Colin Lovering has been a familiar and popular figure on the business circuit in Romania for a number of years now. We caught up with Colin to find out more about what he has been up to through the Covid-19 period and find out about his new venture.
The first thing I wanted to find out was about the new book that he has written.
So, Colin, tell us about the book?
Well, it’s a long time coming but I finally put pen to paper through the last few months and I have written, I guess, a combination of a salesperson’s manual and my life journal which is entitled ‘A Day in the Life of Exceptional Sales Professionals’ due out at the end of March.
Tell us more about it?
I have been in the front-line sales world for a number of years and following the winning of 2 European awards for sales performance in 2004/5, I embarked on a career of Sales & Management coaching which took me to France for 3 years and then onto the USA where I headed up the global sales development structure for a large American corporation. These years took me all around the world teaching and speaking in amazing places like Shanghai, Cairo, Cape Town, Toronto, California and, of course throughout Europe and eventually Romania where I have happily lived for the last 12 years and worked as a business performance consultant with successful collaborations with the likes of KPMG, Petrom, BMW, Oracle, HP etc.
The book was designed to provide 30 real-life sales scenarios together with the unique tips and techniques that I have learned along the way to help sales professionals of any level move to the next stage of their career and success. Each section tackles head-on the fundamental challenges of sales providing a clear guide on what and how including those daily tasks such as ‘getting a client to say yes to a meeting, performing a winning sales pitch, protecting your margin, business adaptability, creating a healthy pipeline etc.
To complete things, each section includes my very own personal story attached to the sales scenario just to, I hope, underline the real-world approach of the book.
How have things been for you through the Covid-19 months?
Well, it has been an exciting and busy time with the preparation of the book launch next month and a busy time all round for me over the last year or so with the wonderful COS family as their Senior Business Advisor as well as my continuing role as VP of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce. I also linked up with my good friend Oliver Perkins at Brainovate Creative Leadership Consultants who, in fact, provided that required nudge to start writing the book back in mid-2020.
Tell us about the new Lovering & Partners venture?
I guess you could call it an accumulation of all of the above and, through the inspiration of my wife Corina, Lovering & Partners, Business Performance Consultancy has been formed to focus predominantly on the world of sales performance, corporate communications & PR together with our strategic partnerships bringing in the best Leadership and Organisational effectiveness models for large, SME’s and start-ups.
We will take a very different approach to traditional business consultancy with only a relevant audit and swift research of our clients current structure, approach and goals then we will basically move quickly and effectively to produce impactful and measurable results in the short-term with welcomed growth and sustainability going forward.
And finally, based on your experiences and the new venture, any advice for our readers?
I would be delighted to although I think the last few months have been quite saturated with lots of ‘advice’ from all over the business world so I will keep my answer reasonably brief and to the point.
Uncertainty in all parts of our lives can sometimes be more actually damaging than the facts themselves. It is vital that leaders and managers out there step into the performance of their roles like fine actors such as Meryl Streep or Tom Hanks. People like this don’t just play the role, they almost become that role and, for me, the same applies to Leadership.
We must help people see positives 12 months ahead and create that vision and picture in their minds that enables them to pull their goals and aspirations to the right place rather than be pushing our way to a destiny we may not be fully committed to or seeing.
At next week’s team meeting, write February 2022 on the wall or on the laptop share screen and get your people painting that picture of where you want to be, how the structure will look, your market presence, your new market penetration etc.
Some will say that being pessimistic is just being realistic, being optimistic is unrealistic. I call it confidence. As a wannabe golfer, I know that if I wear proper golf shoes and the correct clothes, I will FEEL like a golfer and, therefore I will have a better chance of improving my confidence and game. If you are a confident Leader and your people FEEL like a professional and LOOK like a professional then their confidence in turn will rise and their performance and mind-set with it
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