At Birmingham’s National Motorcycle Museum, the National Sales Conference brought together hundreds of sales professionals, leaders, and commercial innovators for a day that perfectly balanced tactical brilliance with profound humanity. Held on 13th November, the event delivered on its promise: to sharpen axes, drive growth, and remind everyone that at the heart of sales success lies genuine human connection.
Keynote Insights: Performance, Mindset, and Strategy
Dominic Colenso: Performance Over Perfection
Actor and communication expert Dominic Colenso kicked off the day by demonstrating how small shifts in delivery can transform meaning. He proved that even the best content can fail if the performance is weak.
“Your words are only 7% of your message,” Colenso explained. “The other 93% is how you deliver it.”
His lesson for the sales community: authenticity and presence matter more than polish. Be present in your pitch; don’t just perform it.
Jenna Dominique: Speaking Their Language
Communication strategist Jenna Dominique brought her “Trains, Planes, Rockets and Balloons” framework to life, providing a practical map for adapting communication styles to different customer personalities.
She urged attendees to discard the old golden rule: “Don’t treat people the way you want to be treated. Treat them the way they want to be treated.” Successful communication requires leading with headlines for “Planes” and respecting detailed processes for “Trains.”
Steve Head: The Four-Minute Reset and Controlling the Inner ‘Chimp’
Performance coach Steve Head, drawing on his background with elite athletes, shared powerful, actionable strategies for mental resilience and energy management. He introduced his concept of 149:1, challenging the audience to re-engineer their focus.
He demonstrated a visual of 164 total items, only 15 of which were problematic, instructing: “Focus on the 149, that’s what’s working. Fix the 15, but don’t allow it to be your only view.”
Head explained that while our emotional brain (the ‘chimp’) acts instantly, we control two fundamental aspects of our lives: “You control two things in life: your thoughts and your actions. Everything else is noise.”
Simon Hazeldine: Beyond Product Success
Sales performance consultant Simon Hazeldine delivered a research-backed challenge to conventional account management. Drawing on data, he revealed why so many organisations struggle to extract growth from their most valuable relationships.
“Only 28% of leaders report getting the revenue growth they want from their accounts,” Hazeldine stated.
He stressed that the job is to be the indispensable strategic business partner, defining account expansion as “customer improvement” helping customers achieve their objectives through unique insights and challenging perspectives.
George Anderson: Energy as Currency
Performance and wellbeing expert George Anderson, an ultramarathon runner, brought a refreshing perspective on sustainable high performance. He led the room through simple 30-second energy shifts, proving that physical wellbeing directly impacts problem-solving and decision-making.
Anderson challenged the audience: “We’ve normalised being knackered. Apply the same skill you use to handle objections to your own wellbeing.” His core message was to stop saying “I can’t because” and start asking “How can I anyway?”
Aaron Phipps MBE and Jon Cooper: Acting With Purpose
The day’s emotional pinnacle came from Paralympic gold medallist Aaron Phipps and performance coach Jon Cooper. They shared the unfiltered story of their journey to Tokyo 2020 by returning to first principles during lockdown.
Phipps and Cooper’s breakthrough came from radical simplicity: “We asked: what’s the absolute truth of this thing? Does it help us get better? Yes or no. If yes, we kept it. If no, we ditched it in five minutes.”
Their message resonated deeply: “You don’t need a pandemic to unlock your potential. It’s a mindset shift. Go find your path, and do something about it.”
Andy Bounds: Lead With Afters
Sales trainer and author Andy Bounds delivered an energetic session focused relentlessly on outcomes, urging sellers to stop talking about themselves.
“Your customers don’t buy what you do,” Bounds explained. “They buy what they get after you.”
He demonstrated that buyers remember the first things they hear, not the last, providing a clear mandate: “Afters early.” Lead with the benefit (the “after”) to seize attention immediately.
David Avrin: The Experience Economy
Customer experience expert David Avrin closed the keynote lineup with a compelling argument that quality is no longer a differentiator.
“Quality is the entry fee,” Avrin argued. “At the end of the day, it’s about competitive advantage.”
He proved that speed, simplicity, and convenience are the true differentiators today, emphasising that companies who respond within five minutes are 100 times more likely to win the deal. His defining question for the room: “How easy are you to do business with? That’s the question that matters now.”
AI, Workshops, and Collective Intelligence
Julie Holmes: AI Empowerment in Action
The day’s most hands-on session, led by Julie Holmes, proved that AI is a people opportunity, not a technical one. She demystified AI using the 20-60-20 framework (20% human strategy, 60% AI execution, 20% human touch) and the analogy of AI as an “eager intern.”
Holmes warned, “Put in rubbish input, get rubbish output,” but promised that if teams collaborate with AI, they’ll be smarter, faster, and better. Her closing challenge: “Are you going to be a Blockbuster, or are you going to be a Netflix?”
Roundtable Insights: The Collective Intelligence
Discussions throughout the day focused on shared solutions to persistent problems:
- Pipeline Conversion: “Most deals are lost to customer inaction, not competition.” Solution: Help customers understand the cost of doing nothing. “Better a red or green, never stuck on amber.”
- Social Selling: Emphasised the need to be visible and valuable. Data shows salespeople with over 5,000 LinkedIn connections meet or surpass their targets every year.
- Customer Success: Defined as a mindset, not a department, requiring co-creation of success plans.
- Multi-Generational Leadership: Acknowledged that young talent requires rewards, development, and purpose, not just job security.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Sales
The National Sales Conference Birmingham 2025 demonstrated that growth doesn’t come from grinding harder, it comes from working smarter, connecting deeper, and leading with humanity. The sales community that gathered in Birmingham proved that excellence isn’t about tricks or shortcuts; it’s about showing up with authenticity, focusing relentlessly on customer improvement, and never losing sight of the human connection that makes it all worthwhile.
The choice is ours: innovate or obsolesce.
The National Sales Conference returns to Birmingham in January 2027, following extensive consultation with key attendees and sponsors. But don’t worry, you can still get your fix of insightful speakers and networking with our Leadership Edition in London, which returns in July 2026.
