The Profit Secret: How to sell more at a higher margin.

Why this book exists

Nick and I wrote this book to confront what the single biggest challenge salespeople face – price resistance. There are too many good businesses with good products struggling financially largely because of selling by discounting, selling with a reduced profit, if any.

Too often selling is vanity. Many forget that profit is sanity, not sales. The financial crisis of 2008 and the pandemic of 2020 has affected organisations and consumers in many ways. Since then, trust has been more difficult to come by in business and in all parts of a business prices have come under increased scrutiny. When people say, “Selling these days is all about the price,” We say, “All things being equal, the sale will come down to price. Selling is about ensuring the prospect realises for themselves that things are not equal.”

This book is about how the sales operation in any business can be built around three key ingredients: the need, the value, and the profit. While every sale CAN be built around those three keys, most sales are not. Making sales profitable must therefore be a secret, even though profit is sanity.

Who are the two authors?

Nick Baldock was a popular speaker and sales consultant.

Nick had a highly successful 35-year sales career. He broke sales records in three industries, finance with American Express, media advertising for the Daily Mail, and recruitment as associate director with James Caan (Dragons’ Den).

Nick delighted audiences across the world as a speaker. With his commanding presence, vast experience, boundless enthusiasm, and sense of humour, he could bond with a group very quickly and hold their attention for hours.

On 12 July 2014, Nick died unexpectedly of a heart attack. This was an untimely and tragic finale to the life of a man who had run countless marathons, including 2,851 miles from San Francisco to New York, and had run from Land’s End to John O’Groats, twice.
Nick’s success stemmed from this simple philosophy: “You can achieve anything, provided you want to.” Half the profits from the sale of this book will go to Nick’s daughter, Lauren.

Bob Hayward is a popular speaker, a business growth consultant and has co-authored five Business Books: two with Nick.

As owner of Be More Effective Ltd, a business growth consultancy, he has designed and delivered numerous mission-critical employee engagement projects for leading brands.

Bob has started seven businesses the largest grew to £12M, in today’s terms, in under five years. He has a wealth of practical knowledge and experience that makes him a natural and informative speaker with a complete understanding of the needs of employees and problems facing business owners and managers.

Bob met Nick in 1999, just before Nick ran across America. It was the beginning of a profound and special friendship.

Why it took six years to finish this book.

Bob explains. “The Profit Secret was only half-written when Nick sadly died. Completing the remaining 50% has been an emotion struggle. Even though this is a business book Nick’s words are on every page. While for the reader those words contain knowledge and inspiration, for me they remind me how much I miss him. Completing this book has been a labour of love. Nick and I both loved selling. I love helping others learn to sell more effectively. It was a massive learning experience as I sought to honour Nick’s great wisdom while blending in the condensed insights from my own journey.”

The Profit Secret: How to sell more at a higher margin (Published by Panoma Press) is available to buy on Amazon. 

Connect with Bob: LinkedIn – Twitter – Instagram

Winners of The Business Book Awards 2021 will be revealed online on Tuesday 25th May 2021.