Nicky Pattinson Interview

Nicky Pattinson is a straight talking, sharp shooting, high flying sales professional. Her ability to instantly build rapport and thoroughly engage people is breathtaking (believe me, I've seen her in action!). Over the past decade she has written multi-million pounds worth of new business and now she's on a path to empower others with her secrets of selling success.... The Interview DS: What was it that initially inspired you to get into sales? NP: DESPERATION INSPIRED ME - nothing like being down on yer luck to get those feet DANCING. However, before my 'demise' I'd done SOME kind of sales most of my life (hard to be lonely when you meet people fer a LIVING). DS: Did you experience any fear as you made your first sales call or did it come very naturally to you? NP: NERVOUS??? OHHHH MY LIFE DAMIEN, that fear came from the CORE of my BEING!!! - or then again, is it like 'ACTORS ADRENALINE'. Would even the GREAT THEATRICALS be just as electrifying if they didn't get the jitters a BIT as they stood in the WINGS??? DS: What qualities do you believe make a successful sales professional? NP: The SAME THING that creates an ANYTHING professional and exceptional ..FOCUS, COURAGE, CLARITY, HONOUR, DREAMS - and giving out an EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT to everyone you ENCOUNTER. DS: Do you think great sales professionals are born or made? NP: SALESMEN are probably MADE - but you make that shift YOURSELF, from the INSIDE. DS: What is the best way to warm up cold calling? NP: WARM UP COLD CALLING??? - well that is certainly back to giving an EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT. Why should anyone be warm back to YOU if you just treat them as a way to get what YOU WANT??? Like a script to a walking cheque book??? It's just not like that - the world has CHANGED. ALSO - PLEASE throw the 'MOGODON' in the BIN - and chuck away those hideously rigid SALES SCRIPTS!!! DS: What simple and practicle steps can small business owners take to increase their sales performance? NP: BE VERY FOCUSED and CLEAR as to what kind of clients are going to DEFINE your company. Write them down - put it to paper and keep it at the side of the bed and in your pocket or journal...... LIVE IT!!! and block out all outside influences saying you CAN'T. Most people aren't successful because they don't take time to consider what THAT MEANS for THEM. ONCE YOU ARE TRULY SURE - then pick up that fone and BEAT YOUR PATH. Even if you don't end up with exactly what you had in mind - you'll look back and be amazed at how far you've COME!!! Don't feel bad about approaching someone - most companies will have someone just like YOU at the back door shovelling the coal out. It's the natural way of distributing wealth - no company must think the CHAIN BREAKS with THEM, because it DOESN'T. DS: Who's the best salesperson you have encountered and what made them so special? NP: DEFINITELY JULIAN KYNASTON of PROPAGANDA who gave me my FIRST CHANCE after being on the dole - we could fight like children all the way to and from a meeting, but when we got there we created a RAPPORT and a FUNCTIONAL FAMILY that people just wanted to be PART OF...... Really - I owe him a lot and rang him a couple of weeks ago to say so. DS: What are the three most important lessons you have learned about selling and business generally? NP: WELL...... No 1 is WITHOUT DOUBT let there be NO CONFUSION as to your WORTH!!! Personally I am getting a bit pissed off with the way 'we' are treated/percieved in the UK. I was with a company in London last week whose telesales people generated 150 million