Background
Born in
Derbyshire, Nicholas had a secondary education leaving school at
14 in 1970.
Having spent four
years training as a butcher, his first taste of selling was with
encyclopaedias door to door in mining villages in and around
Nottingham. From there he progressed into magazine sales and a small
taste of recruitment agencies before a small venture into the Army in
1977.
Finding that Army
life was not quite his style, in 1978 he spent a further year in
recruitment agencies before moving to London from Nottingham to embark
on the first serious stage of his professional selling career. For
over 3 years he sold advertising space for the Daily Mail the hard way
– direct to clients out on the street! Having achieved unparalleled
success year on year, he joined American Express.
For over 4 years he
worked there selling Expense Payment Systems to large organisations
and became the most successful salesperson in the UK in 1984/85. He
achieved the largest sale in the world (except in the USA) with Ford
Motor Company and exceeded all the targets set for him each year. He
also won, in 1985, the elite ‘Sales Excellence’ award – being the
first person ever to do so in the UK.
Profile
Profile: A positive, enthusiastic and
accomplished Sales Trainer who brings experience, energy and
presence to a workshop. Nicholas has a commanding style and works
extremely well in building rapport and credibility with all
groups. Currently connected with:
· Severn Trent Utility Services
· Royal Bank of Scotland
· SSL International
· Barclays Bank
· Islington Council
· British Airways
Nicholas has a wealth of experience working with
groups of salespeople with varying experience for over 10 years. He
has been in sales for over 21 years.
In 1995 he spoke at the Sales & Marketing
Executives Association in San Francisco, California from which he
received the highest evaluation score since records began. More
recently, he spoke at the National Conference for CAPITAL RADIO in May
1998 for 90 people. His presentation was themed ‘Winning habits in
Professional Selling’. |
Nick's influence on sales people is profound.
His ability to bring out the best in them, providing them with a
practical approach to selling allied with self-belief, is one of
the prime components of his training courses.
"The course
was practical and relevant, and gave my sales teams a new
outlook with many new ideas..."
Derek Floyde, The Beacon Press
"The
objectives we set were not only achieved but, I believe,
exceeded: thanks mainly to the positive and enthusiastic way in
which you presented the programme and the sensitivities you
demonstrated whilst handling the various levels of
experience..."
Jim Kane, ICLP
"Since
implementing the training with you, the team have shown
consistently improving skills - resulting in the best month
ever..."
Lawrence
Hill,Pi Computer Systems
In mid 1986 he was offered a Management post back at the Daily
Mail, which he accepted, but this time only for a year. The next 3
years were spent mainly in Sales Recruitment in central London where
he was Sales Trainer for 35 consultants and became Associate Director
– Marketing. He pioneered and developed two entirely new concepts to
the UK Sales Recruitment industry – one of them making the Financial
Times in 1987/1988.
Finally in 1989, he
decided to go freelance as a Sales Trainer, and since then he has gone
on to deliver some of the most exciting Sales Training available in
the UK. His skill and experience lies mainly in the core selling
skills from Telephone Sales to Account Management. Along the way, he
has collected a catalogue of satisfied clients involving Planning
skills, Consultative & Needs Based selling, Presentation skills,
closing, Objection handling & Negotiation skills.
He has extensive
experience with the Printing and Commercial Radio Industries since
1991 and subsequently won a major contract with the British Printing
Industries Federation in December 1995 to represent the Printing
Industry.
Outside of all of
this, Nicholas has lectured at Hertford Regional College each week in
Salesmanship. He also has spoken at regional meetings for the
Institute of Sales & Marketing Management and more recently, the
Association of Sales Professionals. On Tuesday 14th November 1995, he
spoke at the Sales & Marketing Executives Association in San
Francisco, California from which he received the highest evaluation
score since records began.
He specialises in New Business Development,
embracing skills such as;
· Presentation skills
· Negotiation skills
· Consultative selling
· Objection handling and closing
· Sales planning in the field
· Selling to different personalities
· Making appointments on the telephone
He also runs tailor made programmes on Sales
Management, Motivation, Personal Development and Culture Change. |
