Richard Forde-Johnston

Following my HND in Business and Finance at Staffordshire University, I joined the army and served 10 years in the Cheshire Regiment before leaving at 30 to start a civilian career and get married. I worked in telecoms for many years, initially heading up Corporate Customer Service for Martyn Dawes throughout their acquisition by O2.

I then moved into sales with Vodafone and worked my way up the company over a period of 9 years and through all the direct channels to become Regional Sales Manager (Wales & West) in the SME Channel. I then left to pursue a more senior career for several years as Sales Director or Head of Sales and Marketing for various entrepreneurial businesses – mainly in the telecoms and security sectors. I then decided a few years ago in my mid-40s to set up my own consulting/agency sales business to help other companies establish their sales strategy and infrastructure, including people, processes and training.

I specialise in sales leadership, strategic negotiation and boardroom/global relationship management. My core skills are in organisational management, proposition positioning, customer engagement and closing ability. I’m an experienced trainer, coach and mentor across a range of disciplines.

Start lean, stay lean, keep it simple, for example don’t buy anything you aren’t 100% certain you need – and even then, wait until you really need it. Hire/lease/borrow and second hand!