In this episode, Gary is joined by Amanda Geyman - Director of Strategic Growth for WSP UK. Their conversation covers a lot of ground from lockdown challenges to Amanda's take on best practice business development in the Engineering Consultancy industry.

An insightful episode that explores client management, incorporating both the positive and negative impact of the pandemic and how differentiating yourself and your business will creating lasting success.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When you are under pressure it is even more important that you are focused and target your energy on things of particular importance to the business. This was no more prevalent than in Amanda's workplace during the pandemic.
  
  
• Empathy and understanding of clients and their own personal difficulties through the pandemic was of key importance for Amanda and her team. Being able to check in and show some extra support and care through this time.
  
  
• One of the positives of the pandemic is that it drove technology and virtual capabilities forward. This meant that Amanda and her team focused heavily on building and supporting their virtual coaching platforms – ultimately resulting in them now being able to reach and engage with more clients.
  
  
• Most businesses are working in a completely different way to how they were operating pre-pandemic. With the UK Covid restrictions being lifted, many companies are still being cautious, but Amanda believes that human connection is so vital in business and extremely important to the human experience so it's imperative we remember that.
  
  
• Sometimes virtual meetings and calls can become very task focused. Which means you can lose the time and mind space to be spontaneous and creative.
  
  
• There are a lot of myths and misconceptions around what it takes to be a good sales person. Amanda believes that taking an interest in your client, truly listening, asking the right questions and delivering on your promises is what actually makes you a good salesperson.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“You have to dial up your ability and your flexibility”

“It fast-tracked a lot of things for a lot of people in order to be able to do business”

“Spending time with people in person develops trust”

“There's this misperception of what selling is…that it's something done by extroverted people who loves going to networking events and talking to strangers”

“Most clients don't want to be sold to, that want to talk to people who get what their situation is”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://questas.co.uk/unnatural-salespeople-are-secret-weapon-winning-work/

https://questas.co.uk/four-ways-to-get-out-of-your-comfort-zone-and-be-the-catalyst-to-growth/

https://questas.co.uk/business-development-meetings-training/

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Amanda Geyman - Director, Strategic Growth

CONTACT METHOD

 
http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today Gary is delighted to be joined by Alison J Coates, founder member of Re\vo, she is a GENOS certified Emotional Intelligence Practitioner and Life Coach, holding a MA in Industrial Psychology. Alison has 25 years of experience in business change management consultancy and project management, which contributes to Re\vo's mission to collaborate with and build teams of professionals that use outcomes-driven methods of coaching and learning to create impactful results and inspire sustainable progress. 

Throughout the episode, Gary and Alison explore the world of emotional intelligence and the impact it has on business development, sales and training.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Alison runs a suite of different programmes to assess and help businesses and their employees with emotional intelligence. After assessing clients/employees they then offer coaching, both one on one and in group settings and training.
  
  
• The clients and people Gary works with generally have a skill based profession and mindset. As they have progressed in their careers they have then had to try and learn how to sell to work with clients and it is this that can often be overwhelming and scary. Alison believes having the confidence to make intelligent emotional decisions, especially considering other peoples perspectives, can help with this overwhelm.
  
  
• Somebody who is good at selling is usually just someone who is good at listening. It doesn't matter your background or skills, if you can listen and build relationships then you can sell.
  
  
• Listening is a skill that can be learnt and can be improved and perfected. There are varying ways to do this, Alison's favourite way is to recognise and own our own distractions, one way to do this is to try and to maintain eye contact when the other person is speaking.
  
  
• Having an awareness of self is the first building block to emotional intelligence.
  
  
• There is a common myth that to be a good salesperson you need to be an extrovert. This is simply not the case. Often introverts have a high level of authenticity and emotional intelligence – both great skills for selling.

BEST MOMENTS

“When we understand that our emotions drive our decisions and our performance we can reverse engineer them to really start to appreciate how important emotions are in any decision-making process”

“Asking a good question demonstrates your level of credibility”

“Trust builds from vulnerability”

VALUABLE RESOURCES
www.revoconsultant.com 

https://questas.co.uk/six-ways-to-use-eq-or-emotional-intelligence-to-win-more-work/

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Alison Coates - Emotional Intelligence expert

[email protected] 
www.revoconsultant.com 

CONTACT METHOD

 
http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, Gary speaks to Ed McCann, a Director at Expedition Engineering and the current Senior Vice President (President elect) of the Institute of Civil Engineers. Ed initially joined Expedition Engineering in 2002 where he has been the Project Director for many projects including the multi award winning Infinity Bridge and the Olympic 2012 Velodrome. Ed was instrumental in the growth and development of Expedition from a “back bedroom start-up” to Building Magazine's Engineering Consultant of the Year in 2012.

In 2009, Ed co-founded the Useful Simple Trust and gifted his shareholding in Expedition to the Trust for the benefit of the employees. In this episode, Gary and Ed discuss Ed's take on client management, the impact of lockdowns (not all negative!) and his view of the industry.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The pandemic has created many challenges for many people and businesses alike. Ed and his company thankfully found it quite simple and easy to switch everything on the client management side online. In a lot of instances, it was easier to arrange ongoing client relationships. They could touch bases more frequently and more meaningfully.
  
  
• Technology means that having a physical office for a business is optional. This has been the case for a few years but one the big impacts of the pandemic is that it has sped this process up a lot; many people are happy and comfortable working remotely now. Ed and his teams have been able to problem solve many of challenges with working remotely and are in no rush to get back to the office. There are certainly a lot of positives to working in this way!
  
  
• Ed and his company focus on staying small. This is because they value the level of service they can give to clients as a small operation. They don't want to lose any of this speciality by growing too big.
  
  
• The industries that Ed is in can sometimes have a bit of a regressive view in terms of client management, especially in regards to how business is conducted outside of the office. This can have an impact on gender diversity for those working in the industries. However, Ed has found that the clients he works with couldn't be further from this, they aren't interested in ‘boozy nights' etc and it's this that allows a lot more gender diversity in his team; the women he works with feel respected and valued.

BEST MOMENTS

“90+% of your activities are about maintaining client relationships not about new relationships”

“The office is an option”

“Nothing wins like success”

“Sometimes it's about chemistry not capability”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://questas.co.uk/business-development-engineer-firms-post-pandemic/

https://questas.co.uk/client-account-planning-free-resource/

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Ed McCann - Director, Expedition Engineering

CONTACT METHOD

 
http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first episode, Gary is joined by Terence Ritchie, a Partner at EMW Law. Terence is a real estate lawyer who knows that relationships and delivering a great client experience are the keys to winning and keeping clients in a very busy market. Their conversation covers a number of areas including the impact of the pandemic on client relationships and business development, what it takes for (very) reluctant sellers to get motivated and how Terence sees the future.

Listen in today for a genuine episode where Gary and Terence talk openly about their unique perspectives, ideas and challenges.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The multiple lockdowns and restrictions the pandemic imposed created a unique set of challenges for each sector and each business. Terence found he and his company had to adapt how they dealt with clients, especially in regards to sales and communication. It resulted in them learning to support clients in new ways building stronger relationships, bespoke support and ultimately more value for their clients.
  
  
• It can be such an eye opener to clients to see the people working for them, especially in a sector such as law, as someone other than what they ‘do' for them formally. By creating a different dynamic with clients, Terence was able to gain trust and rapport in new ways, the feedback he and the company received from their clients was extremely positive and meant they saw them as individuals and people not just as their lawyers.
  
  
• Lockdowns have suited some people, particularly those who enjoy working from home or have an introverted personality. Many extroverts will have struggled with energy levels as they haven't been able to interact with people in the usual ways. Lockdowns have also meant you do not get the same ‘water cooler moments' which are not just a way for employees to build relationships but are also often a unique way problems get solved and ideas get created.
  
  
• Mental health in the workplace is still a difficult thing to get right. The important thing is often looking out for signs that someone might need a bit of help, support or simply just a chat. One of the overlooked challenges with the pandemic is not having the opportunity to see and notice when others are struggling.

BEST MOMENTS

“When you are in a client facing role, you assume you are going to have the ability to see clients”

“That's humanised a lot of what we do and that's a good thing”

“You almost have to manufacture a reason to talk to a colleague”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://questas.co.uk/the-most-effective-attributes-of-a-key-client-manager/

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Terence Ritchie - Partner EMW Law

https://www.emwllp.com/meet-us/

CONTACT METHOD

 
http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.