Tips to sharpen your sales skills

Are great sales people born or made? Whether you need to sharpen your own sales skills to build your business or you’re thinking about your next sale hire, it’s important to know what sets top sales teams apart.

So we asked three leaders in their fields to share a few sales secrets.

1. It all starts with the right attitude

For Mark Churchill, Managing Director with commercial broking firm Allfin Financial, attitude is the first thing he looks for in a new sales recruit. “You need to be able to talk with people. Every sale starts with a conversation.”

He believes this attitude comes naturally for a good salesperson – but those with a strong product knowledge base can learn it and do well.

Jennifer Carr, Principal at Louis Carr Real Estate in Sydney, learned her trade with her grandmother – also a real estate agent – who sparked her interest from a young age.

“Grandma would say, ‘there is no secret’. She genuinely loved talking with people, and everyday I look forward to meeting new people and hearing their stories,” Carr says.

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Macquarie has been providing Business Banking solutions for over 30 years and provides SME clients with tools and strategies to grow and develop their business. You can get regular updates by subscribing to the monthly newsletter, Strictly Business by visiting macquarie.com.au/businessbanking. If you would like to find out more about how Macquarie can support you to take your business further, call Sam McCarthy at our Parramatta office on 0417 518 724 and be connected with one of our banking specialists in your region.

This information has been prepared by Macquarie Bank Limited ABN 46 008 583 542 AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 237502 (“Macquarie”) for general information purposes only. This information does not constitute advice. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. No member of Macquarie accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect, consequential or other loss arising from any use of this information.

Events by ATC at The Australian Turf Club has taken top honours at the 2017 Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering Hostplus Awards for Excellence – National in the category of Function/Convention Centre Caterer.

Beating 6 other finalists for the top nod, the award is in recognition of the dedicated and talented function and culinary team at The Australian Turf Club for the Longines Golden Slipper Luncheon.

The Awards for Excellence is a nationally recognised, independently judged awards program that celebrates exceptional service and culinary talent across the state. The Awards for Excellence is the only program in Australia where the judging criteria is determined by consumers who rank what is important to them in the dining experience.

The Australia Turf Club is proud to be showcasing and promoting its functions which are a reflection of our professional team of industry specialists. The award was accepted by Head of Sales, Jimmy Busteed.

Previous Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering Award wins for The Australian Turf Club include:

The 2014 ‘Function/Convention Centre Caterer’ NSW

The 2015 ‘Caterer at a Major Event’, NSW

The 2016 Awards for Excellence NSW – Events Caterer

The 2017 Awards for Excellence NSW – Function/Convention Centre Caterer

WSA Co has today released a Request for Tender for the provision of Land Survey Services for the Western Sydney Airport project. This procurement is being undertaken using an open tender approach.

The procurement seeks to obtain detailed land surveys of the airport site including: cadastral survey; topographic survey; utilities survey, including underground and overhead services and utilities; and orthorectified aerial photography.

These services are required to support the preparation by WSA Co of a reference design for the Stage 1 airport development.

A copy of the tender documentation is available on the WSA Co website at www.wsaco.com.au.

The tender will close at 11:59pm (AEDST) on 27 November 2017.

All enquiries relating to the tender should be submitted to tenders@wsaco.com.au

Transport for NSW will deliver 8600 extra weekly services when a new train, bus and ferry timetable is introduced on 26 November.

How timetable changes may affect customers:

- train lines or platforms may change at different times of the day or week

- train, bus and ferry times may have changed

- customers may now need to interchange to complete their journey

- there could now be an express service or faster trip

More information is available online at transportnsw.info and at bus, ferry and train stations across the network. Customers can also call 131500.

Staff will be available at stations across the network to assist customers through these changes. Customers with special needs should seek out staff assistance, especially at busy stations like Central, Town Hall and Parramatta.

Another milestone was reached this week, with the second Productivity Bootcamp class from Campbelltown graduating this week.

Productivity Bootcamp is an intense eight week course designed to prepare young people for the building and construction industry. Although focused on developing work-ready industry skills in formwork, steel, concreting, carpentry and general ground work, the Bootcamp goes much further, arming students with a wide variety of lifestyle management skills such as personality aptitude, finance/budgeting, communication skills, health, nutrition and fitness.

The program was established by Paul Breen, Director of Productivity Force, who had become frustrated with the skills shortage in the industry and the difficulty for construction businesses to attract and maintain apprentices – with almost 50% of all apprentices dropping out by the second year.

Bootcamp helps address this issue, by allowing young people to begin the course without the need of first having to apply for an apprenticeship. Upon completing the eight week course, the graduates are more confident, more knowledgeable about the industry and more successful in gaining future employment.

Campbelltown City Council is looking forward to continuing to work with Productivity Bootcamp next year on creating further opportunities for local youth.

For further information on Campbelltown City, visit www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au

Let us remind you.

Superman, The Deer Hunter, and Grease were the must-see movies of the year, while John Travolta along with our very own Olivia Newton John were singing about the ‘One that they Want’.

Parents everywhere were rushing to the shops, trying to find the ‘must have’ Christmas presents which were Stretch Armstrong, Evel Knievel stunt bike and Star Wars figurines – some things never change!

Neville Wran was re-elected as premier of New South Wales, in a huge victory reported in the press as a ‘Wranslide’ (they knew how to write headlines back then) and, thanks to the vision of Gough Whitlam, the rapidly growing population of Western Sydney finally had a hospital to call its own, right in the heart of Westmead.  

Built on the site of the former speedway and Parramatta showgrounds, Westmead Hospital will reach the big 40 in November of 2018.

To celebrate, Westmead Medical Research Foundation is asking anyone who has ever visited, been treated or worked at Westmead Hospital to share their stories and photos with us.

If you have photos from 1978 wearing the 70’s fashion, or remember driving your Holden VB Commodore to the official opening of the Hospital, please send your memories to wmrf@wmrf.org.au. 

We would love to hear from you!

Parramatta Leagues Club has unveiled plans to build a $130 million dollar sport and entertainment precinct adjacent to the new 30,000 seat Western Sydney Stadium.

This precinct will feature a 200-room hotel and luxury leisure centre including an aquatic centre, gymnasium and state of the art function facilities.

“It will be a landmark development for Parramatta” Parramatta Leagues Club Chief Executive Bevan Paul said. “We want people to see it as somewhere to take the family and celebrate events both on game and non-game days”.

“With social infrastructure of this kind, people living in Parramatta will have greater choices when it comes to their leisure and entertainment and people outside Parramatta will have another reason to visit and extend their stay.”

Work has already started on the first part of this development, a 750 spot multi-storey carpark. “Once complete, this $30 million dollar structure will make it easier for Members and Visitors to access the Club, during the construction period and after the Precinct is finished” Mr Paul added.

During the construction phase, this project will add 800 jobs to the Western Sydney economy and once completed, 300 new, ongoing jobs to Parramatta.

The carpark is on track to be completed in the first half of 2018. If the Club receives planning approval from the State Government, the hotel and leisure centre is forecast to open in 2019, the same year as the Western Sydney Stadium.

Lack of assertiveness in the workplace is a major contributor to poor performance.

Could you be more Assertive at work?

Well, there is a way to get what you want, without being pushy...

Learn the 3 key components of Assertion Messages, in this clip from a Great Managers MasterClass, and be more Assertive!

CANCER doesn’t discriminate and soon, thanks to work being done at Children’s Medical Research Institute in Westmead, neither will its diagnosis and treatment.

At the moment, the speed and accuracy with which all types of cancers are identified and treated can vary, according to where you are in the world and your access to experienced clinicians. Children’s Medical Research Institute wants to change all that with ProCan®.

One mum who sees the value of ProCan is Rene. While living in South Africa, her daughter Linke was diagnosed at the age of one with an aggressive form of leukaemia. After weeks of dealing with a baby who was constantly sick with no official diagnosis, a blood test revealed something was not quite right. Finally, a bone marrow procedure revealed the cancer.

After six months of chemotherapy, Linke was still unwell and their doctor gave little hope.

“He said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do anything for her, there is no proven treatment for her. Maybe do some research’,” Rene said. “So I went home and that same day I sent about 130 emails to medical professionals all over the world.’’

She received a response from Dr Luciano Dalla-Pozza, Head of Oncology at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, CMRI’s partner hospital, who said he would help. Rene moved countries, bringing her family to Sydney so Linke could have access to specialised care.

“She began treatment on a clinical trial within 24 hours. By the end of the first month on this new treatment, Linke was in remission. Three weeks is all it took on the right treatment,’’ Linke said.

ProCan could have made this a very different experience for Rene and Linke.

Over the next five years, the scientists at Children’s Medical Research Institute will analyse the proteome of tens of thousands of cancer cells from all over the world. They will compile this data and use advanced computer analysis to compare it with pathology results, genome sequencing, as well as response to treatment. This will allow CMRI to develop the ProCan test, so any cancer doctor anywhere in the world can have their patient’s cancer diagnosed faster. What’s more, they will know which treatment is most likely to work for that patient’s particular cancer, and equally important, which treatments won’t work. This will save crucial time and lives.

“Hearing about ProCan was breathtaking,’’ Rene said. “It will mean that every child has the opportunity of getting the right treatment, with the greatest chance of success, first time around. Regardless of where a child lives.’’

To find out more about the work being done on ProCan and other research projects at Children’s Medical Research Institute visit cmri.org.au

Campbelltown City Council recently attended the 10th World Chambers Congress at the Sydney International Convention Centre, to strategically profile Campbelltown City to an international audience.

The World Chambers Congress is the premier event of its kind, bringing chamber, business, education institutes and government figures together in one single gathering.

Held for the first time in Sydney, the Congress provided the rare opportunity to strategically profile Campbelltown City to a diverse international audience, obtain an audience with some of the world’s most prominent business leaders and promote the employment and investment opportunities within Campbelltown to more than 1000 delegates from 110 countries.

Throughout the three day event there was considerable interest from many overseas contingents about the growth the city is experiencing, as well as the opportunities that projects such as the Campbelltown Health and Education Precinct and the CBD Revitalisation present.

For further information on Campbelltown City, visit www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au