Nic Read

Read was the founder and managing partner of SalesLabs,[2] a revenue growth advisory firm. His views on sales, management, employment and leadership have been featured in magazines and blogs by Forbes,[3] the American Management Association,[4] Inc. (magazine),[5][6] USA Today,[1] Entrepreneur (magazine),[7][8] Agency Sales,[9] Selling Power magazine,[10][11] Employee Benefits Adviser,[12][13] and in television interviews on American Broadcasting Company's Washington Business Tonight,[14] 3KTVK,[15] KDVR,[16] and Business Day (South Africa).[17]

In 2002, Read approached Dr. Steve Bistritz to partner on researching the genre of selling to executives. Bistritz had previously co-written a research paper titled Selling to Senior Executives How Salespeople Establish Trust and Credibility with Senior Executives.[18][19][20] Read wanted to investigate if the findings of Bistritz's original research was specifically US-centric, or consistent across different business cultures. Between 2003 and 2007 more than 500 executives were interviewed or surveyed, making this study on executive buying behaviour the largest of its kind ever conducted.[21] The business book Selling to the C-Suite: What Every Executive Wants You to Know About Successfully Selling to the Top[22] is based on this research.

In the same period Read ran a parallel research project to understand how top sellers structured their Sales process when pursuing a simple product sale compared to a more complex solution sale. Instead of following the sales profession's ubiquitous sales funnel, top sellers were seen to use a less linear and more cyclical approach that emphasised customer intimacy. More importantly, the research documented specific approaches top salespeople applied which were not previously common knowledge. Other researchers and authors have drawn similar conclusions about the modern solution selling process.[23][24][25] Read published the research findings in the McGraw-Hill business book Target Opportunity Selling: Top Sales Performers Reveal What Really Works.[26]

In 2016 Read undertook research to understand how to create high-performing key account management practices.

Read has delivered keynote speeches and seminars in training workshops and conferences to audiences in more than 40 countries. Among these he has appeared on stage at:

• 2011 ThinkSales Sales Leadership Conference, in Johannesburg, South Africa.[34]
• 2010 Sales Managers Forum, in Athens, Greece.[35]
• 2010 Optimising the Sales Force, in Melbourne, Australia.[36]
• 2009 Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference, in Miami, Florida, USA.[37]
• 2005 International Corporate Training & Development Conference, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[38]
• 2004 HR Directors Forum, in Shanghai China.[39]

In 2016 Read co-authored a paper titled 'How to create high-performing key account management: lessons from the UK IT industry'. [40] The paper was accepted for presentation at the annual British Academy of Management conference, and developed into an article for publication in Duke's Dialogue Journal.

Read has been recognised with the following awards:

• 2005 Winner, Best Sales Trainer, International Stevie Awards[41]
• 2010 Honoree, Sales Education Leader of the Year, Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service[42]
• 2016 Third place, Best New Product, International Stevie Awards[43]

Read was inducted as a Fellow of The Institute of Sales & Marketing Management in 2013.