There are a few things you need to do and consider to prepare for your first face to face meeting with your Big Fish or top client:

Make a list of what you want to accomplish during the meeting.

• Anticipate potential concerns from the client.
• Check to make sure you are completely prepared.
• Listen more than you talk.
• Bring support staff with you.
• Use and respect the clients’ format.
• Always follow through.
• Ask for what you need and seal the deal.
• Simplify your prospects life.
• Find ways to boost your credibility.
• Build and nurture relationships.
• Learn from “no”. Find out what didn’t work so you know how to change it for the next time.

These are all important things to do both before and during your presentation.

With confidence behind your company and product you will catch that big fish. The next step of the process is negotiation. This can seem a little intimidating but with a few tips and tricks can become natural to you.

Here are some tips to help you negotiate successfully:

1. Build a pricing strategy and stick with it.
2. Prioritise what you plan to offer. This should include what really matters to you and what you are willing to give in on.
3. Don’t give in too quickly.
4. Negotiated with a person, not a “company”. Don’t let their answer be that they  would like to, but can’t.
5. Don’t sell yourself short.
6. Mitigate your pricing. If you go to low you won’t be able to raise it back up and you need to make a profit.
7. Don’t sacrifice quality for the deal.
8. Your services should always count as costs.
9. Boost margins with add-ons.
10. Handle request for proposals with the utmost care.

These are the ways you make sure that both parties are getting the best possible situation from the partnership. Once you start meeting or working together, it’s important to continue to build your relationship so that that representative becomes a big of an ally for you. They are more likely to vouch for you and build on the partnership you have with their company.

We like to call this person a champion. They are champion for your company and can bring a stronger, brighter future to your company.

Here are the characteristics of a great champion:

• They are respected by supervisors.
• They are socially networked.
• They think in the best interest of their company’s long run.
• They are able to quickly navigate through the company to get things done.
• They are willing to give credit to another person.
• They share the same business philosophy, values and vision as you.

Now, that you know how to negotiate for what is best for both parties and build on relationships, we’re going to talk about how to use your fish’ power to the best of your benefit.

If you need help with any of the negotiation or courting process, try our FREE test drive on this site or make an appointment with me by clicking this link: to get access to a wealth of great tools and resources to help you be successful.

Until the next time.

Many employers today are experiencing rapid, high employee turnover, which not only creates the issues of filling vacant positions, overworked staff, and low morale in the workplace, but also costs organisations billions of pounds each year.

The financial impact of excessive employee turnover alone can force an organisation to close its doors, and has many employers wondering how they can improve retention through effective hiring processes. Here are five ways to hire loyal employees and reduce turnover: 1. Assess the cultural fit of the job candidate. Maintaining cultural consistency within your company is a crucial factor in the productivity and satisfaction of your employees. A recent study showed that 46% of small-business new hires failed within 18 months, and a whopping 89% of those failures were directly related to poor cultural fit within the company.

How can employers assess candidates’ abilities to blend with their company culture?

1. Pre-hire employee assessments

Such as our ProfileXT® service, are great tools for gaining the information needed to measure an individual’s company culture compatibility. The Profile XT assessment reveals information on employee background, employment history, integrity, personal reliability, and work ethic.

2. Consider a trial period

Trial periods allow the new hire and company to mutually assess their compatibility without an obligation. A trial or probationary period can greatly increase the loyalty of your new hires and reduce turnover, as demonstrated by the fundraising company Engage Direct Mail, who implements a trial period of 90 days in their hiring process.

On average, Engage experiences 77% retention during the trial, which turns into about 95% retention after the three-month probationary period. Trials can be compared to dating – both sides share their expectations, values, and dreams. If they are in agreement, what’s to stop them from succeeding in the long-term? The key to probation periods is that they reveal any unknown factors to both the candidate and the employer.

3. Offer flexibility

Flexibility within a company allows employees to feel valued, and shows them their needs are recognised and respected. How important is flexibility to job seekers? According to a recent study carried out by the TimeWise Foundation, the demand for jobs that offer flexibility in the UK is almost half the population, however only 6.2% advertise this.

Work-life balance within an organisation is always a major consideration for job prospects, so offering flexitime and other accommodations for workers’ personal lives is an important factor in competitively attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent.

4. Use employee referrals

According to research from Jobvite, HR executives rated referrals the number one source of quality candidates; referrals also generated 39.9% of all hires. Employees hired on referral are also proven to be more loyal, as 46% of referred employees stay three years or more, compared to only 14% of hires from job boards. Referrals not only reduce turnover and recruiting efforts, but also empower employees by allowing them to have input in the hiring processes of their company.

5. Implement an onboarding program

Introducing an onboarding program into your hiring process can mean the difference between retaining a top employee for a lifetime, and watching them walk out the door after two months. Companies who implement an effective onboarding program during the first three months of new-hire employment experience 31% less turnover than those who don’t, according to the Aberdeen Group.

Onboarding is important because it introduces the employee to the company’s culture and expectations, and gives the employee vital training and information needed to succeed in their new position. A new hire’s company compatibility will likely be determined during the onboarding process, which can save the employer from prolonged investment in the wrong employee.

If your organisation is experiencing high turnover rates, you may be telling yourself, “the employees of today are not loyal like they were in the past,” or thinking, “there’s nothing I can do about it.” However, a more likely answer is you’ve simply been hiring the wrong people, and through the implementation of these five strategies, you can identify and hire talented, loyal employees.

As a partner of Summit Assessment Solutions, we can provide the Profile XT assessment tool; which can be used to measure how well an individual fits a specific job within your organisation. The “job matching” feature of the PXT is unique, enabling you to evaluate an individual relative to the qualities required to successfully perform in a specific job. It’s used throughout the employee life cycle; for selection, on-boarding, managing, and strategic workforce planning.

Strategic workforce planning is a process that ensures that your business has the right people in the right jobs at the right time to achieve your expected results. This discipline helps organisations understand their current state, forecast talent gaps, and take the necessary steps to close those gaps. It is a core business process that is often handled by HR, but it is so important to the success of an organisation that its leaders should approach strategic workforce planning proactively and take ownership of it.

We’ve all heard the saying that “failing to plan is planning to fail.” The traditional strategic planning process often focuses heavily on large capital expenditures, technology, and marketing investments. But that traditional process focuses too little on the organisation and the human resources necessary for sound execution.

It is almost as if the business takes for granted that it already has people with the necessary capabilities. The truth is that it can take several months, if not years, to get the right people into the right jobs, which can seriously hinder the execution of even the most well-thought out strategy.

We polled our experts and asked them to define a simple, straightforward strategic workforce management process. They outlined the following six steps:

• Establish where your business is going
• Understand where the labour market is going
• Understand your future talent demands
• Assess your current talent inventory
• Identify your talent gaps and strategies to close them
• Implement your strategies

The answer to this question is simple: what customers want is a product or service. It’s inherent in the very nature of the definition of “customer”—“one that purchases a commodity or service.” So it’s a perfect set-up, right? You have a product, so you must have customers. No? You say you don’t have customers? Well, maybe what customers want is more than just a product or service. In addition to these, what customers want is effective customer service skills.

When it comes to customer service, show genuine appreciation toward the people who pay your salary. Go the extra mile to learn their name and listen to them. Take their concerns to heart. Treat customers like a friend, or at least a very good acquaintance.

Above all, what customers want is to interact with someone who is genuine, professional, real, informed, and not only looking out for their best interests. Customers really do matter to the success of your company, so treat them right. Don’t gloss over their requests or insult their intelligence—after all, you should be more knowledgeable than them when it comes to your product or service. Choose the words you use wisely: customers in a hotel or restaurant, for example, are “guests,” whereas customers in a retail store are “business partners” and should be treated as such. What customers want is a product, not a pitch. They understand that you’re human, too, and if you treat them with respect, they’ll understand occasional imperfections. Just be real with them. Be humble and gracious with them, and you’ll ultimately provide customers with what they want.

We provide the following services:

• 1:1 Training and Mentoring Sessions
• Marketing Review and Strategy Support
• Strategic Planning for Growth
• Personal Development Support
• Team Development Support
•  Profile XT Support

We can also help you cover the costs of your coaching and training requirements with a special non-repayable grant.

To find out more about our services and how we can help you, get in touch using My Online Scheduling system to choose a convenient time for a call.

The Rule of 1% is simply defined as adding to your customer service one percent at a time. Before you can do this you must have your consistency perfected or it will never work. This one percent may seem small, but if you approach the vision for your company with baby steps, you will find a huge increase over a solid chunk of time. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

Avoid doing too much at once or you’ll set yourself up for failure. Think of the confidence you and your employees will have when you improve one percent each week. By the end of a year, you’ll have improved more than 50%!

While, rules and standards are necessary for growth, always be flexible with your best customers. Most retailers only allow a set number of items into a dressing room to reduce the risk of shoplifting, but it generally restricts the large percentage of people who are not stealing from you. Flexibility is the key to what you deliver to your customers and consistency is the key to how you deliver it.

The bottom line is customers rely on you to deliver what you promise. If you spend too much on bulky advertising that promises more than you can deliver, even your best intentions will unravel quickly and you will fail.

Focus on your vision and baby steps to turn your satisfied customers into Raving Fans.

I hope you’ve learned a lot out good customer service and how it’s essential to your overall success.

In upcoming posts we’re going to explore strategies of bagging the big clients and keeping them.

Organisations and sales managers often face challenges when trying to develop their sales force.

Sales representatives are the people who represent a company and sell the products or services that the organisation offers. The job of a sales rep can vary greatly depending on the organisation and types of products and services they sell; however, sales reps are often considered some of the most important employees within an organisation. Sales equals money, so without sales, an organisation would cease to exist. The importance of a company’s sales force cannot be understated in a competitive marketplace.

Finding good salespeople can be difficult and time consuming. Many organisations struggle to create, develop, and maintain a successful sales force. There are several actions organisations and sales managers can take to transform their sales team into lean, mean, selling machines, and this article will focus on what companies can do to maximise the productivity of the entire sales team once they have hired sales employees.

1. Address negative or disengaged attitudes immediately

The nature of sales provides plenty of opportunity for negative emotions to surface: loss of a sale, loss of a client, rejection, and market conditions. In many different contexts, negative attitudes can lead to decreased levels of employee engagement, productivity, and morale. Managers need to address these negative attitudes before they have the ability to impact productivity. A positive atmosphere in a sales department is important to motivate employees to press through the challenges that accompany a sales job.

Organisations and sales managers often face challenges when trying to develop their sales force and increase productivity. By taking the steps listed above, companies can rise to the challenge of maximising the productivity of their sales force and ensure future success.

As a partner of Summit Assessment Solutions, we can provide the Profile XT assessment tool; which can be used to measure how well an individual fits a specific job within your organisation. The “job matching” feature of the PXT is unique, enabling you to evaluate an individual relative to the qualities required to successfully perform in a specific job. It’s used throughout the employee life cycle; for selection, on-boarding, managing, and strategic workforce planning.