In Japan I became an area manager, managing 100 foreign instructors in 14 English language schools. I never would have imagined ‘wanting to’ or being ‘able to’ manage people. I chose Uni subjects that focussed on adult training and motivations because they were interesting and useful in my management role. I also had the benefit of 2 full days role playing difficult conversations with staff. Two other newbies and I laughed at our early attempts with those hard conversations but got better and better with each role play. Those rounds of role plays and feedback were some of the best training I have ever had. I now feel strongly that having open, difficult conversations is the fairest way to support individuals with potential performance issues. Avoiding them has many negative flow on effects. In my leadership role in Japan, I also got to support career progression, nurture and train potential school managers. Seeing new managers grow and succeed was incredibly rewarding.

After a life changing 8 years in Japan, I wasn’t sure anymore what I wanted to do on my return to Australia. I landed on the Gold Coast. After teaching English for a bit, I saw a job for an interactive learning consultant. The CEO gave me a log in to an online maths program and I was hooked. It was brilliant and I thought this would be an easy sell, schools would be falling over themselves to get me to come and show them how good the program was. Wow, how wrong I was! The program was brilliant but I clearly remember a cold call to Hazel to ask ‘would you like to have a look…..?’

Her answer was a very blunt ‘no’. I rocked in the corner and dreaded my next call. It took a major mind shift to feel comfortable making cold calls. My changed mind set was/is ‘I am offering an opportunity to easily evaluate something that will help the person I am calling. They can say no, not yet, but I am doing my job and giving them the opportunity.’ The best I can do is to be there when they are ready. I should add that Hazel did welcome me the following year and purchased the program she had not wanted to see earlier.

I struggled initially in sales and then got my hands on stacks of CDs. A lot of time driving and something called a CD player in the car taught me plenty. These days I enjoy podcasts. An hour of listening may only have given me one idea, but I learnt more from those CDs than listening to the radio. I went from the sales struggler to the consistent top sales performer. I was never a ‘twist the arm’, ‘pushy’, ‘keep talking’ salesperson. I knew I was providing customers with something that was good for them.

I became passionate about ‘good’ sales. True sales professionals use a wide range of skills. They meet the needs of customers and help them make decisions that benefit them. You don’t get repeat business, upsell, referrals or business growth if you don’t respect the needs of potential customers.

I managed national sales teams in Australia and liaised with teams all over the World. I designed and delivered training for field sales, business development, customer success, inside sales, new hires and managers. Where I was once obsessed with learning what I could about sales skills for myself, I became fascinated by the power of systematic sales coaching for sales teams. I have worked with several businesses and become acutely aware of how important it is for a whole business alignment and understanding of sales.

My goal now is to help businesses optimise the skills and processes for sales. I love to see businesses build sales, morale and retention by implementing strong processes and Playbooks for everyone to succeed. Please get in contact if you want to build the sales skills of individuals, the coaching skills leaders or audit the processes that help align sales goals for your business.