The timelines to industry leadership...

What role has Culture played in your journey?

Listening to yourself and your intuition NOT your competitors.

The problems with cash flow - what you can't do without versus what you can do with it.

Making your own luck, Good and Bad - Challenge creates Opportunity.

Exponential Growth - Looking for the opportunities between what your customers don't know and your suppliers can fix themselves...

Organisation Life Cycle - the limitation of Sales Budgets and the importance of Structure.

What do you enjoy about sales...

•Customer Relationships/Teams/Problem Solving/Failure?

•What advice would you give to the next generation of salespeople in your industry - What does sacrifice look like for you?

•Focus on what is important - Optimising technology to leverage old school behaviours.

•What makes a good sales person - Key attributes to look for when recruiting.

In 1992, I was 22, had just left university and thought I knew everything. It was the recession we had to have and jobs were hard to come by. I eventually landed a role in sales, it took me about 2 days to realise that I knew nothing. Luckily for me, my manager sent me to a sales training course where I first met Malcolm Stradwick.

By his own admission, Malcolm was to follow his family's footsteps into teaching until a chance opportunity during university holidays led to him selling second hand white goods and in turn triggering a lifelong obsession into the art and science of sales.

He was energised by his first sale and corresponding pay packet, making 5 times the average weekly wages as a 20-year-old. Malcolm shares his passion for sales and sales management. He highlights amongst his many achievements writing the first ever sales training course for Australians by an Australia.

What makes a good salesperson:

•A pleasant personality

•Ability to handle rejection

•The power of reflection

•Tenacity in holding your power

•The importance of focus

Malcolm is now 83 and it took months to get him on this podcast because he is so busy, starting to learn the clarinet at the age of 80 - extraordinary.

He is inspiring to say the least, not just as a sales trainer and mentor but also for all of us in terms of how to live a full life.

The 1987 stock market crash triggered Byron's interest in finance, he undertook a degree in accounting and moved into corporate insolvency in a large firm but found it wasn't for him.

A chance discussion led to a role in sales on the trading floor and he hasn't looked back.

Byron talks us through the first sale he ever made, it wasn't a big one but as he says he was off the mark and well on his way - it was never about the money.

Byron's directness, authenticity, and ability to build relationships has taken him through National Sales Management and now to a CEO role in the fintech game.

Bryon shares his likes and dislikes about sales across a couple of continents whether selling financial products to clients, ideas to stakeholders or capital raises to shareholders.

He shares his thoughts, or at least tries to on what digitalisation and the pandemic mean for the future of sales

There are some wonderful stories and amazing insights from Byron who has travelled the world with his tool kit, personality and desire to make a difference.

•Building rapport 25 times a day, 6-7 days a week, for more than 25 years.

•Listening for content, inflexion and body language to ensure a diagnosis that saves someone's life.

•The power of intuition and the importance of keeping your mind open.

•Trust vs Terminology - avoiding the technical traps that you may fall into by using language that is easy for people to understand.

•Reading people - insights into human behaviour/reactions.

•Nature vs Nurture - personal and professional development through making the most of what cards you are dealt in life.

•Improving commercial acumen by learning from failures and experiences.

•Knowing your subject, building rapport and value for money - the similarities and differences of being a doctor and a salesperson.

•Being comfortable within yourself, the secret of career satisfaction.

This one is a little different but provides insights into the machinations of the construction industry from someone who has seen it all.

Julian Doyle was one of the founding directors of Icon Construction,. In this episode he shares his journey from being on the tools in Martin Place to the Towers of Dubai and everything in between.

Julian's skills as a builder enabled him to deliver projects across three continents but his ability as a leader ensured the development of his team and some rock-solid relationships that he came to rely on as he navigated his company through the Opal Tower challenges of 2018.

Julian is extremely humble and frank about the dichotomy of the industry:

•Adversarial but collegiate.

•Transactional but built on relationships.

•Safety conscious but time is money and margins are tight.

There are many learnings for all trying to understand how the industry might (or might not) work...

Listen out for the quote by Renzo Piano, if you have spent any time in the building game I am sure it will resound with you.

•How does one find themselves in Sales?

•Learning the ropes to become effective in the Business Development Function.

•Keeping your head - taking the wins & copping the losses in sales.

•What salespeople can learn from Tom Brady's philosophy on winning.

•Stakeholder Management - Planning & executing the complex sale.

•Listening to your clients, what they are saying & what they aren't.

•In the trenches - the importance of Resilience, Relationships, Reflecting

•Learning from your losses - you gotta feel the pain.

Brent Cubis has been managing and developing finance teams in large organisations throughout his career to ensure returns by improving operational efficiencies.

Whether initiating change to ensure cost savings or raising significant amounts of funds to keep large companies afloat through GFC and Covid 19 the role of a Global CFO requires lots of selling, both internally and externally.

His insights gained from being born into a family of sales people helped shape his career and value the importance of revenue and margin are fascinating as is his perspective on how to respond to tenders and the reasons people buy.

Brent also shares his experiences in his meetings with Kerry Packer, one of Australia's most successful businessman - what he learned about listening, simplicity and the selling of ideas.

No, not John Oulton, this one is absolute gold, he has worked hard at it, bloody hard all of his life and is now enjoying the benefits (and challenges) of a lifelong career with all the ups and downs that go with it.

John was born into sales and spent his formative years honing his craft listening, being curious and learning from EVERYONE around him.

It served him well, he continued to double down on his professional development continually pushing himself and taking the opportunities that his efforts created.

We talk about the importance of:

•Planning sales meetings and preparing for conversations.

•Negotiating on value rather than price.

•The importance of training in developing teams.

Guiding Principles:

•Service Mindset.

•The importance of Listening.

•Principles of sales leadership - building capability/desire to learn.

A terrific example of the journey of someone who was introduced to sales at an early age, learned from some great mentors, made the most of his opportunities and had enough internal resilience to manage himself through the inevitable setback.

Learning the ropes in a 12-18 month sales cadetship.

Finding your passion & dealing with pressure.

Old school lessons from the factory floor.

• Learning to accept failure in using it as experience.

• Trust/ask for advice, confidence.

• Who is helping v hindering your career?

Stories of Schnapps from Sweden, developing my skills overseas:

• Dealing with cultural differences.

• Learning supplier products, building lifelong relationships.

Winning Big...

• Following process & being patient.

• Navigating stakeholders & managing relationships.

• The real art of business development - two big problems, one meaningful solution.

• Dealing with internal, savouring the moment of victory.

The difficult lessons from the mistakes we make - managing risk.

Getting through sales funks - Perseverance, Propping, Perspective.

Secrets to my success - Trust, Research, Patience.

Non Negotiables - the guiding principles of my personal & professional life.

Learning to understand then leverage your authentic self through improved awareness and mindset.

Appreciating and aligning your environment with yourself.

Becoming a better listener - listening for meaning rather than responding.

The chameleon life of a sales person - what do you see, what do you look for, what does it mean?

What does it take to blow your budget?