NLP Podcast Extract : Richard Sanders on the Benefits of NLP

"I had a fairly odd introduction to NLP and a fairly rapid one"
"I had been working as a consultant for three or four years and was looking for a way to channel my development, my influencing skills, listening skills, and came across NLP there, really from scratch. So I did the practitioner course as quickly as I could. "

"Having done the first session I realised that I had a number of the skills I needed, in part, already - and then built on that with the practitioner course, and then started to use that directly in my consulting career, and since then in my corporate career as well."

"I think it’s across the whole spectrum of NLP, certainly in language and the observation part that goes with that. I'm definitely aware of the reference system and the language that people use with me and mirroring back. Body language is another area that I'm very aware of, and again using very basic techniques to mirror"

"Some other techniques that come in there are actually around the written use of NLP. Writing reports, writing emails certainly. There's as much of an application there to get people to do what you need them to do, as anywhere else. On some levels you call that common sense for language, but actually a lot of it is picked up from the framework of NLP"

"I certainly don't see it as manipulation. I think in the workplace there are so many barriers in terms of making logical decisions - history and politics, and personal preconceptions about a situation - Maybe you've tried a project before that's failed"

"The way I see NLP is unlocking some of that baggage, or at least understanding it - which can then help people get to the right answers - the logical answers"

"Definitely. I was just thinking about the pictures that I have in my head. I definitely consider myself to be breaking down this big granite block, and the answer's in there somewhere, it's always been there - it's not that you have to create it from fresh, it’s that you’re chipping away at what other people or history has put in place that prevents the solution from being obvious"
"There are lots of examples. Depending on which time period we talk about, you have different projects. So again I'd go into my consulting proofs for some more obvious, less sensitive answers. There are some recently, but they're a bit more sensitive"

"In my history, those projects where you're dealing with highly sensitive issues, where the organisation structure changes, changing of ownership of business's - what NLP has allowed me to do is to get past these individuals who have these big preconceptions about a situation, to help me understand where they're coming from and also the reference system that would work particularly well to articulate to them a different view of the future - or at least to make sense of what they're articulating to me, and kind of play that back"

"So it’s given me the framework to break down some of the less tangible issues, as some people would see them - I actually see them as pretty tangible - and put them into an approach, and work with that approach to get a decision made"

Read or listen to the full Richard Sanders transcript and podcast on NLP Benefits.

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PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast Extract : Rory Woolridge on Sales

"And the sales experience really started at about the age of Eleven. I particularly remember an episode of borrowing some plums from a field, and then selling them some hundred yards away from a fruit and veg guy, just under their prices. So that was good fun."

"So I guess Ive been selling for a long time. I'm Fifty Three at the moment. My current joy is to deal with accountants and that's with insurance from tax investigations. So that's a very exciting subject - but there is a need there and I help people fulfil that need."

"Well I think really the key steps, and the first thing of all, I'm sure people have heard of "the blink of an eye" approach, where people will make an assumption about what is in front of them or who is in front of them - so I tend to make sure that in the first instance that I'm fully prepared - I know before I meet my prospect that I understand who they are, where they are - understand a little bit about the company - so that I can be positive from the moment that I walk in through the door."

"So really I think that the first step start prior to my meeting of meeting the prospect, and making sure - dressed appropriately - why I say that is because at one stage I did appliance leasing. Now, had I got onto the farm in a suit, I probably would have been shot, because they probably thought that I had come from the inland revenue. I had to buy some tweed jackets and all that kind of stuff so that I fitted in to the environment that I was actually working in."
So my first step was I said "We'll start with myself and how I'm presenting myself and also the knowledge I have about the company, and probably of the individual."

"I think what then comes next - you have to assume that the deal comes to me - so they feel that they have a need for the product that we are providing in the marketplace. It may be that they have an existing product and they're looking at maybe moving away from that supplier. It may be that they have not had this product before even though its been available for twenty-two years and perhaps they have some questions or some reservations about the product."
"So the next step really is going to be qualification. What is it that they're actually looking for, or what is it that they have at the moment? What is it that they have? What is it that they think is good about what they have? And what are they not so pleased about?"

"Then maybe I can look at my approach from that point."

"It depends on the meeting. Obviously everybody's different, they all need a different approach. The main thing really is information that you can gather - and quite often sales people will forget that they only have one mouth, but they do have two ears - and most sales people will go in on their own agenda to sell what they think is right before actually listening to the prospect and what it is that they actually need."

"I think you then have to agree on the process, you have to agree what the client actually needs - once you've established that and I tend to write things down because I think it tend to make things more powerful - especially for the person opposite you - if you write something down, they will watch you write that - that then becomes important."

"So if there is a specific need I think "Oh good, we can make a good start with that," because that's something that they could really need - and its something that you could then go to later to reinforce, why they should buy."

"So I think really the next thing is getting a full agreement on what it is that they require"

Read or listen to the full Rory Woolridge transcript and podcast on Sales.

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Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast Extract : Brian Mahoney on Hypnosis

Brian Mahoney is a certified hypnotherapist and master hypnotist who runs Boston Hypnosis. He has trained with many of the worlds leading NLP and hypnosis trainers and practitioners.
"I am Brian Mahoney, I run Boston hypnosis in Boston Massachusetts, over in the US, I do therapeutic hypnosis on a really wide area of issues, mainly behavioural, emotional, although there are some physical issues as well."

"Well, you've got the textbook definition 'a state of highly focused attention - for the purpose of selective thinking' and there's others as well. For my purposes, hypnosis is a state, it's a state for people to get some work done so people can get some things solved for themselves."

"Well, it's kind of interesting. I think with a lot of people in the NLP community my door was Tony Robbins. I did a lot of his stuff through the nineties, as I was in a more traditional business career, and at the tail end of that I began to do some coaching work with some guys that I was managing."

"And I was just wowed by the quality of results that these guys got for themselves, with this pretty basic stuff that I was teaching them from Tony Robins, Dale Carnagy, Steven Covey, so I decided that I liked coaching. and when I left the company I was with I began to do some coaching work and I pretty quickly realised that the type of tools that I had didn't really have the horce power I needed to really help people sort some things out within themselves."
"And I knew that Tony came out of NLP so I decided 'well, I should learn this stuff.' so I went to see John Grinder in London in 2003, and from then it was just a whirlwind of training, with who I think really are the best minds in NLP, and hypnosis. And in 2004 I opened the doors at Boston hypnosis."

"Well from the career standpoint it's enormously rewarding, it's rewarding in the way that every day I get to see people solving major life problems for themselves, or almost every day anyway, and there's a lot of satisfaction to be found in there."

Read or listen to the full Brian Mahoney transcript and podcast on Hypnosis

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Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast Extract : Stuart Pedley-Smith on the Benefits of NLP

"My name is Stuart Pedley-Smith. I work for a company called Kaplan Financial. And what we do is prepare people to sit their final level accountancy exams. And also, more recently look for methods for preparing people for CPD, the continued professional development element of becoming an accountant."

"The qualification in the exam is only one sort of element of training, all professional bodies have become keen to ensure that their membership remain up to date. So all qualified accountants now are required to undertake a degree of continued professional development to keep up to date with their subject."

"I’ve been involved in NLP for the best part of ten years now. And I came to do it by being particularly interested in how you can put words and language together to influence people, also as a professional presenter, with a view to influence so not only would they listen to what I would say, but also they would take action."

"In my job, and in a certain extent in my career, it’s helped me with a framework. It’s provided - the old cliché I suppose is that we’re doing most of these things anyway. It’s provided me with a framework to identify instinctively what works. You get good at knowing what works by watching people’s reaction. But that’s just called experience. What NLP has done for me is that it’s provided me with an analytical structure to make sense of my experience."

"When I did my NLP, I probably sat there- (the course that you do is modular- which was one of the reasons I was keen to do it). I probably sat there for two modules over a period of six months and I probably sat there looking around the room thinking - this isn’t working for me, I’m not sure I’m getting this, I’m not even sure I should be in the room here. But having persevered and stuck with it and then got back for another module, listened to what people said it really came together. "

"I was very pleased that I went through the exercises almost without questioning them first, because I think if I questioned them first, with the way I think about things I would have analysed them to death. So go along, do the exercises, give yourself a break in between. Think about how it could be applied and how it does work in the real world. Go back, and you know, do it over a slightly longer period."

"I think sometimes if it’s rushed you’ll just go out the other end and go, "Oh, I just finished that" and you’ve never really finished. I’ve certainly not finished……. "

Read or listen to the full Stuart Pedley-Smith transcript and podcast on NLP.

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Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast Extract : James Prior on Benefits on NLP

"My name’s James Prior. I work for AstraZeneca, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. I’m the Organisational Development Partner. My role is really looking after leadership development; it’s also looking after the culture within the business considering where we’re headed as a successful organisation, and looking at the business skills offerings we have. "
"Yes, it’s quite a big role. And obviously I don’t do all that on my own. I have a team of two people as well who help support me in those areas."

"Over the years quite a bit, working up to my Master Practitioner qualification in coaching, leadership development and change management."

"I think it allowed me to really focus on building rapport and relationships with people. And NLP has both allowed me to pick on audio clues and visual clues. To really get a sense of peoples core values and identity. So that we can shape the offerings we have, so that we know that they’re aimed at the right areas that people want to improve."

"I think it’s helped me in expanding my career in allowing me to take on new opportunities. I think in the sense that it’s allowed me to build relationships far quicker than if I didn’t have the skills. But it is also about understanding people. It’s allowed me to specialise in the area that I’m very passionate about - leadership. It has big implications for improvement in leadership in many areas. In building relationships and enabling people to see the benefit of communicating really well."

"My drive and ambition is a big motivator for me. As well as taking responsibility for my own development. I come from a philosophy that things don’t come to you, you have to go looking for them. I work very hard on my own personal development programme. Working hard with external supplies like yourself, and working very closely with the company putting core business cases together. This enables me to broaden my career, broaden my experience and allows me to move on through AstraZeneca.!

"The biggest area for me is listening to people, really listening, in order to understand people on a number of different levels. This includes body language, tone of voice, use of language and beliefs. This has enabled me to be really challenging in some areas. I think people find me challenging sometimes but in the end they see a huge benefit because it allows them to challenge some of their own behaviours and beliefs."

"I’m going to be really honest. I think the first thing I’d advise is just have a go! "
I think from a corporate point of view NLP has sometimes some quite bad press. People don’t really understand what it’s about and they fill in the blanks without ever really trying it themselves.

"So my advice to people is to actually have a go but also speak to some practitioners who really understand it and use it and have been successful. And then go to some taster evenings, like you do yourself, and really explore for yourself what it’s about."

Read or listen to the James Prior transcript and podcast on NLP.

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Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast Extract : Stephen Gilligan on Hypnosis

Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D., is a licensed Psychologist practicing in Encinitas, CA. Stephen was among the group of students that gathered around the founders of NLP during its formation at U.C. Santa Cruz from 1974-1977. Milton Erickson and Gregory Bateson became his teachers and mentors.

"I'm a psychologist. I live in San Diego, California. And professionally speaking, for the last thirty two-thirty three years, I've been doing a variety of therapeutic work, coaching work related to hypnotic work. I started out in the late seventies as a student of UC Santa Cruz and I was a student of Bandler and Grinder, I actually met them when they first got together - I was a student of Grinders. And about a year into that they went out and met Milton Erickson and I was just thoroughly taken by what they had brought back, and the next time they went I went with them and met Erickson in 1974 and became a student of his for the next six years until he died in 1980. So a lot of my work has that as a core - Ericksonian hypnotic trance, and a number of other things have become integrated into that over the years, including a lot of stuff from Aikido and Buddhism, and some from other aspects of psychology."

"Well I think it's important to distinguish between hypnosis and trance, most people don't, and it leads to a lot of misunderstanding. So in order to define hypnosis I would first have to define trance. One of the most important aspects of Erickson's legacy was emphasising trance, not as artificial, but as naturalistic, and that is it doesn't come from hypnotic suggestion, it comes from consciousness itself - that it's a natural part of peoples learning states and of their consciousness. I think we could say in the most succinct way that trance is the way that occurs any time that identity is disrupted."

"And of course identity might be disrupted in a number of ways, you might get traumatised, you might be at the end of an identity cycle or a learning cycle in your life. I was just working with somebody for example, that was going through retirement - that you might call the end of a identity cycle for that person. Your identity might get disrupted because of things that happen in the world, you might get married, divorced, you might have a child, your child leaves home, a parent dies, you get ill, you get a new job, you change your residence. Those would be what we call events at the identity level, and it creates a break in the identity box, if you will, that you've been walking around in. "

"So because you need to create new identity patterns at those pivotal points, nature has supplied consciousness with this learning state that we call trance - so trance is natural. And like it or not you're going to go into a trance at least periodically in your path."

"Now the thing about trance I would say, is that it's incomplete. It needs a human context. And so the social ritual is able to absorb it, to give it a container, connect it with some traditions or some patterns that allow something that is that coming up in trance, be made artistically into something that has human value. So another way of saying that is what your unconscious gives you in trance is not complete, it's only half human. so you need someway to be able to absorb it in order to be able to shift it into something that has full human value. And that's why I say hypnosis is one of those ritual processes if you will. If a way that you can safely create a container, and receive the unconscious and at full throttle be able to open to the more primitive, primordial consciousness. and that has some set of tools that you can gracefully, I hope, effectively guide it, into a thing that has a full human form and full human expression. "
"So trance is the experience, hypnosis is the social ritual to guide the experience. "

Read or listen to the Stephen Gilligan transcript and podcast on Hypnosis.

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Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast Extract : David Sales on Leadership

David is an energetic practitioner, coach and speaker on effective leadership. His approach is based firmly in his experiences of leading teams through challenging situations. He honed his skills and values in the changing world of UK telecommunications, as the industry moved from a monopoly environment to the competitive battleground of today.

"It's a very personal thing I think, and different people like to use different words, but for me really the essence of it is really around three things, in terms of the person. I think it's all about bravery, I think it's about excitement, and I think it's about determination - all focused around creating change in an organisation, and obviously that change can vary greatly depending on what's needed and what's appropriate."

"But for me the change has to have meaning, to the organisation and to the world, and it has to be sustainable - so leadership is about the kind of energies and skills that you bring to create change."

"I think the one that would be most useful, because it was certain one of my most impactful, informative experience is when I was the CEO of BT conferencing. Which was a stand-alone business, a global business running all of the telecoms scene with video-conferencing technology that BT provided to its costumers."

"There were several, and my role their changed over time for five or six years - so when I first joined, the big issue, that hit me in the face straight away was the organisation, that had grown fairly rapidly, but had grown in a process way so that customers had been forgotten."

"The purpose of the business was to run an efficient process and give the customers a satisfying experience."

"So the first issue was to remind people that customers were top of the pile - that if they were going to have a successful business, that is where the focus would be, not internally."

"And during the time, as we began to expand on that business ethic, we had to change the business from one that was really trying to serving equipment, like business conferencing terminals, to a service business when we were really running telecoms, audio-conferencing, and video-conferencing services. So that was a big system change, a big change internally. "

"In parallel with all of that, we were expanding globally - originally it was an English business, and by the time I left we were operating in twelve countries and the US, currently the biggest market, was coming up the rails as it were to chase the UK in terms of sales. "

"The key aspects of leadership for me there were, number one, that we were doing in a good direction, for everybody in the company - and there are different aspects of that - but overall you must have the handle of where you're aiming to take the organisation, in both the short term and the long term in explaining that to people and you must be consistent, every day of every week of every month. "

"Now over a year or so, of course the market changes, and things might change, but it's your responsibility to maintain the direction of the business."

"The next thing is to champion customers as I've mentioned before, in any reasonably sized organisation, the work that we're doing now would suggest that an organisation of less than twenty people is very good at focusing on customers, but when you start getting bigger than that, the company and the internal processes - sometimes people forget that the customers are the reason that we exist."

"So being the customers champion in an organisation of seven hundred people was important for a leader today. There are a couple of internal things, I think, for a leader to do. One of those is to remember that its your role to help people through the changes that you're instigating - and that at the end of the day change does not stick in an organisation unless the people are behind it, with it, and happy about it."

"And that's much more difficult than just announcing a reorganisation, you need to understand the psychology of the people within the organisation as well as how to make them feel comfortable with the ongoing changes."

"And then finally, and this is specific to the fact that we were an organisation within a bigger organisation - was to provide air cover. So the politics, and the pressures that exist within a bigger company, that constantly try and distract a small organisation from it's task - if a leader can deflect those, with an efficient use of the time, and not seven hundred people trying to deflect them."

" There are lots of resources, but the more that I thought about it at the time - and I have to say, the more that I look back at it - only one resource really matters, and that's the people."


Read or listen to the full David Sales transcript and podcast on Leadership.



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Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast Extract : John La Valle on Hypnosis

John La Valle is a Licensed Master Trainer of NLP™ & DHE™, who has been in the training & development field for almost twenty-five years and who has brought NLP™ and DHE™ into the business arena for the past 20+ years.

"I have to tell you – years and years and years ago, oh gosh, I must have been twelve, or even thirteen – something like that – I was fascinated by the idea of hypnosis, and I remember seeing those little ads at the backs of comic books and things like that, and the guy with the darts coming out of his eyes and the hypnotron wheel, and I remember seeing those and thinking ‘whoa, this stuff looks really cool!’, and so I learned hypnosis and all of these things. Of course I was only young at the time so didn’t really get into it, but it really peeked my interest, that far back. "

"And then a friend of mine, I forget how old I was, I might have been maybe in my twenties, early twenties – maybe I was twenty years old or so – and I’m happily talking to a friend of mine, and happened to mention that I was interested in some hypnosis, and learning hypnosis and what it was about, and he told me that he was actually doing hypnosis, which I really didn’t have any idea that he was. And he sent me one of these self-hypnosis cassette tapes. "

"So I immediately plugged it in. And I was fascinated. I went into an altered state and was able to program myself based on the instructions on the tape where it said ‘at the end of this tape if you want to stay in this nice relaxed state’ or whatever it was ‘or if you want to relax for another ten minutes past that, or to tell yourself that’ whatever, and it happened, and I was really really amazed that I could give myself a set of instructions in a deep altered state and it would work."

"I’ve been able to relax better with it, I’ve been able to reprogram myself better with it, I’ve been able to do all kinds of things, I guess. I’ve learned a lot of things over the last twenty years or so. One of them being that just about anything is possible in trance, and so if there’s something that people want to try out, is that they ought to try it in an altered state and the altered state by the way, is really a chemical state change that we produce in our brain – now I do think it’s about exquisite communication, I believe hypnosis is going on all the time. That’s how people change beliefs, they could be watching TV and watching the news, getting hit with so many things of the same topic, and also they’ll be hit with something that they then realise is true. "

"So I really believe that it’s going on, I believe that it’s going on all of the time. So for me it’s been a way for me to go in and reprogram some things that I’ve needed to reprogram for myself, even to learn some things, and more than anything else to learn to relax when I want to."

"Well, you know Michael, when I look at it, there are a couple of things – I said earlier that I really believe that hypnosis is exquisite communication which is really going on all the time, I think that the main use that most people think that it’s for is for therapeutic or coaching types of activities, things where they want to change personal behaviour. But the fact is, I believe that it’s really going on and being used in the mainstream by media, by politicians and things like that, whether they know it or not – so the only other question is – if they don’t know it, than they ought to, and if they do know it there’s more than that many uses for it."

"So I hear lots of people making distinctions where they want to know the difference between the conscious and the unconscious mind, which of course don’t really exist in an abstract sense, but to me they do exist in terms of how much activity is going on. So conscious is what we’re aware of and unconscious it what we’re not aware of. But everything is really going on, so my thought is, if they’re consciously aware of what’s going on then they know, and if they’re not, it doesn’t mean that these process’s are no longer occurring."

Read of listen to the full John La Valle transcript and podcast on Hypnosis.

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Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast Extract : Andy Preston on Cold Calling

Andy is an International Expert in Cold Call Techniques, Objection Handling, Getting Past Gatekeepers, Making More Appointments, and Sales Motivation.

"Cold Calling, to me, is where you have to make an either telephone call, or face-to-face visit, to people that you don't necessarily have any contact with in the past - that aren't likely to remember you, that aren't likely to have had any contact with you, that might not have any idea who you are - and it's a very cold introduction, IE, there's no warmness to it, there's no prior contact, and I'm expecting there to be some resistance in having them engage in conversation with you."

"Well, it's an interesting question Michael because I know a number of my clients, because of my background and success in sales, they come to me because I help to differentiate themselves from the competition. So a lot of the work that I find myself doing these days is in companies having a similar product or service to other companies, be able to differentiate themselves between those companies and therefore get the business."

"So I've become quite a big fan of doing something different, and if every single person is doing things one way, I like to be a little bit contrary and do things a little bit differently. While, certainly when I started my sales career fifteen years ago Cold Calling over the phone, Cold Calling face to face, dropping in on people - was commonplace - it's become less popular, or less cool to do it, particularly with the advent of the Internet, or Internet marketing by sending emails."

"So I think that it's not quite a lost art yet, but a lot less people are doing it. So therefore all of the people that are still doing it are getting very good results."

"Well I actually started off life, quite bizarrely as a professional buyer, which I think gives me a very good insight into why people buy, why buyers almost beat up salespeople and business owners, because it gives me a lot of advantages in the psychological negotiation side"

"I then started off at cold calling over the phone and the top appointment maker for every company I ever worked for, I then did cold calling face to face, in one situation for commission only, which is very hardcore. And then became not only top salesperson in my company but also top person in the industry in what I did. Then as companies do is duly promote the best salespeople to sales manager and sales director"

"So I lost my data range, got very bored of the frustration managing paperwork and moved into sales training, cold calling training, particularly because most of the people that were hiring to train my team were not experienced in sales, some had never been in sales, some had never picked a phone up in their life."

"How on Earth can I bring you in on thousands of pounds per day on teaching my team how to sell, when you've never sold yourself?'' It was very, very strange - and I find generally, that there is not many people who are good at cold calling, there are not many people who are good at training people how to cold call, and there are certainly very few people who are good at both.

Read or listen to the full Andy Preston transcript and podcast on Cold Calling.

Our index of Sales podcasts


Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP podcast extract: Martin Woodcock on International Sales

"I'm Martin Woodcock, former vice president in South East Europe for Oracle, so I've managed a collection of around thirteen countries - the smallest being countries like Malta, Montenegro, Bosnia and so on, and larger ones being Greece and Romania. so I was in charge of licence sales for Oracle across those countries."

I'm starting my own venture from Australia, after the end of my thirteen years in Oracle."

"In terms of my specialist areas, selling business intelligence systems - in order to sell these business intelligence systems you have to understand how the people that run companies think and make decisions, and their need to have information flowing through to them to make those decisions."

"Obviously what I'm talking about is from my Eastern European experiences, from an Eastern European perspective, working for a global corporation with a global HQ that's based in California. And Oracle is a very well-structured organisation, with clear business processes that are global business processes and, so as a line manager, one of the things that you have to be very good at is blending these global business processes and local cultures."

"So first of all as a corporate manager you have to adopt the corporate line, and follow the processes. Then you have to understand the variations that you are able to make. I think one of the other areas that you have to blend in is your style of selling. So if you take a continuum of California, through American, Europe and Asia and if you look at the balance between selling products and developing relationships as a method of selling - you'd start off in California where product selling is absolutely key, and as you move eastwards, the degree of relationship selling increases, so by the time you get to Asia, it’s a thoroughly relation-based process. And they'll take what products you have based on relationship."

"So in the middle, Western Europe is more product-selling, and Eastern Europe is more relationship based selling, and the dividing line is around about Vienna."

"What this means, in terms of some of the challenges, is how you recruit and train the sales force. Once again, one of the challenges here, one of the things that you have to do is to be local to your local customers even though you're a global organisation, and this comes through both from the product side but also from your marketing side as well. If you’re writing to a CEO of a company in Slovakia you have to have the accents on his name, otherwise you just don't get through to him. So you have to be as local as you need to be to be professional in front of those people."

"The other thing is, my countries are high-growth countries so year-on-year we are significantly growing revenues, increasing staffing and so on. The key challenges there are keeping staff motivated to really support this growth rate. The second one is recruiting competent staff, and then when you have that body of people how do you develop those people, how do you give them motivation, and set them on the path to develop the organisation when they're coming from very small countries - where their education is different, their grasp of English and other languages is different and their grasp of Western culture is different as well."

"I think the first thing is that you have to believe in the processes yourself. At corporate management level, it's your responsibility to manage your operation in the way that your corporation wants you to. And you have to understand your scope of deviation from those processes - the correct amount of leaway, but consistently, enforce those processes."

"The first thing is, you have to look at how the customer wants to be sold to, and so you can't do things dramatically different from how a customer wants to be sold to. So if a customer only deals with people that they know and trust, you can’t just pick a phone up and expect to sell product."

"So you have to get this blend between product selling and relationship selling. I think the important thing there is the way that you select, train and really direct your sales force. You accept that they have to develop a relationship. They also have to be known to be able to sell."

"But from the corporations point of view, a sales person has to be able to present the sales benefits, the solution benefits to these customers. So what you're doing is saying 'I accept the relationship, but we’re going to sell these products hard' so you're in fact, creating that balance there."

"In some areas it needs tough decisions. If people have a very good relationship but cannot pick up the required understanding of product selling, then it might be time to change."

Read of listen to the full Martin Woodcock transcript and podcast on international sales.

Our index of International Sales podcasts

Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP podcast extract: Doug O'Brien on NLP and Metaphor

"So I'll start a story, and I'll start on one side of the room, to spatially anchor the story and the state that that place elicits on one side of the room. It might be a state for frustration, because the person that has tried to quit smoking or tried to loose weight often has the feeling of frustration, it's common to the people that are listening to the stories."

"So I'll tell a story about that, and anchor that on, say, the right side of the room. And then I'll tell another story, that has maybe, nothing to do with the first story. This kind of open-loop idea. But it elicits, a state again, that is of curiosity, lets say - and then I'll anchor that in this next place, across, closer to the centre of the room, from the original anchor. "

"Then I'll anchor a third state, and I'll start wandering - walk over to the third place. It's a little further to the left for them. And I'll tell a story about when I felt determined, and I felt absolutely determined to make something happen."

"Then I'll tell a fourth story and I'll walk to the far left side of the room, where I get into a flow state, and make things happen. And if it feels really good I'll make it a recursive thing where I - the more that I do the better it feels - or the better it feels, the more that i do. And I start a story like that."

"And then I'll start suggesting that they might want to exercise, for example. so I'll walk over to the right side of the room and I'll start talking to them about exercising, and about how sometimes there's a feel of frustration and then I'll sort of go through a scenario that might be a suggestion and rehearse within their mind, what they're going to be doing - starting from frustration going to a place of curiosity - going to a place of determination - and a place of 'Wow, they're working out every day!'"

"I've move across the room to these anchored spots based on those previous stories that I've told."

Listen the podcast or read the full transcript: NLP Metaphor

Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP podcast extract : Judith Germain on developing leadership talent

Judith Germain FCIPD is Managing Director of Dynamic Transitions Ltd and specialises in developing leadership talent. She has over 10 years experience working with wilfully independent people which she defines as mavericks or Troublesome Talent®. In this interview she explains why managing Troublesome Talent® is vital to a company's success.

"I think that it’s really important because the way that the world is going now is that you have to be very innovative if you want to grow your company, and increase market share, you’re going to have to do things that are different you need to be a bit more unreasonable and to break the status quo."

"Yes, if you think about your talent pool, troublesome talent tends to be as much as 20% of this talent pool, but they can be bringing in about 80% of your profit. So situations where they’re really, really key is where you need to make a shift change perhaps maybe after a merger of acquisition, a change management program – where you really need to have somebody, or a group of individuals that can really look at what the company has been doing in the past and see a way forward. You know, like a Richard Branson or a Ricardo Semler. "

"Because they’re very sensitive. And they believe that they’re very unique to everybody else. So the thought of being managed in the way that everybody else is being managed is not something that they like. Also, because of the way that they think, in terms of that they need structure, without structure, it means that you can’t take a single approach. So a lot of things that happen these days – people will look at things like Talent Management and believe that what they have to do is treat each and every employee the same way to be fair and consistent – but that’s not going to work for the troublesome talent, because you do need to treat them differently if you wan to get the best from them"

"Well managers tend to be very administrative, very task orientated, very ‘this is the rules, and you need to follow the rules.’ And I say that leaders are more interested in the outcome, and the best way to get that way. So a typical maverick, a typical troublesome talent would say ‘ok you want me to increase profits by giving the best customer service’, but as a manager you’re saying to me that I need to spend two minutes with each customer call. So the troublesome talent would say ‘actually that’s not really applicable, if you want me to give great customer service, you need to give me the flexibility to choose how I spend my time in that day."

Read full transcript or listen to podcast:

NLP Leadership

NLP Forum

Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP podcast extract: Penny Power on Networking

Penny Power, Founder of Ecademy, discusses her ability to create a place where 'people can be themselves and proud of who and what they are' with Michael Beale, May 2008

"Well, I think people are more transparent than they realise. I think that people think that they can create an illusion and an image of themselves, but we can also see through that, and I think that people that live in an ego state rather that actually understanding their identity of who they are – those people that manifest themselves into their ego, are actually very unattractive people to know, and we all know that – but it can be very hard at times in peoples lives, to not slip into an ego state."

"Nowadays I think people have so much choice in where they can go for business and suppliers, they’re just not going to be attracted to people aren’t nice people, and I think this is the thing, I had an email this morning from a new member saying that Ecademy is the first place in her business life that she’s felt that she’s able to talk from her heart, and I thought ‘What a poignant email to get today, when I was talking to you!’ "

"Because, I think that’s one of the biggest transitions people go through – I think our emotional wealth is what makes us get up in the morning. And gives us the self esteem and the self belief to attack the world in the way we need to, to use our adrenaline and achieve what we need to in a day. And we have to be superhuman a lot of the time, and if you’re not actually settled inside yourself it makes the road a much harder road to go along."

"Well, the first thing, if I’m talking from a business point of view, a lot of this does stem into business – I think it’s very important for people to understand what the heartbeat is behind their business. I’ve talked before about emotional wealth, I’ve talked about connecting your heart to your brain. A lot of people talk about their skills and what they do, they don’t talk about why they do it and who they are. And the ‘Why you do something’ and ‘Who you are’ is much more interesting, so I’ve spent time with members, I’m much more interested in the journey that took them to doing what they’re doing, but the soft skill behind what they do."

"There’s a lot of different phrases for that. That’s your reason that you’re getting up and doing what you’re doing. If you haven’t got a moment in your day when you actually get that spine-tingling feeling that makes you feel like you’re on fire – then you’re quite possibly not doing the right thing, or you’ve got to a stage in your business where you’ve employed or collaborated with people and let them do all the things that you love and you’ve taken on the wax in your business. Which is unfortunately what a lot of people do."

"So I would always start by saying to them, to find their emotional wealth, and if they don’t have it, if they really can’t find it, than there are lots of people they’re connected with that can help them to achieve that. But I think people need to know what makes them tick inside, and it’s not just going to impact their business lives, it can impact all areas of their life, when they actually find that heartbeat inside them that makes them really feel happy. So that would be how I’d always start to coach someone."

Listen or read to the full pod cast and transcript: Ecademy founder Penny Power

Listen or read to other NLP Networking pod casts and transcripts

Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP podcast extract: Michael Beale on NLP

Hi there. My name is Ryan Nagy . I'm a Feldenkrais practitioner and Internet marketer in the United States. Today I am interviewing NLP trainer and business coach Michael Beale in the UK.

"Hi Ryan, I think that's a really good question - Top level, I look at it in two things. One is something that produces results in people, and secondly it moves people towards personal freedom. Really to me NLP is exploring what works, how particular behaviour gets results - with particular emphasis on how we think, how we change, and how we communicate with each other. "

"Well I think the first one relates to what you've just said. NLP is very much about experience, not theory. One of the most important things if you're doing an NLP course, and doing NLP, is that you go with whatever experience you're going through, and you judge the responses by what happens, not by what you think ought to happen."

"There are many, many cases where I've thought about an NLP technique, and I've thought 'This is absolute nonsense', And then when, to my surprise, I've tried it and then found that it works."

"So one of the things about NLP is, it's about throwing all of the theory and the books away, and working on what actually produces your results from real experience. So I think that's one of the most important things about NLP."

"The second thing is that it's all about process rather than content. It's almost as if in working together with somebody, I let them deal with the content, so they go through whatever experiences they're having - and in some ways I don't care so much about the content of the experience that they're having, or what that experience is - I lead them through certain stages, a certain process that helps them use that experience and helps them get the results that they get. "

"So it's very much that two people working together make three because they're working together because they're concentrating on their content and what's important to them and I help by guiding them through a process which takes them to where they want to go."

"Well I think it builds on what we've just been talking about. When you go to an NLP course, do stuff. Just throw yourself in and find out what works for you. In fact, I'll add two things to that - find out what works for you, don't have any preconceptions, because sometimes that things that you'll find maybe the most uncomfortable or the things that you find more difficult are the stuff that enables you to learn the most. So have an open mind - if it doesn't work that's fine, but don't pre-judge anything."

Listen or read to the full pod cast and transcript: NLP Trainer Michael Beale

Listen or read to other NLP pod casts and transcripts

Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP Podcast extract : Shaun Gisbourne talks on Cold Calling

Shaun helps people in companies by making calls that make their businesses grow. He also helps them to "Take the Phone In Small Steps" if they want to do their own telemarketing.

"To my mind cold calling is when the person that you're looking to reach by telephone has no knowledge of you, doesn't know anything of you - literally doesn't know you from Adam - couldn't point you out in a line of people. That's what a cold call is.

"Now this doesn't mean to say that if you have sent a piece of literature or maybe you've sent some other correspondence to the person that you intend to speak with that it isn't a cold call, because as far as they're concerned, if they haven't received your piece of literature, or their previous correspondence, to them it’s still a cold call."

"I think where it stops being a cold call is where you've had some previous contact with, if not them themselves, then certainly somebody that they work very closely with, or somebody that they would recommend, or somebody that they feel confident about hearing from."

"The first and foremost important thing that I have to say there is opening statements. What you say first and how you deliver it, that's the most crucial thing. The reason that I would say that is because of the sheer lack of patience that people have these days. They're getting marketing messages thrown at them from all angles and all the media all of the time."

"So the opening statement is crucial, and that applies to whether you're talking to the receptionist or the actual decision-maker that you want to reach."

"Well a good opening statement has to be very much to the point. It's about knowing what you want to happen, like in my case what I'm looking for is either a commitment from them to speak further, or a straight "No" from them. So it’s when you don't allow people to think things over and get back to you and it’s very wishy-washy, or they've not fixed a date to commit for action."

"That's when cold calling really fails to realise any value at all. At the Sandler Sales Institute for example they'll say "Be clear, specific and certain" I couldn't agree more. If you could do that from the outset it helps greatly to ensure that both you and the person that you're speaking with are on the same wavelength."

"So literally, I would say “Michael, sometimes I find that I get confused quite easily. Michael, would you be offended if I said that we should be "Clear, specific and certain" in our communications and in anything that we agree to or commit to today?”

Read the full Shaun Gisbourne interview transcript or listen to Shaun's cold calling podcast

See our other sales and cold calling podcasts and transcripts

Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

NLP podcast extract: Ashley Hunter on international sales

The HM Risk Group specialises in insurance and risk management needs for commercial contractors and developers as well as self- employed startup business owners. Currently focusing on businesses that are located in the Middle East region

"My name is Ashely Hunter and I am the owner and president of HM Risk group, and we're an international insurance brokerage specializing in projects that take place in the Middle East and parts of India."

"My main focus or area would be in construction and in development and in the private security sector, and focusing on projects in the Middle East, specifically in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates and parts of Northern Africa"

"I think the biggest challenge is, number one, is going to be the language barrier, because basically what you've got is an English speaker, and a person whose second language is English, and so the language barrier of what we consider one word to mean, and what they will consider that would to mean - sometimes it poses for interesting conversation."

"I would also say that when you're trying to work with different cultures, how people interact with each other, its completely different. What time they will actually do business with you, what day of the week they will do business with you - so I think between languages and how the cultures tend to interact with each other, it makes for interesting conversations."

"The first time you speak with someone it's a hurdle trying to not step on anyones toes."

"It's kind of interesting. When I went to the Middle East for the first time they were having a little issue because while they do business with women, they're not really as gun-ho about doing business with women, so I remember they would talk to my partner, who's a man, who knows absolutely nothing about insurance other than he's a man."

"So, probably an hour into talking to this guy he shakes it head and looks at me to say 'I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about?' and they're like 'Why are we talking to you?' And he's like 'I don't know, you should probably be talking to her.'

"So after the first hour or so, after talking to somebody who had no clue, and me not being tapped in to what's going on because they're not talking to me, I think we got over it. And finally now, they call me about everything. I think basically, they've become accustomed to women that aren't in a position where they have control or power, so it is very interesting for them to turn around to the idea that 'there's a guy here and he doesn't know what's going on' or a woman that 'knows whats going on'.

"So that was kind of funny. And now I'm kind of the authority, and they'll say 'Let's go to the American woman.' So I'm known as 'The American Woman'"

Read of listen to the full Ashley Hunter transcript and podcast on international sales.

Our index of International Sales podcasts



Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training

Paul McKenna - Review of 'I Can make you RICH'

Do you want to make more money? Do you want to improve the quality of your life? Do you believe you can be rich? What if it was easier than you think?

I like Paul McKenna in that I find him understated yet effective and successful. I assume therefore that he's learned a number of skills worth exploring! I also discovered that in my ever growing book collection, with the exception of 'The National Wealth: Who own what in Britain' I didn't have any books on wealth.

(I also have a belief that reading books is not an activity that makes people financially rich)

So I read Paul's book with interest.





What's in it!

A forward by Richard Branson commenting:

"But becoming rich isn't about piling up the money. Far from it. To be successful these days, you need to be rich in happiness friendship, health and ideas.....this book offers real insights into the worlds of those who've achieved success....it is one of the most original books I've seen about wealth."

An introduction on how to use the system

Part 1, The psychology of wealth

• Getting rich is an inside job
• Transforming your relationship with money
• Reprogramming your wealth thermostat
• Overcoming emotional spending
• Tapping into the flow of wealth
• Creating a rich vision

Part 2, Lets go make money

• How to make money
• Assembling your wealth team
• A proven formula for success
• The simplest business plan in the world
• The three skills that lead to riches (Networking, marketing and selling)
• The secrets of living rich

The book also includes a hypnotic CD and about 40 really good exercises that support the chapters.

What do I think?

Its worth having one book on becoming rich. This is straightforward, contains a lot of good sense and its worth working through the exercises. Its also a useful book for those that coach others on the topic.

What particularly did I learn from it?

To work more on my wealth team!

Michael

PPI Business NLP Ltd

01908 506563

NLP Hypnosis book - Monsters and magical sticks

Monsters and magical sticks - There's no such thing as hypnosis? by Steven Heller and Terry Steele.

Probably my favorite hypnosis book after TRANCE-formations,




Qu0ting from the last paragraph gives a sense of the approach:

"Last, but not least, I do not believe that any book (or perhaps more so) this one, can replace getting in there and trying new things. So many of us are afraid that we might make a mistake, or our client / patient may not like us. In truth we're not getting paid to be liked, and our clients don't know what is going to work for them or not. I invite you, no implore you, to attempt what you have read and more. Each day do something unexpected in your practice (and your life); change chairs, change clothes, change!! Use a new technique. You will probably become more effective. I know it will keep you challenged, excited and happier and, please remember, there's no such thing as hypnosis."

This is NOT strictly an NLP book being more about Ericksonian hypnosis however its really good for:

• Everyday hypnosis / learnings
• Reality!?
• Unconscious vs conscious
• Utilisation
• Accessing cues
• Belief systems
• Patterns
• Pattern Interupts
• Anchors

Go on enjoy buying it NOW!

Michael
PPI Business NLP
Business NLP training provider of choice

PPI Business NLP - Audo seminars - where next?

NLP teleseminars - Review and next step:

What worked

• It's a good way to demonstrate the 'mechanics*' of NLP approaches and techniques
• Clients exploring typical opportunities and challenges can give listeners genuine insights and choices in dealing with their own opportunities

*NLP is a lot more than mechanics. However an exploration of NLP building blocks and mechanics can give a useful indication of what's possible.

What could be improved

• The audio quality
• It's not practical (and often NOT useful for the client) to position and explain all thats going on. This may be confusing for listeners.
• A demonstration takes the time it takes - which can be too long for a casual listener

Conclusion

• The meduim has the potential to be a powerful meduim to introduce NLP concepts to a wider audience at low investment
• It adds to the current range of NLP type services currently available
• It is an addition to rather than a replacement to face to face training and coaching

What's next

My plan is to produce a short eBook which enable me to position NLP approaches together with a brief chapter on each of the building blocks. Each chapter will have a short audio file discussing with a client what they've got out it, together with a longer file with the recording of the actual session.

This covers all the points above.

It is anticipated that the Chapters will include:

• Positioning - what, why, who and how
• Values and outcomes,
• State and anchors
• From clean questions to hypnotic language
• Rapport
• Timeline
• Beliefs
• Modelling
• Where next

The eBook and audio files will be available for download. It is anticipated that the project will be complete by the end of December 2007.

In the meantime as an alternative to the current teleseminar I'm offerering free 30 minute 1:1 sessions (unrecorder), subject to diaries. Drop me an email with NLP 1:1 in the heading if you're interested in persuing this.

However we will also continue with the current teleseminars, subject to a minimum of five people booking them.

What I'm looking for:

Individuals who have an opportunity they would like to explore using an NLP approach. The call will be recorded and subject to us both agreeing and the individual confirming his agreement in writing the recording will be used as above.

What's in it for you?

• Access to high quality NLP coaching
• Free access to all the (agreed) material produced as past of the project
• Full recognition and contact details in the resulting eBook, and the satisfaction of contributing to a worthwhile and fun project
• The opportunity to sell the resulting material on your web site for a 50% affiliate fee

Give me, Michael, a call on 01908 506563, or drop me a note with NLP in the title to michaelbeale@ppimk.com if you would like to discuss.

NLP Benefits to professional and business people - Project

NLP Benefits - Project

While I've my own ideas on the benefits to NLP to business and professional people (we've a series of case studies from our own delegates ) However I'm planning to spend time talking to people about their experience. The output will be a 10-15 minute podcast for each discussion and my own summary in an eBook.

The objective is to help people who may be interested in NLP to decide genuinely whether its for them or not and give some additional pointers and choices of how they can get the most value and also what can hinder them or get in their way.

I'm interested in talking to anyone with real experience and would be happy to include anyone who didn't think they got value from any training, as well as those that did.

I'm also particularly interested in how NLP has helped people develop in their existing career, helped them develop new but similar career, move to something totally new and/or to become an NLP trainer or coach. And what else was important in helping them be successful.

For the sake of this project I'm defining NLP as the exploration of communication, thinking and change skills with particular regard to attitude, modelling what works and testing and using the resultant techniques. A key approaches is about giving people options and choice.

The specific questions asked will agreed beforehand but are expected to follow the following outline

• Give a brief introduction of yourself and what you do
• What experience do you have of NLP
• How has it helped you (or not)? With particular regard to:

1. Your existing career
2. Building on your current career
3. Moving to something totally new
4. Becoming an NLP trainer or coach
5. What else helped you be successful?

• What specifically do you differently now
• What advice would you give anyone with a possible interest in NLP?
• What advice would you give anyone who has just finished an NLP Training?

What do you get out of it if you choose to take part?

• A chance to clarify your thinking and experience
• An opportunity to express yourself to a wider audience
• An opportunity to help others in making a decision about NLP

Interested in taking part? give me a call or drop me an email with NLP in the title to info@ppimk.com

Michael
01908 506563
PPI Business NLP Ltd

NLP DVD / CD's Top 10 2007

As part of our Business NLP Seminars we offer a number of specialist DVD's and CD's by Richard Bandler, John La Valle, Jonathan Altfeld and Doug O'Brien. These are some of the v