Once upon a time

Illustration by Liz Fosslien ©

As a guest lecturer my role was always to help the students to create some kind of value from day one. I was not expecting them to be mini-CEOs, all I expected was open-minded fresh thinkers who are willing to learn and where possible offer value. Technology, products, and services flow effortlessly around students and the way they navigate them is totally different than someone like me.

1.         I ask them to reflect and articulate what they see?
2.         What are the values that are important to them?
3.         How can a brand (product) or service tap into their important values better than now, and in relation for their future audience?

I met 3 types of students:

• “The hopeful” - Who were excited about the creative industries and the possibilities. My role was to give them a deeper sense of reality

• “The disrupter” - I can do it better type! Here I would give them another perspective, a greater sense of realism and balance so they could better understand the change mechanism and transformation.

• “Help me” - The ones where the challenge was not meeting their expectations. 

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Growth is a process

Too often experts will dive into their presentation without presenting a roadmap and this usually leaves the audience unsure about what is going to be covered, why and when the presentation will end. Presenting a table of contents before they dive in and begin to talk puts everything into context and helps your audience to know where they are in the presentation. Road mapping allows the audience to see the key points you are going to explore and puts them into context and helps them relax into your teaching and allows them to relate it to the bigger picture and the promise of your presentation. I think if you implement this simple framework with your content, copywriting and speaking you will begin to see a sense of trust, and ultimately this will lead to more conversions.

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We are all creatures of habit

c/o Medium

In his book, “Change Your Mind, Change Your Results”, Shawn Shewchuk highlights that the roadmap for success is printed on the outside of the box you put yourself in. Putting on my clothes and tying my shoelaces are so firmly placed in my subconscious mind they have become habitual. Everything is a habit whether you admit or not. As children we are taught that practice makes perfect, but many of us have been practicing the wrong things for far too many years.

“There are no high-performance people, there are only high-performance habits.”

— Burrellism

There is a huge difference between waiting for orders and taking initiative. Statistics show that 90% of the western world is waiting for someone to do something for them. The best investment you can make is an investment in yourself as it will deliver the best return on investment. Where will you be in 5 years? Contact me via e-mail for a meeting if you want to improve the quality of your life.

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Everyone thinks they are the best

Mammals are naturally territorial animals and view strangers as a threat. In nature, unfamiliar creatures pose a threat when they encroach on an animal's territory. How do you build trust with new people? How good is your judgement about what to work on? The process, your skill set, and your ability is the secret to success.

Everyone knows that sales professionals need to ask lots of questions, but what questions should you ask?
-  Are they written down?
-  Have planned them out?
-  Are they sequenced?
-  Are you taking the client from where they are to where they need to be?

Selling is a performance, knowing the elements of your products or services is just a tiny part. I think it’s all about how well you ask questions and uncover the client’s needs and then design your questions to build interest in your products or services. Focus on what you can control, and you have control over your strategy, tactics, and planning. Contact me via e-mail for developing yourself and a review of how well you are executing your sales strategy.

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Don’t mistake courtesy for consent

Some salespersons are busy going around and around but never seeing clients, so their progress is small. Many sales trainers forget to separate “knowledge” and how much time salespersons should spend in front of their clients in their sales training. It’s essential to teach salespersons that they should never mistake activity for achievement.

Do you have a systematic way of getting better every day?
It often takes more than a good idea to make things a success. All around us there are hidden forces which make it difficult for us to reach our goals, close a sale or convince others to adopt new ideas, often, an outsider’s expertise is most helpful in identifying these areas of improvement. I would like to offer you a free 30 minute consultation to help you maximise performance and leadership - for yourself and your organisation. 
Click here and book a free 30-minute consultation with me. This offer ends on 30th January 2022.

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Selling to do good

When I think about all the salespersons that I have trained over the years, they tend to forget the listening part really quickly. After they have done enough sales presentations and they know what’s facing them and can predict where the conversation is going, they “fall asleep at the wheel.” They forget that it is for their benefit, find the buyer’s needs and fulfill them. I think the greatest benefit of listening is the impact it has on the buyer.

Great selling really starts with great listening and understanding what the clients need really truly are. It’s essential to listen and make the buyer feel that you hear them and understand their problem. If the buyer feels understood, then they will be open to building a trust relationship with you and this will put you in a position to influence their choices and decisions. I think when you really listen to the buyer, you will discover their problem at a much deeper and profound level and that’s where the magic happens.

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Understanding the source

Selling is not hard when you know what you are doing. Sales is a skill and you really need to know how to do it because it’s a skill that will be with you throughout your life. I recently worked with a sales team on 3 key areas:

1. Attitude - How do you maintain a positive, possible attitude? Taking full responsibility for what you are doing, keeping an expectant attitude in place. How do you manage your attitude when things take a dip and go wrong?

2. Competence – This is all about selling and understanding the methodology. How do you get buyers to really listen and learn about what the problem really is so you can go about a decision evidence model?

3. Execution - Doing the things at the right time with the right people.

These things in combination are what drives the results you are going to get. The “old school” pitch, persuade and close the deal is the wrong starting point for the modern salespersons. Commit to helping the buyer make the best possible decision that benefits them, and tell yourself, “I’m at my best when I sell in this way.” I think you should always give buyers the room they need in order for them to really understand what they need, want and why from you.

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Each buyer is unique

Success in sales depends largely on the salesperson’s ability to adapt his or her skills and pitch when selling to different personality types. With just a little bit of communication, observation, and research, you can use your knowledge of these decision-making styles to build better and longer lasting customer relationships and increase your close rate.

What are those personality types? 

The four types of buyers whom I have met the most during my sales career are as follows: management, user, technical and economic buyers. I use the acronym M.U.T.E
- The management buyer is all about seeing the actual solution being implemented and how your solutions can be used.
- The user buyer is the person who is concerned with the overall customer experience and the impact of the buying experience and ease of purchase.
- The technical buyer relies heavily on measurable and quantifiable data before engaging in a purchase and wants proof that your product or service performs as stated.
- The economic buyer is focused on the ROI and stay within or under budget, this type of buyer takes into consideration examples of work done for past and current clients and seeks case studies that prove the ROI of a solution. 

By identifying your buyer’s personality type and what motivates them, you can tailor your sales presentation to meets their needs. I can teach you how to put all of these four types of buyers on a grid and figure why they would buy, and more importantly document the reasons why they are holding back from buying. Contact me via e-mail and I’ll guide you through the process of addressing those reasons for not buying and fine tuning your sales presentation.

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Unlocking growth

The job of a salesperson is straightforward, their job is to listen to understand what’s the most important thing for their buyer and then help them get that. Unfortunately, most technology today is not built to provide your buyers with the experience they want and need, just image if your sales team could unlock their performance and become top sales professionals and deliver essential insights to their buyers in those critical moments. This may be the difference between winning and losing because if you don’t partner with buyers and guide them through their journey, you will lose deals to competitors. 

We will be selling in digital, virtual, and online spaces more often in the future, and these spaces are noisier and more polluted than ever. This digital pollution costs both you and your sales team time, attention, and productivity, also it affects your ability to reach and engage with the decision makers who matter most to your sales success. How do you fight through it and reach the right people? How can you grow relationships, reputations and revenues? For answers contact me via e-mail and let’s have a meeting.

“The architect of the universe did not build a staircase leading to nowhere!”

— Burrellism

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Don’t be selfish

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Human psychology contains many dualities, one of them being that even while people understand the need for change, they are also irritated and upset by changes that affect them personally. A change that upsets core habits and routines are deeply disturbing to them. To soothe the anxieties of those who dread change, one should create a new set of values and rituals to replace the old ones.


Every value in life must be paid for and those that pay are the ones that get it. Do you need some good ideas to change your life for the future? If you want good ideas then you have to go to the workshops and training courses where good ideas are being taught. Be well prepared, so when opportunity comes along it will pass by the person or organisations who are not prepared. Contact me via e-mail for workshops and training based around about mastering the science of achievement and the art of fulfilment.

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Simple is hard

I have done some corporate case studies over the years as I didn’t really know what made change stick and why corporate change was so hard. What I found through some of these case studies was that:

1. Change happens not from the top-down but from middle-out. Change must be proposed by the people in the trenches and respected by the leadership, and at the same time admired by those below who are the rising stars of the future.

2. Change is not a process; change is a tool kit. I think that if change and innovation was a process then everyone could do it, as people are smart and can easily follow rules. I think employees need on-demand tools that they can draw on when different things come at them.

3. Change must be presented in small chunks. Managers and leaders must lead by example to affect change on an everyday level, for example, in meetings, e-mails, reports and procedures. Small incremental ways to get the employees on board so they want to make the big change.

Employees want a fire lit from underneath them by people within them. I think that organisations will have to put more training into managers if they really want to make the changes stick.

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Balancing the act of indecision

As human beings we have learned to associate certain feelings to certain situations. As sales professionals we have to discover the buyer’s beliefs and values, and then associate not buying with missing out on something. I’m not advocating that you become a salesperson who is pushy, one who doesn’t really care and tries to manipulate buyers. I’m trying to clarify that buying equals pleasure and not buying equals’ pain.

Persuasion is the process of getting your customer to clearly associate their desired feelings or stakes to your products and services. In other words, if we want someone to buy our products and services, we have to get them to link their feelings towards what they want most, and we have to make it compelling and very real for them. And we have to associate not buying with pain - “I’m going to miss out on this opportunity!” - leaving them with the feeling that someone else is going to have something that they don’t have.

Think of something that you recently purchased and be honest, was it something you really needed or was it something you wanted, and then you began to justify it as a need? Here’s another scenario: When was the last time you really wanted something, but you didn’t follow through with the purchase? You had an emotional reason to buy, but you could not justify it logically. Would you like to learn how to give buyers enough reasons to buy? I mean their reasons and not yours. Contact me via e-mail for workshops and sales training.

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Invite input from others

How can teams communicate more effectively?
To maintain the team spirit is probably the most challenging issue for managers and leaders in organisations today, putting the “we” before the “me”. I think that it’s not about individuals, it’s all about the collective and team members should be encouraged to share relevant information and ask clarifying questions. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathise with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict. This is a skill that improves communication and with practice most people can learn to become better communicators.

How can you create a non-negotiable passion within your team?
I think in order to maximise teamwork, it's important that all teammates share the same goals and are committed to an overall vision. Communication is essential to ensure that a team runs optimally, and ineffective communication can derail an entire project. Bruce Tuckman stated that teams go through four stages of development - forming, storming, norming and performing - this is a useful framework for looking at your own team. In my experience, diverse teams with are more effective than less emotionally savvy teams and EQ skills can help teams navigate conflict, evenly divide work, and develop long-term trust.

What happens when teams interact virtually? 
Individual members of any team can help the team do better whether virtually or in person. Managers and leaders should encourage team members to communicate with one other and ensure that every team member participates in the discussion. In an ideal scenario, every team member would be encouraged to share their ideas and updates on progress - even if the news is bad - and other members would do their best to listen, evaluate without judgment, and offer a thoughtful response. 


Do you have the necessary time, focus, and energy for training and workshops? If so, contact me via e-mail.

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Knowing the scenario

Illustration Francesco Ciccolella

Dr. Richard Carlson’s book, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” from 1998 advised us to only deal with things that matter and follow simple strategies for living a more fulfilled and peaceful life. As leaders, let’s learn to help people not just with their jobs but also with their lives. I think we have a two-fold responsibility to help people with job skills and I think the greater responsibility is to help people with life skills. Don’t only teach people how to work, let’s teach people how to live and how to assimilate and accumulate far greater treasures than just a salary. 

“It not only about what I earned, it’s also about what I learned.”

— Burrellism

There is treasure in awareness, understanding, setting goals, reaching into the future, and expanding our horizons. I have been in London this week teaching a sales team how to ask great questions, whom to target, how to follow up and how they efficiently fill their pipelines. The workshop revolved around, “How do I attract my ideal customers?” The larger the challenge, the larger the opportunity! Contact me via e-mail for sales training and workshops about mastering the science of achievement and the art of fulfilment.

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We all have the power to improve

Pre-pandemic I began a Crucial Conversations course via Vital Smarts, I qualified as a certified Crucial Communications Trainer in February 2020.


What Is a Crucial Conversation?
A crucial conversation is a discussion between two or more people where the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong. These conversations - when handled poorly or ignored - lead to strained relationships and dismal results. The education taught me skills for creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional, or risky topics - at all levels of an organisation. We learned how to speak and be heard and how to encourage others to do the same. 


What Does Crucial Conversations Training Teach?
Crucial Conversations teaches participants how to:
• Speak persuasively, not abrasively
• Foster teamwork and better decision making
• Build acceptance rather than resistance
• Resolve individual and group disagreements


Who Needs Crucial Conversations Training?
Does your organisation suffer from taboo topics, deference, disagreement, analysis paralysis, information hoarding, office politics or alienation? Is your organization battling declining productivity, safety violations, low morale, reduced quality, poor customer satisfaction or other bottom-line concerns? Then you, your team, or your organisation needs Crucial Conversations Training.

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You are never too old to learn

One of the most valuable skills that a person can have, is the ability to sell anything to anyone by using persuasive skills. According to Harvard University, persuasion lies at the heart of our personal and professional lives. Whether the goal is to convince one person in a face-to-face encounter, influence a group in a meeting, sway an entire organisation, or win over the public, the capacity to persuade is pivotal to effective leadership. Being a great salesperson opens many doors of opportunity, especially for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Here are 5 sales tips:
1.     Understand your customer’s needs.
2.     Research who will buy your products or services. 
3.     Ask questions.
4.     Sell yourself.
5.     Don’t just sell, guide the buyer through a process.

I think that in sales and business the future belongs to the people who ask for what they want. Therefore, if you want to change your future act now and contact me via e-mail for sales training and workshops.

Sales is the key

I think that there are far too many people who are teaching sales who have never sold anything. I have lived in Copenhagen since 1997, so I have had the opportunity to embrace the Danish culture and values, which I admire and respect. Having a natural cross cultural understanding, combined with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate with both internal and external stakeholders across the spectrum - from decision makers in the boardroom to factory workers - has been demonstrated throughout my career.

Selling is a wide subject, covering many selling methods, sales theories, models and sales training methods. Would you like to close the gap between global strategies and local execution?
I can guide your sales excellence team by optimising the sales process, developing sales programs, and conducting sales training globally. Remember, life is not designed to give us what we want or what we need, life is designed to give us what we deserve. Who is responsible for developing and implementing sales operating models? Who should I contact in your organisation?

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Conscious crisis

We are prepared by our biology to eat and sleep, mate and nurture, fight or flee, and exhibit all the other built-in survival responses in the human repertoire. Sometimes you must go down before you come up and most of these journeys must be taken alone. And in the dark times, one may have little but trust your own inner process and go on. I think that there is great power in self-reliance! And to me this simply means that you should look at yourself and take responsibility for your actions. I’m the person responsible and I have learned the necessary skills to help people learn their skills via my training and workshops. I have found this simple mindful awareness to be extremely rewarding because I have an empathic concern for others.

“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

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The magnificent obsession

In general, leaders expect to influence how people think and behave at work, but they feel ill equipped to understand and actively manage how employees feel and express their emotions at work. I love sitting down with experts, people who have dedicated their lives to understanding more about human behaviour and the dynamics of how the mind works. Contact me if you feel stuck and you are trying to figure out your life purpose.

The Holocaust survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl stated in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” that a person can withstand just about anything as long as they have a purpose to strive for. I have found that people who have purpose in their lives, have something to go for. Purpose is the thing that pushes us into the future, some people are always pulled back by their past and some people are always pulled aside by distractions. I think that when you have a list high purposes in your life it will push you towards the future. The clearer the purpose, the stronger the desire to fulfil and achieve your purpose.

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Accelerate the path to delighting customers

I recently had a 1:1 meeting with a CEO who was looking for a Sales Director. As we spoke I thought that this would be a great challenge for a hungry and driven sales leader who can grow, lead and nurture an enthusiastic sales team. Someone who could divide their time between the operational challenges and strategic support of the sales team in a fast-paced environment without losing sight of the mission. I used my knowledge about market developments and customer needs to help the CEO articulate the strategic initiatives for the organisation.


Humans engage with things they care about, and no one cares about something they don’t understand. Do you know your story? Why you do what you do? How you do it and what are you selling? If you are not clearly communicating this to your buyers, then unfortunately, they will never hear it. Dale Carnegie said, “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic but with creatures of emotion.” Contact me via e-mail for sales training or workshops.

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