Practical ‘How to’ business guidance and advice

Straight-talking tips and advice on a wide range of business and entrepreneurship topics from an experienced expert.

Trust Ladders

Trust ladders are critical aids for anyone wanting to start and/or grow a business. However, in all my experience, only a minority of startups actively take advantage of trust ladders and go onto treat them with appropriate respect. What are these trust ladders and how might they help you… Read More

Overcome Customer Objections

Being able to overcome customer objections is a skill all entrepreneurs should master. Since the job of the entrepreneur is to create change, move things forward and sell new ideas, resistance should be expected. Winning people over though is seldom easy. The process requires patience, an understanding of how people behave plus an appreciation you don't win every-time... Read More

Biggest Challenge Facing Entrepreneurs

What is the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs today? Is it access to finance? Is it knowing the right people? Is it having the right skills? All of the above gets the grey matter working, but for me the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs is something different. It is… Read More

Embedding Negotiation Skills

Embedding negotiation skills, so people understand how to apply learning, is best achieved through a combination of theory and repeated practice. Principles underpinning good negotiation have not changed much over time. But, whilst people may remember what they have read and been told to do, they are typically less aware of their own behaviour and how it impacts the 'ot Read More

University Pressure Cooker

For 12 years, and as part of my role at VSL, I've been talking with and meeting academics. In total, I've phoned, 'Skyped', 'Hungout' with and/or met at least 10 different people each week for 47 weeks of every year. When you do the maths, that's over 5,500 conversations. So what's been learnt? Read More