Sales Manager from Pareto Law Abseils for Charity

Andrew Wiles, a Pareto law sales manager has abseiled down Guys Hospital (11th tallest building in London), the tallest hospital in London. It stands at 143 metres (469ft) and is the highest building you can abseil in Europe, sadly it is the final year you can attempt it as they are redeveloping the exterior in 2012. As you can see it Is no easy feat, once Andrew arrived he spent most of the morning watching people abseiling down, getting more and more nervous as his time approached. He spent 15 minutes preparing on an indoor wall to get the right technique and gain a little confidence, which was wasted when he spent 20 minutes on the roof looking at the beautiful view and the big drop down. Eventually making his way to the edge Andrew was given last minute instructions ‘go as fast as you like, and jump as far as you like’, needing no further instructions whilst hanging off the side, he set off and managed the fastest descent of the day. Andrew’s Charity was Retrak, one which helps street children in Africa, offering them shelter, education and medical care in some of the poorest parts of Uganda. Their work with children gives them a chance to build a life and realize their worth in society. Andrew has so far managed to raise £1,328.

Pareto employee climbs Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro has three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira; it is the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895 metres above sea level. The highest freestanding mountain, 4th most prominent in the world, which Mark Rothwell (Pareto Law Business Development Manager) set himself the task to climb in order to raise money for his Bolton Lads and Girls Club.

The Kilimanjaro national park have said that there is only a 30% success rate of climbers that actually reach the summit, with the majority turning around at Gilman’s point, 300 metres short of Uhuru.

Mark Rothwell’s climb to the summit took 6 days from Sunday-Saturday and included 25 people (not all these made it to the top). Although Mark put in a lot of training for the climb, he was still hit hard by altitude sickness. Whilst at the same time having to sleep in temperatures as low as -15 degrees centigrade, in a sleeping bag as well as 4 layers of clothing this was no easy feat.

For the most part the climb involved getting up at 6:30am and walking for 9 hours with a 1 hour break for lunch. On the last day of the Trek to reach the summit the team awoke at 11pm and reached the summit at 7:30am. Reaching the top was extremely hard, Mark said he was struggling for breath every 10 yards and once at the top most of the team were suffering from altitude sickness. They took their pictures and then they descended as quickly as possible (not being able to sleep or stay too long at the summit because of the altitude) and after setting off at 11pm finished walking at 6pm later that evening, having walked a total of 22km in 18 hours.

This is a great achievement by Mark Rothwell; he managed to raise £1000, and in total the group raised £70,000.

It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Why does so much sales training fail in its goal to improve performance of the individual and the company? Why do successful companies, who make training and development the cornerstone of their business, do so well whilst others suffer from poor growth and endure high staff turnover? What needs to change if training is to deliver on its promise of lasting business performance improvement?

When training for a marathon a successful runner will commit on average more than 22 weeks of training 5 to 6 times a week. This entails a rigorous training plan which consists of scheduled phases of running with the correct diet and different types training types such as cardio and weights.

For both fitness and sales training to have any measureable impact there has to be a different approach based on an understanding of the objective, a commitment to see it through and some milestones along the way to help us keep the faith.

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Pareto Finalists for the British Excellence in Sales and Marketing Awards

Mark Lendon of Pareto Law has been picked as a finalist for Sales Director of the year in the British Excellence in Sales and Marketing Awards. Pareto also has two finalists in the category Sales Trainer of the Year, Helen Boothby and Steven Lowndes. In line with these individual awards, Pareto were picked as finalists for Sales Team of the Year. Being the finalists in such prestigious awards shows Pareto’s commitment to sales excellence and the continued development of Pareto Law to be the leading sales recruitment and sales development company.
Pareto has four placed graduates who are finalists for Sales Professional of the Year, showing the quality of graduates we assess and place. This news is only a short time after Rebecca Thompson of Hitachi Data Systems, another Pareto Graduate, achieved Sales Newcomer of the Year at the National Sales Awards.

The Event will be held on Friday 26th May 2011 at Lancaster London.

Are graduates being too picky about their jobs, and claiming benefit until chosen for that graduate scheme?

The BBC website recently released a story saying that 20.5% of recent graduates are unemployed. This is surprising seeing as there are supposedly 500,000 jobs available, not including the jobs that aren’t advertised on the internet for smaller businesses.

Therefore it would lead you to believe that graduates are being picky about their first job, and rather than gaining experience in a part time dish washing job they are claiming benefits waiting for their desired job.

With many graduates believing that once they have achieved their degree they can walk into a graduate job, during this climate that is very unlikely. This will then demotivate a student and they won't want to go to university for 2-5 if not more years and then still have to wash dishes, or flip burgers.

With many positions that aren’t even graduate jobs requiring a degree it is very much an employers market. They are taking full advantage of the recession and getting talented graduates that otherwise would snub these lowly paid jobs with no progression prospects.

Yet during these hard times graduates must take these part time jobs, instead of claiming benefits, gain the experience, even when it is unrelated it can show commitment to work rather than sitting idly hoping a job will come your way.

Do you need a graduate recruitment agency?

In this time of uncertainty many business are cautious when considering recruiting graduates, especially when recruiting for small SMEs. The cost of getting it wrong can mean that in the end they don’t have the funds to recruit anyone and are out of pocket. If the decision to recruit is made, then finding the right quality graduate is paramount, graduates have been found to swap jobs on average every nine months, which when hiring a new employee can cost around one third of a departing employee’s annual salary.

Most staff turnover, around 80% is due to poor hiring decisions; this alone should compel employers to invest in proven recruitment strategy which is where a good recruitment agency (such as Pareto Law) comes into play.

There are many things to consider when recruiting graduates, because they have no experience it will mostly be based on ability, academic qualifications and personality. Being able to find the right graduate who fits the role, as well as the company culture and is focused on progression, learning within the company rather than a quick step up is extremely hard. Therefore it is risky to take this into your own hand, using a recruitment agency they can affectively, with lots of experience, analyse the relevant candidates and take them through a competency based assessment day, as well as follow up interviews to find the perfect candidate, saving companies time, and in the end money when the graduate goes on to be very successful.

Does a graduate sales job suit you?

Straight out of university and you’re searching for your first job, eager to learn, impress, and most importantly earn. Yet with many graduates still unsure after leaving university on what job role you wish to have, this is when many turn to a sales role. Sales role do have a lot of benefits for graduates, quick progression potential for an early career, and the ability to earn money based on performance to pay of graduate debt.

All companies in essence have a sales person, even if it is the owner, a famous sales person, Zig Ziglar once said "Nothing happens until someone sells something." Sales people are the ‘saviours’, if sales are down then so is profit, therefore the sales person has the opportunity to change this.

These points outline the importance of a graduate sales position, and how rewarding they can be, which it is no surprise that many graduates flock to the many sales schemes available. Yet are all these graduates suitable for a sales role, although many include sales training, the personality/characteristics needed to be successful are not always inherent. It takes a lot of commitment; many first year sales roles require a 40 hour week and can earn a six figure salary.

Many sales roles require experience in failure, every sales person will experience rejection in their job, and being able to handle this and go onto win the next sale, or even have a long period of time where no sales are gained but still keep trying is extremely important. Empathy and being able to easily build a relationship with customers, having had previous experience dealing with certain situations even if it is retail sales is important to show they are comfortable interacting with customers. These aren’t all the personality traits of sales people, yet it is important to consider a sales role and if it is suitable before accepting any roles.