Reviews

“Like all CEOs, I receive a lot of invitations to attend events, which due to time pressures, I normally pass on. However, when I read about an upcoming CEO luncheon being hosted by Julian Griffith and Bradford Power, it really sparked my interest and I decided to attend, and I am so pleased that I did.

It was clear to me straightaway that both Julian and Bradford are experts in working with business leaders who are committed to transforming the sales and client service performance of their organisations. Reckon has a long history of success, but like many ambitious leaders, I was wanting to further support and develop my sales leadership team, as well as the consultative selling skills of my sales and client services staff. Investing the time and money to develop and build a team who can more confidently position themselves as trusted advisors is of great long-term value to us as a growing business.

We recently completed the Generate program for the majority of our team, and ongoing are now placing our new sales recruits into the program as part of their induction. In addition, we are soon to launch further training and coaching with our client success team. Having a strong and healthy sales culture with ongoing coaching, training and support is helping us retain our best staff as well as attracting strong new sales and client services staff into our company.

Working with Julian and Bradford has always been valuable and enjoyable for me, they have earned my trust, and I recommend them to fellow CEOs and business leaders, who are committed to developing their sales organisations and growing revenue.”
Sam Allert, Group CEO, Reckon

“After 12 months of searching for support and training for our sales team, we joined the Generate program in July 2018. The structure and format of the program was what we were looking for as a way of both supporting our sales team with training and driving a sales culture within the business. The program has delivered everything I was hoping for, and more. The sales team have responded positively to the training and support, and the sales management have developed a better performance and accountability framework to manage the sales team. Having a formal sales training program available has also been received positively from prospective employees. Brad is a great presenter and engages well during the online format and participating in the program with other companies has the benefit of providing different perspectives and ideas from other industries and markets. From my perspective the program has been a great success and we look forward to an ongoing involvement.”

  Steve Cahill, CEO, enLighten

“The National Sales Manager candidate you sent to us, has turned out and is shaping up to be one of the best Sales Managers we’ve ever had in Australia. It was his 1st anniversary with us last week. Thank you!”
Michael Aldred, Managing Director, Cementaid

“After recently taking on the regional sales role within Impact, the Generate program has given me the tools to develop my sales team with regularly structured sales meetings. These very practical solutions address typical sales scenarios, as well as a way of more efficiently managing the salesperson’s time. This benefits self-development and enhances the ability for my team to efficiently qualify buyers, ensuring only a genuine pipeline of dealers. The result is a quality list of customers who deliver tangible benefits to the business.”
Chris Howard, Southern Region Sales Manager, Impact Fertilisers

“When I first met Julian and Bradford in Melbourne at a CEO briefing on sales excellence I was impressed with their knowledge, experience and methodology to improve sales performance. I had tried traditional sales training approaches but ran into the same problem as others do; that to sustain the new model takes incredible time and commitment from managers and the sales team alike, and as a result eventually no longer gets used. The Generate program has a unique approach that engages the sales team and the sales managers on a regular cycle, that involves a very structured program of accountability, learning sessions and a follow up session each month. We signed up to the Network program and I can see enormous value for the sales managers and sales team alike that they see other people in other industries grappling with the same problems. Whilst the skills that the team learn and apply definitely add value to our performance, it is the sharing of ideas and solutions across non-competing companies where the best value is made. We have a few months left on the program and I believe that the team will have embedded sales skills and processes that they will continue to use in the future.”
Geoff Purtill, Vice President & General Manager, Invacare Asia Pacific

“I recently attended Julian and Brad’s workshop presentation they gave to a broad range of industry CEOs, and it certainly hit the target! It primarily focused on key aspects of driving continued revenue growth and performance through sales and aligning management and sales staff to the correct metrics. In addition, not only was the presentation extremely relevant and magnificently presented, but it also allowed CEOs to appreciate human behaviour and how best to manage their talent in the workplace. If you’re a CEO or Board member they’ll open your eyes to making sure you are measuring the correct frameworks and ultimately staying competitive in your chosen industry. I sincerely believe Julian and Brad are at the top of their field, and that they would greatly enhance the profitability of any business they work with.”
Peter McGuire, CEO, XM.com

“Julian is an asset that every smart CEO should have. His knowledge of how to re-invent the sales force, from a world-class perspective, is second to none. Not only is his book “The CEO Solution” top notch, but he is one of the few sales growth experts I would recommend to CEOs who are ready to create a much higher performance team, than they currently have.”
Ari Galper, CEO, Unlock The Game

“Our business (like many in the manufacturing space) needed to change; we embarked on a program of reshaping (including downsizing) and believed that to be relevant into the future we needed to re-skill our commercial team to ensure we sold the full value to our customers, increased our share of wallet and more importantly had talent that could hunt down new business in segments that we were new to us. We engaged “The Good Peanut” (TGP) to do an assessment of the team from me down. The process was quite revealing and gave us insights into our people, in some cases we were surprised, in others we confirmed what we thought were issues. The process enabled us to map out what we needed to do to revamp and reorganise our commercial team. Since this time we have created a single team across A-NZ, eliminated a number of structural silos and appropriately dealt with performance and job fit issues.

A number of people have left the business and we have also recruited (using TGP) to fill and up skill these sales positions. We are well on the way to having a commercial team that is not only focused and accountable but one that has the skill to deliver results. TGP has been an important element (partner) in the evolution of our commercial team and we believe they will continue to support us in terms of coaching key people and further skills development.”
Andrew Dallison, Managing Director (Australia & New Zealand), Signode

“I first met Julian when he attended my Syndicate at The CEO Institute. He impressed me with his knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing the sales function in business today so I recommended him to the Australian subsidiary of a multinational company I Chaired. His approach clearly identified the capability gaps in the structure that needed to be filled and who in the team should continue “on the bus”. Subsequently, the training that was implemented taught both the sales “hunters” and the customer service “farmers” how to achieve best in category relationships. It is true to say that the investment in his processes has returned excellent ROI and the Firm is continuing to use his IP both to recruit and train sales crew on going, both in Australia and also potentially off shore.”
Gavin Partridge, Syndicate Chair, The CEO Institute

“We started working with Julian and Brad when we asked them to present to our “Alliance Pool Group” retail distributors at our 2015 sales conference in Hawaii. The feedback from them was excellent, leading to The Good Peanut developing a specific sales coaching program for this group. At the beginning of 2016 we started a sales growth program with AstralPool’s own direct team, working with our managers to develop their sales leadership skills and with our salespeople to learn and put into practice new processes and methods. One of our team used the questioning process that Brad had coached her when negotiating a new supply contract with an existing account, growing its value from $2,000 to $20,000 a month – a fantastic result and a great example of what can be achieved through upskilling your sales team.
Matt Adlam, Managing Director, AstralPool

“We have been working with The Good Peanut team for around 18 months in the development of our national sales team. We started with them by completing an in-depth analysis of the sales team to identify individual strengths, weaknesses and development opportunities. We then undertook an intensive training programme to improve the knowledge and coaching skills of our Sales Leaders. Once this was complete we decided to take a different approach and rather than have The Good Peanut team deliver further training to our area salespeople, together we designed a structure and had them further coach and support our Sales Leaders so that they now deliver The Good Peanut learning materials to their own teams as an ongoing and core element of their management roles. This approach provides us with the high quality coaching materials, which we find very relevant to what we are trying to achieve, and with our leaders taking responsibility for the coaching, they and their teams are strongly engaged in the process and we are getting better adoption and results.”
Geoff Pelizzo, General Manager Commercial, Impact Fertilisers

“We are a group of private education companies, delivering training nationally within the vocational and higher education sectors. Bradford has assisted us to establish and develop several sales and business development associated teams, including our Course Advisors, Student Support Officers, as well as providing executive coaching for several executives. As a result of Bradford’s training, we have seen very positive outcomes in student recruitment, retention, participation and satisfaction. Our growth has come from the essential skill sets and mindsets that our team have executed directly from Bradford’s coaching program. Bradford has been very flexible and agile in his approach, which has meant we’ve been able to design programs specific to the needs of each respective team. We’ll continue working with Bradford and strongly recommend his training and coaching to others.”
Simon Clarke, Managing Director, Estrada College | AIPC | Campus Education

“I first met Bradford Power when attending a Workshop on Sales Optimisation that he presented. Immediately I found myself drawn into his enthusiastic, meaningful and eloquent delivery style. When I later learned that Brad was a sales transformation coach and business growth expert, I decided there and then that he was the person to assist me to take my business to the next level. Over the course of a six months’ program, Brad took me through a comprehensive set of pre-agreed business topics. The combination of topic material, one on one sessions, and Brad as our personal Coach was the winning combination that our organisation needed. Robust and honest discussion was the foundation for my success. Provided I gave honest and committed involvement, Brad delivered on his promise to educate, guide, and impart his wisdom to me and my business. Brad also provided the essential forum through our sessions which ensured our team was accountable to the process. Over the course of six months, our team achieved more on developing the business and organisational culture than I had in over five years working on my own. Brad was exceptional in his mentoring approach and coaching guidance inspiring me to be a better leader to my team. I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending Brad to anyone in business who wants to become a better business leader and achieve success in building a better business for themselves and their team.”
Anthony Buczynski, CEO, Green Hat Digital Marketing Agency

“After reading a collection Julian’s articles regarding sales management we invited The Good Peanut to provide us with ideas for ‘re-energising’ our sales team. For the last 12+ months Julian & his team have been fully engaged with our commercial management team as we ‘reshape and up-skill’ our sales team through individual assessment, recruitment and on-going targeted training. I have found the interaction with The Good Peanut to be both professionally & personally satisfying.”
Geoff Upton, National Sales & Marketing Manager Australia & New Zealand, Signode

“I have worked with Brad and Julian over the last couple of years both from a business and personal development point of view, participating with my colleagues in their sales coaching program. They also presented at a recent overseas conference to a group of 100 of our customers and the feedback was fantastic. The style and quality of presentation ensured the main points were covered and our attendees went away with some valuable knowledge they could implement immediately in their own businesses.”
Duncan Smith, National Accounts Manager, AstralPool

“The decision to engage The Good Peanut to carry out sales training and coaching for the Sales and Customer Service team of 20Cube Logistics in Australia was one of the better decisions I made in 2012. It was good to have the sales and customer service team first assessed and thereafter put through the Sales and Customer service coaching program. It was interesting to see how those who assessed well at the outset went on to embrace the program and get benefit out of it, while those that did not are no longer with the company. I must also mention that the one-day workshop on the “Psychology of Sales & Customer Satisfaction” was compelling and an eye opener. So it was money well spent, and we will do it again so that every employee in our organisation that has a connection to our clientele is supported in becoming a trusted advisor. I would gladly recommend you and your program to any business involved in selling.”
Stewart Schneider-Loos, CEO Asia Pacific, 20Cube Logistics

“My interaction with Julian embodies everything I expect from a relationship with a recruiter but have never experienced. His selection process was in depth but it showed that he was not only very attentive to the needs of his client but also to me as a candidate. I could tell that he wanted to make sure that both myself and his client were the right fit for each other, and oh boy did he succeed. The role that he secured was point for point what I wanted for my next position and the company’s needs were perfectly aligned with the skills I had to offer. Even the culture fit was spot on. All his communications were timely and relevant and through his diligence, the process from initial screening interview right through to the final interview with the client, I felt supported, consulted, guided and thoroughly well represented. I cannot recommend Julian’s and The Good Peanut’s Talent Resourcing services highly enough.”
Layo Ayeni, Customer Service Manager, Targus

“I have had the experience of being assessed by “The Good Peanut” for a job that was of real interest to me. From the beginning of the application it was clear that it was a unique evaluation process. Having completed this first step I was notified that I had then passed on to the next stage which involved a meeting with Julian himself. The manner in which the interview evolved clearly separated this from others I had been attending at the time. The feeling of separation and individualism was apparent as the interview referenced answers I’d made and raised points with questions in regards to seeking out more accurate answers. I was being assessed again but from a very different view point. I was at ease in myself and the way in which the information I had previously submitted was referenced and used to discover more about me. The clarity it brought to me as a person was unique as I was able to accept this different view and actually learnt to look at myself in new ways. The collaboration that I had with Julian and The Good Peanut team together with the manner in which I was treated earned my respect and I now have a friend who I can ask for honest advice.

The expertise and opinion of Julian is something that I hold close and this relationship continues today. I have gained a great deal and am now a “Good Peanut”. I think that after you experience the service and dedication of the team, you will see that you are now one too!”
John Peoples, Regional Sales Manager, Australia, Modtec Industries Australia Pty Ltd / Integ

“Recently I attended ‘The Psychology of Sales Success’, and was delighted with the educated content that Bradford Power presented. The thought processes he lead us down and the differing ways of communicating were very interesting, and I will be using these to both increase my sales and to establish great business relationships. I would recommend any sales person to attend”
Prudence Chang, Sales Manager VIC/TAS, NCI Trade Credit Solutions

“I have to admit that it was very refreshing for me to engage with a sales recruitment specialist whom was not only fully knowledgeable of the appointment brief from his client’s perspective, but one that was just as focused on wanting to explore the candidate’s needs and personal career growth path in an effort to deliver a great fit. From the initial phone screening through to the informative one on one interview that not only covered an extensive background on the perspective employer and the opportunity, but the time taken to get to understand my employment history and motivation for considering the role, coupled with a thorough presentation of the personal and financial growth opportunities offered by the employer. Unlike many agencies currently in this HR space who neglect the candidate’s personal & professional needs and requirements, The Good Peanut were always ready and available to answer any questions relevant to the role or the process, and in instances whereby the answer was not readily available, it was followed up and a response communicated swiftly. This specialist and very personalised engagement translated into a great experience whereby both the candidate and the prospective employer were dealing with a single point of contact and the information flow was clear and concise. And I’m delighted to also state that this wonderful level of candidate support has extended beyond the interview and selection process, whereby I continue to speak with my contact at The Good Peanut on a regular basis and have established a great relationship whereby I would not hesitate to recommend them to any employer seeking sales staff, or a candidate looking for a very supportive and specialist recruiter to find them that ideal role or employment opportunity.”
Mal Taylor, National Business Development Manager, Red Bee Media Australia

“I found the Sales Masterclass to be highly informative, with practical takeaways that could be implemented the next day. Bradford is clearly very knowledgeable and his presentation style is easy to follow and understand. I also enjoyed the real world examples from our group which demonstrated the challenges we all face and the steps we can use to overcome these.

The understanding of the mentality of the salesperson Trusted Advisor is so important to managing a high performing sales team as is a structured sales process, and your Masterclass provided fantastic detail on both of these. I hope that the next time you run this Masterclass we are able to include more of our team.”
Mark Smith, Account Manager, Jasol (A division of George Weston Foods)

“The candidate assessment process which I was asked to complete at the very beginning of my application was detailed and uncovered how I behave and what I do in specific sales situations. I was delighted when informed I had got through this first challenging stage. My interview process was very intense. I had a total of 4 interviews, the first one being only a few minutes over the telephone where I was put under pressure to answer and make it clear how my skills and experience matched the criteria needed to be successful in the position. Julian explained he was putting together a short list of candidates for him to meet with and I was both delighted and relieved when informed the next day that I would be interviewed face to face. The experience was amazing and much better than past interviews. All the staff at The Good Peanut were always very professional. Julian was excellent and I have really liked the support he has since given me. Finally I am very happy with my current company as well!”
Faraz Khan, Business Development Manager – SME, 20Cube Logistics Pty Ltd

“We recently required the assistance for the recruitment of a suitable Sales Executive in a very tough economic environment. After some unsuccessful attempts the Good Peanut was recommended to us. Julian took the time to exchange & understand our business and what we were looking for to succeed. With the upmost attention to detail, Julian focused on the candidate’s needs and their personal career growth path (which is sometimes overlooked) in an effort to deliver a great fit long term. The Good Peanut, was always ready and available to answer any questions relevant to the role or the process, and explained the methodology behind it. In my opinion the experience was extremely professionally and somewhat pleasurable.”
Con Dokas, Southern Sales Manager, Signode Australia

“Sound advice comes from a research paper entitled “Taking the lid off your sales organisation”by Julian Griffith. He recommends five things organisations can do to address the threat of sales team underperformance. Adopting these strategies for selecting and nurturing your sales employees should provide consistent sales growth….”
Australian Financial Review
Read more Testimonials about ‘Taking the lid off your sales organisation’

“Thanks Julian, I am always genuinely surprised and impressed by the depth of your work. It is rare that I see consultants get under the skin to some of the more fundamental drivers of human performance. Appreciate you continue to share this.”
Mark Britt, Group CEO, Mi9

“I recently engaged Julian Griffith from The Good Peanut to provide executive coaching services directly to me as Managing Director of this company, (a niche management consulting firm). The overall experience with Julian was a very positive one and I’m very pleased with the results.Working through the many issues and obstacles one naturally puts in front of their goals, Julian has been able to help me sharpen up my approach to both the running of this business, my effectiveness as an individual and my family & personal relationships.One of the great benefits of using someone like Julian is that he’s very aware of the corporate world and its operations and has a good handle on typical issues people in a role such as mine are going to be dealing with. He has a very good understanding of the sales function within a business and has tools and knowledge beyond the standard coaching techniques that were also of great value to me.”
Philip Dartnell – Managing Director, Synergy Management Solutions

Thanks for the opportunity to attend the seminar in Sydney last Friday. I took away some excellent ideas that I can implement into my sales strategy.
Daniel Nash, Business Development Manager – Modtec Industries Australia Pty Ltd

“I found the Sales Masterclass with Julian & Brad interesting, thought provoking and had a level of detail that enabled me to add some new tools to my sales process straight away.  It was one of those courses that held my attention for the whole day, the content was that good. Thank you both!”
Kaylene Grieve, Managing Director, Sales, SEO & Social Media

“We originally engaged Julian and The Good Peanut team to present at the NCI Sales Team, February 2011 Conference. From this presentation, we conducted a full sales review of our processes, sales team and our strengths and weaknesses. One of the areas we needed to improve was the recruitment of sales staff into the future. The review and advice from Julian has been comprehensive, and jointly we are developing ways to recruit ‘true’ salespeople, compared to our previous methods. In identifying the components of a sales person without the independent advice and review processes of The Good Peanut, your views can be clouded on selecting a ‘good person’, rather than focussing on the criteria you need for a ‘sales person’. With the involvement of The Good Peanut, we have maintained a rigid approach and have recruited three salespeople with a further three to come, using this process.”
Kirk Cheesman, Managing Director, National Credit Insurance (Brokers) Pty Ltd

“Hi Julian, I am pleased to report we hit our “revised” 2011 New Business target this week. Our original sales target for this year was a little higher, however when we first engaged with you back in February, it was likely we would only achieve 80% of where we needed to be. Placing a revised focus on New Business definitely assisted me and NCI to drive this target upwards. Thank you for your advice along the way.”
Kirk Cheesman, Managing Director, National Credit Insurance (Brokers) Pty Ltd

“After a number of failed attempts of our own to employ a suitable Sales Executive, Cordell contracted Julian Griffith and The Good Peanut to find a high quality professional to sell our range of information products to the Australian market. From the outset, Julian took the necessary time to understand our company and what we needed for the business. He then embarked on a very thorough, structured and unemotional search for the right candidate. His factual and practical approach to candidates was refreshing – it eliminated candidates that we may well have considered on the basis of ‘best of the bunch’ rather than ‘best for the role’. Julian’s sales experience and his recruitment method saved us a lot of time, worry and concern as he did all the groundwork and we only got to see high quality and relevant applicants who were eminently suited to the role. As it turned out, the candidate that we employed through Julian is delivering all the competencies and capabilities that we have been seeking – an outstanding success! I fully recommend Julian and The Good Peanut if you are considering employing sales staff in the future.”
Rob Wild, Chief Executive Officer, Cordell (a division of Reed Business Information)

“A quick note of thanks once again for uncovering our new star performer. In only his second month with the company, (name withheld) has just taken out the National Sales Achiever of the Month award, beating twenty-two others, many of them very seasoned professional campaigners. He achieved 167% of his budget on the phone – so hold onto your horses once we let him out into field sales!”
Martin Stevens, National Sales Manager, Cordell (a division of Reed Business Information)

“I am thrilled to say that the results have been remarkable. In the six months since we engaged Julian, we have seen a steady stream of new client engagements and have noticed a newfound confidence amongst the team when it comes to new business. Feedback from the team has also been enormously positive – we have some strong and very diverse personalities within the team and Julian did a wonderful job of bringing out the best in each and every member.”
Kate Walker, Managing Director, Human Communications (An STW Group company)

“Having completed the online “Sales Development” training supported by open coaching discussions, I believe it was a great investment. The course tackled many areas that as a sales person you can mistakenly think you know the answers to already. Of particular benefit to me has been grasping how vital it is to genuinely listen to and understand the real issues my clients are facing. Many salespeople make assumptions and believe that talking is a vital tool and never stop! This is very incorrect and having learnt this early on in the program has enabled me to develop my new role within the company. I now have the ability to listen and reply with confidence, knowing that the process is always moving ahead to the next stage. Thanks for the course.”
John Peoples, Key Account Manager – Australia, Modtec Industries Australia Pty Ltd / Integ

“I have survived 12 months of training! A quick note to let you know that I have enjoyed the 12 month on-line “Sales Leadership” training program with regular support from Dave. The combination of theory with robust discussion has delivered huge value to me personally and importantly to the organisation. I know that I have developed as a sales manager in particular in the areas of motivation and coaching.”
Ian Cooper, Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Modtec Industries Australia Pty Ltd / Integ

“After having our current Sales Team assessed through The Good Peanut, it was even more insightful and beneficial for us to use their services again to assist us in filling a senior sales executive role within our business. Once we supplied the position description and agreed our specific criteria for the role, they recommended a format for the advertisement which generated more than 70 applicants. Using Express Screen they assessed everyone at the outset, providing us with a concise shortlist of recommended candidates that fitted our role. We have commenced our successful candidate and she is an asset to our sales team and culture already. I wish The Good Peanut worked with assessments outside of sales – I’d use them all the time”
Lea-Anne Smith, Manager-Asia Pacific, Transaction Network Services

“I would like to thank you both for an exciting two days. What I have achieved from this training session is more than I could have imagined. I particularly liked the resume topic, where I am now able to view candidates in a different way, and now have the knowledge to get the most out of a candidate at interview.”
Brad Suffolk, State Field Sales Manager NSW / ACT, Campbells Wholesale

“Thank you for one of the most interesting training sessions I have attended. This recruiting process has completely changed my outlook on hiring new sales staff and I now feel 100% confident about getting the right person on board. The way Julian and Marion facilitated the training was fantastic.”
Jim Haritonas, State Field Sales Manager VIC, Campbells Wholesale

“After recently completing your results coaching course I wanted to write to thank you for the positive effect it has had on my life. I started the course at a stage where my motivation levels were low and I felt a lack of direction. From the start, Julian enabled me to gain a new perspective of my situation and to take stock in general. The way in which the answers to my dilemmas were gently worked from my own mind was most gratifying and made the answers far more meaningful. Since finishing the course the clarity it has afforded me has seen a whole new set of goals laid down for myself and for my family. I look forward to a refresher course next year.”
Gareth Thomas, Business Development Manager, B&C Mailing