Nic Read

Nic Read (Aldershot, August 14, 1967)[1] is a British sales expert, researcher, author and conference speaker.

Nic Read
Born (1967-08-14) August 14, 1967
Aldershot, United Kingdom
Nationality United Kingdom

Biography

Read was the founder and managing partner of SalesLabs,[2] a revenue growth advisory firm. His views on sales, management, employment and leadership have been featured in magazines and blogs by Forbes,[3] the American Management Association,[4] Inc. (magazine),[5][6] USA Today,[1] Entrepreneur (magazine),[7][8] Agency Sales,[9] Selling Power magazine,[10][11] Employee Benefits Adviser,[12][13] and in television interviews on American Broadcasting Company's Washington Business Tonight,[14] 3KTVK,[15] KDVR,[16] and Business Day (South Africa).[17]

Researcher

In 2002, Read approached Dr. Steve Bistritz to partner on researching the genre of selling to executives. Bistritz had previously co-written a research paper titled Selling to Senior Executives How Salespeople Establish Trust and Credibility with Senior Executives.[18][19][20] Read wanted to investigate if the findings of Bistritz's original research was specifically US-centric, or consistent across different business cultures. Between 2003 and 2007 more than 500 executives were interviewed or surveyed, making this study on executive buying behaviour the largest of its kind ever conducted.[21] The business book Selling to the C-Suite: What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top[22] is based on this research.

In the same period Read ran a parallel research project to understand how top sellers structured their Sales process when pursuing a simple product sale compared to a more complex solution sale. Instead of following the sales profession's ubiquitous sales funnel, top sellers were seen to use a less linear and more cyclical approach that emphasised customer intimacy. More importantly, the research documented specific approaches top salespeople applied which were not previously common knowledge. Other researchers and authors have drawn similar conclusions about the modern solution selling process.[23][24][25] Read published the research findings in the McGraw-Hill business book Target Opportunity Selling: Top Sales Performers Reveal What Really Works.[26]

In 2016 Read undertook research to understand how to create high-performing key account management practices.

Author

Non-fiction

Read is the author of the following business books:

Selling to the C-Suite: What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top (McGraw-Hill, 2009).[27] The term 'C-Suite' refers to business executives whose abbreviated title begins with a 'C', such as the CEO or CFO, but may also apply to other heads of departments and Board of directors members. The research and the book were published in response to the Financial crisis of 2007–08 which saw executives giving greater scrutiny to their company's purchases.

Target Opportunity Selling: Top Sales Performers Reveal What Really Works (McGraw-Hill, 2013).[28] A 'target opportunity' is defined as a large Financial transaction between companies that may take months or years to win (see Closing (sales)), and so incurs a high Opportunity cost. The book was written to share observed Best practices drawn from field research on the subject matter.

Fiction

In 2008 he published the science-fiction E-book "Endworlds 1: Echoes of Worlds Past" as an exercise to prove if a work of fiction could find a fan base if it was guided by an analysis of plot rhythms from previous bestsellers.[29] The book was co-authored in collaboration with Alan Dean Foster,[30] the novelist of Spellsinger, Midworld, Alien, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the original Star Wars.

The E-book of Endworlds was the first of its type produced with a motion picture-quality soundtrack, scored specifically for the book by British composer Jamie Salisbury.[31] This was recorded by the 70-piece City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra[32] in May 2011 and mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London before being released as the E-book and a standalone music album.[33]

International speaker

Read has delivered keynote speeches and seminars in training workshops and conferences to audiences in more than 40 countries. Among these he has appeared on stage at:

  • 2011 ThinkSales Sales Leadership Conference, in Johannesburg, South Africa.[34]
  • 2010 Sales Managers Forum, in Athens, Greece.[35]
  • 2010 Optimising the Sales Force, in Melbourne, Australia.[36]
  • 2009 Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference, in Miami, Florida, USA.[37]
  • 2005 International Corporate Training & Development Conference, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[38]
  • 2004 HR Directors Forum, in Shanghai China.[39]

In 2016 Read co-authored a paper titled 'How to create high-performing key account management: lessons from the UK IT industry'. [40] The paper was accepted for presentation at the annual British Academy of Management conference, and developed into an article for publication in Duke's Dialogue Journal.

Awards

Read has been recognised with the following awards:

  • 2005 Winner, Best Sales Trainer, International Stevie Awards[41]
  • 2010 Honoree, Sales Education Leader of the Year, Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service[42]
  • 2016 Third place, Best New Product, International Stevie Awards[43]

Read was inducted as a Fellow of The Institute of Sales & Marketing Management in 2013.

References
  1. "5 Questions" column, by Charisse Jones, USA Today, 5 April 2010; http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/MONEY/usaedition/2010-04-05-5questions05_ST_U.htm
  2. http://www.saleslabs.com
  3. "How to Sell to the C-Suite", Forbes, 8 May 2010; https://www.forbes.com/2010/05/08/selling-to-the-c-suite-entrepreneurs-sales-management-nicholas-read.html
  4. "The Science of Sales Growth in a Recession", the American Management Association, 1 July 2010; http://www.amanet.org/training/articles/The-Science-of-Sales-Growth-in-a-Recession.aspx
  5. "7 Rules for Meetings With Top Execs" by Geoffrey James, Inc., 27 June 2012;http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/c-suite-advice-7-rules-for-meetings-with-top-execs.html
  6. "12 Things Customers Care About by Geoffrey James, Inc., 17 August 2012; http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/12-things-customers-care-about.html
  7. Build a High-Value Sales Organisation, Entrepreneur South Africa magazine, 28 September 2011; http://www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/entrepreneur-today/build-a-high-value-sales-organisation/
  8. Gearing up for Sales Excellence Entrepreneur South Africa magazine, 16 August 2011; http://www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/entrepreneur-today/gearing-up-for-sales-excellence/
  9. Maximizing Face Time With Customers by Jack Foster, Agency Sales magazine, July 2010, pp. 40-46; http://www.docstoc.com/docs/48191383/Maximizing-FACE-TIME-With-Customers
  10. How to Impress Senior Execs, by Heather Baldwin, Selling Power magazine, 24 August 2010; http://www.sellingpower.com/sales-management/?guid=NzI4MTM5
  11. The ABCs of Selling Higher Up, by Henry Canaday, Selling Power magazine, January–February 2010, pp 39-41; https://archive.today/20131124072029/http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article/?i=1310&ia=8977/the-abcs-of-selling-higher-up
  12. Employee Benefit Adviser; June 2010, Vol. 8 Issue 6, p60 by John Ortman
  13. "Two Tips More Than 500 CEOs Say Will Get You Their Business", on Benefit News podcast, 25 April 2012; http://eba.benefitnews.com/podcasts/
  14. Washington Business Tonight interview with Nic Read; http://saleslabs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=48
  15. Good Morning Arizona interview with Nic Read; http://vimeo.com/16836920
  16. Good Day Colorado interview with Nic Read; http://saleslabs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=48
  17. The Big Small Business Show interview with Nic Read; http://www.businessdaytv.co.za/shows/bigsmallbusinessshow/2013/11/18/the-big-small-business-show-part-3
  18. Top of the Heap by Ken Liebeskind, Selling Power magazine; http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article/?i=1104&ia=4517/top-of-the-heap
  19. Selling to Senior Executives: How Salespeople Establish Trust and Credibility with Senior Executives by Alston Gardner, Stephen J. Bistritz, Ed.D. & Jay E. Klompmaker, Target Marketing Systems, 1996
  20. The Journal of Selling & Major Account Management, Volume 4, No 2 - Winter 2002
  21. The ABCs of Selling Higher Up, by Henry Canaday, Selling Power magazine, January–February 2010, pp 39-41; http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article/?i=1310&ia=8977/the-abcs-of-selling-higher-up
  22. Selling to the C-Suite: What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top by Nicholas A.C. Read & Stephen J. Bistritz, Ed.D., McGraw-Hill; August 18, 2009, ISBN 0071628916
  23. The Consumer Decision Journey by David Court, Dave Elzinga, Susan Mulder and Ole Jørgen Vetvik. McKinsey Quarterly, June 2009.
  24. The Sales Funnel Is Dead by Ernan Roman, in Direct Marketing News, 17 September 2013.
  25. The Death of the Sales Funnel as We Know It by Nicole Kelley, Social Media Explorer, 19 February 2013.
  26. Target Opportunity Selling: Top Sales Performers Reveal What Really Works by Nicholas A.C. Read, McGraw-Hill; 27 December 2013, ISBN 007177307X
  27. Selling to the C-Suite: What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top by Nicholas A.C. Read and Stephen J. Bistritz, Ed.D., McGraw-Hill, 18 August 2009
  28. Target Opportunity Selling: Top Sales Performers Reveal What Really Works by Nicholas A.C. Read, McGraw-Hill, 27 December 2013; https://www.amazon.com/Target-Opportunity-Selling-Performers-Reveal/dp/007177307X
  29. Is Endworlds the Future of Science Fiction Publishing? by Tom Hunter, London Calling, 2 March 2012; http://londoncalling.com/features/is-endworlds-the-future-of-science-fiction-publishing-london-calling-talks
  30. http://www.alandeanfoster.com/version2.0/novelsframe.htm
  31. http://www.jamiesalisburymusic.com
  32. Musa Prague Orchestra Recording credits; http://www.musa.cz/credits/albums/endworlds-echoes-of-worlds-past.htm
  33. The Progression of Ebooks into Reality Literature by Mercy Pilkington, 13 January 2012; http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/the-progression-of-ebooks-into-reality-literature
  34. 2011 ThinkSales Sales Leadership Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa; http://www.thinksales.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ThinkSales-Sales-Conference-2011-Info-Brochure.pdf
  35. 2010 Sales Managers Forum in Athens, Greece; http://www.boussiasconferences.gr/default.asp?pid=86&confID=109&la=1
  36. 2010 Optimising the Sales Force in Melbourne, Australia; http://vimeo.com/16835977
  37. 2009 Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference in Miami, Florida, USA; http://vimeo.com/17140476
  38. 2005 International Corporate Training & Development Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; http://www.profitwise.info/db/download/isdn/10/T_and_D_Brochure_(West).pdf
  39. 2004 HR Directors Forum in Shanghai China; http://www.thehrsummit.com/shanghai/sponsorship.cfm
  40. British Academy of Management https://www.bam.ac.uk/sites/bam.ac.uk/files/Track%20Schedule%202016_0.pdf
  41. International Business Award website: http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/171_1829_11226.cfm
  42. Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service website: http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/sales/awards/426_2281_20382.cfm
  43. International Business Award website: https://stevieawards.com/iba/new-products-awards-winners
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