Nic Read
![]() | This biographical article is written like a résumé. (June 2020) |
Nic Read | |
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Born | Aldershot, Hampshire, England | 14 August 1967
Nationality | ![]() |
Nic Read (born 14 August 1967)[1] is a British sales expert, researcher, author and conference speaker.
Biography
Born in Aldershot, Hampshire, England, 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,[14] and Business Day (South Africa).[16]
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.[17][18][19] 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.[20] The business book Selling to the C-Suite: What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top[21] 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.[22][23][24] Read published the research findings in the McGraw-Hill business book Target Opportunity Selling: Top Sales Performers Reveal What Really Works.[25]
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).[26] 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).[27] 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.[28] The book was co-authored in collaboration with Alan Dean Foster,[29] 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.[30] This was recorded by the 70-piece City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra[31] in May 2011 and mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London before being released as the E-book and a standalone music album.[32]
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.[33]
- 2010 Sales Managers Forum, in Athens, Greece.[34]
- 2010 Optimising the Sales Force, in Melbourne, Australia.[35]
- 2009 Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference, in Miami, Florida, US.[36]
- 2005 International Corporate Training & Development Conference, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[37]
- 2004 HR Directors Forum, in Shanghai China.[38]
In 2016, Read co-authored a paper titled 'How to create high-performing key account management: lessons from the UK IT industry'.[39] 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[40]
- 2010 Honoree, Sales Education Leader of the Year, Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service[41]
- 2016 Third place, Best New Product, International Stevie Awards[42]
Read was inducted as a Fellow of The Institute of Sales & Marketing Management in 2013.
References
- ^ a b "5 questions". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "Architect Leader-Home". Saleslabs.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "How To Sell To The C-Suite". Forbes.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "The Science of Sales Growth in a Recession". Amanet.org. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ James, Geoffrey (27 June 2012). "Selling to the C-Suite: 7 Rules for Meetings With Top Execs". Inc.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ James, Geoffrey (17 August 2012). "How to Close a Deal: 12 Things Customers Care About". Inc.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "Build a High-Value Sales Organisation | Entrepreneur Magazine". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- ^ "Gearing up for Sales Excellence | Entrepreneur Magazine". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- ^ "Maximizing FACE TIME with Customers". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- ^ "SellingPower.com". Sellingpower.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ Henry Canaday (2010). "The ABCs of Selling Higher Up". Selling Power magazine. pp. 39–41. Archived from the original on 24 November 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ Employee Benefit Adviser; June 2010, Vol. 8 Issue 6, p. 60 by John Ortman
- ^ "Benefitnews_podcasts - Employee Benefit Adviser". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ^ a b "Television Interviews". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- ^ "1.1 - GMA". Vimeo.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "BusinessLIVE". BusinessLIVE.co.za. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "SellingPower.com". Sellingpower.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ 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
- ^ The Journal of Selling & Major Account Management, Volume 4, No 2 - Winter 2002
- ^ "Activity-Based Reward Plans: 4 Basic Dos and Don'ts". sellingpower.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ 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
- ^ The Consumer Decision Journey by David Court, Dave Elzinga, Susan Mulder and Ole Jørgen Vetvik. McKinsey Quarterly, June 2009.
- ^ The Sales Funnel Is Dead by Ernan Roman, in Direct Marketing News, 17 September 2013.
- ^ The Death of the Sales Funnel as We Know It by Nicole Kelley, Social Media Explorer, 19 February 2013.
- ^ Target Opportunity Selling: Top Sales Performers Reveal What Really Works by Nicholas A.C. Read, McGraw-Hill; 27 December 2013, ISBN 007177307X
- ^ 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
- ^ Read, Nicholas A. C. (27 December 2013). Target Opportunity Selling: Top Sales Performers Reveal What Really Works. ISBN 978-0071773072.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Alan Dean Foster". Alandeanfoster.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "JAMIE SALISBURY \ COMPOSER". Jamiesalisburymusic.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "Endworlds: Echoes of Worlds Past | Orchestra recording Prague - MUSA - Petr Pycha". Musa.cz. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ Pilkington, Mercy (13 January 2012). "The Progression of Ebooks into Reality Literature". Goodereader.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "2011 ThinkSales Sales Leadership Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa" (PDF). Thinksales.co.za. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "BOUSSIAS: Conferences - Awards - Custom Events". Events.boussias.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "SalesLabs SALES TRANSFORMATION AND THE CHALLENGE OF CORPORATE MEMORY". Vimeo.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "2.2-Challenges-Miami". Vimeo.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Asia Pacific's Leading Human Resource Event HR Summit". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "2005 International Stevie Award Winners | Stevie Awards". Stevieawards.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "2010 Honorees | Stevie Awards". Stevieawards.com. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
- ^ "New Products Awards Winners | Stevie Awards". Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2016.