Being a small business owner is all about the passion and conviction to execute the business strategy and bring an idea to life, says JAMES CAAN. He has launched the James Caan Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy to pass on hard-won experience and practical guidance to entrepreneurs.

Dragons’ Den star James Caan is moving into the coaching and mentoring sector with the launch of his own business academy, specialising in entrepreneurialism The academy kicks off with a one-day introductory seminar ‘Total Business Mastery’ on Saturday 20 March 2010 at the Holiday Inn, Kensington Forum.

Caan is aiming his new venture for emerging entrepreneurs and existing owners of small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), interested in ‘modelling the very best’. Called the James Caan Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy, its purpose is to provide knowledge and pass on hard-won experience and practical guidance to entrepreneurs.

A Buckinghamshire family business is celebrating a double success after a major breakthrough in the rapidly emerging market of Brazil and also reaching the shortlist of next month’s Chartered Institute of Marketing Excellence Awards.

Set up 23 years ago, Mediplus develops and manufacture medical devices for the urology, urogynaecology, gynaecology, gastroenterology and anaesthetics sectors. Its latest product – a non-invasive bladder analysis system for men – recently received official recognition in Brazil, leading to firm orders and the promise of many more. 

A globe-trotting Brit with extensive sales and marketing experience is taking the helm at Opel-Vauxhall following General Motor’s decision to hang onto its European subsidiary.

Following hard on the heels of General Motor’s recent decision to retain Opel-Vauxhall, the Detroit automotive giant announced on 10 November that a former European sales boss is to oversee European operations following the departure of Opel chief Carl-Peter Forster. Executive vice-president and president, GM international operations, Nick Reilly – a Brit – will assume responsibility for the European subsidiary while an external search for a new chief executive officer (CEO) gets underway.

When the pragmatist finally met the complete academic (and agreed with what he said!): Mark Savinson talks to Professor Neil Rackham.

One of my many endearing faults is my constant desire to get one over on an academic. It’s something which has helped me remain focused on steering a pragmatic route through problems, but which can occasionally leave me closed off to thinking based upon rigorous research (as opposed to gut instinct). But I have finally learned that this may not always be the best approach.

As someone who works in the ‘sales effectiveness’ arena and also advises SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) on their sales strategies, I have always been wary of falling into the consultant’s trap of over-complicating things. My regular introduction is ‘I need you to keep everything simple because the more complicated it gets, the more confused I become, and so do you’.

This has resulted in a healthy scepticism of sales methodologies, as too often they become a victim of their own complexity. However, there was always one methodology that I could relate to – SPIN. It had everything going for it; only a four-letter acronym, it could be described on one page, and was not overly contrived. So it was with interest I met its creator, Neil Rackham. 

Just months after launching a new training career, a former technology sales director has been recognised for his endeavour with an award.

Steve Swatman, 50, won Sandler Training’s ‘new franchisee’ award following a record-breaking start to his new enterprise. Swatman swapped a 25-year career in the technology industry to join the training company.

Swatman, who works in Surrey and South West London, tells ModernSelling.com that he is delighted with the way his new career has begun.

‘I’ve been with Sandler for seven months now and I like to make all my training courses entertaining. I’ll train anybody from one-man-bands to massive businesses like Nokia,’ he said.

Having just swallowed the ailing US auto giant, Chrysler, it’s a sign of the times that Fiat is keen to trumpet the news that its UK company is set to end 20 years of losses!

Fiat UK will break even or make a small profit this year after 20 years of million-pound losses, said managing director Andrew Humberstone, 45, who took over at the company 20 months ago.

Losses amounting to £60 million a year were caused by an obsession with market share. ‘It was totally illogical, madness,’ he told ModernSelling.com.

Kia Toyota GB sales director Michael Cole steps up to become UK managing director at Kia Motors in August while Paul Philpott moves to Europe, the Korean manufacturer has announced.

Toyota GB sales director Michael Cole is to head up the growing UK subsidiary of Korean manufacturer Kia in early August, following in the footsteps of the highly successful Paul Philpott, 42, who has been promoted to chief operating officer (COO) at Kia Motors Europe.

A van manufacturer is dodging the downturn thanks to German sales with help from UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).

St Helens-based Supertrucks custom-builds and adapts vans, lorries and trucks into sheet-glass carriers for glazing companies and, in just one year, has seen sales to Germany increase by more than 15% – rising from £95,000 in 2007/08 to £111,000 in 2008/09.

Chairman Peter Wright has also completed an order to Belgium. He told ModernSelling.com: ‘We were anticipating a downturn in the UK and so were keen to look abroad and now the export side of the business is helping us through the recession.’

A Preston firm which exports to over 60 countries is riding out the recession thanks to a robust international trade strategy. This is allowing the business to continue expanding despite the economic climate.

Walton Summit-based Evans Vanodine is a family owned firm, employing approximately 135 people. It manufactures a huge range of janitorial products for hospitals, schools and caterers, as well as specialist chemicals for the animal hygiene industry. These include market-leading disinfectants to prevent the spread of serious diseases such as Foot and Mouth and Avian Influenza.

Established in 1919, Evans Vanodine is now the largest independent manufacturer in the UK. Chairman Derek Evans is 82 and has three sons and a grandson working within the business, while many employees have been with the company for 30 years or more.

International sales

International sales manager Peter Thompson joined the firm ten years ago with the task of developing a coherent export strategy. Although the firm had been exporting since 1960, previous international business had been reactive and only accounted for 10% of turnover.

General Motors brand Chevrolet announced on 4 December that it has appointed a sales specialist as its new UK managing director ahead of a year that sees two more new vehicles set to join the company’s line-up.

Mark Terry, 42, replaces outgoing MD Rory Harvey, who has moved within GM UK and Ireland to become aftersales director across the company’s multi-brand portfolio. During Harvey’s time in charge Chevrolet sales grew 27.6% in 2007 and were up again by a further 6.5% through to the end of September 2008. 

National sales role

Terry joined Chevrolet from Saab GB, where he was operations director from 2006 until 2008, having previously worked as Saab’s national sales manager and in regional sales before that. He has been a Saab employee since 1987, with a background in engineering as well as sales.

Brit Steve Odell is the first non-Swede at the helm of Volvo Car Corporation, and despite the rumours, he insists he has not been put in place by his Ford bosses to get the company ready for sale.

He believes the Volvo brand is undervalued and needs time to show just what it can do.

Sales guy

‘I am an old fashioned sales guy,’ he said at the Paris Motor Show. ‘All I want is for Volvo to have an unfair share of whatever the market is. My brief is to get Volvo back to sustainable profitability.’

Recently Vodafone’s DARRYN WELSH scored an unprecedented double by winning two major sales awards in a week: he was voted Sales Professional of the Year at the BESMAs and then Account Manager of the Year at the National Sales Awards. He talks to editor Nick de Cent about how he got there and his underlying approach to sales.

It was a good night for Vodafone at the British Excellence in Sales and Marketing Awards (BESMA) on 21 February. As the evening drew to a close, the Vodafone contingent must have been feeling well satisfied, with the company’s Small Business Channel entry triumphing in the Sales & Marketing Team of the Year (larger organisations) section, and beating their colleagues in the Enterprise Business Unit sales team to the prize. A little later, Stephen Booth picked up the mobile telecoms giant’s second award of the night when he won the Telesales Professional of the Year category.

Yet for Darryn Welsh, that evening must have seemed interminable as it led up to the 12th and final award – the big one – Sales Professional of the Year (for companies of over 50 employees). With 12 contenders short-listed, the category was described by host Gyles Brandreth as a ‘real test of skill, talent, professionalism and commitment’... and then Welsh won.

DAVID VALENTINE recently joined SHL, with a remit to double the company’s global sales capability as it expands into Europe and developing markets. He talks to Nick de Cent about building a company sales culture.

There are times during any career – particularly in sales – when work and other pressures can bring us down; and, in response, we all have our own way of bolstering our spirits. For SHL’s global sales director David Valentine, what works best is picturing the scene from 1992 cult comedy classic Wayne’s World in which Mike Myers and acolytes wig out in their ‘mirth mobile’ to the sound of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

What this reveals about Valentine’s character, I’m not sure; but the one-time executive assistant to IBM’s UK chief executive has definitely joined the company with the capability to tell us: Surrey-based SHL specialises in psychometric testing and personality profiling and has ambitious plans to expand into Europe, the United States and the exploding markets of India and China.

Author, salesperson and chief executive, PAUL SLOANE of Destination Innovation chats to Nick de Cent about creativity, leadership and being over quota.

Paul Sloane is passionate about introducing creativity into the business process and finding new ways for organisations to operate and approach markets, so much so that he styles himself as an ‘innovation evangelist’.

His latest book – The Innovative Leader – is full of intriguing sections like ‘Be an arsonist and a fire-fighter’, ‘Kill the losers’ and ‘Be disconnected’. Its stated aim is to help business leaders transform their teams into ‘innovation warriors’ and their organisation into a ‘powerhouse of invention and entrepreneurial achievement’.

Recently appointed managing director of John Mills Limited (JML), Ken Daly, 36, has important shoes to fill – those of company founder John Mills himself. He discusses motivation, mops and merchandising with editor Nick de Cent.

Daly, a first dan judo blackbelt, stepped up to the top job in May after following an increasingly popular route with those seeking to get on in business – consistent achievement in a sales management role. In 2000, he became sales director, four years later sales and marketing director and then, last year, deputy MD.

Market stall

JML is the company that sells all those useful items you never quite realised you needed until you saw them advertised – slimming body suits, ironing board covers, storage bags, snore relief spray, titanium hair straighteners – you know the kind of thing. It’s an electronic age equivalent of a novelty market stall and, this year, the business will comfortably exceed £50m in revenue.

One-time Apprentice, RUTH BADGER is currently strutting her stuff on Tuesday-night television. Here she talks to editor Nick de Cent about her passion for all things business.

Ruth Badger is pretty chuffed to be on the receiving end of a virtual sack of fan mail following the first airing of her new Tuesday-night series on Sky One. What’s more, the initial reviews of Badger or Bust have been good.

Fan mail

‘We’ve had 36 “pick of the days” for the first show and a hell of a lot of email traffic for what must be classed as fan mail I suppose,’ she enthuses. ‘It’s going very well and, to be fair, I haven’t read one bad review.’

Like many moving into sales, OLIVER WATSON – or Olly as he prefers to be called – joined the profession almost by chance. From his early days as an advertising salesperson he has moved up to become a regional managing director at top recruiters Michael Page International, with responsibility for the sales, marketing and retail divisions, as well as the Middle-East. Here he talks to editor Nick de Cent.

Today, Olly Watson is regional managing director of recruitment specialists Michael Page International, a consultancy which recruits across the management spectrum; its sales division tends to operate in the mid-to-upper echelons of the career path, at the £30-90k, account-manager-to-sales-director level.

His responsibilities stretch across the sales, marketing and retail divisions as well as the Middle-East region. With 280 people reporting to him, Watson’s current role is largely people management with a broad business-development brief.

However, back in 1991 with the UK facing the worst recession since the war, things were very different: it wasn’t an auspicious time for a young graduate from Bristol and Toulouse Universities to emerge, fresh back from France – broke, onto the jobs market looking to make his mark in the UK. Such was the prospect facing a 21-year-old Watson.

Some say salespeople are born to the job; others that you can learn to sell effectively. Whichever is true, three generations of Warrens have chosen selling as their profession. Editor Nick de Cent talks to Tony, Neil and Adam.

Tony Warren first started selling back in the 1940s, his son Neil in the 1970s and his grandson Adam this century. Between them they have almost 85 years of sales experience. (Tony also has three other sons who have all, from one time or another, been involved in selling at various levels.)

Tony is now semi-retired but remains the proprietor of his own business, after a lifetime selling for blue-chip industrial companies. Neil, who has focused on publishing and media sales throughout his career, is publisher of ModernSelling.com and owner of a database company. Son Adam has recently joined NTL Telewest as a business account manager – handling some 250 accounts – from Zen Internet, where he was a business sales executive.

The quality of Britain's sales management is absolutely vital to the country’s future says PROFESSOR NEIL RACKHAM. Nick de Cent talks to the original SPINmeister about the way forward for the sales profession.

Around 40% of salespeople in the United States are failing in their roles. Figures for the UK are probably comparable or worse.

That’s the considered opinion of Professor Neil Rackham, the international sales management consultant and now visiting professor at the business school which has set up Europe’s first masters degree in sales management.

A role as vice-president of sales for a major IT brand across the whole of Europe, Middle-East and Africa is challenging enough. But what if your corporation is only just emerging from Chapter 11 protection?

TIM BUTCHART of SGI talks to Nick de Cent about the challenges of a rapidly changing IT sector.

In an IT world in a state of flux – incessant change, increasing consolidation, rapid technological advances and fierce global competition – survival depends on matching the appropriate business model to innovative product and services, along with effective routes to market.

In business we're used to negotiating over price, specification or delivery times. But how does it compare with the heady world of international relations, where the currency is not mere money but lives? Here, in the first of a two-part interview discussing politics and business, LORD OWEN talks to Nick de Cent about the art of negotiation.

David Owen, one-time leader of the SDP, remembers negotiating in the late 1970s as a youthful Labour foreign secretary with the South African apartheid regime over Namibia. The negotiations were tough, not least because of the cast of characters present.