Before you’re born you’re exposed to the way conversations work. You’re in the womb listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher speaking to your mum and your mum replying to them. They both stutter, pause, stumble on their words, make mistakes and sometimes get lost for words - all normal conversational stuff. Some months later you arrive in the world and you continue your conversational master class. When you’re a toddler, one of your favourite pastimes is to pretend to speak to someone on a toy phone (or a shoe). But now you shy away from making and taking phone calls - do you have telephonophobia? And what can be done about it?

Let’s face it, good sales people can be expensive. At the time of blogging Total Jobs research shows that the average salary of a Business Development Manager in the UK is around £42,500 and rising to well over £50,000 in some industries and locations. Perhaps it is time to consider outsourcing at least part of the sales process?