Four ways to get out of your comfort zone and be the catalyst to growth
Questas’ Gary Williams writes in the RICS Recruit Blog about how to develop confidence in technical staff who are required to “sell”.
Gary is an expert Business Development Consultant and Executive Coach and works with leading professional firms in the built and natural environment, helping them build client relationships and win more work.
Do sales or networking meetings petrify you?
If the idea of sales meetings, networking events and large-scale presentations terrify you, you are certainly not alone. For many technical experts in the surveying industry these activities are daunting, but nowadays, they are very much a requirement for a successful surveying career. So, it’s time to get prepared.
Move out of your comfort zone to grow
Imagine the good things that happen when technical experts overcome their fears and release their inner sales and networking abilities. It’s possible for anyone to do this, you just need to know how, and do it!
In this article we examine the benefits of leaving your comfort zone and take a look at how ‘unnatural salespeople’ can nurture their skills and develop confidence. Push past those self-imposed boundaries and you become better placed to contribute to the growth of the organisation you work for and increase your value – and employability – in the market…
Click to the RICS article to read more, and discover proven methods and easy to implement actions to help you with:
Presentations/Public speaking
Networking
Sales meetings
Cross-selling
Inform, investigate and inpsire… yourself!
We have a model called the 3is – Inform, Investigate, Inspire; which is useful when preparing for a sales meeting.
But you can use it equally when it comes to moving out of your own comfort zone. It’s time to take that disciplined approach to yourself. Start by identifying your own strengths and weaknesses first.
Online tools such as www.strengthsprofile.com enable you to build a profile that identifies your realised and unrealised strengths, learned behaviours and weaknesses. Once you have uncovered the areas you need to improve on, you can take a focused approach to training, coaching or mentoring, or just look for the right self-help books or online videos.
Our training is bespoke to each client – see our approach and how we can help your business grow.
Structuring online BD Conversations
As a technical person taking on the BD or sales role may feel unnatural. This will help you structure conversations to make them more comfortable and effective.
Try our Espresso Shot Learning – Our 30 min live webinar to give your team the key points and latest thinking in Business Development and Client Relationship Management.
There has to be added value for the client to buy additional services from you. If they already buy that second service from an alternative provider, you must clearly ’sell’ the benefit of them buying both services from you.
Course overview
By recognising your own company’s wider business capabilities this course allows you to explore more opportunity to offer these services into your clients.
There are many reasons why cross selling is harder than we think it should be. Our research has shown the same barriers exist in many organisations. We shine the light on each of these and offer solutions as to how to overcome them.
Who’s it for?
Anyone responsible for retaining and building upon existing client relationships, whether to uncover new opportunities or deliver existing projects. This course aligns well with ‘Client Relationship Skills’.
Course format
Face to face: A half-day workshop for up to 12 people. Based on research, this is highly practical session where we design scenarios for participants to practice.
E-learning: A 30 minute ‘plug and play’ course designed for those new to cross-selling.
Live Virtual Classroom: A 2 hr practical workshop covering the dos and don’ts of cross selling along with an opportunity to uncover the cross-selling opportunities in a case study.
Outcomes
Participants will be able to adopt a more strategic approach to addressing clients’ requirements. Delegates will be equipped to look for ways to help their clients grow while offering opportunities to win work for their own business.
Doing an excellent job is a first step to winning more work, but it’s not enough. We need to be proactive in building relationships, understanding our clients and their objectives, and positioning ourselves as trusted advisers. Our Client Relationship Skills course provides tools and skills that will strenthen and broaden client relationships.
Do you dread negotiations?
Negotations are often seen in terms of winners and losers, but this approach is likely put us on the back foot. Actually the first step to successful negoation is always communication to help both parties feel like winners. Our Negotiation Skills course provides the tools and tips to help you find a position of mutual acceptance with your clients (and colleagues).
Free consultation
Have questions for us? Get your team started today and gain a new competitive advantage.
Everything is negotiable. Whether or not the negotiation is easy is another matter, but the first step is always communication.
Course overview
This course is designed to take you through the theory and practice of ‘Principled Negotiation’. It provides the tools and tips to allow you to separate people from the problem, evaluate options and find a position of mutual acceptance to achieve the win/win with your clients (and colleagues!)
Who’s it for?
Anyone who is involved in internal or external negotiations, particularly in final stages of securing bids and contracts. It is also very useful for those situations where clients are trying to push the boundaries of the contract – commonly known as ‘scope creep’.
Course format
Face to face: A one-day workshop for up to 12 people. This course includes hands-on techniques, working through theory and practical exercises.
Live Virtual Classroom: A 2 hour workshop designed to teach participants the fundamentals of negotiating, The difference between Positions & Interests, where the ZOPA (zone of potential agreement) is and how to ensure a win/win outcome.
Outcomes
This course will leave the participant equipped with:
a variety of negotiation styles and the know-how of when to use them
the methodology to frame your negotiation
the skill to identify your acceptance zone
the ability to manage conflict through to resolution.
Couple with this the ability to think creatively to provide options that focus on the interests of all parties. Finally, delegates will be able to find a mutually satisfactory outcome that helps the client relationship remain strong.
Content Outline
Defining negotiation – what is ‘Principled Negotiation’
Negotiation styles – qualities of a great negotiator
Know your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) and understand your ‘walk-away’ before you start
How do you handle the ‘bad news’ conversations with your clients? Could you do better? We all have to deal with tricky topics such as ‘scope creep’, project delays or unexpected costs. The course ‘Difficult Client Conversations‘ is designed to equip project managers, directors and other staff who need to handle awkard situations with valued clients.
Take what you’ve learnt and use it!
Research suggests that 80% of sales training is lost within 180 days. We also know that it takes at least six weeks to start embedding new behaviours as habits. So how do you maximise your training investment? One great way is one-to-one coaching.
“One-to-one coaching helped me overcome some of the barriers I faced as a technically minded person. I am now much more confident with clients.” Technical Director, RPS.
Free consultation
Have questions for us? Get your team started today and gain a new competitive advantage.
Presenting, especially a pitch, can be a very pressured situation and it is normal to feel anxious. Learning visualisation skills to cope with ‘what if’ scenarios leaves headspace to generate a successful outcome.
Course overview
The focus of this professional development is learning practical skills to deliver excellent presentations and pitches.We look at preparation, both in terms of structure and approach to a pitch, and the practice and visualisation activities to mentally prepare for it.
In this course we challenge our participants at times to operate outside of their comfort zones. This allows us to provide the strategies and tools to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety that so many of us come up against when we are asked to speak publicly.
Who’s it for?
This course is for anyone with a remit to present internally and/or externally. Clients are encouraged to bring along real life scenarios to work through.
Course format
Face to face: a highly practical one-day workshop. Participants will present to a group at least twice in the day and be filmed.
Live Virtual Classroom: A 2-hour workshop. Using the medium we develop online presentation skills. This will include how to prepare and set up the environment, how to create impact, engage the audience and make it memorable!
Outcomes
Present with greater confidence and professionalism.
Learn to plan and structure presentations.
Be clear when pitching, ensuring emphasis on key messages.
Keep an audience engaged.
Content Outline
Who is your audience, what are their expectations?
How to engage your audience
Making it memorable – key messages, unique elements, clear calls to action
Presentation format and structure
Speaking with confidence, controlling your nerves
Body language, gestures, vocal tone and pitch
“It was great to see everyone engaged all the way through and I noted the calibration to our needs during the day.”
Director, RPS
“Great day! Really fun and innovative way to beat the fear of presenting to an audience.”
We help technical people feel comfortable with the idea of selling – demonstrating that it is not some sort of ‘dark art’ – which can make a radical change to the dialogue they have with existing and potential clients.
Course overview
Our sales training has been developed over years into an approach designed for both natural and ‘unnatural’ salespeople. We have a tried and tested structure which will help participants become more effective at professional sales conversations. Participants practice different tasks to build their skill sets, from listening techniques and questioning skills to building trust and gaining the client’s commitment.
Who’s it for?
This professional development is designed for anyone responsible for building client relationships, uncovering new opportunities and converting them into fee paying work.
Ideally suited for: Consulting Engineers, Planners, Lawyers, Architects, Environmental Consultants, Cost Consultants and all those who encounter sales conversations in this sector.
Course format
Face to face: A full day workshop aimed at groups of 9 – 15 participants and involves a mixture of theory (our coveted 3i model) and exercises designed to develop consultative selling skills. There is an emphasis on skills practice, and we often use actors to play clients in sales meeting simulations.
Live virtual classroom: Ideal for up to 12 participants, this is a 2 hour session aimed at learning the Questas 3i Model structure and components.
Outcomes
The course is designed to resonate with technically minded individuals and ‘unnatural’ salespeople to develop skills and build confidence.
Having completed the session, our participants tell us they have more face-to-face business development discussions and those conversations are more effective, leading to a greater number of opportunities and improved win-rates.
“I found the day to be really useful. In particular, the realisation that active listening is a true art.”
“I found the day to be really useful, informative and well delivered. In particular, a realisation that there’s a little of ‘Tigger’ in all of us and that listening really is a true art.”
Does Business Development slip to the bottom of your to-do list?
Our clients often tell us that they struggle to find the time and resources for strategic and planned Business Development activity. Our Business Development Planning course can help you apply tried and tested strategies and tactics to help you unlock more opportunities and win more – and better – work.
Become confident when presenting or pitching
Our Presentation and Pitching training course is the natural next step for engineering and technically minded professionals who are engaged in internal or external pitching to sell a service or opportunity. In this training learners will use real-life simulations to practise presenting and overcome common pitching anxiety.
Free consultation
Have questions for us? Get your team started today and gain a new competitive advantage.
Six ways to use EQ – or Emotional Intelligence – to win more work
In this RICS article, Gary Williams of Questas, discusses EQ, or Emotional Intelligence, and how it can help you get the edge over your competitors.
Embrace the human side of business relationships and you will be more confident with clients, more effective with sales and – quite probably – more content in yourself.
Now, more than ever, EQ is an essential ‘tool’ to have in the bag, espeically if you see yourself as an introverted, analytical and detailed person, like many surveyors and engineers.
We are a business development consultancy which is passionate about helping our clients develop processes, skills and behaviours that will result in increased sales and improved margins.
CONVERT
Selling skills
‘Selling’ can be a dirty word for some of our clients, but without the ability to sell we will struggle to be successful. Our sales training has been developed over years into an approach designed for our technically-minded clients. Courses include presentation and pitching, sales conversations and negotiation skills.
Bids & tenders
Learning how to write a winning bid is one of the most important business skills you can acquire. The layout, language and style you use may make the difference between a successful bid and one that comes close. See Courses
RETAIN
Client management
Existing clients pay your wages. Proactive client management ensures that you deliver services on time and on budget while meeting their expectations and nurturing a positive working relationship.
Client development
Delivering projects well is the first step in developing further opportunities, but it’s not enough. We need be proactive in building relationships, understanding our clients and their objectives, and positioning ourselves as trusted advisers.
Raising up leaders
Questas offers both one-to-one coaching and leadership training courses. This both embeds newly learned skills and establishes a culture of strong, skilled leadership. See Courses
CREATE
Reputation
According to research, your reputation – and that of your organisation – is the most important factor for clients when choosing who to consider for projects.
Relationships
People matter. It’s people (in most cases!) who make decisions. A strong network of relationships with clients, influencers and referrers will go a long way to helping you create opportunities for work. See Courses
