Marketing Nous was established in 2000 by Stuart Ayling, Director and Chief Sales Strategist. Stuart works with expertise-based businesses to develop customised sales training and professional development programs for technical staff, professionals, business development teams and managers.
What is an ‘expertise-based’ business?
A company that sells a service or a technical/complex product where the client is relying on the knowledge, experience and insights from the seller, is an expertise-based business. That is, the expertise provided by the seller is an essential component of the clients buying experience.
Marketing Nous clients are expertise-based businesses that sell:
- Business-to-business services – in a wide variety of fields including design, environmental consulting, education, maintenance, security, software and SaaS.
- Technical, industrial or complex products – in the business-to-business sector including instrumentation, medical products, custom designed textiles, printing, construction products and process equipment.
- Professional services – such as management consulting, accounting, law, engineering, insurance, finance and superannuation funds.
Stuart has helped thousands of people across Australia, South-East Asia and the Middle East to increase their sales, enhance client relationships, and improve their personal effectiveness using proprietary methodologies based on practical experience and current findings of the psychology of learning.
Understanding the key drivers of sales growth
After more than 15 years in business working with leading companies in their field, Stuart Ayling understands the key drivers of sales opportunities for expertise-based businesses. He understands the concerns and priorities of professionals and technical staff who find themselves in a business development role, but don’t want to be a sales person.
That’s why the training programs offered by Marketing Nous are based on scientific principles, current wisdom, and proven techniques to instil confidence and encourage your team to reach for more.
This focus on services and complex products enables unique insights into how to assist professional and technical staff to move beyond reactive ‘customer service’ to become proactive sales producers, without compromising their role as a trusted advisor or expert resource for clients.
Performance improvement for services and complex sales
Those who sell services or complex products face special challenges. Clients may require education to make an informed decision. Sales cycles may be lengthy. Quite often multiple decision-makers are involved. There is a true need for sellers to understand the client’s situation and requirements before offering a suitable solution. And presenting the recommended solution is an integral part of the overall process of influence, not simply a ‘show and tell’ exercise. The goal of all Marketing Nous training programs is to give you and your team the structure, skills and confidence to effectively manage the diversity of business development challenges.
A partnership for success
Unlike many off-the-shelf training providers you will find that working with Stuart Ayling is like a partnership; blending your company-specific knowledge and processes with his tools, techniques and insights to create a unique experience for your team. The starting point for every potential engagement is to discuss your priorities, desired outcomes, time frame, team members and overall expectations.
Once engaged, it is usual for the first step to involve your management team and selected participants in personal interviews, and for items arising from those interviews to be discussed in advance of the training. It’s never a good idea to have ‘elephants in the room’ (i.e. unspoken issues) that may impede the progress of your team.
Stuart Ayling, Chief Sales Strategist
Heading up Marketing Nous is Stuart Ayling (BBus Marketing, GCM Int. Business). Stuart is a respected business-to-business sales and marketing professional, trainer and consultant. During 20+ years of experience he has:
- Held field sales roles winning sales in the millions of dollars.
- Held multiple Marketing Manager positions leading teams of marketing specialists.
- Been a Sales Manager within the industrial products sector.
- Managed a distribution centre including staffing, financial reporting and revenue responsibilities.
- Recruited and managed franchisees and conducted business performance reviews in a multinational franchise group.
- Been invited to teach marketing and personal selling for a number of semesters at the prestigious University of Queensland Business School.
- Run his own national training and consulting business including keynote presentations to leading industry groups across Australia, South East Asia and the Middle East.
Stuart Ayling holds a Bachelors degree in marketing and a post graduate qualification in International Business, has delivered keynote presentations at many peak industry events, and has authored over 100 articles and ebook’s on marketing and selling.
His ebook The Sales Training Illusion has been featured as the cover story in the prestigious Sales and Marketing Management magazine (USA) in 2014. Download the cover story here.
Serving nationally and beyond
Marketing Nous has worked with clients in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and further afield to the Middle East, including the Australian divisions of multi-national companies. A typical client will have a national team of business development staff, consultants, managers, advisors, technical specialists or service technicians that carry a dual role of doing (their area of expertise) as well as selling (generating new business). Training programs and delivery modes can also cater for smaller or state-based businesses. If you believe your team needs to enhance their skills it’s best to contact Stuart to discuss your situation.
About the ‘Nous’ in Marketing Nous
Unlike the French pronoun ‘nous’ (meaning ‘we’ or ‘us’), in colloquial English the word nous (pronounced like ‘house’) means practical intelligence, street savvy, or common sense. In fact the word nous has its origins in ancient Greek, then meaning ‘of the mind’.
During the 18th Century in England ‘nous’ was adapted into its current use and made its way into the Australian vernacular.
Expanded services now available
In 2019, as a result of working with many management teams and seeing the challenges faced by growth-focused companies when it comes to implementing business improvement activities Stuart founded Vectis Advisors. Using a unique approach based on real-world experience Stuart provides a comprehensive model to not only help businesses plan for effective growth, but also works closely with business leaders and teams to help them understand and implement critical improvement initiatives. Find out more at the Vectis Advisors website.