Email: bruno@kiconsulting.co.za
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“Irresistible new forces have been reshaping the world of selling. Sales functions everywhere are in various stages of radical and profound change comparable to those that began in manufacturing years ago ... But one change outweighs all the others. The meaning of selling itself is shifting. The very purpose of sales is being rapidly redefined.”
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been translated into over 50 languages
“Ki is a balanced blend of heart, mind and spirit; it is a state of total harmony – a very strong focus. Samurai Warriors trained relentlessly to achieve this focused state until they could achieve it without conscious thought. Others would sense this inner confidence as a very strong presence – opponents would retreat in fear.”
– Chuck Laughlin and Karin Sage
(Samurai Selling)
Ki Consulting coaching philosophy
Read what our clients are saying about us …
Karabina -
“Over the last year, Bruno has helped coach the Karabina sales team from being average sales individuals into driven results-
SAP Africa Region
“I have worked with Bruno for many years and have the highest regard for his expertise, professionalism and client focus. Bruno delivers exceptional value in bringing new sales staff up to speed, as well as …
PwC Advisory Africa
“Bruno is now in his fifth year of an ongoing successful Sales Performance Improvement Program engagement with us at PwC South Africa within our Consulting business including key Senior Forensic & Deals Partners. We have …
About Us
Introduction
Ki Consulting is an independent organisation that specialises in the provision of sales coaching and carefully selected value-
Background
Many principles and techniques that professional salespeople have relied on in the past have become obsolete. Corporate organisations in the 21st Century no longer simply buy products – they invest in solutions that address their business imperatives.
To stand any chance of making a sale in today’s highly competitive global economy, salespeople have to demonstrate how the solution they offer will help a customer increase revenues, decrease expenses or enable a specific or transformational strategy to succeed.
And if this is not challenging enough, the decision-
It is characterised by ever-
In order to succeed in this new era, sales-
right Ki.
Working closely with management and the sales force of an organisation as both a technical advisor and sales coach at various strategic levels in order to improve individual and organisational sales performance, Ki Consulting brings focus to a much broader, more holistic range of services.
These services deal with both sales effectiveness (strategy and skills coaching) and sales efficiency (sales processes, account and opportunity planning). These collectively, when enhanced with individual drive to succeed, are the core components of a high-
Sales Performance Coaching
While most salespeople undertake some form of training in the fundamentals of “how to sell”, very few are guided through the subsequent and critical steps on the road to success.
These are the steps that enable them to harness what they are told and what they may have learnt in basic training and apply it to operational requirements that translate into exceptional performance.
Ki Consulting has adopted a philosophy based on the principles of “coaching for reinforcement”. This approach recognises universal acceptance by all leading international vendors that Infield Sales
“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."
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Performance Coaching is the most effective and appropriate way to maximise sales success.
Experiential training that focuses on skill awareness, skill understanding and sales competence is translated into high performance and success through telling, showing and coaching.
Coaching Process
The Coaching Process -
Ki Consulting limits its professional engagements to a maximum of two or three clients at any time in order to guarantee highly personalised, customised and quality assured outcomes.
The coaching process is launched on the back of a workshop – “BTB Selling -
Focused on how to position “selling in the new era” the workshop helps individuals to understand and take advantage of changed buying behaviours that exist today. The workshop will also help contextualise any sales training that the sales force may have undertaken at any time in the past.
The programme then moves into the experiential phase when the Ki Consulting executive consultant observes and then coaches critical skill sets in the field, feeding back to management and the salespeople in a closed-
In the coaching process we therefore use the Prospect opportunity as the focus area and the opportunity is in itself the enabler for individual Account Executive experiential sales coaching.
In this process salespeople are constantly challenged to think through each and every step of the sales cycle and to define critical success factors.
The coaching of skills in the field is enhanced through the transfer of knowledge to enable individuals to not only maintain competency levels but to grow them. Should any significant skills deficiencies be identified, specific “remedial” training courses will be recommended. Ad–hoc training to address skills gaps will also be delivered as part of the coaching intervention to polish, or to create a greater awareness of the more important skills requirements.
The programme also addresses the sales cycle by coaching the careful alignment of the sales process with appropriate soft-
Sales cycle coaching includes the implementation of effective account planning and management, opportunity development, sales execution, negotiation skills, proposal preparation and presentation, and winning “tips and tricks”.
Value Added Services
Based on many years of practical experience at the coalface of selling complex business-
This background of experience has been leveraged by Ki Consulting since its inception 15 years ago to deliver value-
These services include:
processes and procedures related to the positioning of the sales function within the overall business in accordance with key financial performance objectives and the dynamics of the business-
Salesmanship
Successful Salesmanship – a Profile
Based on a career spanning more than 35 years of professional sales, Ki Consulting’s services are provided by
Bruno Squara.
Prior to launching Ki Consulting, he held senior sales positions with some of the world’s leading information technology and management consulting organisations. His experience includes Rank Xerox, Bell & Howell, i2 Technologies, SAP South Africa and PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting/IBM Business Consulting Services – where as an Associate Partner he held the position of Business Development Director.
During an exceptionally successful sales career he sold successfully into many of South Africa’s largest blue chip organisations. Most importantly, he personally experienced that evolution of selling -
He is today one of the most field-
Ki Consulting coaching philosophy
Introduction and background to the Ki Consulting coaching philosophy
Services, solutions and consulting organisations focused on the complex, highly-
These teams need to proactively engage with large and complex target market prospects and accounts, creating demand and buying urgency for their solutions and then winning in a competitive bid process that inevitably incorporates stringent compliance and performance standards.
Post-
In many instances these organisations are faced with selling challenges that are exacerbated by members of the sales team having come from pure consulting or technical backgrounds. While these individuals may be invaluable “subject-
Consequently they are not effective salespeople and therefore are a limiting factor when it comes to the organisation’s ability to achieve the required Top Line with obvious serious negative knock-
To make matters worse, in today’s “New Economy”, professional corporate buyers have significantly changed their approach towards how they “buy and award business”; salespeople and corporate sales functions have no option but to adapt to this change to stand any chance of sales success.
“What got you here – won’t get you there.”
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Selling today is a recognised profession requiring, in addition to mandatory industry specific business and technical knowledge, appropriate sales knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours in order to succeed.
Without these traits the respective individual is dependent on luck in order to win – and luck in the modern business and sales world has no part whatsoever to play in business success.
To win today the sales team must know what they’re doing and why!
These are challenges that Ki Consulting successfully addresses in all coaching engagements and that has been the hallmark of client satisfaction for the past 10 years.
Ki Consulting is focused on:
Improving a salesperson’s awareness centred on sales knowledge, understanding and the utilisation of critical sales skills, attitudes and behaviours that form part of the art and science of salesmanship.
Improving sales processes, methodologies and the performance of virtual account team members (such as pre-
Maximised sales success potential – increasing the probability and predictability of closing key deals, contributing towards achieving and even exceeding organisational sales targets and objectives.
Key features of the holistic approach to sales performance coaching encompasses, among others, the following techniques:
“I have known Bruno since 1994, first as a colleague and later as service provider delivering sales coaching and deal support to our sales teams over multi-
John Dekker
Former Managing Director SAP Public Sector & Africa Region
“I have had the pleasure of working with Bruno for 5 years, in many separate engagements. Bruno's contribution to our sales organisation has culminated in a multi-
Derek Kudsee
Former SAP COO Africa and Greater China Regions
“Bruno is professional, well-
Geoff Hardwick
Former CEO Synergy Communications
“Bruno has a great understanding of creating solutions that customers want to buy. He understands selling complex solutions, not only through an in depth understanding of the solution selling approach, but also by building genuine relationships with customers and partners that lasts a life time. Bruno instils confidence in the people around him that drive them towards being successful. I highly recommend Bruno to work in and build really successful sales organisations.”
Trevor Roberts
Director, Vetasi – IBM Maximo Partner South Africa
“The results of Ki Consulting's intervention have been outstanding. The sales team has not only developed the sales process but have individually focused on achieving targets with great purpose and know-
Ebrahim Laherr
MD at EOH SAP Services
“Bruno is a consummate sales expert, up to date with current sales approaches and backed up by a wealth of direct
sales experience.”
Paul Marketos
Director at IsoMetrix
“Bruno started coaching me many years ago, and he greatly helped me in becoming a better sales person. Thanks to Bruno's open, friendly, knowledgeable, and most importantly experience based coaching, I have been able to overachieve on my goals as a SAP sales person consistently. Currently there is no formal program in place with Bruno, but he still coaches me every time we meet and discuss how to progress deals. Bruno takes the basics very seriously, and drives sales behaviour from that starting point. You end up missing less, and closing more.”
Erik Lossbroek
Sales Director at SAP America
“Bruno has a great wealth of practical and commercial knowledge on how to improve business development initiatives in a professional service organisation. His work yielded sustainablcommendablee results and built confidence within our team. I found Bruno's business ethics to be highly .”
Leslie Moodley
Managing Director at Bytes Systems Integration
“Bruno is an authority in his field and is able to bring a philosophy and a methodology together with rigour and discipline to the sales process which is pivotal to most businesses. A true professional who operates with commendable integrity, I have no hesitation in recommending Bruno's services – and, indeed, have done so with great success to others.”
Bertie Loots
Service Line leader at Deloitte Consulting
Testimonials
Contact us
“Over the last year, Bruno has helped coach the Karabina sales team from being average sales individuals into driven results-
Heath Turner
Director, Karabina – Microsoft Gold Partner, Customer Engagement and Sales
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“I have worked with Bruno for many years and have the highest regard for his expertise, professionalism and client focus. Bruno delivers exceptional value in bringing new sales staff up to speed, as well as coaching and advising experienced sales executives during difficult sales cycles. He has a deep understanding of complex solution sales processes and his ability to transfer this knowledge and introduce innovative ideas is unrivalled. His contribution at IBM has been invaluable and I highly recommend Bruno and Ki Consulting to any organisation aiming to improve the performance of their sales force.”
Claas Kuehnemann
Former Managing Director SAP Africa Region
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“Bruno is now in his fifth year of an ongoing successful Sales Performance Improvement Program engagement with us at PwC South Africa within our Consulting business including key Senior Forensic & Deals Partners. We have made extensive use of his deep Sales Performance Improvement subject matter expertise and both his wealth of personal sales and sales coaching experiences to enable the transformation of our own Sales Function in pursuit of aggressive year on year sales growth. He has performed both an advisory role and most importantly a personal sales coach and mentoring one too. He has during this time with us coached over sixty of our Partners, Directors and Senior Managers. Successfully so! The value Bruno brings to us is his ability to go way beyond the theory of sales best practise and critical success factors by coaching the application of these on important Client Accounts and on critical, must win, sales pursuits; his sales coaching is very focused on experiential learning thus, maximising his value to his clients and this is where Bruno has been most valuable to us in winning key pursuits. Bruno’s past experience as Sales Director at legacy PwC stood the partnership in good stead as Bruno understand our business environment Bruno is very personable with a style that suits a coach and mentor and has been readily accepted by all. We have no hesitation in recommending him to any sales organisation with complex, business to business, sales teams and challenges.”
Henning Swanepoel
Associate Director at PwC Advisory Africa
March 28, 2019, Henning was a client of Bruno’s
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