The partnership is the creation of Gordon McAlpine and Russell Ward, both former Sales Directors and champions of the importance of effective development programmes for the UK’s sales industry.
Ward established Silent Edge in 2002 and has since developed a leading sales consultancy delivering objective evaluations and best practice training for some of the country’s largest organisations, including BT, Barclays and Johnson & Johnson. The approach is unique and the results are measurable both in terms of investment and morale.
McAlpine, founding director of fast growth technology company BigHand, was frustrated by a lack of support and resources specifically for executive-level sales directors. Following the successful sale of BigHand, McAlpine’s passion to help organisations improve their sales performance led him to found The Sales Club in 2009. McAlpine also featured in Channel 4’s ‘The Secret Millionaire’ in 2010, returning to his hometown of Glasgow to be inspired by local volunteers and make donations.
McAlpine and Ward’s common vision, to inspire excellence in sales performance, has brought the two organisations together.
Silent Edge’s wealth of sales performance data has made them trusted research partners of Cranfield School of Management, recently published in the Harvard Business Review.
McAlpine’s vision for The Sales Club is to bring together sales leaders from the world’s most influential organisations to encourage inspirational peer-to-peer interaction in a confidential environment. The Sales Club members include directors from British Airways, American Express and Eurostar.
The partnership with Silent Edge will help take Ward and Gordon’s vision to the next level, improving services for members with powerful tools and techniques to increase sales effectiveness, access to expert advice and thought leadership.
“Our approach is going from strength to strength” said Ward. “We are excited to be working with The Sales Club to help raise the profile of the sales industry in both the commercial and academic spheres. Our joint vision is to create a community of sales champions to lead the way for excellence in the industry.”
McAlpine added: “We’re extremely excited about this partnership. The Sales Club is already forging a superb reputation within the sales profession, and this initiative will make a significant difference to the quality and depth of services that we can offer our members. Silent Edge is a very impressive, standout organisation and our shared vision will undoubtedly benefit their clients and our members.”