Troubled part-nationalised bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland admits that it is losing salespeople and other key staff and has been paying guaranteed bonuses this year in an attempt to attract top talent. These are just some of the issues raised in a wide-ranging interview with RBS chief executive STEPHEN HESTER on Channel 4 News on 9 November.

Royal Bank of Scotland posted a pre-tax loss of £2.2billion for the July to September quarter with so-called ‘impairment losses’ down 30% from £4.7 billion the previous quarter. The bank has also written off another £3.3billion in bad debts and other bad investments. It says conditions remain ‘fragile’.

Channel 4 News’ reporter John Sparks talked to Hester in the light of last week’s interim figures and Tuesday’s news that revised participation in a state-backed asset insurance plan will see UK tax-payers’ holding rise to 84%.

Readers probably best know KRISTINA GRIMES as runner-up to Simon Ambrose in the third series of The Apprentice, where she starred alongside the notorious Katy Hopkins. A former pharmaceutical sales manager, she now runs a business performance company with fellow Apprentice contestant Jenny Celerier (series four). Here are her top three sales tips.

Creating high-performance sales teams is essential for any business wanting to achieve sales growth: proactive, positive, consistent, new-business-winning teams and salespeople are the holy grail of any sales organisation, writes GAVIN INGHAM.

As managers we all have our own unique ways of motivating, managing and leading our sales teams yet, from time to time, we also have problems keeping our teams on target, focused and ‘up for it’. Here are five of the most effective motivational strategies and techniques that I have used to help many of my clients to achieve their personal, team and business goals.