This week I completed 2 days core sales skills training with a small group from a large production company. Quite a big commitment from both them and the management to take the group ‘off the road’ for that amount of time.

I was thinking through the evaluation of the days and it occurred to me that of all the benefits, the most important business benefit to come out of the days was the sheer luxury of having that amount of time to really think through what their business, and they personally, fulfilled for the customer – to put yourself in their shoes and see what you do from their eyes.

The group consisted of a mix of  production and technical managers as well as customer support staff. It was an interesting mix. The production people had the perception that the sales teams were inept fools who drank coffee all day and placed any order the customer wanted with no consideration of lead times or technical complexity. The sales support team had a perception that the technical teams were obstructive so often had to fire fight with both the customer and internally. Spending time in the same room discussing issues and resolutions created an awareness and, dare I say it, empathy for each others roles.

We spent a great deal of time thinking about the pressures and business environment theircustomers were coming from, getting into the nitty gritty of particular situations, why they occurred and how it could have been addressed. By extending how they thought about the customer, they had a completely different attitude and set of parametres with which to approach the situation.

The most rewarding and productive outcomes were  that they created a new set of actions, with innovative objectives and tactics with which to proactively build business, and not simply deal with the reactive. With the luxury of time they got into the head space of the customer and their landscape, and created new, future business benefits.

This article featured in The Herald published 29th Nov 2011.

RPL has been on a roll this week, with the Director,Laura, featuring in East Renfrewshire’s place campaign ‘A Place to Grow’ and in this article.

East Renfrewshire showed what a great place it is for visitors, business and the people who live here, at the launch of its ‘A Place To Grow’ campaign today at Whitelee Wind Farm. Here is the video

The kids and I feature in the promo materials (roped in by the Chamber). It was pretty strange to walk into the room and see my massive face on the posters.

We moved here about 5 years ago after living in London for years. I absolutely love it and here is why.

 The parks are fantastic. Rouken Glen has a Victorian boating pond that looks the same as it did 100 years ago. The whole park is really well kept and on a sunny day you cannot beat it.

I can be by the sea in 25 minutes or in the centre of Glasgow.

I can walk or take a 5 minute bus journey into Shawlands for a night out if I can’t be bothered going into town. The best night out EVER is at ibop is in Shawlands (first Friday of the month at the Pollock Ex Servicemens Club… its a secret shhh dont tell anyone). Also Beir Stube’s 2 for 1 pizza is pretty hard to beat.

It is small enough to get involved. I did not know anyone when I moved here. Now my business has grown, I’m on the board of the local Chamber and been on the committee of my toddler group. I know all the people who live in my street around my house and loads of the families around here.

There is a newsagent, bakers and cracking bistro within 2 minutes walk.

Finally when I walk home I can smell the unmistakable smell of a peat fire burning. It takes me straight back to visiting my Granny as a child and I love it.

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 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT EXECUTIVE

The post is funded for 1 Year. The potential total contract value is c£24,000, subject to negotiation.

Engagement and support to businesses based or operating in the rural areas of East Renfrewshire (Neilston, Uplawmoor, Eaglesham, Waterfoot).

Provision of information, sign-posting to further support, canvassing of economic conditions and company health among businesses. Production of two events for rural business.

Liaison with local authority and other stakeholders in support of outcomes.

Closing date: 21st November.

RPL has had more good news this week with the unbelievable news of a place on the semi final of the prestigious Glasgow’s Got Business Awards.

The awards are part of the Glasgow4Business week, taking place all over the city from Mon 7th November 2011. The awards focus on tecnical innovation ideas and are hosted by Digital Enterprise Glasgow and Strathclyde University Incubator.

The semi finals will take place in the beautiful Glasgow Central Hotel in a dragon’s den syle on Monday evening from 5pm and you can book a seat or table at it here.

Check out the huge number of events across the week, many free, aimed at to helping you grow your business.

There must be something in the air this week as RPL is having an amazing run of great news and business wins.

We have been awarded a tender, pending contract, for the Supplier Development Programme’s ‘Expert On Hand’ starting in 2012. This will mean RPL will be available to offer low cost sales and marketing consultancy for their members.

I am particularly pleased about this as I have been on their ‘Love Me Tender’ workshops. This is a wonderful 4 day programme to help SME’s get tender ready, and it has obviously helped RPL. I recommend it to anyone interested in winning public sector tenders – and it is free!

Keep checking our blog for the latest news on progress and start date. This is a really proud moment for RPL.

Laura Molloy of RPL

Exciting and stimulating role with fully flexible, part time hours based from home.

We help businesses grow with a range of sales and marketing services for the small business and social enterprise sectors in Scotland.

To meet a growing demand we are looking for 2 new members of staff to manage our growing client base.

We want to speak to you if you have corporate/ FMCG experience within a marketing role, ideally with some additional sales experience. An understanding of brand building, the commercial processes of business and how to manage customer relationships are crucial to the service we provide for clients.

Candidates will be comfortable in a changeable working environment, quick to learn, and be a confident communicator both face to face and in all written communications.

RPL is managed both on and offline line, so a high level of competency in IT, social media and office packages is essential.

Duties will include;

• Management of online tools such as CRM and social media.
• Collation of market research and reports, and relevant information for input into client reports.
• Collate and create bespoke training plans from existing RPL training materials.
• Basic marketing duties such as email marketing
• Client interaction to present RPL material

Must be able to travel to the South of Glasgow. Salary in the region of £8 per hour.

Get in touch if you think you’re the right person and pass this on if you know someone who might fit.  Thanks Laura

In my past I worked in both the sales and marketing teams for Diageo. It was where I ‘grew up’ professionally after university and have very fond memories of both the company and the teams, many of whom I am still in touch with.

They currently have a number of vacancies both in Scotland and England, which I am aware of via their employee referral programme. If you think you have the talent and can cut the mustard in a business development, account management or marketing (London based) role for this global drinks giant, please get in touch before mid September.

Have a great CV ready and I’ll give you the role profile and next steps. Good luck!

Video: Harley experience on bike trip to Northern Ireland     

 We have been going on annual motorbike trips for the last couple of years with friends. This August we travelled to Larne in Northern Ireland, then up around the beautiful Antrim Coast, all the way to Letterkenny.

If you have never visited the area, I would highly recommend it. It is stunning with sandy beaches, ruined castles, seaside towns and cliff side roads.

By pure coincidence we were there the same weekend as a Harley ‘HOG (Harley Owners Group) meeting, where  hundreds of bikes were gathered for the weekend at Coleraine. On the Saturday they were on a run to Londonderry and back. We missed them by 10 minutes and tried to find them all the way to Derry. We had given up hope but luckily managed to find them just before they set off to return.

This video is of us having the amazing experience finally finding them and riding out with them for a while. Thanks Harley HOG!

Laura Molloy is the guest member speaker at the Scottish Women In Business event on Tue 9th August 2011. Laura will give a brief account of her personal journey into running her business RPL, then a easy guide on how to avoid ever uttering the fateful statement “I paid for flyers and they didn’t work…’.

The Lunch will start at 12:00 at The Art Club, 185 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4HN