Most companies use coaching as a development tool: 80% of organisations surveyed had or were using coaching. Another 9% were planning to. The more employees in the organisation, the more likely it was to use coaching. 90% of organisations with 2,000+ employees used coaching in the past five years, but just 68% of those with 230–500 employees.

It is mostly middle managers and above that receive coaching: More people should be able to benefit from coaching in organisations. At present only 52% of organisations make coaching available to all their staff. Whereas 85% of organisations said that coaching was aimed at managers and directors, and middle management.

Organisations source more coaches internally, but use external coaches to coach senior executives: 83% of organisations surveyed source coaches internally, while 65% hire them in. External coaches are used primarily to coach senior managers. Interestingly, there is more rigour over selecting external service providers, benchmarks of quality are still needed though in an unregulated coaching industry.

More support is required for internal coaches: Coaching is a discipline, a complex practical skillset that requires hands-on experience, evaluation and refinement. A greater focus on developing internal coaching capacity is needed. Most organisations recognise the value of coaching qualifications. Two-thirds (66%) offer development options for coaches such as in-house training (20%), management development programmes (11%) or one-to-one train-the-trainer support (8%).

One third (34%), however, do not offer any support or development for internal coaches.

Broad consensus on the benefits of coaching: The benefits that are obtained are well recognised and varied. 95% of organisations believed coaching as a development tool benefited the organisation, and 96% believed it benefited the individual. A broad range of specific benefits were identified including improvements in communication and inter-personal skills, leadership and management, conflict resolution, personal confidence, attitudes and motivation, management performance as well as preparation for a new role or promotion.

Coaching is aimed at improving the individual rather than the organisation: At its best, coaching addresses personal skills and development, as well as business and work skills. More organisations use coaching for personal development (53%) than for improving specific areas of organisational performance (26%).  On an individual level, though, more organisations (95%) use coaching to focus on business and workplace skills, than personal skills (70%).

Not a remedial tool: Many organisations still view coaching as a tool for correcting poor performance. However, good coaching is about achieving a high performance culture, not managing a low-performance one and should not be seen as a primarily remedial tool.

Better measurement of coaching’s effectiveness is needed: While most organisations (93%) measure coaching outcomes, evaluation approaches are inconsistent. Some organisations simply use internal appraisal systems (70%) or 360 degree appraisal (40%), only two-fifths undertake ‘specific evaluation of coaching interventions’, while just under half (49%) assess against business KPIs and goals.

A coaching culture:  Organisations wishing to maximise the benefits of coaching, should focus on increasing its scope and availability to create a coaching culture that permeates throughout their workforce. This means that coaching must be supported at the very top of the organisation, but not limited to senior executives, and that organisations must devote resources to developing their internal coaching capability.

Often the simplest of things can prove the hardest to get right. Working abroad, on ship or on a Garrison with limited spending opportunities does not always prepare the resettling soldier to the world of financial transactions. Very often, these money things took care of themselves somehow.

Remember, while it can become stressful when moving intoCivvy Street, the basics of managing your money is exactly that; basic, straight forward and need not be a road to worry if the simple rules are followed.

Be proactive and make a plan or at the very least, be honest with yourself and any termination monies and savings you have. There are many Independent Financial Advisors out and about waiting to help. Most will in fact help. Some may have other motives but this is true of most work sectors. If you do indeed approach and IFA then have a plan and your budget worked out as best you can prior. In this way you will be better positioned to challenge the advice you receive and therefore become more confident in the things that you decided to accept and do.

Get into the habit of checking your bank account(s) regular and keep within any authorised overdraft. Most accounts you can check on line and they are secure. In this way you will see what you are spending on and any awkward trends that may be developing like the local pub and cash back to often or being flash in the retail stores, again, too often. There is such a thing as too many bargains.

It is only right that you use your hard earned cash to enjoy the new and different pressures and activities in your actual or pending second career, however, not at the expense of mortgage / rent default and utility bills. Your credit rating is important for long term financial security especially when you want to move from rental to purchase or the affordable loan for the wedding and honeymoon.

Finally, there are sources of help all around. Your future mortgage lender can help you with your income and expenditure calculations. They want your business after all. Citizen’s Advice will help in a calm and confidential manner and other Government sites exist to give factual and impartial advice pending your circumstances. Review the following list:-

www.citizensadvice.org.uk
www. Moneyadvicetrust.org

www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

You may not have had any assistance or need for any when serving. Money arrived into your account; rent was taken out before you even saw it and the standing order went to pay that essential item back home. It can still be that way but now you have to drive it.

Without question, the answer is yes. There is not a business owner, executive or professional alive who could not benefit substantially from business coaching. Every busy executive and business leader needs greater objectivity and accountability to help change his or her mindset and behaviors in order to earn more, work less and enjoy a more balanced and rich professional life.

For business leaders, there will be a general awareness of certain symptoms, issues and problems requiring help.

The warning signals are surely flashing and sounding the need for business coaching, but entrepreneurs and executives must slow down and face the truth to notice. However, they already know in their gut that something is “out of whack” in their business life that has thrown them off plan and off performance, including one or more of the following warning signs:

* Missing key performance targets and goals

* Making excuses, blaming others and justifying sub-par performance

* Missing critical priorities and key deadlines

* Being overwhelmed

* Lacking clarity of direction, goals and action plans

* Hearing comments that they seem “off their game” or “losing their passion”

* Inability to make changes in mindset and/or daily behaviors to help improve specific performance areas or professional capabilities

More important, business leaders must look at themselves on a personal level when analyzing the need for a business coach. Far too often, executives are so engulfed in their business that they become the “Chief Everything Officer” and lose perspective and balance. Trying to do it all costs them dearly, not only at work, but at home and with relationships. These personal warning signs include:

* Feeling overworked, overwhelmed or burnt out

* Working too many hours and lacking personal balance

* Failing to build close bonds with your spouse, kids, relatives and friends

* Taking work and problems home

* Experiencing large amounts of stress combined with low levels of fun

* Foregoing proper exercise, recreation or hobbies

* Changing mood, energy and engagement level with spouse

Making the Commitment

Recognizing that these professional and personal warning signs will keep business leaders from reaching their goals and earning substantially more money, the only remaining question business leaders need to ask themselves is: “Am I willing to take action now to change my situation for the better?” For those not willing to change, nothing in their business or life will change. While there is no doubt they need coaching, they must want coaching. Those who decide to take action and seek the assistance, guidance, objectivity and accountability of a coach can profit greatly.

As an outside and objective resource looking in, business coaches help business leaders realize that there’s generally a significant gap between where they are now and where they want to be. Most business coaches know that for business leaders to achieve a better future and close the performance gap, they need to face the truth about their current situation; get clarity about their future direction; develop a focused action plan to get there; and face ongoing accountability to keep them on track.                                              (D Murphy @ The Growth Coach)

It doesn’t matter at this juncture why your leaving the Services or why your now going to be 24/7 at home (you know what I mean) what matters is making the “transition” to civilian social as smooth and as rewarding as possible. There is huge support for your career transition and you should fully exploit this but Service leavers must also be aware that there is another form of transition pending.

When your away and have those special private moments when on deployment thinking about your loved ones it must make the final journey back to civvy street even more exciting and perhaps even more nervous. No harm in either.

While as a writer of this article I have never served and will never fully understand the pressurised environments that our fantastic armed forces have endured away from family, I have in my career spent hundreds of flights, and I exaggerate not, many flights travelling country to country daily (within Europe) to conduct my (Sales) duty. Perhaps there are some similarities as I too missed my special ones.

Children: – you can’t stop them growing up when away. Photographs don’t change, they do. Partners experience new things and new environments and they will need to share this with you. You, however, may be tired and don’t want reminders of being away.

Finance: – You ask everything of your partner when away, electricity, gas, community charge, school fees and the list is endless. Your back and perhaps you are the “bread winner”. It is hard for both to come to terms. Are you really expecting your partner to suddenly stop doing what they do to make a safe and homely environment just because you are around 24/7?

Honey I’m home: – Remember when you never to your partner anything “real” about what happened to you as you need to protect them. Well, easily done on sporadic communication channels and seconds on deployment. Now, however, you are (and I make no apology for this) 24/7 with them. Your wish has now come true and you experience the kids changing and growing and slowly get involved in the finances and decisions and the new social. It may now become harder to “protect” your loving partner from their wish to know and to help.

Lastly, your partner is a military partner, not a military person. They will have social or civilian friends who likewise will know your coming back and two things will happen; they will be happy for your partner and they will be curious. During my conducting CTW I always try to raise that civilians whom you join in a new career will likely want to know about you in a different manner than simply “new colleague”. You know what I mean, so, this is also likely to be the case with your partners trusted friends. Remember, I deliberately used “trusted friends” so they care.

It will be hard but is anything worthwhile ever easy? You have the CTP, you have a resettlement consultant you have your original friends and existing colleagues, and, you have your partner who only has one objective: your well being. Civilians can actually be very hard to get to grips but you are the highest trained and most professional Services so together this is actually a winning formula for a smooth transition.

You won’t let your Partner iron your shirts for deep down you know they won’t get the creases right.

You ignore all communication from the Kids unless it ends with “Roger that” and not OK Dad/Mum.

Corned beef suddenly tastes horrid.

You use the the phonetic alphabet instead of the normal to highlight post codes and risk sounding like a call centre worker.
 
Time is always in the 24 hour format to you.

Sunday afternoon trips to the Family pub for lunch involves (unnecessary) GPS, scanning the landscape for threats and sending the Partner in first as a decoy.
 
You constantly window stare but to gauge the length of your own hair not the shops products.

You throw “shapes” on the dance floor with your mates that resemble Patrol Hand signals.

You eat out too much as boil in the bag food has become too difficult.

Kelly’s Hero’s DVD (re) takes pride of place on the mantle place over the family portrait.

Ross Kemp’s webbing isn’t on correctly and you find yourself shouting orders to him from your comfortable seat.

You start to use your own internal “target acquisition” when you see attractive ladies on your local high street.

The first step is to assemble a group of people within your organization and, if possible, a few of your best customers.  This group should include those who understand the critical characteristics of the types of problems you solve and are able to understand the unique way in which your solution addresses those problems.

 Next, explore the six major focus areas required to arrive at a quality decision process. They include: thoroughly diagnosing the problem, determining the financial impact of the solution, establishing measurable outcomes, understanding solution alternatives, defining investment parameters and establishing the decision criteria.  In each of these areas ask the following questions to help prevent decision mistakes:

1. What types of mistakes do customers tend to make while making this kind of decision?
   Make sure the decision process avoids these mistakes.
2. What do customers most frequently overlook or not consider?
   Make sure the decision process brings these elements into consideration.
3. What are the most difficult things for a customer to understand?
   Determine ways to communicate these elements precisely.
4. What must a customer understand to reach a fully informed decision?
   Make sure the decision process brings these to the customer in an orderly fashion.
5. What level of professional education or experience is required to understand each specialty area of the decision?

Make sure you engage people in the decision process that have the required experience or professional background.

If you observe and model what the top 10% of professional salespeople are doing, you will find this approach is the norm, not the exception.  Top-performing sales professionals are guiding their customers through a high quality decision process.

You will find qualified opportunities sooner and spend less time and money on the “resource drains.” You will also find your cost of sales dropping and your sales revenues and proposal to sales ratios increasing. The end results are very profitable sales and completely satisfied customers. (J Thull Prime Resource Group)

The following are twenty questions to ask yourself when it comes to your business, its growth and success.

1.    Are you undercapitalized?
Check, or do, your company budget and projections now! Be realistic, even conservative or you will run the risk of running out of operating capital before your dream has run its course. You either have the money, have the means to get the money, or you shouldn’t be in business. Buying your self a job rather than securing a career and a solid investment is all too common. The entrepreneur who struggles to make ends meet year after year can attest to that. Don’t spend all your money on fancy offices, stores and surroundings only to find that there’s no money left to operate. You’re better off having the money to get things done rather than being done because you misspent what you had and then found yourself under funded.

2.    Do you have written short and long-term goals?
Both business and personal goals are very important. They should intertwine. Take the time to write out your personal and business goals by month, ninety-days, six month, one year, five years and so on. If you don’t have a destination and a map, it’s tough to get there. We hear the call for goal setting so often that it almost becomes trite. However it works. Most successful businesses and individuals are very succinct in where, how, and when they want to get to their goals. The best way to keep a record of your progress is by writing your objectives down.

3.    Do you know your strengths and weaknesses?
Ask your self, “Who am I?” Are you an entrepreneur, technician, manager or artist? Do you know if you have a behavioural type that likes to get the task completed no matter what or perhaps you’re someone who enjoys mixing with all kinds of people? Maybe you would rather keep things on an even keel and be “steady as she goes” or you’re one of those detail people who likes to make sure every thing is perfect. Do you know why you do things? What moves you into action, is it the quest for a nice return on your investment, fame, the need to help people, the desire to make things more beautiful? Maybe you’re looking for power and advancement or on a quest for truth and knowledge. All these factors enter into your strengths and weaknesses. For instance, if you’re a detail person, who wants a nice investment return, and not a mixer, don’t put yourself into a sales role if you can help it. You would be better off finding someone else to do that function while you go of to figure out the books and inventory. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and admitting them can save you a lot of problems and make you very successful.

4.    Do you have a plan and method for expansion?
Know where you want to go, grow and how you’re going to do it. Understand the physical, geographical, competitive and staffing parameters. Realize what got you to where you are and then be totally realistic about your expansion. Do a complete analysis of your physical (plant, stores, transportation vehicles, equipment, etc.) capabilities and the pressure expansion will put on them. And can you afford it? Look at the area you serve currently and the new areas you want to serve. Will you be able to do it efficiently and effectively without jeopardizing your existing business? Does the new market need what you are selling and/or is it already served, even over served, by your competition? Do you have the staff to substantiate expansion and/or will you be able to get additional qualified people to support it? Or will you be overtaxing your existing staff?

5.    Do you have a strategic plan?
Understand your competition, your customer base, your niche, the market, how you interface with the economy and what it means to your growth. Do the research, find developmental help and make sure your data is kept up to date. All the facts you need are out there. And much of it is in your own files! Have a method for retrieving it easily. The strategic plan your business needs is not a static document. On the contrary it’s a living document that has to be updated in a scheduled manner. Make sure all those whose input is needed have time to review it and make changes before the next strategic meeting. If you’re business is you and only you have a “meeting with yourself” about your strategic plan and take it seriously. Believe me your competition is.

6.    Do you keep abreast of your industry, market and technology?
Read industry and business publications and websites to find out what’s new and happening in your industry. It better to know what’s changing BEFORE it hit’s the market than to be left trying to catch up. Find out as much as you can about E-commerce and the internet and how it is or will be affecting your business. Go to trade shows. Make sure you join the appropriate industry associations. Become an integral put of your industry.

7.    Do you manage your schedule well?
Not time management. You can’t manage time it’s going to pass no matter what you do. You can only manage your schedule. Do you know how to prioritize to maximize your schedule? Can you realistically look at the tasks at hand and categorize them into urgent, important and routine bins, both literally and figuratively. Do you keep a daily planner with you at all times during your business day? Do you make sure that you leave enough time between meetings? Are you cognizant of the geographic distances between sales calls or meetings? Are you aware of your peak performance times of the day and schedule accordingly? It’s no joke when people ask if you’re a morning person or afternoon person. Some people are better at one type of task in the morning and another type later in the day. Do you leave yourself enough time to prepare for meetings, sales calls, projects, etc.? Do you manage your schedule so that you have time to relax? Poor schedule management can quickly lead to burnout.

8.    Are you able to delegate?
It’s the only way to really grow. It enables you to work on your business as opposed to in your business. The person who can’t delegate will always be stuck in a dead end job, even if they own the company. Thinking that you have to do everything will mean that you WILL do everything? What good is that? No one should do it all. Remember the strengths and weaknesses we discussed earlier? If you’re doing something that you’re not proficient at because you can’t delegate, who gains? Not the business, not you and not the other people in the company. Even if you are good at what you do, how are you going to advance if you can’t teach those around you so that you can move up the latter?

You should periodically review your goals and objectives so that you clearly understand how delegating will enable you to reach your desired outcome. Being able to delegate, with the understanding that those you delegate to may make mistakes just like you did. Delegation has another long-term benefit besides growth for both you and the person you delegate to, and that is a more stress free environment and life.

9.    Do you believe in yourself and your dream?
If you really, really don’t believe that this is your dream get out. Your dream gives you the intestinal fortitude to keep going. If you view your business as a nightmare than wake up and walk away. Business should be about dreams, hope, fun and ultimately contentment. Too often business brings on stress, anxiety, resentment, and countless other negative thoughts and feelings. Why put up with them? There’s too much opportunity for the good things in life out there in the business world to let your self be taken down by the negatives. Look realistically at what your business career is costing in the commodities that money can’t buy health, contentment, happiness and love. If your life is being robbed buy a career gone bad think seriously about your options and do something about it.

10.    Do you have one customer who is so large that if they leave so does your business?
This happens so much in business it’s pathetic. Before you know it, that one customer owns you. You meet their demands or you’re finished. Even if you do meet their demands you could be finished. Being a slave to a customer so large that you must immediately react to their every whim can be heavily detrimental to you and your business. Your business will suffer because it won’t be able to cater properly to those other customers that could mean additional growth and less dependency. Knowing how to balance your customer base is a hidden secret of most really successful businesses. If one customer leaves it shouldn’t mean the end of your business, just an opportunity to find another customer or two. (D Goldberg)

Is there anything you can do to prevent this? Of course. Here are four proven strategies that will help you prevent your hard-earned business from disappearing into the hands of price cutting competition.

Strategy One: Deepen your personal relationships with the key decision makers.

It is really difficult, though not impossible, for your friends to take the business away from you. So, turn the key decision makers into your friends.

Don’t rely just on the business aspect of your relationship, no matter how sound, to see you through. Make it a point to develop personal relationships with the key people. Try to spend time with them socially. Take them to a ball game, a concert, golfing or fishing. Spend one-on-one time with them outside of the work environment. Arrange to have them meet your spouse and family. Get to know them more deeply than you would normally.

These efforts to turn them from business acquaintances to personal friends is almost never wasted. As the relationship grows, the natural tendency to keep doing business with you grows proportionately.

Strategy Number Two: Close any open doors that may exist in the account.

When I’m coaching salespeople on how to get their foot in the door of an account that is in the hands of the competition, I have them look for open doors. “Open doors” are lingering issues that make you, the established vendor, vulnerable to the competition, and that are within your capability to close.

When you are on the inside, trying to protect your business, you need to make sure that there are no open doors for your competitors. For example, you may have a pile of returns that are sitting on the account’s shipping dock, waiting for a return authorization from you. It may not be a big deal to you, but from the perspective of a competitor salesperson, it may be an example of your lack of attention to that account. And that can be a little opening into which a competitor can wedge themselves.

Make sure you take care of any lingering service-type issues that could serve as opening for the competition. Lingering invoice problems ignored back orders, promises made that haven’t been kept – all these are potential open doors for your competition. Clean them up.

Another open door has to do with your keeping the account up to date on the latest products and services. Ensure that the account is aware of all the product updates and innovations for the things you are supplying. For example, the account may have bought some machines from you. In the last six months, the machine maker has introduced some updates to get greater productivity out of those machines.

You make sure that you have communicated that option to your key contacts. That prevents the competition from being the source of information about something that you should have communicated to your customer. If that happens, it makes you look bad, and opens the door for the competitor.

The largest open door, however, is pricing. If this is a good account, they probably have been doing business with you for a while. And, since they have been doing business for a few years, it’s entirely possible that you have allowed the prices on some products to rise above market levels. In fact, it may be that you are getting significantly higher than market prices on several products. That can be an open door if your competition decides to attack it. You may be better served in the long run to discretely and strategically lower your prices on those items that are head and shoulders above market rates.

Strategy Number Three: Hold regular “business reviews.”

Gather all the computer printouts your IT person can produce for this account.

Put them inside a three ring binder. Make a cover with the account’s name and logo on the front. Then, schedule a meeting with your key contact and his/her boss, yourself and your manager. Go through all the reports, describing your service levels, how many SKUs they are buying from you compared to last year, their payment history, etc.

Then, all four of you go out to lunch together.

This regular (at least twice a year) business review establishes you in the minds of your customer as a cut above just another vendor. You are willing to measure and disclose your performance, and to talk frankly about the business relationship. You become more of a consultant in the eyes of the customer. That’s certainly worth a few percentage points. Strategy Number Four: Bundle it up.

Your good account is probably buying multiple products from you. Probably, over the years, each of those products has been evaluated and selected on its own basis, without regard to other things that the account is buying from you. Now is the time to change that. (D Kahle The Growth Coach)

We aim to reproduce the most frequently asked questions, along with Keith’s responses and advice, in future editions of Quest and on our website, to help other readers searching for the same information. All communication will be treated in the strictest confidence and confidentiality is assured.

On the Despatches pages of the September edition of Quest, we offered you some examples, to give you a flavour of the sort of things that you might like to ask. You can access these via our website by clicking on ‘Back issues’, under the subhead ‘Publications’ on our home page, and then selecting the September edition.

About Keith

Keith has been managing large sales and marketing teams for major organisations for over 25 years. In this time he has gained a wealth of knowledge on how best to manage people in order to maximise their success. Now running his own coaching business and recently qualified as an NLP Practitioner coach, he is also an Associate with the CTP, assisting Service leavers into a second career. Send him your questions at askus@questonline.co.uk, or visit his website at: www.ktaluk.com.

Its intention is, above all, to urge you to remember that, as you embark on your new civilian life and career, the skills and attributes you have gained in uniform can help you to reap great benefits in your professional and personal life. As WO1 (ASM) Phil Harley states in this month’s rail case study (page 40), ‘I can honestly say that I believe the vast majority of training I received in the Army has been useful in civilian life, be it professional qualifications, the ability to make decisions, bring order from chaos and plan for any eventuality, even to knowing that skin’s waterproof when I’m standing in the rain on some platform! The robustness of personality that the Army has given me has stood me in good stead; the ability that all soldiers develop to “roll with the punches” is invaluable whether you’re in a trench or on an escalator.’

He also told Quest that, ‘at the most basic level, engineering is engineering and it doesn’t matter whether a nut or bolt has worked loose on a machine gun or an escalator – either way it’s going to cause trouble! So the differences in equipment, locale and paint jobs aside, my core business has not really changed very much. Similarly, I am constantly dealing with people and have to adopt different leadership styles to get the best out of them, exactly as I did when wearing a green baggy skin.’

Indeed, it was even confirmed in recent research published by Virgin Media Business that companies really do prize a ‘can do’ attitude – and that’s one of the very things with which your time in the Forces is likely to have equipped you. The Virgin survey reported that ‘A “can do” attitude as well as soft skills are the most important attributes employers look for when recruiting new workers.’ It also found that a ‘can do’ attitude was considered ‘most important’ for 85% of the businesses that responded, while academic and professional qualifications were cited as ‘most important’ for 27% and 28%, respectively.

True, a determination to succeed is also required, but the good news is that, as Phil highlights, almost everyone in the Armed Forces has the necessary character to achieve whatever they set out to.

However, surprisingly few link this to their inevitable future – working as a civilian. As emphasised above, they have the personal qualities, skills, training, experience, education and opportunities for personal development – however, they also need to make the necessary personal choices and be prepared to carry them out. As Phil’s experience underlines, they need to have confidence in their abilities, and the value of these to future civilian employers – and, despite the findings of the survey reported above, it is still the case that these should, ideally, be enhanced by the addition of well-targeted qualifications that are likely to prove useful and relevant.

Whether we like it or not, and despite what some business surveys may find, qualifications are more important than ever. To get ahead in life, the vast majority of us have to work for qualifications, and work hard. This cannot be achieved overnight – it takes time to build knowledge. Those who do not put in the effort are not going to achieve the results.

Many civilians have just as many distractions, and much less help than their Service counterparts. They generally pay for their own learning, conduct their own research, study in their own time, and have nothing like the same in-house training and facilities as Service people. A very few high fliers may be sent on top-level management courses, but that is about it. Few people in the Forces seem to understand just how fortunate they are in comparison to their contemporaries. So, remember that, although you are highly likely to have the necessary personal and practical skills to succeed in civilian life, at the same time remember too that these are best backed up with relevant and transferable qualifications – you need to give yourself every advantage possible in an increasingly competitive jobs market.

In whatever field you are seeking employment, we hope that Quest can offer you a few tips. This month’s edition takes a look at a number of different career options. Close protection is a popular choice with our readers, while, as noted above, we also cover opportunities in the rail industry. Perhaps some Service leavers are more suited to a future in health and safety than they may realise, and a career in the maritime and marine sector could be a natural progression, particularly for those leaving the Royal Navy. Turning our attention to education, a huge number of qualifications can be gained, at least in part, through distance learning – a method of study that is undeniably useful to Service people, for whom taking courses and gaining qualifications might otherwise prove a difficult proposition. We take a look at what this involves and the benefits it is likely to hold for you. Our final piece – on the electrical and electronic engineering sector – also emphasises that there continue to be opportunities available in every part of the economy for skilled and qualified people.

And don’t forget that in-depth articles on all the career areas covered by Quest during the course of the year are always available on our website: visit www.questonline.co.uk and click on ‘Careers A–Z’ for the full list.

Jobs may be harder to find at present, but many employers are also finding it hard to recruit the right employees. The more you strive to make a good transition and, above all, remember the value and importance of your transferable skills, the more likely you are to set the civilian employment landscape aglow like a firework, rather than languish in job-seeking limbo, failing to set the world alight …(Questonline)

Start with the sales managers.

If you want to do something to improve your sales force, the best application of limited funds is to invest in the sales managers.

It’s the sales managers who have the greatest opportunity to help sales people unleash their potential. Because of their daily high touch interaction with the sales force and the market, sales managers have the levers to ratchet up sales performance in the entire team. If you can educate a sales manager in the best practices of his position, and if he then implements the principles, practices and disciplines of professional sales management, you can see an immediate, measurable and long-lasting improvement in the performance of the sales team.

While most people intuitively understand the link between effective sales management and improved sales results, research in the last few years has confirmed it. For example, a study by Wilson Learning Worldwide, Inc. concluded that sales teams under the oversight of a highly skilled sales manager produced “29% higher revenue, 47% higher employee satisfaction, and 16% higher customer satisfaction.”

Unfortunately, of all the job titles and positions in a typical B2B sales force, the first line sales managers are the least trained for their positions. Most have never been educated in the best practices of effective sales management. As a result they default to the habits and practices they saw when they were sales people. They mimic the models of the sales managers for which they worked. Alas, most of their models were also never educated in effective sales management.

As a result, sales management practices vary from one extreme to another, depending on the individual manager’s vision of himself. There is a continuum from micromanager on one extreme to non-manager at the other. Some see themselves as super sales people – the most competent of all the sales people, and the one who needs to go with the sales people to close big accounts, and smooth flustered relationships. Others become administrators, busying themselves with reports, meetings and a continuous stream of clerical functions.

Some identify with the sales people, and wouldn’t think of impinging on anyone’s style or system of work. Others see themselves as executives who don’t really have time for the nitty gritty of joint sales calls.

Still others, suffering from a lack of a clear vision as to what their role could be, default to a reactive style of management, where their time is directed to the most compelling of the countless number of issues that cry for today’s attention.

The costs to the company can be huge. Morale is not what it could be, and that impacts almost every transaction and relationship for the sales team. Sales people turn over more rapidly, causing a whole series of unnecessary costs. Marginal sales people continue in roles for which they aren’t suited, resulting in lost sales and disgruntled customers. Unfocused sales people default to reactive sales styles, dissipating sales efforts. (D Kahle The Growth Coach)

Although so-called ‘nice girls’ also receive thinner pay packets, the earnings gap between ‘agreeable’ and ‘disagreeable’ in men emerged as much more marked. Or, as delegates at theAcademyofManagementwere told, on being presented with the findings, ‘disagreeable guys simply leave agreeable ones in the dust’. So whereas agreeable women are £1,115 worse off than their more challenging peers each year, men are down approximately £6,000 over the same period, the study found.

Based on data taken over 20 years in multiple surveys, the findings show that ‘agreeable’ ‘warm’ ‘friendly’ or even ‘helpful’ types earn ‘significantly less’, particularly if they are male. (Questonline)

When it comes to making a major purchase, buyers’ decisions are influenced by numerous factors, many of which are not obvious. Key among these factors are the prospects

1. Personal Agenda (what’s in it for me?) – This is driven more by emotion than logic
2. Dominant Buying Value – Am I the kind of person who’s always looking for an opportunity to gain something, or am I the kind of person who’s driven by fear of losing something, and am always looking for ways to play it safe?
3. Motivational Trigger – What’s my hot button? Money? Convenience? Comfort? Security? To what personal desire do you have to appeal in order to get me in your corner?
4. Buying Style – Do I need to feel in control, or do I want and need guidance? Do I need to see all the details, or do details bore and irritate me? Does I view the transaction as a confrontation, or as collaboration? Am I a maverick who likes to strike out on my own, or do I prefer consensus and the comfort of the crowd?
5. Concerns and Worries (sometimes expressed, but more often not) – What’s keeping me from making this decision, even though a compelling case has been made that it’s the right one?

Awareness of these factors, together with your skill at determining which are in play, and how, will increase your odds of connecting with each person on the prospect’s buying team, winning them over, and closing the business. (C James Sales Solutions)

1. Self-assess. Ask yourself, “What skills do I need to get where I want to go?”
2. Identify your learning goals. Put them in writing.
3. Decide together how the mentoring relationship will work – frequency and type of contact.
4. Commit the time. Don’t give up if the chemistry doesn’t feel right at the first meeting. Meet a minimum of once per month. Touch base regularly – by e-mail, phone, in person.
5. Take time to build trust and communication. Get to know each other on a personal level. Discuss your backgrounds, interests, career histories, and perspectives of your organizations.
6. Keep confidences. Nothing kills trust in a mentoring relationship faster than a breach of confidence.
7. Be sensitive to cultural and gender differences. Do a little homework. And listen.
8. Understand and plan for the phases of a mentoring relationship. Build in time for evaluation and closure.
9. This is about learning, whether you’re a protégé or a mentor. Keep a journal.

You don’t need a single mentor who you keep throughout your career. What you need is a mind-set that allows you to learn from those around you, no matter who they are. To get ahead, create your own multitalented “board of advisors”.