The cluster of around 1,300 technology companies in London’s ‘Tech City’ is quickly growing. Young entrepreneurs with niche expertise are hoping to lead the way in boosting the economy through innovations in cloud, mobile and IT sectors.

IT departments often rely on new innovations to solve problems, enhance processes and drive businesses forwards. There are some fantastic opportunities for rising tech start-ups to deliver big ideas and fresh innovations, if they can just increase their brand visibility and build up sales. Many tech start-ups lack the skills to sell themselves as the big global names of the future, but do tend to benefit from having greater flexibility, which is one way to beat their more established competitors.

Investment in tech start-ups is a key priority for the UK government. They have backed London’s Tech City Investment Organisation, which supports local start-ups looking to expand and connects them with potential investors.

London is currently leading the start-up job market with 34% of all current positions. According to Silicon Milkroundabout, 67% of tech workers would be easily persuaded to join a start-up company. Job satisfaction and learning opportunities are high on the priority list of many young tech workers, which is ideal for the tech start-up industry.

Why would you consider joining a tech start-up?


Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

Is your sales office open-plan or enclosed?

The open-plan office is ideal for encouraging communication within the sales team and with other teams, such as marketing. An open-plan layout helps to build employee engagement, bringing the team together and allowing them to share ideas.

However, recent studies suggest that open-plan offices can either be, "noisy and distracting or depressingly quiet". With the constant ringing of the sales line and the white-noise of everyone talking over each other, it's no wonder that it has been suggested as a cause of stress. Research has even shown that people who work in open plan offices take 62% more sick days than those who work in their own, enclosed space (Source: Open-plan offices make employees 'less productive, less happy, and more likely to get sick).

Having everyone in their own personal office is pricey, so a popular alternative is the 'cubicle', where individuals are closed off by dividers. However, this can often lead to the same depressing quietness, or isolation.

Whilst some companies reject working from home because the office offers better communication or collaboration, other companies support flexible working as it can save a lot of money by freeing up desk space. Can that work for everyone? The needs of an Internal Account Manager for example are certainly different to those of a Field Sales Executive or Business Development Manager.

A world of changing technology means that more people are using smartphones, laptops and tablets, and a number of salespeople are taking to life-on-the-road, using hot-desks on the rare occasions that they do visit the office. Office culture has changed - meetings take place in coffee shops, on the train or remotely via Skype or Google+ Hangouts.

Could a desk-less office be the future?

Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

Stephanie Castanha, FMCG Recruitment Consultant at Hays, shares her thoughts on why the food and beverage industry is so popular. An expert in all aspects of FMCG food and beverage, including Grocery Multiples, Foodservice, HORECA, Cash and Carry and Wholesale, she'd be delighted to get in touch with anyone who has experience in FMCG and sales either by email (stephanie.castanha@hays.com ) or via the Sales Specialists UK LinkedIn group.

Saving money remains a top priority for shoppers, these days people are shopping less but with more purpose. However, according to the Food and Drink Business Confidence survey, consumer spending on food began to recover in Q1 2013, and according to global information and insights company Nielsen, European FMCG sales experienced an upturn. This is good news as the FMCG industry is key to achieving the Government's goals for economic growth, exports, employment, environmental sustainability and public health. It’s good news for the sales industry too: as consumer spending increases, food and beverage companies are expanding, leading to a range of challenging opportunities for motivated and ambitious professionals.

As food and beverage companies enjoy sales and business growth, they are also competing to ensure that their brand names are positioned in a positive light and are at the forefront of the market. In light of recent quality concerns within the food and beverage industry, Defra has launched a questionnaire to find out the public’s opinion on UK food supply. This really highlights how important customer opinion is to the market. It influences shopper behaviour, government goals and industry standards. Customers drive sales. It’s more important than ever for successful salespeople to understand their customers.

The food and beverage manufacturing industry is the single largest manufacturing sector in the UK, employing up to 400,000 people (Source: Food and Drink Federation). It’s a competitive, complex and challenging industry to work in, with a real focus on customer demand. As FMCG companies rise to the challenge of catering for busy working consumers with a variety of dietary and health needs, there are opportunities for sales people in a diverse range of roles within both large big-name companies and smaller niche organisations.

What’s more, it's not all about sales. You'll get the chance to work with business areas such as logistics, finance, marketing and more. For a salesperson, managing relationships with multiple manufacturers, retailers, customers and consumers is key. The scope for learning and development within FMCG food and beverage sales is huge.

Our consultants have in-depth knowledge of the FMCG sales jobs market, and help sales professionals across the UK to find jobs matching their skills and personalities. To find out more about how our highly-skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

Adam Horne, IT Sales and Managed Hosting Specialist Consultant at Hays, shares his thoughts on the development of the cloud industry. An expert in all aspects of technical sales, including the IT, managed cloud hosting and infrastructure markets, he would be happy to hear from anyone interested in this post by email (adam.horne@hays.com) or via the Sales Specialists UK LinkedIn group.

There have been some exciting developments within the cloud industry recently. The 2013 Future Of Cloud Computing survey by North Bridge Venture Partners and GigaOM Research has shown that cloud adoption is on the rise, as 75% of those surveyed reported the use of some sort of cloud platform. According to the survey, gaining greater business agility, scalability and cost are the three main drivers of cloud adoption.

The survey also showed that 45% are now using Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Iaas). Whilst Iaas is still a relatively new industry, this is good news for Google, as its highly-anticipated public IaaS cloud offering 'Google Compute Engine' (GCE) has just been released. The GCE boasts to be faster, more efficient and low-cost, but will need to develop its SLA if it wants to compete with Amazon’s offering: ‘Amazon Web Service’ (AWS).

Customers are queuing up for the cloud, not just due to reduced costs, but also for greater flexibility and knowledge options. Big Data has had a huge impact on cloud offerings recently; the ability to manage the vast amounts of data available in a more structured way is helping businesses to grow and develop. For example, cloud computing and Big Data technologies are at the heart of IBM's Smarter Planet initiative. Big data drives results, and in making such an impact, all that data has to be stored somewhere where it can be accessed on demand and in any location.

In addition, the growth of mobile devices is having an impact as people connect online, whilst on-the-go. With built-in GPS, location data works with the cloud to deliver targeted information to mobile users. Data analysis improvements, increased cloud-storage offerings and lower costs mean that Big Data is now available to more people.

What do you see as the next step for the cloud?

Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly-skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) is a growing market. According to HfS Research, the global BPO market is set to grow 5.1% in 2013. With a tough economy and fierce competition, organisations are increasingly turning to outsourcing in order to keep costs down. However, it's not all about cost reduction; HfS suggests that the primary motivations for outsourcing are to reduce operating costs, gain greater flexibility and scale, and to standardise processes (Source: Outsourcing to surge in 2013: study).

A strong IT infrastructure is important to any business, and technology is fast becoming the back-bone of BPO offerings. It is critical to remember the relationship between IT and BPO, not just for reducing costs but also to add value and allow a business to become more effective. A recent report from Accenture has shown that high-performance BPO uses technology as a source of innovation. By allowing itself to integrate and develop, the IT industry is, in itself, growing. According to Adzuna, the IT industry had the highest employment growth in the six months from November 2012 to May 2013.

Other developing technologies, such as cloud computing, will help to drive future BPO improvement and innovation. Customers are beginning to expect BPO suppliers to integrate with cloud-based management systems. As BPO and IT continue to gain momentum together, customers are becoming more knowledgeable and more selective about outsourcing. BPO providers need to target their prospects more narrowly in order to maximise the chances of success.

BPO is driving IT in a new direction; allowing businesses to expand whilst reducing spend. It offers a range of growth and development opportunities for salespeople who have a strategic selling approach. BPO sales are won by thought-leaders with great problem-solving skills, who can go into an organisation and really understand their business processes.

Flexibility is becoming a higher priority and by moulding IT, cloud and BPO into flexible, combined packages, salespeople can deliver more strategic and useful solutions to customers in order to drive their businesses forward. Comparable to Solution Sales, BPO salespeople need to be able to understand the customer pain points and use their expertise to advise accordingly, offering joined-up solutions that include elements of IT, BPO and cloud.

Outsourcing is an interesting business, with a vast array of industries to sell into. If you're looking for an opportunity within BPO please visit our website.

Understanding your sales team and what motivates them to sell, succeed and develop, is a key challenge for all Sales Managers.

Some people find the level of supervision they are given, their status within the company, or their relationships with supervisors and peers are vital to their enjoyment of work. Things like company policies, working conditions and job security do make a difference to a person’s job satisfaction, and should certainly be considered when trying to create a happy, harmonious working environment. However, they are more like environmental factors rather than motivators to work hard and succeed.

The main factors to focus on for motivation are:

• The work itself: People will be motivated to do the work if they perceive it to be significant. If you feel your job is worthwhile, you’ll be more likely to approach it with enthusiasm.
• Achievement: People love nothing more than a sense of achievement, to feel they’ve done well and succeeded. Giving your team specific and measurable goals to work towards will help to accomplish this.
• Recognition: Make sure you recognise whenever someone does well, achieves their goal or wins a tough sale. Publicise it to the rest of the team or office. A little recognition for a task well done goes a long way.
• Responsibility: Increasing a person’s responsibility or importance is a great way to motivate them. Put people in charge of small teams or projects and they will run with them with enthusiasm. Keep an eye on anyone you’ve given more responsibility to, as it will almost certainly lead to…
• … Advancement: Getting a promotion is a big motivator for a lot of people. Offering someone the chance to step up in their career is both important to the individual and crucial to enabling business growth.
• Growth: According to Salesforce, over 50% of sales managers are too busy to train and develop their sales teams. You must make time for personal and business development, it’s vital to the success of the business.

And the bonus factor: Salary.
This is a tricky one. Many people think that salary, bonuses and commission are motivators. But they are actually more usually seen as factors for job dissatisfaction. People usually strive for higher salaries because they are unhappy with the one they already have, not because they desire to achieve a certain salary which defines success. But undoubtedly, there are some people out there who say they are motivated by money. Whilst a competitive commission or bonus scheme can help in the short-term, try to find something else to motivate these individuals which has a more long-term gain.

The truth is, everyone is motivated by different things; some people place recognition and achievement at the top of their priority list, whilst others are more driven by money. It's important to find out what works best for the individuals in your sales team, as well as what they want from their job or career, and find ways to motivate them accordingly.

Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly-skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

Let’s face it, cold calling isn’t popular. Customers complain; people find cold-callers irritating. A recent article in The Telegraph even gave advice on how to ‘outwit’ the cold caller! It’s no wonder salespeople aren’t keen on doing it anymore; it’s repetitive and tough to get through to the right person.

“Cold calling is dead” can be a popular excuse for salespeople not to bother. But cold calling can still work. It just depends on how you approach it. Starting out with a defeatist attitude certainly won’t help. Here are a few tips to improve your cold calling process:

1. Know your market and find the right data to hook in your target audience.

2. Give a good reason for your call: an upcoming webinar or seminar, a change in legislation that they need to be aware of, something that will make it worth their while and give you an edge over just trying to sell.

3. Don’t necessarily stick to a sales script. Work on your message, make sure your personality comes across and be more conversational in order to win over the person you’re calling.

4. Don’t try to sell straight away. Set smaller goals such as getting an appointment, you can hard-sell in a meeting later on.

5. Be persistent but know when to stop.

Do your sales team still do cold calling? What works for you?

Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

Reaching popularity in the 80’s, there was a major shift from selling products and what they could do to selling Solutions that address customer’s pain points. Rather than saying “our product does this”, salespeople started saying “What are your problems? How can we find the right solution for you?”

The success of Solutions Selling has almost become a cliché these days, with many companies even adding ‘solutions’ to their company name. Some have even broken into sub-genres such as ‘complex solutions’, or ‘horizontal solutions’.

Some people say that Solutions Selling is dead. Buying habits have changed; customers have access to more information and are becoming more independent. Defining their own solutions, they are increasingly only coming to salespeople for a competitive price.

Solutions Selling isn’t dead. It’s just shifted into Insight Selling. So how do you get ahead in the solutions market? Raise your game and challenge your customer with new insights into problems they never knew they had, offering unique solutions that only you can provide. The Solutions salesperson should be able to give high-level insight and expertise, building technical business cases for customers. Now more than ever, the Solutions Salesperson needs to be determined, driven and hungry for success.

Are you up for the challenge?

We’re always looking for talented and driven salespeople for a variety of sales roles. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

Sales Managers should be the link between the sales and marketing departments. It’s critical for the Sales Manager to ensure that both departments communicate with and understand one another.

According to Forrester Research, only 8% of B2B companies say they have a strong alignment between sales and marketing, which means 92% have a serious problem (source: Corporate Visions).

Communication is key; we've put together a few pointers to ensure cohesion in the workplace:

• It’s best to bring the two teams together from the start in order to collaborate on key messages and avoid conflict. Involve both teams in decision making processes and manage expectations in order to achieve your goals together.
• Tell your marketing department about any projects your team is working on; ask them to support the sales efforts with targeted campaigns. For example, if you’re pushing a particular product or feature this month, make sure marketing can back it up with a mailer, social media post or blog. Likewise, talk to the marketing team to find out what they’re working on so that your sales team can support them by mentioning relevant campaigns in their sales calls or emails.
• Decide early on who is in charge of lead nurturing and reporting. The battle over lead generation is a big one. Aside from commission, recognition remains a high motivator in any area of business so it’s important to have a clear way of defining who to give credit to once a deal has closed. 

Whether your organisation is sales-led or marketing-led, both teams must work effectively together in order to sell your products or solutions and achieve your commercial objective with success.

Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.

The best form of leadership is to lead by example.

As a Sales Manager, you probably demand that your team gives 110%, or more. This is great; you’re pushing your team to be the best, but do you show your team that you’re matching their efforts? If you ask them to put in extra hours, have you been seen to be doing the same? You can’t expect others to do more if you're not prepared to yourself. You set the standard.

Managers are often distanced from their team, perhaps confined to an office rather than ‘in the pit’ with the others. But you’re still a key member of the team. Staying late with them shows that you’re all in it together and sets an example for those who might not be so keen to put in the extra work.

Leading from the front will allow you to drive development, gain respect and remain a real part of your sales team. It’s critical for getting a real understanding of the sales process and establishing yourself as a strong leader.

A successful Sales Manager sets and raises the bar when it comes to commitment and achievement. You might even inspire one of your team to step up and make the transition into management themselves.

Hays Sales UK are experts in all areas of sales recruitment. To find out more about how our highly skilled consultants can support you, please visit our website.