#SBS is one of the leading small business awards in the UK. Each week Theo Paphitis welcomes six small businesses who have posted on either Twitter or Instagram describing their business to the #SBS community.

Recently it was the turn of Wimbledon-based It’s All In The Mind to join this coveted small business community. Formed by Simon de Ferrer and Nick Banyard, It’s All In The Mind is a training provider helping businesses boost their profitability by implementing a successful sales process. Says Simon, “That successful sales process begins in the mind. What makes us unique is that we use tried and tested cognitive techniques to instil positive mindsets in the people responsible for winning new work for their business – whether they identify themselves as sales professionals or not.”

Receiving news of their win stunned Simon. “Both Nick and I were incredibly pleased and flattered. We were genuinely very surprised as we hadn’t been posting for very long but were immensely proud to be recognised. We were simply not expecting it!”

Adds Nick, “#SBS is much more than ‘just’ a Twitter or Instagram award. Winning this award gives us access to a fabulous community of ambitious, growing, focussed small and medium sized business owners. We’ll be able to contribute ideas and top tips to the community as well as access support and new connections. Already winning #SBS has resulted in increased awareness, recognition and an increased response to our social media posts. For instance, when we announced the win on our LinkedIn pages we got the biggest response we’ve ever had! We reconnected with people we hadn’t spoken to for years who responded offering their congratulations.”

Simon agrees, “When we posted on social media about our attending the annual #SBSEvent, which only winners of #SBS can attend, our feeds went crazy. Ordinarily we’re lucky if we get a couple of hundred views on a normal post. The post of us in the auditorium at #SBSEvent had over 2,000 views. We call it the Theo effect! Already this win has opened up opportunities we wouldn’t have thought of including the opportunity to resurrect some relationships leading to further business opportunities.”

The #SBSEvent takes place annually in Birmingham. Commenting on the event Nick said, “I think it’s fair to say how surprised we both were at how professional the event was. It was very well presented and extremely well organised. It was really interesting to see so many small business gathered together in one place as a community. The takeaway for me was thinking about all those small businesses who, on a Sunday afternoon are prepping for their week ahead, and because of the impact that #SBS has they take time out to enter – repeatedly – trying to win.”

Adds Simon, “The diverse array of businesses there was incredible from brewers to jewellers and everything in between! There was 1,000 or so businesses in that room and the overall atmosphere was that of growth in germs of growth in business knowledge as well as growth in terms of revenue. The speakers were incredible and the amount of thought that had gone into the event was clear. It was specifically tailored to what any small business owner would need and we can’t wait to go back next year. It’s the sort of event we would have paid good money to attend but no financial contribution was required. It’s part of Theo’s commitment to giving back to small business which is quite astonishing really.”

Nick continues saying, “We are trying to get one of the slots for one of the breakouts at next years #SBSEvent because that audience is made up of exactly those we can support. One of the things we’re really conscious of is that for many small businesses they fell like they cannot access sales training either because it’s too costly or too complicated. They are a massively underserved group so part of our mission is to make high quality sales training accessible and affordable for the S’s of the SME community.

Simon agrees saying, “Yes it really is about what we can contribute to this vibrant community as much as what we can access. That said we’re very much looking at this community as being our ‘go to’ place for help, support and additional services and products we need for our businesses. We’re really looking forward to playing our part in feeding the small business community!”

With one award win under their belts already, what does the rest of the year look like for Nick, Simon and It’s All In The Mind? Says Nick, “It’s about continuing to work with our existing clients and exploring opportunities with new ones. We’re not out for world domination but what we do want is to continue providing good, robust support and advice which helps to build business via sales training and coaching.” Adds Simon, “I think it’s also about helping businesses recognise the opportunity that digital channels provide whilst reminding them that, ultimately in most customer journeys, a human being will interact with another human being and that’s often the weakness in the chain. We want to help businesses ‘do’ sales properly by encouraging them to think about the 3P’s – people, process, performance. We know from experience that so many businesses are leaving money on the table because they’re not aware of what more they can do to service that client. The result is they’re missing out on huge opportunities. We want to help them stop that and to start really prospering!”