship building.

Once the request for tender (RFT) is out, the most successful salespeople are the ones who rigorously qualify. Key questions include:

• Is the potential customer’s company a good fit?
• Have you worked with them before?
• Can you talk directly to stakeholders?
• Is the timing good?
• Are the right leadership and resources in place?

“If you can’t respond to these questions positively, don’t waste your time or your company’s resources by responding to the RFT,” advised Hurley.

In spot polls of the webinar audience, 37% said their company fell down at the qualification stage, with 4% admitting they didn’t attempt to weed out less likely sales at all.

A striking 70% admitted that their company was sometimes or always drawn into price-cutting in an attempt to win business, something Hurley described as a mistake.

Always try to sell on value, he advised. Assign one of your team to handle the client’s procurement team, and beware of procurement tactics like setting a too-tight time limit to tender, or trying to block access to the ultimate decision maker.

Finally, if you realise in your heart of hearts it is not working, don’t waste any more time. “There are plenty more customers out there,” said Hurley.

Tuesday 26 May 2020

As a salesperson, you have done the hard work building relationships with new clients and getting their business. Now is the time to maximise what you can sell to that client, but what is the best way to go about it?

In this morning's compelling and practical webinar, hosted by the Association of Professional Sales (APS), in our Covid-19 series, to keep sellers safe and selling, Les Hines at RevenueTEK explained how to approach the task of increasing sales by up-selling and cross-selling to make the most of business opportunities that are available to you.

Hines began his presentation with a persuasive statistic: winning new business with new clients is four times more difficult than securing repeat business with existing clients.

Up-selling is increasing the size and the scope of the deal; you go to a car dealership intending to buy a mini and come out with a top of the range BMW. Cross-selling is adding more products or services; you have bought the car, now what about the alloy wheels, paint protection, payment protection insurance, servicing costs and roadside assistance?

The key steps, said Hines, are to understand your client’s “wallet” - how much they have to spend, what is your potential share of that money and where is your scope for growth?

To find those opportunities, Hines suggested a couple of simple tools; a spreadsheet for tracking which customers are buying what products and a straightforward pyramid diagram to show what offerings can be put together to provide new solutions that will be more valuable to the customer.

Information is king in sales and a spreadsheet will help you compare and contrast where sales are more or less successful and which salespeople are managing to sell more and why. That will help peer-to-peer learning so your sales team can work together to share knowledge and build sales across the board. Without this kind of visibility, opportunities can go unnoticed and the possibility to increase revenue is missed.

“Preparation is key. Time is precious. Identify where the opportunities are,” said Hines.

Part of the process of working out where you might win new business is also asking yourself where you are going wrong. Why, for instance, do some companies buy more from you than others?

• Is it your sales message?
• Is it limited engagement with your client?
• Is it too easy for your salespeople to hit target without cross-selling or up-selling?
• Is it down to the salesperson themselves, or maybe their compensation plan?
• Is it cultural – a lack of team work and collaboration?

Likewise, when you are looking to build value for a customer, identify up-selling opportunities by understanding what is important to them.

• Show the customer what makes your offering different from the competition.
• Which customer relationships are most important and how will you gain agreement with your client?
• Are you clear about the steps you need to take to make up-selling and cross-selling a compelling option for your client.

The more knowledge you build on cross-selling and up-selling the more it is encompassed by your sales team, said Hines. In time, it becomes the way your team operates. It should be integral to the way the team thinks.

Our free, Covid-19 sales webinars, to keep sellers safe and selling, are open to everyone, not just APS members.

Click here to see our full programme of events, and book your place. https://the-aps.com/page/Events

Locked in the middle of the coronavirus crisis, and working from home, it is even more important to understand your customer and your technology to keep you connected and selling.

Sounds obvious, but in this morning’s incisive webinar hosted by the Association of Professional Sales, David Freedman, head of sales at Huthwaite International set out the key steps to keep customers engaged and sellers selling.

Number one is sincerity.

Freedman began his presentation, called “selling in a virtual world”, with a cartoon from Tom Fishburne at Marketoonist.com. It showed a woman sitting at a computer screen, saying to her partner: “Some brand we apparently gave an email address to three or four years ago wants us to know they’re here for us in this difficult time.”

And it’s clear that insincerity can be costly for the seller. To make the point to his audience, of more two hundred sales professionals, Freedman quoted an informative statistic, that in a crisis, 69 per cent of customers who walk away from a sale say their decision was prompted by the indifference of the salesperson.

So how to counter this problem?

Customers want a call with a seller as a “trusted friend.. not a marketing opportunity” said Freedman. At the moment customers’ “short-term worries will be overshadowing all other considerations”.

Skilled sellers will avoid “jumping in with any ready-made or concocted answers”. Instead they will understand dispassionately how the client sees the crisis affecting their business.

Freedman advised sellers to reassure their customers progressively, by helping them find specific ways round specific difficulties. Revisit the customer needs and concerns that made you relevant in the first place. That’s more important than just “banging on about how wonderful your stuff is”.

Number two: remote selling and remembering what you already know

“Never underestimate the power of the humble telephone,” said Freedman.

Skilled sellers have already made the phone work for them in the past. Now it is important to brush up on those techniques of planning, contacts, objectives, credibility, the various stages of a sale that move it forward, rather than holding it in an unfruitful pattern of inactivity.

The phone is useful for a lot more than low-value telesales. It is also the medium for decision makers in business-to-business deals. The telephone is a very important jumping-off point.

Planning might feel like a very unpopular task, if salespeople think they know how to steer a call, but not having a structure could waste time, and make them less productive.

The key thing at this stage is understanding the contacts you need to get hold of to progress the sale.

Remember in this crisis your customer or prospect is also likely to be working at home, and may be stressed or distracted by family and other issues. So have a structure and make sure it is okay with them. Make the call about them and make sure they are doing most of the talking.

Number three: things to understand about virtual selling

The multi-Zoom call might be the next move in the process, but if you are using digital technology to bring people together be aware of its limitations as well as its strengths.

• Pull is more effective than push: ask consultative questions and listen carefully.
• Sellers are even more likely to fall into the trap of speaking too much in a virtual meeting, because of the lack of visual clues and the pressure to fill gaps in the conversation.
• It is a strange unnatural environment and your verbal clues are essential
• Let the client have plenty of time to speak, to outline their problem. Keep listening and asking intelligent questions.
• Do not rattle through 40 PowerPoint slides without any real dialogue: you won’t be able to focus on client reactions, whether they have lost attention or left the room.
• Beware, too, of using fancy animations. They may be slow to load and cause a lag on the call. Conserve bandwidth.
• Check who hasn’t spoken. If they’re important to the process, bring them in. If they haven’t spoken, it may because of a technical problem; find out.
• Test your understanding with questions
• Take opportunities to summarise where you think you’ve got to.
• Make sure speakers sympathetic to you are heard
• Avoid interrupting and speaking across people. This is a big risk in video and conference communications because of the time lag.
• Have another colleague on the call from your team, looking to see who’s keen to ask a question, or challenge a claim. You can’t be the presenter and the producer at the same time, just like on live television
• Be very cautious about using chat breakouts; use them for a quick consultation with a colleague if necessary.

And four: advantages of virtual selling

• It is easier to convene at short notice all the people you need at a particular stage of the buying cycle. They won’t have their diary blocked out for travel.
• Getting past their gatekeepers may be easier
• You can have your notes, unseen by those on the call, in front of you, for example, competitor research and spreadsheets about pricing. This would be odd in a face-to-face situation, but it works in the digital world of virtual selling.
• Meetings are cheaper to attend. The cost of sale is likely to be a very controlled metric in the coming recession.
• You can spend more time preparing when you are not travelling to meetings.

This may be the permanent new face of sales. We need to get used to it.

Our free, Covid-19 sales webinars, to keep sellers safe and selling, are open to everyone, not just members.

Click here to see our full programme of events, and book your place. https://the-aps.com/page/Events

Locked in the middle of the coronavirus crisis, and working from home, it is even more important to understand your customer and your technology to keep you connected and selling.

Sounds obvious, but in this morning’s incisive webinar hosted by the Association of Professional Sales, David Freedman, head of sales at Huthwaite International set out the key steps to keep customers engaged and sellers selling.

Number one is sincerity.

Freedman began his presentation, called “selling in a virtual world”, with a cartoon from Tom Fishburne at Marketoonist.com. It showed a woman sitting at a computer screen, saying to her partner: “Some brand we apparently gave an email address to three or four years ago wants us to know they’re here for us in this difficult time.”

And it’s clear that insincerity can be costly for the seller. To make the point to his audience, of more two hundred sales professionals, Freedman quoted an informative statistic, that in a crisis, 69 per cent of customers who walk away from a sale say their decision was prompted by the indifference of the salesperson.

So how to counter this problem?

Customers want a call with a seller as a “trusted friend.. not a marketing opportunity” said Freedman. At the moment customers’ “short-term worries will be overshadowing all other considerations”.

Skilled sellers will avoid “jumping in with any ready-made or concocted answers”. Instead they will understand dispassionately how the client sees the crisis affecting their business.

Freedman advised sellers to reassure their customers progressively, by helping them find specific ways round specific difficulties. Revisit the customer needs and concerns that made you relevant in the first place. That’s more important than just “banging on about how wonderful your stuff is”.

Number two: remote selling and remembering what you already know

“Never underestimate the power of the humble telephone,” said Freedman.

Skilled sellers have already made the phone work for them in the past. Now it is important to brush up on those techniques of planning, contacts, objectives, credibility, the various stages of a sale that move it forward, rather than holding it in an unfruitful pattern of inactivity.

The phone is useful for a lot more than low-value telesales. It is also the medium for decision makers in business-to-business deals. The telephone is a very important jumping-off point.

Planning might feel like a very unpopular task, if salespeople think they know how to steer a call, but not having a structure could waste time, and make them less productive.

The key thing at this stage is understanding the contacts you need to get hold of to progress the sale.

Remember in this crisis your customer or prospect is also likely to be working at home, and may be stressed or distracted by family and other issues. So have a structure and make sure it is okay with them. Make the call about them and make sure they are doing most of the talking.

Number three: things to understand about virtual selling

The multi-Zoom call might be the next move in the process, but if you are using digital technology to bring people together be aware of its limitations as well as its strengths.

• Pull is more effective than push: ask consultative questions and listen carefully.
• Sellers are even more likely to fall into the trap of speaking too much in a virtual meeting, because of the lack of visual clues and the pressure to fill gaps in the conversation.
• It is a strange unnatural environment and your verbal clues are essential
• Let the client have plenty of time to speak, to outline their problem. Keep listening and asking intelligent questions.
• Do not rattle through 40 PowerPoint slides without any real dialogue: you won’t be able to focus on client reactions, whether they have lost attention or left the room.
• Beware, too, of using fancy animations. They may be slow to load and cause a lag on the call. Conserve bandwidth.
• Check who hasn’t spoken. If they’re important to the process, bring them in. If they haven’t spoken, it may because of a technical problem; find out.
• Test your understanding with questions
• Take opportunities to summarise where you think you’ve got to.
• Make sure speakers sympathetic to you are heard
• Avoid interrupting and speaking across people. This is a big risk in video and conference communications because of the time lag.
• Have another colleague on the call from your team, looking to see who’s keen to ask a question, or challenge a claim. You can’t be the presenter and the producer at the same time, just like on live television
• Be very cautious about using chat breakouts; use them for a quick consultation with a colleague if necessary.

And four: advantages of virtual selling

• It is easier to convene at short notice all the people you need at a particular stage of the buying cycle. They won’t have their diary blocked out for travel.
• Getting past their gatekeepers may be easier
• You can have your notes, unseen by those on the call, in front of you, for example, competitor research and spreadsheets about pricing. This would be odd in a face-to-face situation, but it works in the digital world of virtual selling.
• Meetings are cheaper to attend. The cost of sale is likely to be a very controlled metric in the coming recession.
• You can spend more time preparing when you are not travelling to meetings.

This may be the permanent new face of sales. We need to get used to it.

Our free, Covid-19 sales webinars, to keep sellers safe and selling, are open to everyone, not just members.

Click here to see our full programme of events, and book your place. https://the-aps.com/page/Events

When everyone works from home, how to replicate all the complex communications that go on in an office?

There are a myriad ways we exchange information and views with co-workers, and they are all important. Telefonica O2/YouGov research shows that 30% of home workers are struggling with loneliness during lockdown, and 26% miss socialising with office friends.

Yes, even complaining by the water cooler, or venting petty frustrations over a beer, all serve a purpose in keeping the office ecosystem healthy and sellers motivated.

With up to 45% of businesses planning not to go back to full-time office-working, managers need to make sure that everyone is able to communicate using digital channels, whether to share creative ideas, celebrate a win, or get something off their chest.

“You have to find virtual equivalents for some things done face to face,” said Matt Spencer, head of public sector sales at Telefonica O2, who manages a 44-strong sales team.

“If you have the right technology, communication and information infrastructure, it can get us close to normality, but it needs the help of purposeful management.”

Office interactions vary on a spectrum from the most formal to the least.

Spencer lists these as:

• policy, product updates
• general
• coaching
• learning and development
• social interaction, celebration
• gossip, griping and speculation

The way his team is playing this at Telefonica O2, the formal end of communications still takes place on email, as it has for over a decade. General communication happens on Teams, as does coaching and learning and development.

Mark Evans, Chief Executive Officer Telefonica O2 UK, uses virtual presentations to make announcements, and staff show they are listening and engaged by posting a healthy volume of comments - 552 on his last communication.

For the Telefonica O2 public sales team, social interaction and celebrating achievements happens on Teams Workplace (like Facebook for business, says Spencer), with some kind of social downtime every night of the week, and a virtual pub quiz with beers on Friday.

Last and not necessarily least, comes the gossip and speculation - which takes place on WhatsApp.

The proliferation of channels has thrown up a new, digital problem of trying to remember which social media an interesting bit of information was shared in, admits Spencer.

The purposeful management comes in with understanding that everyone consumes social media in a different way. From the Gen Z digital natives to the boomers who may find a degree of digital overload, sales leaders need to make allowances for the individual.

Spencer said: “Not everyone will want to do the virtual pub quiz. You have to allow people to cooperate in and react at the level they’re comfortable at. Recognise that some people need different levels of interaction. Remember it's about individuals as well as about teams.”

Matt Spencer was speaking during this morning’s webinar, called "Communicating remotely with sales teams", hosted by the Association of Professional Sales as part of our Covid-19 series, to keep sellers safe and selling.

Our free series of sales webinars is open to everyone, not just members.

Click here to see our full programme of events, and book your place. https://the-aps.com/page/Events

Could you write a bestselling book in a week? Global keynote speaker Sonja Piontek just has - and she’s recommending we should use the current crisis to try something challenging and new to boost business.

Now is the time to ban the negative, be agile and determined, and try different ways of selling and connecting with customers, Piontek told sales professionals. She was speaking during this morning’s webinar hosted by the Association of Professional Sales as part of our Covid-19 series, to keep sellers safe and selling.

Piontek described how she followed her own advice and set her sights on achieving a seemingly impossible, book-writing goal. “UltraCreativity - The Experiment” was not only written in a week but became an Amazon, e-book bestseller in four categories, across three continents.

Piontek stressed that it was perfectly normal to feel daunted by a huge challenge, but when you had doubt, the key question was: ‘What is the worst thing that can possibly go wrong?’

"Don’t let negative people around you fill you with doubt,” she told sales professionals. “There’s nothing more powerful than a made-up mind.”

So how can this approach help hard-pressed sellers during a pandemic crisis?

“UltraCreativity is about unlocking your full potential and making impossible things possible,” said Piontek. First, she said, ban the word “cannot”.

Challenging times demand new ways, so focus on your strengths; it’s much easier. “I like writing. I’m good at it. Whatever you do, focus on your strengths.”

Piontek said, when it comes to business relationships, “it’s not all about signing a deal; it’s about supporting one another.

“To reinvent the wheel would be extremely difficult in these times, but don’t be shy to ask. Be agile and adopt a Silicon Valley mindset.”

And be playful: “I sent a pineapple to a client the other day.” Ask yourself how you would like to be approached by someone trying to sell you something today.”

And this customer-centric approach is central to the messages she delivers in her keynote presentations: “The one thing you need to focus on first are the customers. You lose them; you lose your business. Simple as that.

“Do things that they haven’t done before, or that haven’t been done before, because it provenly turns customers into fans and creates impressive, measurable return on investment.”

Piontek’s keynote, key tips:

• “Ban ‘cannot’. Ban the negative.”
• “Be determined.”
• “There’s nothing more powerful than a made-up mind.”
• “If you do something that you are passionate about and that fits your skills, you can’t but excel.”
• “Trust yourself. Listen to your heart. You, yourself, know best what’s good for you.”
• “Leave the comfort zone”
• “Use your resources”
• And during the current crisis: “Now we’ve got to be quick, quick, quick. Try things.”

Sonja Piontek looks back on an impressive corporate career and has worked for international brands like BMW, Leica Camera and Land Rover. The dynamic German is based in Singapore, has lived in six countries and speaks five languages.

She walked away from the corporate world to set up her own business.

Piontek said: “I was director of marketing, BMW Asia. I had it all; but I wanted to pursue my passion.” With some “internal hesitation and struggle” she left BMW and for the last two years has had her own agency, Sonnenkind, which focuses on strategic brand development through “unforgettable experiences”.

“I’m not suggesting you all leave your jobs,” she said, “but try new ideas.”

So how do you produce a bestseller in a week? Well first, said Piontek, you have to learn a “whole new path through the publishing game”. Listening to her explain the process, you realise that writing, which she loves, might just have been the easy bit.

The writing, editing, uploading and promoting were all part of the journey to the bestseller list. And what about proof reading? Well, if the clock is ticking as fast as it was for Piontek, you have to be resourceful. For this part of the challenge, she asked a friend in a different time zone to read it for her. While Piontek slept, her friend read. Job done.

Our free, Covid-19 sales webinars, to keep sellers safe and selling, are open to everyone, not just members.

Click here to see our full programme of events, and book your place. https://the-aps.com/page/Events