The recent European Athletics Championships have focused attention on the athletes who are likely to make their mark in the fast approaching London Olympic games of 2012. It also made us consider the similarities between business development activity and sport, similarities that go beyond the mere fact that we talk of winning instructions and winning races.

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One interpretation of this lyric is that examining matters from different angles doesn't guarantee certainty. We'd agree with the point. Absolute certainty, particularly in the fastmoving and complex environment that is a major sale or purchase, is unattainable.

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Many partners and business development directors might feel that this Paloma Faith hit song from last year accurately describes the approach their people take when submitting sales pipeline reports. But do sellers deliberately deceive the boss and say what they think he or she wants to hear? We don't think so.

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If we want to maximise our chances of sales success we need to pay attention to everything that can impact on the sale. We may have excellent client skills and enjoy sales calls with our clients but if we aren't paying attention to all the things outside of client BD meetings that ensure our continued success, we will never maximise the volume of business we can sell.

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Our new Huthwaite Virtual Training Campus provides the interactive experience of learning skills that is closest to 'the real thing', but minimises the financial and environmental costs. People don't need to leave their desks – wherever they are in the world.

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We're not trying to be Festive killjoys – what you get up to at the office Christmas party is your business! In any case, HuthwaiteFleming has always had a rather specialised definition of how people behave. Our focus on rigorously categorising verbal behaviour allowed us to develop our core research tool featured in this month's Insight - 'Behaviour Analysis'.

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Our recent research showed that too many organisations rely entirely on the skills of their negotiators. But the key to success lies in improving all aspects of negotiating. Individual skills are only one of ten critical areas that need to be addressed to produce optimum results.

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The season may be autumnal, but some commentators have detected the 'green shoots' of a new economic spring. Sooner or later recovery will indeed dawn and those organisations that have survived will emerge from their bunkers, blinking in the unfamiliar sunshine. If you're one of them, just how fit will you be to take advantage of the improving business climate?

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The title of this 2007 hit for Britney Spears neatly captures what many firms are asking of their fee earners in these difficult times. They are driving up activity; demanding more sales calls, more client visits, in the hope of producing more instructions. But what if the problem is effectiveness rather than efficiency?

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