Category Archives for "Andy Preston News"

Andy is speaking in Amsterdam in February 2020!

He will be speaking on ‘Stand Out Selling – How To Sell More At Higher Prices!’, and ‘Selling In Tough Times’, as well as some Sales Training work with some clients.Continue reading

Andy is speaking in Doha, Qatar next month!

He will be speaking on ‘Stand Out Selling – How To Sell More At Higher Prices!’.
Continue reading

Andy is travelling to Japan in October!  Mainly based around `Tokyo and Kobe.

If your Sales Team could use a Motivational ‘Boost’ from one of Andy’s Speeches, or a Sales Training session on ‘Stand Out Selling’ while he is in Japan, contact us using this link Continue reading

Andy is speaking in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and Singapore at the end April 2018, after his South Africa trip!

He will be speaking on ‘Stand Out Selling – The Future For Salespeople’ as n’umerous events, as well as ‘How To Have Your Best Sales Year Ever!

If you’re interested in Andy working with your company whilst he is in Malaysia or Singapore, contact us using this link

We look forward to working with you to increase your sales, and those of your team!

Andy is speaking in Vilnius in Lithuania, on Tuesday 23rd January.

He will be speaking on ‘How To Stand Out And Sell At Higher Prices, and Have Your Best Sales Ever’.

You can get more information and book your tickets at this link – https://goo.gl/tpw7oz

The video below is a YouTube video. If you are one of our clients that has YouTube blocked, or Contact us here if you have any problems accessing these.

Andy has been involved with the Institute of Sales Management (ISM) for more than 15 years now, as a Fellow, attendee and Speaker at the main conference and various events.

He was also a main judge at the BESMA awards this year – and is very much looking forward to the awards dinner in London on 9th November in the evening – where some of the fantastic salespeople and sales directors that Andy was judging, will find out if they won or not!

In the day on the 9th November in London, the ISM are running a Sales Summit.

We’ve managed to secure our clients some discounted tickets at the Sales Summit due to Andy’s long-standing relationship with the ISMM. (Andy isn’t speaking as he’s flying back to the UK from an event in Saudi Arabia that morning, but hopes to be along later, and will definitely be at the BESMA awards in the evening).

So if you and/or your Sales team want to attend the sales summit in the daytime on Thursday 9th November, you can use the link here, and then use the code ISMAPrest30 to get your tickets for JUST £30, instead of the usual £200+!

If you want more information, or to book your tickets, you can see the event on the website here.

Andy may even see you there, or certainly later in the evening at the BESMA awards!

Andy has just been booked to speak at the Ambition Broxbourne event in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire!

He’ll be speaking on his signature topic – ‘Stand Out Selling – The Future For Salespeople’ at the event, on Wednesday 15th November 2017.

It’s one of the rare chances you’ll get this year to hear Andy speak live at a public event – especially in the UK! (Most of Andy’s work is private events and consulting ‘in-house’ for companies all over the globe).

If you and/or your team are interested in coming along to the event (which we would highly recommend), you can see more details on the Ambition Website here.

You can also book your tickets direct on the Eventbrite page here.

We hope to see you there!

I was over in Warsaw, Poland once again this weekend seeing a couple of my Recruitment clients and catching up with friends. I’ve been to Warsaw more than 20 times now, and enjoy it each time.

It was definitely a little colder than being in Dublin and London earlier in the week, but warmer than it had been a week or so earlier, when it got down to -20!

It’s always interesting to see how the market is performing in Warsaw.  I find it’s a ‘busy’ city, where there is plenty of focus on business activity, and some good energy about the city in general.

The recruitment clients I met with on this trip, I first was introduced to (and re-introduced to) in Warsaw when I was speaking at the Association of Employment Agencies (SAZ) conference a couple of years ago.

I was the keynote speaker on my specialist recruitment keynote ‘The New Rules of Recruitment Selling’ (the standard version is ‘Nowe Zasady Sprzedazy’) back in 2015, where I talk about how Recruiters need to adapt to close more business in the future.

From that speech, I had a number of companies approach me and ask if I could speak at their company conference, or train their teams in ‘The New Rules of Recruitment Selling‘.

I realised then that the problem that Polish Recruiters were having, weren’t that different to my other recruitment clients in other countries around the globe.

So What Is – My ‘New Rules of Recruitment Selling’ Work?

I do a large amount of work in Recruitment, and have specific versions of my ‘Stand Out Selling’ System and other programmes.

To find out more about my Sales Training For Recruiters – go here

So, Back To The Recruitment Company Conversations!…..

So what did I talk to these Warsaw Recruitment Companies about?

1. You can’t STAND OUT from your competition, when you make your business development calls EXACTLY the same way as they do!

This is typical in Recruitment (as well as many other industries), where most of the ‘salespeople’ (in this case, consultants) get their training from similar sources (managers, leaders, standard recruitment industry trainers etc), that all the business development calls made by everyone sound the same!

This is obviously a major problem, if you’re trying to persuade the prospect that you are different! You can say ‘we are different!’ all you like, but if your BEHAVIOUR isn’t different, it’s highly likely the prospect won’t believe you – not a great start to a prospective business relationship!

2. In a commoditised market, the ‘difference’ is the individual salesperson. That’s one of my favourite sayings, and it’s even true in recruitment, where traditionally the focus has been on the candidate(/s) submitted.

If you can get the prospect to choose to work with you. To select you over other firms and other recruiters EVEN when you don’t have the best candidate? That’s a sign of a good salesperson.

3. Prioritising phone calls. There is a definite ‘trend’ right now of salespeople ‘defaulting’ to contact via email rather than using the phone.

That causes it’s own problems, as naturally it affects the ‘persuasiveness’ of the salesperson and their ability to turn the situation to their advantage. Their influence on the situation is also negatively affected.

So I’m looking forward to going back to Warsaw in a couple of months and helping these companies with those (and some other) sales challenges!

So Was It All Work, Andy?

Of course not! I had time to walk around the park in the snow, and see the Palace of Culture and Science (Pałac Kultury i Nauki) as well as spend a bit of time in the old town. I’ve done plenty of trips to Warsaw now, and I look forward to coming back again in a couple of months time!

Here are a few pictures – enjoy!

So after the warmth of South Africa, the next stop was Dublin, after an overnight stop at Heathrow to pick up the video crew who would be with me for the rest of the week.

Dublin was pretty warm considering, a balmy 11 degrees that was pretty much T-shirt weather compared to London! And it was a short taxi ride from Dublin Airport, to the Croke Park Hotel, across the road from Croke Park itself, where the event was being held for the next couple of days.

It was the first event with a new concept, an 80/20 event, where most of the time, there would be a number of workshops running concurrently, with just an ‘opening’ and ‘closing’ piece each day with everyone together.

My workshop was 5 hours of ‘How To Sell More Sponsorship, Advertising and Exhibition Stands’. This is something I’ve delivered a number of times, for Event Organisers and their membership body in South Africa. Plus my experience helping leading sports clubs sell more sponsorship, advertising and hospitality deals.

Here Are 3 Quick Sales Tips From My Workshop

Now, these tips will work whatever you are selling, not just for sponsorship, advertising and exhibition stands, so you can apply them to any country, any industry, and any situation – with a little ‘tweaking’ if necessary.

Andy’s Tip No 1 – Create Urgency

There HAS to be urgency present in every single buying situation. If urgency isn’t there on the side of the buyer, the salesperson HAS to create it. Without it, there is no impetus or momentum in the process, and that often results in the buyer ‘thinking about it’ – which usually means no sale!

Andy’s Tip No 2 – Understand Their Reasons For Interest

For anyone to be interested in buying space at your exhibition, sponsoring your event (or part of it) or buying advertising in your magazine, show guide or digital package, there has to be a reason behind their interest.

It might be something personal to them (self interest), it might be something that their business can take advantage of (a PR opportunity, or associating themselves with your venue or show for example), or it could be they are desperate for sales leads!

Either way, if you find out what their specific interest is FIRST (instead of just ‘pitching’ your product or service at them without asking questions), you’ve got a far better chance of securing the business afterwards – often at higher rates!

Andy’s Tip No 3 – Control The Process

One of my favourite sayings is ‘The Salesperson Should ALWAYS Be In Control Of The Sales Process’. Yet often they are not. Often they let the buyer take control of the situation, dictate what will happen next, and then find themselves chasing with endless follow ups that never seem to go anywhere!

The Stand-Out-Salesperson makes sure they are controlling and leading the sales process, and therefore they get the outcome that they want more often, and secure the sale. That’s what we all want to be aiming for!

Good luck with your future sales!

Are you interested in me speaking at your event, kickoff, roadshow or Sales Conference?

Or alternatively working with you or your team to overcome some of their problems with sales pipeline, managing their sales opportunities, cold calling and prospecting, or converting incoming leads?

Then please contact me here, or call +44 161 401 0142 to see how I can help you!

It was great to start 2017 in South Africa (and certainly warmer than the UK at the beginning of January!) and after a few days in Cape Town, it was back to work in Durban and Johannesburg before a few days back in Cape Town to finish.

It was my pleasure to participate in the UNLOCK 2017 speaker showcase at Montecasino in Johannesburg, where 35 of the top speakers from Africa and the UK were speaking in front of a corporate audience, demonstrating their skills and specialist areas, and how they may be able to help those companies in 2017!

Being Introduced By Top African MC Cyrus Rogers

Cyrus is a really great emcee if you’re looking for one for your event! Definitely the top emcee in Africa in my opinion. I’m always very impressed watching him work.

My New Keynote Speech – Stand Out Selling – The New Rules For Salespeople

It was great to debut my new keynote speech for 2017 ‘Stand Out Selling – The New Rules For Salespeople’ at this event. Some great feedback from the attendees as well, and looking forward to delivering it for some South African clients in 2017, as well as other places in the world of course!

And Then…. A Few Days In Cape Town

 
Finished off with a Sales Training session with one of my Global clients on improving the sales of a new digital product for them, and a couple of days off in Cape Town – my favourite city in the world!  Next stop, Dublin (via London!)

Are you interested in me speaking at your event, kickoff, roadshow or Sales Conference?

Or alternatively working with you or your team to overcome some of their problems with sales pipeline, managing their sales opportunities, cold calling and prospecting, or converting incoming leads?

Then please contact me here, or call +44 161 401 0142 to see how I can help you!