Overview
James is passionate about people, and about ensuring that commercial staff are managed and treated in the right way to set them up for reasonable and sustainable success. There are a lot of misconceptions about how sales and growth management should happen, which are often accompanied by significantly unrealistic expectations about who can sell, how much they can sell, and what tools/support they require to be able to do so.
James first learned the importance of providing exceptional customer service during his early management career in hospitality, functions and corporate events, spending 10 years managing large teams of highly diverse hospitality professionals in many different environments.
He then entered the corporate Learning & Development industry, and now holds over 13 years’ senior management and leadership experience working with NFP, government, private and listed organisations to create, develop and implement commercial learning and organisational development solutions tailored to unique client situations.
During this time, James has been responsible for all aspects of commercial management and consulting, including strategic planning and risk management, operations management, budgeting and finance, internal and external workforce management, quality assurance and compliance, with a major focus on leading commercial sales and account management teams. The common thread that has run throughout all of his roles is the management of commercial growth, particularly through the refinement of strategic planning, commercial process and collateral improvement, and the coaching and mentoring of sales teams and professionals.
Consistent and sustainable business growth is absolutely achievable. However not by simply flogging the sales teams harder and harder, ignoring common issues such as low morale, high turnover, ineffective support, and dubious measurement and targeting that encourages the wrong activity and behaviours. Creating and developing a sales team that is truly motivated, highly skilled, properly supported, and effectively rewarded is a much more difficult task than many stakeholders consider, however when the outcome is generating business growth – or not – then it’s well worth the attention and focus to get it right, and to keep it right.
Clients/Industries processed with
Heavily involved with clients from industries including: Banking & Finance, Production & Manufacturing, Utilities and Resources, Professional Services, Associations and Membership Organisations, Government, Not-for-Profit, and ASX listed entities.
Specific areas of expertise
Commercial and Sales Management. Learning & Development. Leadership. Organisational Development. Human Resources. Process Improvement. Corporate Governance. Strategic Planning. Risk and Compliance Management.