Work Winning Ways

Gary Williams of Questas chats to Mark Carpenter of Master Storytelling to discuss how humans relate to stories and how they are a vital component to sales and selling.  Mark shares some fantastic tips on how to structure stories to make your sales pitches stand out.

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

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How do we win the right kind of work from the right kinds of clients? This week on Work Winning Ways, Gary brings you an episode from a series of webinars about how you can master the client experience. Find out how you can win over clients, build and maintain relationships, the importance of leaders, and how to turn your clients into advocates for your services business. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• It's five tim...

This episode looks at the inevitability of difficult conversations happening with clients and how we manage them so as not to damage (and even improve) relationships. In this episode, Gary has an EASY chat with his Questas colleague Paul Brady about what to do when the temperature rises in conversations and how we dissipate the heat. As ever there's plenty of practical tools and ideas for you to use in your next difficult conversat...

Business development and client relation management is part of a trinity with leadership and management. That's the glue that holds organisations together that Gary will be discussing this week on Work Winning Ways. Find out why training in business development and client management doesn't work unless you have well trained leaders. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• People aren't prepared to say within an organisation ...

I am very pleased to speak to Frank Lippert - one half of the PSM (Professional Services Marketing) Podcast. Frank is based in Sacramento California and in our discussion we were looking for the differences in marketing and business development between the UK and US. So far, it seems that there really aren't too many differences but Frank speaks very eloquently about the RIGHT way to do business and how to win and maintain clients....

On this episode Gary speaks to Mark Anders, who is an Operations and Framework Director at Mace. Mark tells a great story about how he came to be doing what he does today (you would never guess!). He shares his many years experience in managing Client Frameworks and offers some sage advice on how to get the most out of the client and, importantly, how to win more than your fair share of the pie!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

This is a fascinating interview with someone who has worked in the Middle East for more than 10 years. Gurminder shares some insights about winning work in the region as well as busting some myths about how the building industry works. If you work in the built environment in the Middle East or are planning to, this is for you!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• You may think that there is a big cultural difference in business...

Ziba Goddard is a behavioural scientist and Chief Consulting Officer at Cowry Consulting and joins Gary Williams on this episode of Work Winning Ways. Ziba specialises in human behaviour and how we make decisions. If you've ever heard of Nudge Theory and wonder why we make the decisions we make particularly in the context of buying, this is for you!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• People are wired to make snap judgements a...

How do you make your business proposals stand out and stick in your clients minds? This week on Work Winning Ways Gary brings you a module from the Questas Academy hosted by Richard Williams all about winning your bid. Listen in to this recording of the live seminar and don't forget to sign up for the Questas Academy in the link below. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The first thing you need to do on day one of your ...

In the world of professional services and engineering consultancy services, cross selling is the Holy Grail. Organisations think it's easy, but in this episode of Work Winning Ways, you'll find out why it's very difficult. Join Gary Williams as he discusses why cross selling is important, how it's done, and what are the obstacles to overcome. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In so many jobs you need to be able to enco...

On this episode of Work Winning Ways, host Gary Williams of Questas discusses the evolution of the work winning employee and what your client wants from them. Also hear all about what it takes to become a trusted advisor, and just as importantly, how to keep being one.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Clients are becoming more and more demanding. You have to add good commercial acumen, understanding what the client wants to achieve. They also want ...

Working Winning Ways is the new name for the podcast and for this shake-up Gary has a fantastic interview with Edd Stone of The Technology Partnership. Hear all about how Edd works with, understands, and builds strong relationships with people that can last over an entire career spanning different companies.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Relationships in business development are very important and should be nurtured over long periods of time. Ma...

This week we have a fascinating interview with Pat Sweet of the Engineering and Leadership podcast. Pat has some great insights on what it takes to successfully lead professional services firms and his thoughts are likely to remind, reassure and reveal in equal measures! If you are in a leadership position or aspire to be, this is a great listen.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Engineers can do pretty much anything if you give them enough ti...

In this episode of Create, Convert, Retain, Gary is joined by Paul Adams of The Project Centre, a professional design consultancy, focused on civil engineering, transport planning, and landscape design for the public sector. Join the conversation about what sales skills you need in professional services and how they differ from other sales-based roles. Also, find out the difference between the tangible and intangible services.

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In this episode of Create, Convert, Retain, Gary shares insights on what Questas does for companies, how the podcast name came about, and why it is so important for client services. This is a real deep dive into everything Gary does in his day to day working life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Everybody within the company should fully understand the ‘why' of the business. Why does the company exist, and why their role helps fulfil that.
• Rep...

In this episode of Create, Convert, Retain, Gary is joined by Mike Reader. Mike is the Head of Work Winning at Mace, leading opportunity management, capturing and bidding across Mace's Consult business. Join the discussion on building a team that can work with clients and then developing the team as a whole. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Not everyone in your organisation is client facing, but they can support in other ways that aren't dire...

In this episode of Create, Convert, Retain, Gary is joined by Claire Gott MBE, Head of Industry and Corporate Social Responsibility at WSP in the UK. Join the discussion on how to encourage your technical staff to engage better with clients. How to win and keep business. Also hear about how Claire helped found the engineering charity, Cameroon Catalyst.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When working with very technically adept staff it can be a chal...

In this episode Gary is joined by professional services expert Sarah Butters to discuss how to drive business by driving people. Sarah tells us how encouraging people's passions and helping them grow as individuals is beneficial for your business. Gary also poses Sarah the question, how do you differentiate yourself from similar services in the same field? 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• To really understand your clients and build a st...

In this episode, Gary speaks with Nigel Clark, who is currently leading Marketing globally for SLR Consulting - an international leader of environmental and advisory solutions helping clients of all shapes and size achieve their sustainability goals. He is an experienced strategy, marketing, communications and client development leader.

Nigel has a wealth of experience and holds nothing back in this episode, sharing thoughts and ide...