Mark Van Rol

A little trick I use when I’m working with clients on their sales process…
We write down every touchpoint.

Not just the obvious ones like the meeting or the proposal, but everything from the first enquiry through to the final decision.

❓How quickly do you respond?
❓What do you send before the meeting?
❓What questions do you ask?
❓What does the proposal look like?
❓What happens after they receive it?

It’s amazing how often the gaps become obvious once it’s all on paper.

No proper follow-up. No useful information sent after the proposal. No next step agreed. No reason for the client to keep you front of mind.

That’s where opportunities quietly disappear.

It’s a simple exercise, but it helps you see whether your sales process is actually building trust, or whether you’re just hoping people come back to you.

One of the few positives to come out of Covid was finding new ways to bring useful people into the room, even when we could not physically get everyone together.

That was how I first got Andy Bounds involved with my clients.

I had seen the impact he had on sales results and thought his approach would really resonate with the business owners I work with.

It did.

The feedback from that first session was excellent, and since then Andy has become someone I like to bring back to GrowthClub because people actually use what he teaches.

Andy will be joining us at GrowthClub on Friday 9th October to help us look at how to inject more pace into the sales process and avoid getting ghosted after what felt like a good meeting.

If you would like to come along, drop me a message and I will send you the details.

Credible, reliable, likeable
A lot of sales comes down to trust.

➡️ Are you credible? Do they believe you know what you’re doing?

➡️ Are you reliable? Do you do what you say you’ll do, when you say you’ll do it?

➡️ Are you likeable? Are you someone they would actually want to work with?

People often look for the clever pitch or the perfect close.

Most buyers are looking for someone they trust to make their life easier, not harder.

We’ll be looking at this in more detail at GrowthClub on 9th October, with Andy Bounds joining us to talk about improving the sales process.

If you’d like to be in the room, drop me a message.

I walked into a client’s office the other day and this was waiting for me. It immediately made me smile.

Before we had even sat down, someone had already made the effort to make me feel expected and welcomed, which is a small thing, but it changes how you feel walking into the room.

If that is the thought going into my experience, it usually tells you something about how they think about their customers as well.

Simple, but a really good reflection of the standards of the business.

A lot of businesses are finding that sales are taking longer to get across the line.

That is exactly why I’ve asked Andy Bounds to join us at GrowthClub on 9th October.

We’ll be looking at how to inject more pace into the sales process, how to stay front of mind without becoming pushy, and how to avoid the all-too-common situation where you have a good meeting, send the proposal, and then hear nothing.

Andy has a brilliant way of making sales feel simple and practical. For him, it is not about selling harder. It is about communicating better, adding value, and helping people make a confident decision.

That is useful whether you are a business owner, running a team, pricing work, following up on tenders, or trying to improve conversion from the opportunities you already have.

GrowthClub is on Friday 9th October.

If improving your sales process would be useful for you or your team, drop me a message.

I’m really pleased to say Andy Bounds will be joining us again at GrowthClub on 9th October.

I’ve had Andy speak to my clients a few times now, and there is a reason I keep asking him back. He talks about sales in a way that just makes sense. No overcomplication, no jargon, no trying to turn everyone into some slick salesperson.

For Andy, sales is really about communication. If you understand how to communicate properly, ask better questions, listen properly and help people make a decision, you will sell more.

That is probably why my clients always get so much from his sessions. It does not matter whether you are the business owner, in the sales team, pricing work, following up on proposals, or just trying to get better at converting the opportunities already in front of you.

You will take something useful away.

The timing feels particularly good. Now we’re back from the summer break, it’s a great chance to refocus, sharpen up the sales side of the business and build some real momentum for the final few months of the year. Andy will help us do exactly that.

GrowthClub is on Friday 9th October.

If you would like to come along, drop me a message and I’ll send you the details.

I never work with a client without doing a DISC profile. It tells me how they like to think, communicate and make decisions.

If someone needs detail, time and space to work things through, me charging in at 100 miles an hour and pushing for a decision isn’t going to help

It will probably just shut them down.

Equally, if someone wants pace, action and straight answers, giving them chapter and verse on every tiny detail will drive them mad.

Coaching has to adapt to the person in front of you.

So does leadership.

And so does sales.

The better you understand how someone likes to communicate, the better chance you have of helping them move forward.

We’ll be covering the sales side of this at our next GrowthClub with Andy Bounds on 9th October.

Drop me a message if you’d like to find out more.

Would you invite your team into your home to watch you and your partner have an argument?

No.

But in family businesses, people often do a version of exactly that in the workplace without even realising it.

The sharp comments.
The blame.
The old history creeping into today’s conversation.
The tension everyone can feel, even if no one says a word.

That is the danger in family businesses when the lines get blurred.

What feels personal to you is still playing out in front of a team.
And they are reading it as leadership.

This is where I can be really helpful, bringing a bit of middle ground, slowing it down, and helping people get back to what the business actually needs from them.

Sarah Garden from Allgro Tax told me something recently that I thought was brilliant.

One of her tax consultants had been away on holiday and, when she came back, she thanked Sarah for leaving her alone.

Not for the holiday itself.

For not being contacted, chased, badgered or pulled back into work while she was meant to be switching off.

I think that says a lot about the culture Sarah has built at Allegro.

When people are on holiday, they need to be able to properly step away. They need time to rest, refresh and come back with a clear head.

If you keep interrupting people every time they try to switch off, you should not be surprised when the quality of their work, energy and decision-making starts to drop.

Good businesses need good people.

And good people need proper time away from the business.

Great session recently with Mike and Paul’s pricing and estimating team, talking about the importance of what happens after a proposal or tender has been submitted.

It was good to spend time with the people who are often doing a lot of the hard work behind the scenes. Site visits, pricing, tenders, proposals, all the detail that goes into helping a client make a decision.

The focus of the session was not about “selling harder”. It was about looking at how the team can follow up in a way that feels useful, professional and valuable to the client.

Because once the proposal has been sent, the client is still making a decision. They are still building trust. They are still weighing up who understands the job, who feels reliable, and who they want to work with.

Done well, it is not pushy. It is part of helping the client make a confident and informed decision.

A really engaged team and a great conversation around a part of the sales process that often gets overlooked.