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“Sales is not a dirty word” Sales Geek founder Richard Few explains how the brand’s mission is to change the way the world perceives sales he sales education market can often be expensive and inaccessible, with much of it set up to support bigger businesses. Yet, small businesses make up 93% of the UK economy, and most are started by people who are not from sales or marketing backgrounds. Unfortunately, 80% of them fold within their first five years of trading. “We enable businesses not just to survive but thrive by providing part-time sales directorship as well as helping them build sales engines to create scalable and sustainable revenue,” explains Richard Few, who set up Sales Geek seven years ago in Lancashire. Now the brand is expanding globally, and is seeking both UK-based franchisees and international multi- unit operators to meet impressive growth targets. We caught up with Richard to find out more. What does Sales Geek do in a nutshell? Our disruptive part-time sales director model is geared towards the small businesses in our communities with the culture and the personality of our brand matching the franchisees who front it. We do this by making sales education more accessible to our clients, whether they’re salespeople, sales leaders, or business owners. We’ve worked hard to ensure that clients who need our help and support feel psychologically safe enough to start the conversation with ‘things aren’t going well, I need some help’. And really, the impact this has on people is huge. Running your own business when you don’t know how to create sustainable revenue is a scary place to be and the number one reason why businesses fail. Helping to keep people in business is hugely rewarding. Our training is endorsed by the Institute of Sales Professionals (ISP) and clients range from tiny businesses with only one salesperson right up to global brands with large teams, including Panasonic, Royal Mail, and International Airlines Group. How does your positive culture impact franchisees? I quit a career that I was miserable in seven years ago to start up Sales Geek, because I wanted to lead a happier and healthier life. Three years ago, we franchised the business to give the same opportunity to other salespeople who find themselves in the same place. We have the attitude that we borrow our team members from their families for a few hours a week, and we have a duty of care to return them back to their families feeling fulfilled and in good health, rather than grinding them into dust like a lot of organisations do. From the get-go we set out clear values. Two that mean a lot to me personally are geeks make it fun and geeks care. There’s sometimes a lack of fun and a lack of care in business. We spend a lot of time at work and enjoying it is vital for the team at HQ and our franchisees too. Part of our value proposition to franchisees is becoming part of a community of like-minded people, so it’s important to us to maintain that culture across our franchise network as it continues to grow and scale. All our franchisees are experienced sales directors and leaders – some from an SME background and others from huge organisations like FedEx, Tesla, and Cisco Systems – but all have an T BEHIND THE BRAND: PARTNER CONTENT 24 WHAT FRANCHISE | ISSUE 19.3