Episodes

  • You may ask yourself, how did I get here?

    You may ask yourself, how did I get here?
    Jul 2 2025
    I came across the following quote from a post on Instagram: “It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re not willing to do what it takes to get it. If you don’t want to live the lifestyle then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process is to guarantee disappointment.” The journy of 1,000 miles doesnt begin with the first step - it begins with awareness. In sales performance that 'awareness" is critical - it is a level of self awarenes that might be beyond many - it certainly was beyond me for a long time. A line from their most famous song, David Byrne in Talking Heads asks YOU to ask the question: "you may ask yourself, how did i get here?" In trying to improve your sales performance you need to understand where you are, how you got there, where you wnat to go and more importantly are youy aware of what changing for success looks like? I have included a little clip at the end from Eric Thomas - the bane of every young sportstar's life....I hope you enjoy
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    28 mins
  • Never meet your idols - the night I didn't meet Bernadette Devlin McAliskey

    Never meet your idols - the night I didn't meet Bernadette Devlin McAliskey
    Jun 30 2025
    A different episode to the usual - about going to a fundraiser for Palestine at the Dockers Club in Belfast, music supplied by Irish DJ, David Holmes, Roisin El Sherif and Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. At the age of 78, Bernadette can hold court now just as well as she did in 1969, on her maiden speech in Westminster. She read out some poetry on the evening from an Irish Poet, Dorothy Cullen from her book of poems "300 days and counting" - available on Amazon. I have posted a copy of her maiden HOC speech on my website here: https://www.shift-control.co.uk/words-maiden-speech-bernadette-devlin/
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    36 mins
  • Lead generation is the new sales superpower

    Lead generation is the new sales superpower
    Jun 25 2025
    According to Gartner research, only 17% of the buying process is spent with suppliers — that’s not much more than one-sixth of the journey. So if you're waiting for that 17% to come to you, you’re missing the 83% where the buyer is actually shaping the deal. That’s why proactive prospecting isn’t just good practice — it’s survival. In this episode there are some intended and unintended points for discussion - what started out as a piece on rewarding self-contained sales prospecting, ended up shining a light on the importance of having your marketing game on point, to ensure that buyers are able to access you WHEN THEY want to and also why prospecting still has a value when the world thinks that digital channels provide the only real meaningful solution to business development and lead generation.
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    37 mins
  • 'The Process is the Goal' - Addendum

    'The Process is the Goal' - Addendum
    Jun 19 2025
    I found myself a little hypocritical in the previous episode - trying to maybe make everything sound so easy when in truth getting into good habits in any part of your life can be anything but easy. I felt it important to reframe a few things - it is a struggle for me in loads of areas and I try hard to inject some stability and form rituals where i can in order to improve myself, in the margins. Small, steady improvements might make big differences over the longer term but they 100% have greater impact over doing nothing. For me, Im cutting out media for a few days - I find watching anything about Palestine now a torture and something that Impacts my own well being. On the up side, I am happy to recommend a few apps - one is Merlin, the other Picture this - but handy for the immersion in nature experience. The other is NO THANKS - an app that tells you which companies are directly linked in supporting countries whose ethics you might find somewhat despicable.
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    19 mins
  • The 'Process is the Goal' - Part II. Advice for everyone else.

    The 'Process is the Goal' - Part II. Advice for everyone else.
    Jun 17 2025
    The second part of the podcast devoted to the importance of Process is itself broken down into 2 parts - the practical part of the process that impacts the physical work you do and the prices you have (or don't have) that helps you emotionally and mentally prepare for the work that you need to do. Sales is not an easy job and you can find yourself under pressure from a number of different angles day in day out. Having a process in place or putting some order into your work means that you are able to build up momentum in your work and to create a particular rhythm' to your selling. Having a clear objective within allows you to focus on progressing in a particular way but also gives you more certainty that you are in the right place, the right job with the right opportunities beckoning. Giving yourself the best chance you can is all you can do - how you start your day, your mindset, the structure you out to your work and how you deal with the challenges are all very much within your control. Once you find the right process that works for you.
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    24 mins
  • The 'Process is the Goal' - Part I. Advice for the sales leader.

    The 'Process is the Goal' - Part I. Advice for the sales leader.
    Jun 10 2025
    Episode 1 of 2, were I talk about the importance of disciplined process in sales management and leadership. It's all pretty straightforward and common sense and yet many sales leaders are fixated to the outcome - the revenue target for the month, quarter or year instead of having a clearly defined sales management process that offers you every qualitative and qualitative measurement to ensure that you can respond quickly to any warning signs or potential areas of concern, in real time. It can be a tough call for business owners who have usually taken the journey of hunter, gatherer to business leader and might want everything done in the 'old way' just because it has worked in the past. Today with so much technology and software to support the sales and marketing function, the sales management role has become easier but only when built around a solid process and implemented by a highly disciplined sales, marketing and admin team. Episode 2 will focus on those processes that can help sales people navigate challenging economic times as well as the emotional highs and lows of sales.
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    31 mins
  • A strategy to effectively onboard an internal sales person to sales manager

    A strategy to effectively onboard an internal sales person to sales manager
    Jun 4 2025
    Following hot on the heals of the last podcast - can a great sales person become a great sales manager - I had some feedback from listeners who had shared some of their own experiences and so I thought I would record this episode to focus on some tangible stuff that can be implemented quickly or at least can influence your thinking as you begin to consider recruiting from within. I have always followed the Rx3 model - recruit, retain for revenue - and so the importance of getting this appointment right is so obvious and yet people will still go for speed over quality, the path of least resistance. A sales person is driven by closing and a sales manager by coaching. Individual player v a team enabler. It's worth taking time to consider all of the options rather than appease a sales person who thinks they deserve a promotion.
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    31 mins
  • A good sales person AND a good sales manager - can they be both?

    A good sales person AND a good sales manager - can they be both?
    Jun 2 2025
    In life, some things can be both "good" and "bad" and in the middle of the drama to get things attended to we often only see them as simply 'bad' or 'good.' It's hard to find the time to work towards a balanced opinion and so we go for the position that seems the most logical at the time and with the evidence we have. Social media and smart phones are a decent example - they can be both a curse and at the same time extremely beneficial. (Try finding a dumb alternative your smart phone and see where big tech - and clearly customers - both sit in this discussion.) A constant theme in sales teams is the failed promotion from within - the high-performing sales person, promoted to sales manager because of exceptional sales performance, only to not cut it at management level. It happens a lot. Not a great result for the new sales manager, the existing sales team and it can have a serious impact on sales performance in the short term. In sport, great footballers don't make great managers within the same season - it's just not possible and yet the burden of expectation on sales person to make that transformation quickly can kill off any ambition or possibility of success. How can this transition be made easier for everyone concerned - how can you move a mindset from 'closer' to 'coach'??
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    22 mins