Since the launch of Just Williams in 2015 and the Sales Academy in 2021, we have had an ambition to create an industry standard, to create a unified playing field and to ultimately professionalise the sales industry. And we are making progress, with over 3000 individuals having been through our online and face to face modules - both of which are endorsed and accredited by the national learning sales body - The Institute of Sales Professionals
The Sales, Service and Success conference, originally planned for 2020 and subsequently delayed because of ‘you-know-what’, finally came to fruition last month following months and months of planning. For those of you who couldn’t make it, fear not, we are already working on 2023, so watch this space! I thought we should use this space to share some key learnings and observations from the day, along with some of our delegates’ feedback.
We had a full agenda with a range of keynote speakers and two panels comprising of local business owners and leaders. Our host for the day, Danny Bent kicked off proceedings with a brief interview with Dr Warren Harrison, Dean of Teesside University International Business School and our hosts for the day and yours truly.
Jeni Smith, Netkno known as the local queen of networking challenged our perceptions around resource and the true cost of networking and the true benefits of creating a diverse network and therefore knowledge base. Jeni gave us a whistle stop tour of how we should network, where we should network and how to choose who to network with, given there are so many organisations, events, networks both online and face to face.
Paige Zima, winner of SAS Who Dares Wins, Teesside University alumni, entrepreneur and all round one of the most resilient women I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Paige shared her own journey and talked about the importance of structure, routine and discipline. Small daily habits can create sustainable substantial changes and her hunger and passion to constantly learn, develop herself, not being afraid to try new things or stepping outside her comfort zone. Mindset matters to Paige and it is her philosophy when it comes to success in every area of her life.
Our first panel of the day comprised of Sophie Milliken, serial entrepreneur and owner of Moja Group and Chair of Smartworks, Tamma Carel, environmental entrepreneur and in our minds B-Corp extraordinaire and environmental go to! Dr Millicent Ohanagorom Lecturer at Teesside University was our third panelist. These three incredible women made for a lively debate when sustainability became the dominant subject. People, Planet and Profit led the questions from the audience and the importance of personal values aligned with organisational sustainability in every aspect of the business.
We were fortunate to have Hartlepool College of Further Education, Social Allies, UMI, Teesside University Business School, The Sales Academy, Red Balloons and The Girls Networking exhibiting with us on the day (caption below).
During one of our mentoring sessions at Launchpad, Teesside Universities hub for newly launched businesses and alumni of the school, I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Martin, founder of Odyssey Health and Wellness. Mike and his business partner subsequently delivered an exceptional session for my team on our away day at Crathorne Hall earlier this year. So, who better to rouse the troops following a long, delicious lunch! Mike encouraged us all to think more about our overall wellbeing and made clear links between success and our own health and wellbeing. Following on from Paige’s session discussing the importance of forming habits which form on frequency not on time. Set identity based goals was my biggest takeaway from this session.
Linda Moir has long been one of my business heroes and so to have her speak at our conference was a real pinch me moment! I first heard Linda speak in 2016 when I had just set up Just Williams at a Teesside University Business Exchange event about the power of a Brilliant Basics, Magic Touches philosophy.
I immediately adopted the phrase as many of you will know and embedded into our culture. To this day we use the BBMT philosophy. Linda shared her stories of her work at both Virgin and brining together 15000 volunteers for the 2012 Olympic games and how bringing your personality to work was a non-negotiable when hiring. We decided we were very much in the red circle…You’ll have to hear Linda speak to find out more about that one!
Authenticity in Sales was my subject matter for the event and whilst it was our conference, it felt remarkably humbling to talk about something so personal to our delegates. Never has this been more important and perhaps an overused word at present. My recent talks around Imposter Syndrome struck a chord with many. The way we engage with media and individuals has changed, you only need to look at your LinkedIn feed to see how much more open we are about sharing personally and how much more engagement those who do share receive. I am not talking a bare all, but a professionally authentic approach which requires selfawareness when it comes to engaging with your network. Be relatable.
Our final panel of the day interviewed by our host comprised of Nicki Clarke, CEO We are Umi who were also exhibiting on the day, Mandy Baker, Founder of Sail Creative, a creative agency with purpose at its core and one of regions first B-Corps and Pauline Crellin, Director of UK Trade Advocacy and World Events for the Department of International Trade. Sales was described as the lifeblood as any business by Nicki with the conversation turning once again to the importance of sustainability and the ever-increasing expectation of businesses to be ethical in every way. Whilst a debate erupted about the regional dish Parmos, we ended on the importance of authenticity and people ultimately buy from people.
If you would like to hear more about our conference, training opportunities or get involved in next year’s conference (planning is already underway!) we would love to hear from you!
Find out more here or get in touch www.justwilliamssales.academy @justwilliamssa01