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Q. I have recently started my own business but I don’t have much experience with selling, are there any techniques I should learn?

A. The first thing about being successful at sales is to have the right attitude. Forget the old, hard image of sales. Modern selling is consultative, says Edward Dulson, Managing Director of Blue Triangle Coaching, a business coaching service. “You’re almost like a doctor who is listening to a patient and then prescribing the right medicine. Rather than cold calling, you are selling your professional services to someone who needs them.” The best way to find business is through referrals, says Mark Brewerton, Managing Director of consultancy Total Marketing Solutions. “Don’t be frightened to ask for a recommendation. Make a list of all the people you know or have worked with who could refer you to someone else. Dedicate some time to this and don’t let potential connections pass you by.” Otherwise, you might target your previous clients’ peers or competitors. “If you are working for Goldman Sachs then it might be worth targeting Morgan Stanley or another investment bank. They might trust you more if you have worked for a competitor they respect, it can help open doors,” Brewerton says.

Q. I have a meeting with a potential client, are there any tips for making the most of the meeting?

A. “At the end of the day people don’t like being sold anything,” says Dulson. “The archetypal sales person talks at a client and that turns people off.” Dulson recommends that you observe the 80/20 rule: “This means that you spend 80 per cent of the meeting listening to the client and 20 per cent talking to them.” Dulson says that after a brief introduction start asking the client questions about their business: what they do, how they do it, what they want to change and why. “Make sure you ask very open questions. This way you will get the most information from the client and uncover what their actual needs are.” It might seem that listening for 80 per cent of the conversation is too long, but if you are really listening then it’s time well spent: “Prove to them that you understand what they are saying. This means commenting on their answers and zooming in on what their needs really are.” The golden rule, says Brewerton, is to not over-stretch yourself: “Don’t ever make false promises about things that you know you can’t deliver, that is the worst impression that you can leave with a client.”

Q. Can I use the internet as a marketing tool?

A. The internet can be a very powerful sales and marketing tool, however its usefulness depends on who you are trying to target. If you are trying to reach senior and top level executives then you can forget traditional marketing methods, the only way to do that is networking. However, if you want to use the web as a successful way to generate enquiries about your business then you need to make sure that your website is easy to use, has all the correct contact numbers very clearly on the site and succinctly gets across the message of what you can offer. It’s also worth thinking about search engine optimisation. This piece of internet jargon actually refers to how close to the top your company comes in online search results. “To make sure that your website comes up first then you need to have certain key words on your site. This can generate lots of business and it’s relatively simple to do,” says Brewerton. Also, make sure that you are on sites like LinkedIn. Everybody is interconnected these days and you can’t overlook any opportunity to make contacts.

Cognitive Behavioural Coaching, by Edward Dulson

Cognitive behavioural coaching is a well established executive coaching approach and here we’ll look at what it is, how it works and why it is effective.

There are many coaching approaches aimed at achieving long-term behavioural change and more consistently getting the results we want. Cognitive behavioural coaching is one of the more powerful techniques we use at Blue Triangle Coaching – Executive Coaching London.

An optimist looks at half a glass of water and says, “It’s half full”. A pessimist says, “It’s half empty”. More often than not, our behavior is influenced by our own subjective interpretation of the various situations we encounter. Simply put, how we think about things can and will ultimately dictate our actions and the results we get.

“Whether you say you can’t or you can, you’re right.” – Walt Disney -

In the workplace, positive thinkers tend to perform better and achieve more than negative thinkers. The rationale is simple: if a person is unsure that he or she can succeed in a particular task, then it is most probable that the effort he or she would expend into reaching their objective would be less and the probability of achieving the result reduced.

The good news is that we can actually do something in order to challenge and modify some of our less helpful perspectives, let go of discouraging thoughts, and develop a winning attitude towards our work challenges, relationships, career, and life situations in general.

There are various coaching approaches, which aim to facilitate changes in an individual’s habits, attitudes, behaviour, and eventually lead the way for positive development and personal growth. One well recognized approach is cognitive behavioral coaching. It is one of the most effective, well researched and extensively practiced forms of coaching in business and industry today.

What is cognitive behavioural coaching?

Derived from cognitive behavioural therapy, (Beck, 1976; Ellis, 1994), one of the most recognized and well researched form of therapy. Cognitive behavioural coaching operates upon the idea that people’s responses are determined by how they perceive a situation, not by the actual situation itself. Therefore, by actively re-assessing existing unproductive views towards situations, and then trying out various alternative outlooks that are more productive, a person may be better able to cope with challenges. Instead of letting emotions rule and drive our reactions, a systematic and more productive mode of thinking is developed and employed.

How does cognitive behavioural coaching work?

Cognitive behavioural coaching makes use of a process of questioning and guided discovery. The goal here is to assist the client in gaining insight into their own thought processes in order to give them a clearer idea of how their thinking actually affects the way they feel and act towards situations.

The coach asks questions to trigger the client’s critical thinking and eventually promote better self-awareness. Once the client is aware of the irrational ideas that may have been hampering his or her self-growth, then the coach guides the person towards challenging some of their less productive beliefs and assumptions. A change in outlook will eventually lead to positive behavioral change and more desirable results.

In a recent coaching client example, the client had just been promoted to the board and was not coming across as well as he could in the board meetings. Before the meetings he was thinking, “I am not sure if I am really board level material.”, he would then enter the meetings feeling a little bit apprehensive. During the meetings he would, listen to other members making their point and say to himself, “Look she is much more authoritative than I am.” Surprise, surprise when it came to his time to speak, he came across a little nervous and didn’t get the buy-in from his peers that he needed.

In our coaching we used a cognitive behavioural approach to help him recognize and challenge some of his limiting beliefs and thoughts and replace them with some more constructive ones. Such as, “I am board material and equal to my peers.” The next time he was speaking at the board meeting he felt a lot more confident and went on to deliver his points in a much more convincing way.

Why is cognitive behavioral coaching effective?

This method of coaching empowers individuals to help themselves in future situations without the aid of their coach, thus reducing their dependence on the coach. By teaching them practical skills in overcoming challenges through rational thinking and careful deliberation of consequences, clients who have undergone cognitive behavioral coaching are able to come up with better ways of approaching their challenges and more consistently achieve the results they desire.

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for life.” – Lao Tsu –