The Great Presentation Scandal

There should be a law against most internal company conferences. No ..really there should! My name is Bob Etherington and I am a veteran of at least 100 such ‘do’ s in the past 40 years and nearly all of them should never have been allowed! Well..let me rephrase that, just a bit: the plenary…

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Should I start a business now? Ok what business?

As a serial entrepreneur, I often get asked by other people: “What business would you suggest I start….right now….in the middle of all this ‘Brexit’ uncertainty?” I could be deliberately difficult and ask “Well what type of business would you love to start?”, as your answer to that question will ultimately determine whether or not…

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How you really decide

As the new UK PM Theresa May travels between EU leaders to ‘negotiate’ Brexit …the speed of Article 50 implementation….and all the other ‘exit’ details, she and the people she has to speak to will have to make a lot of decisions. So it is interesting to remind ourselves of the truth behind complex human…

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8 ways to shove your customers away

The biggest driver of customer loyalty is not after all the things you may think like ‘value for money’, ‘customer service’, ‘ range of choices’, and so on. No…in fact it is the speed, effort, and willingness with which you handle customer complaints. In fact, it so important a factor that any customer who has…

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What will a sales trainer like you do for someone like me?

Stop you making the mistakes still made by 95% of all sellers; the ‘also-rans’. Start you making your first £million by becoming one of the 5% who knows what really sells. (And start you getting very rich indeed) (FREE) The 8 key steps in selling….and how to do them properly for once: Your customer learns about your product or service through this…

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Are there lessons in ‘post-truth’ for sellers and marketeers?

When I first started selling copying machines for Xerox in London in the early 1970s, we were frequently admonished by our sales manager for selling ‘emotionally’. He told us that such sales based on stories (typical imagined situations in which copies on to –old fashioned- ‘light-sensitive’ paper could be lost) and feelings (about possible problems…

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Selling in the ‘NEW’ Normal

When market conditions become tough or change suddenly, businesses tend to seek and then implement quick fixes to improve falling sales. Most of these turn out to be disastrous if not suicidal. Nevertheless, they soldier on hoping that what they can see is a light at the end of the tunnel. They little realise that…

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Cracking The Cold-Call Code!

A few years ago I wrote a little book called “Cold Calling for Chickens” it still sells very well and frequently features among the top-selling business books on amazon*. (Thank you fans!) *(By the way, reader comments range from the extremes: “Disgraceful” on one side to “Brilliant” on the other with “OK” to “Very Good”…

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“Ah…No…..You probably can’t see that at the back!”

I’m not a ‘divine intervention’ type of person; maybe I should be. But three experiences in the past month, all to do with ‘stand-up presentations’ seem to indicate that ‘the Cosmos’ may be directing me to write down a few guidance notes about delivering an effective stand-up presentation. (On the other hand, these cosmic imaginings…

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“Don’t worry….it’s only a customer”

The biggest driver of customer loyalty is not, after all, the things you may think, like ‘value for money’, ‘customer service’, range of choices’, and so on. No…recent research shows that we actually judge our suppliers by the speed, effort, and willingness with which they handle our complaints. In fact it such an important factor,…

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“I could have told you that would happen!”

People in my family and many of my friends, are blessed with ‘20/20 hindsight’ …they love to be ‘right’…they frequently remind me that they “told me so”. They particularly love my business mistakes and mishaps and use these as a reason to predict my imminent downfall. They have been predicting it now for several decades.…

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