Robert Seviour

Participant Comments

2 1/2 day Sales workshop for GENBAND
Telecommunications (UK) Limited

Corporate Headquarters Frisco, Texas,
specializes in Internet technology used by telecommunications companies
and fixed, mobile and cable service providers that sends phone calls
over the Internet around the world across over 600 networks, including
two-thirds of the world’s largest service provider networks spanning
more than 80 countries.

GENBAND has research and development
facilities in Canada, China, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Texas.
Genband recently purchased Nortel’s CVAS business and technology.

Dr Dorit Columbus, Ahmed
Hamdani, Anna Lapshina – three of the delegates at GENBAND, Maidenhead
UK ‘Selling for Engineers seminar

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“Presenter’s style kept
people’s attention by breaking into workshops / role-play to illustrate
points. I have identified areas where I can improve my presentation and
techniques in meetings to be more effective.”

“A useful introduction to
sales techniques and strategies for people with an engineering-led
background and experiences.”

“Nice guy, very open and
made you feel comfortable. Lots of brainstorming with your colleagues .
. .Good and easy concepts used during the sessions that can be applied
to daily job.”

“A pleasant seminar, very
helpful to get some fresh ideas to use in daily life to improve
inter-personal relationships to perform better at work and eventually to
get more sales!”

“Very interactive, lots
of personal experience delivered. The seminar provided a broad range of
aspects of sales work, covering different types of sales. A lot of
experience has been shown and illustrated the cases. Practical exercises
helped to get a firm grip on do’s and don’ts.”

“Best of all I liked the
practical exercises which helped a lot to understand the course
material. Course is very good as an initial step in sales. Good way of
delivering information – knowledge through fun.”

“The seminar was very
practical, with many exercises getting us to realize the benefits of the
techniques and put them to the test. Would be good to make the course
longer – one day extra.”

“Realisation that sales
is within us and that with some guidance engineers can make a huge
difference to the sales cycle by adapting our approach to customer
interaction.”

“Relaxed atmosphere
allowing easy discussions. Presentation section was very useful to me. I
needed to clarify that in my own mind and your session did that. An
excellent introduction to sales held in an easy atmosphere.”

“This was a good
introduction to sales. Entertaining and insightful.”

“Good balance between
presentation and role play.”

“Introduction to the
fundamentals of sales techniques based on the teacher’s own experience
(as opposed to MBA type of academic studies).”

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Customer comments

I
recently downloaded your book Selling for Engineers, which I
found very useful.

I’d
like to get a copy of “Sales Prospecting for Engineers” .   

IT
Executive, Brisbane, Australia.  

Dear Robert,

I’ve just downloaded
your 2 manuals, How to hire a good Technical Salesman and Sales
prospecting for Engineers.

I brought Selling for
Engineers a while ago.

May I say how
delighted we have been with your manuals and how effective we find
the content.

Regards

Mark Sanders

Sabre Home Security Ltd

Dear
Mr. Seviour

I
have just read your two books, “Selling for Engineers” and “How
to Create Powerful Technical Sales Literature”. I found them
both full of extremely wise pointers and comments. I believe the
principles presented by the books are absolutely right!

Congratulations on the books. 

Paul
Bentley, PJB Business Development  

The Selling for Engineers seminar has been
held in UK, Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Austria,
Canada and the USA.

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Robert is a fluent speaker of
German and French; the sales training for
engineering and scientific company course can be delivered in these
languages as well as English.

Concerned about winning more
clients for your technical business?

Do you have new people who
need training in how to sell?

Are you a Sales Manager who
needs to ‘get the message across”?

I can help – this has been
my speciality for 20+ years.

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Robert Seviour teaches sales skills to engineers, technical people
and a diverse range of industry delegates at his ‘Selling for
Engineers’ seminars.

It’s been a long journey from the
beginning of his career as a ‘hands-on’ mechanical engineer. 

‘I probably would have stayed in
engineering if a friend had not talked me into joining a direct
sales organisation. There it was all different – what counted was
how many new orders I was bringing in, not technical matters. It was
a whole new world to me. To my surprise I enjoyed selling and was
good at it. There’s nothing like the buzz you get when you bring in
a big order.”

Robert began his working life at ‘Power
Frequency Heating Ltd. in the London suburbs. This company produced
‘pre-start heaters’ for emergency vehicles and large trucks and
other equipment operating in cold climates. Customers included
Dennis Fire Engines, Carmichael Ambulances, Caterpillar Vehicles,
Petter Engines and Rolls Royce cars.

Later he formed a business, ‘Robert
Seviour – Energy Control Systems’ which installed ‘smart’ heating
controls for large houses and small commercial premises. An offshoot
of this activity was to design and fit solar heating systems for
domestic hot water plus a few interesting ‘one-offs’ which included
flue gas secondary heat exchangers for larger domestic boilers.

In 1988 Robert sold the business and
accepted an invitation to become North American agent for Structural
Polymer Systems, a manufacturer of epoxy adhesives and composite
materials. He re-located to Vancouver, Canada and developed from
zero a client base of users of this company’s products. The job
involved finding new customers and teaching them how to use these
advanced materials. 

Five years later he was asked to help a
UK scientific organisation develop good technical sales. This
business was an installer of microwave communications equipment, the
personnel were all engineers with no experience of sales. Robert
coached them in the process of contract acquisition / business
development.

The success of this operation led to an
invitation by other companies within the Thorn group to repeat the
same course with their divisions. For a year Robert travelled
throughout the UK bringing weekly coaching sessions to this
organisation’s engineers and business development people. The
products they were selling included security systems and the design
of aerospace equipment. 

The demand for training within technical companies, was strong and
Robert, trading as Stick + Carrot Sales Training, ran courses for
large and small organisations throughout the UK and in Germany,
Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, USA and Canada. There were many well
known companies, including Schlumberger, British Aerospace, IBM and
Scottish Power. Since 1993 he has presented the



 ‘Selling for Engineers’
seminar over 600 times.

Delegates working on an exercise at a Selling for Engineers
seminar Aberdeen Scotland

 

Information about seminars

The Selling for Engineers sales training manual
is specifically for engineers, scientists and techies of
all types – all about how to developing clients for
technical products and services. It’s  from a
specialised sales trainer who has two decades of
experience training sales engineers.

If your
company supplies technical products or services and you
have had little or no formal sales training, this book
is very useful. As well as the basics for sales
engineers, you’ll find many interesting,  technical
sales tips. It’s for engineers, newcomers to sales
engineering and sales managers who want a source of
ideas for sales meetings and to develop commercial
awareness for engineers.

 57 A4 (US letter size)
pages, many illustrations, price $37.00

Order ‘Selling for Engineers’

Contents – how to:

• Convert more enquiries into closed contracts

• Resist being ‘squeezed’ on price

• Be more confident about selling

• Manage your day to free up more time for finding more
  clients

• Understand the motivations and wants of your
  prospects

• Reduce frustration when it does not go your way

• Achieve your sales targets

• Develop a consultative sales process that works

• Build successful business relationships

• Get referrals from your customers

• Qualify your prospects effectively

• Find buyers’ ‘hot buttons’ with powerful questions

• Reduce activities that waste time and energy and cost
  you sales

Topics in the Selling for
Engineers manual

The importance of
business development

The symptoms of weak
sales ability

Comparison of a
‘sales-led’ versus a ‘product-led’ company

An ethical approach

Should we hire a science
graduate and train him/her to sell?

The reason why most
‘techies’ are not ‘natural’ sales people

What ‘techies’ really
think about selling – the negative stereotype

The personality traits
needed for sales How to take your engineers and make them into your
sales force

How to make a good sales
presentation

Sales engineer skills

Sales basics for
beginners

Common faults in sales
people

When your are the
customer, what do you look for in a salesperson?

The ‘ideal’ sales
personality

How to prospect for new
business

Prospecting methods –
mail, phone, visits, email, fax, exhibitions, referrals

How to write an
effective sales letter

What to say on the phone

‘Qualifying’ the
prospect

Dealing with common
sales problems

Setting appointments

Meeting the prospect –
the sales interview

How to deal with
different personality types

Discovering the buyer’s
motivations

The sales presentation

The trap of the
friendly, helpful buyer

Presenting to academics
and experts

Asking for the order and
closing the sale

Sales representative
qualifications

Good answers to
difficult objections, including

– ‘It’s too expensive’

– ‘I’m getting other
quotes’

–  We’re happy with
our existing supplier’

– ‘I want to think about
it’

Dealing with ‘difficult’
buyers

– Handling the
aggressive / dominant type

– Indecisive people

Handling rejection

Common reasons for lack
of sales success – and what to do about them

How to stay motivated
and get out of a sales slump

A refresher for older /
experienced salespeople

Team management
principles for Sales Managers

How to win repeat
business.

The reasons for the rise
and fall of companies

The ‘Sales Process Flow
Chart’

 

The ability to promote an idea effectively makes the
difference between failure and success in a professional career.

How effective are you at  generating new business
opportunities?

Do
you convert most of your enquiries into closed business?

Some simple changes in your sales approach can
make a big difference,

let me show you.

The


‘Selling for Engineers Manual’ is
supplied as an electronic file in


Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format
which you print yourself.

 When your credit card is authorized you
will receive an order confirmation via email and instant access to
download your manual from the web.

A charge of $37.00 USD
United States Dollars (equal to approx. £28 UK Pounds) will appear
on your credit card statement. Sales tax is in addition in some
countries. There are no other charges.

I guarantee that you will
like my books,

if you don’t agree, I will refund your money immediately without
question.

Once you press the order link below you will
be able to download immediately.

Click here to order ‘Selling for Engineers

Pay by any major card or
PayPal in a range of world currencies

Discounted package – get the complete 5 volume set and save $88

These five manuals, priced individually at $37, give you all the
strategies you need for success in technical sales.

Download all five of these manuals now for the discounted price of $97
for the set.

Click the links for details of
each.

Ability in selling
can make the difference between success and business failure.

When did
your company last do some sales training?

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 – welche gerade mit dem
Vertrieb eines Produktes anfangen, oder schon laengere
Erfahrungen in diesem Bereich besitzen. Der Inhalt hat
sowohl produktspezifischen als auch
ingenieurwissenschaftlichen Charakter. Es handelt sich um
einen interaktiven Workshop welcher auf wissenschaftlichen
Grundlagen des Verkaufs beruht. Dieses Seminar wird von mir
bereits seit 18 Jahren, auf Deutsch und Englisch, in grossen
und kleinen Betrieben innerhalb Europas und Nordamerika
vorgetragen. Die typischen Berufsbezeichnungen meiner
Teilnehmer sind unter anderem: Sales Engineer, Account
Manager, Business Development Manager, kurzum jeder der
berufsbedingt mit Neukunden zu tun hat. 

___________________________________________________________________

“It takes no time at all to realise there are
benefits to be had from this presentation”.

Ken Wright, Wright Associates.

“Not a jargon-based course”.


John Flett, Mott McDonald.

Enlightening, very informative”.


Allan McDonald, CAN (Offshore) Ltd.

“An insightful look into the sales world”.


Tommy Mackay, CAN
(Offshore) Ltd.

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Clients

have included aerospace engineering – Jetstream Aircraft, and scientific
organisations such as the UK National Weights and Measures Laboratory,
based near the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington, Middlesex and
in the energy sector, Scottish Power in East Kilbride.

In Aberdeen, Scotland, the principal centre for the UK oil and gas
industry, I have been proud to work with Performance Improvements, Pi,
who have grown from a handful of engineering consultants in one building
to a sizeable group with offices throughout the UK. Managing Director
Steve Wright believes in the value of relevant sales training, and the
rapid growth of his company (recently purchased by AMEC) demonstrates
its effectiveness.

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Hi, Robert,


You did a great job AND we had a lot of fun. I remembering making our
sales guys actually do some telemarketing during the training.

We are doing very well, and continuing to grow.

Diane Dolan, CEO


AmeriWater Inc

Dayton, Ohio

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Click here to visit

an archive of
articles on selling,it
will give you a flavour of the style of the sales training manuals and
sales training seminars I offer.

Seminars, talks and workshops are offered to students at universities
and technical institutions without charge or at reduced rates.

Please
contact me for more information

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Comments from a sales training session at
Barcol-Air Ltd – Radiant Cooling Heating Systems, Oxford CT USA

“It was comprehensive. It
gave many aspects of selling a product & identifying a customer’s needs.
I can see prospecting as being a positive way in which we as a company
can further promote our business.”

John Ieronimo

“It was helpful in
constructing a way to talk to clients / reps in order to have a better
chance at getting sales.”

Jason

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Feedback comments from a

Sales Skills Workshop

University of Edinburgh School of
Engineering.

Engineering students
working on an exercise 

“I like what we have learned
today, and I like that the workshop was very dynamic & fun. . . 
..interesting and useful ideas.”

Carlos Garcia

“Good fun and informative.”

Angus McBride

“The interaction with the
groups and role plays were very useful. How to identify the client’s
needs was very good. The workshop was very well presented and
interactive. I have learned a lot in a short space of time. It was
excellent to have somebody with actual practical experience to present
their advice on sales in a logical and clear manner – some professors
should attend!!”

Andrew Sheil

“Interesting exercises kept
the audience engaged. A great introduction to sales skills.”

Scott Lindner

“Presenter seemed to have an
extensive knowledge of the subject. Good examples, informative notes.”

Pawel Milto

“I got some extremely useful
hints on how to go about selling products in a technical environment. .
. the advice on presentations was very useful. Thanks very much, very
helpful indeed.”

Euan McPherson

“Interesting logical
approach to selling. . . . . fun and interactive.”

David Munn

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Participant comments from a Cambridge
University spinout company.

“Thanks Robert, the session
was very useful. Thought provoking. Great overview, tailored to our
needs as and when they popped up during the session.”

Matt – Consulting Engineer

“Useful exercises and ideas,
tailored well to our circumstances. Interesting ideas regarding client
focus / self-focus. Lots of new ideas. Well taught, informative day.”

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Participant comments from SMD, Wallsend, UK
who design and manufacture subsea robotics including remotely operated
vehicles (ROVs), underwater propulsion and control products.

“Good overview of sales
process skills.”

“Good refresher on sales
management and techniques.”

“I liked the friendly and
informal delivery of the course. There were several new sales ideas /
techniques that I will use.”

“A very interactive seminar
which got everyone thinking and talking.”

“Clear, simple, easy to
remember points.”

“Related often to our
business – real world. A useful overview of the key principles and
considerations relevant to technical sales.”

“Enjoyed the first session –
fast pace, practical activities, sense of direction.”

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UCLA Anderson School of Management, Los
Angeles presented a half-day

Sales Skill-building
Workshop led by Robert Seviour

Feedback from this event:

“The workshop was done in a memorable & fun way. The technique was
taught in an easy to understand way. The presentation is well formatted”

“Presentation was clear,
concise & simple, which made it very easy to follow. Just the right
level for me. It’s a great intro class”

“The exercises were very
effective in solidifying core concepts”

“I liked getting the
great framework for successfully engaging potential clients”

“It gave me a better
understanding of how to approach clients and increase possibility of
selling”

“Clear, simple thoughts.
Easy to implement (using role plays)”

“I really like the
mini-assignments to help me understand the materials & retain the
knowledge. The content is really practical . . .wish the workshop was
longer”

“You are in many
situations where you are selling something – especially yourself”

“The outline of
presentation elements was very helpful. The page with the
‘phrases-not-to-use’ was very useful”

“I liked the model of
instruction, then exercises. It helped make it concrete for me. I liked
the assignment to different teams and people. It helped me get to know
everyone”

“Dear Robert,


Thank you so much for giving us such a great class yesterday! I’ve never
got a real sales training before and your class really opened my eyes to
an interesting field.”

“What you showed us yesterday are really essence of sales practice, and
I definitely would like to review them from time to time to keep what
I’ve learned.


Also, feel free to let me know whether in future you would like to visit
UCLA again and give similar trainings, and I will be more than happy to
be there!”

“Robert, thank you for
the workshop yesterday.  I have tried that first exercise – “Try to
sell Item X to me” with 3-4 engineers already.  Every one of them
started data-dumping the features on me immediately. Thanks again for
the very practical and useful workshop!

Best regards, Nan”

“Hi Robert,

Thank you for your great
selling workshop yesterday.

Regards, Ralph”

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University of Edinburgh

School of Engineering

 presented a half-day

 Sales
Skills Workshop

led by Robert Seviour

Feedback from this event:

“Thought-provoking, not a prescriptive lecture”

“Easy to relate material
to real world examples. Real information about sales techniques rather
than abstract theories”

“Very well delivered –
good structure & efficient. Relaxed approach and enjoyable tasks”

“All understood and very
well presented”

“V. informative. Easy to
remember thanks to multiple examples and good explanations”

“Very friendly and
informal”

“The exercises that
showed the intuitive but ultimately flawed sales pitch that I was using
were very useful”

“The things that were
covered were in straightforward terms and gave a good structure to the
sales process”

“Interactive and entertaining”

“Informative – covered a
lot of aspects of sales which can be very useful in an engineering
career”

“I found the workshop useful and informative. I would recommend it
for final year students”

“Liked the involvement
aspects, time didn’t drag as there were breaks and involvement. Really
good use of examples make it really easy to relate to”

“Enjoyed level pitched
at. Interactive level just right for me. Learned a lot. Very
informative”

“I liked the practical examples. A lot of useful tips for
communicating between buyers and suppliers”

“Introduced me to systematic methods of sales techniques. Will find
this very useful. Good to get some exercises as these illustrate points
very well”
 

“A day boot camp of
sales strategies and way of thinking when approaching a potential
customer”.

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Delegate Feedback

From an event held at UBC – University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada:

“A great crash course for beginners and refresher
for experienced persons”

“Easy to understand – very well presented. . . . Really
helped in structuring the thought process to concentrate on during the
selling process”.

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Comments from participants
at an event held at Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, Scotland: