Meet Peri

Peri Shawn is the award-winning author of the book Sell More with Sales Coaching (Wiley). It was named one of the top 12 business books of that year.

Peri teaches and coaches VPs and their teams how to coach, increase sales and improve the client experience.

Peri is fascinated by the neuroscience behind clients’ buying decisions and team performance. She’s worked with 4 neuroscience grad students combing thru the research to discover what salespeople can do to make their sales conversations more profitable and leaders can do to make their conversations more productive and meaningful.

As part of her ongoing research, she has also developed proprietary tools that demonstrate how trust affects performance, management and the client experience. Her personal research includes scouring the fields of neuroscience, business, social science and education.

Peri served on the national board for Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (fondly referred to as CAPS) and was the 2010 CAPS National President. She served two terms on the Global Speakers Federation, the international governing association for professional speakers.

She was also an executive board member for the Association of Independent Consultants. She is also a member of the College of Teachers, the association of professional educators.

A former full-time academic, part of Peri’s duties included educating high school teachers how to use coaching with their students. She has also taught 200 professors how to use coaching in the university classroom. She was an action researcher receiving grants for the development of her results-proven model of teaching students. Peri was also nominated for the Prime Minister’s Award of Teaching Excellence.

Peri has also led programs for leaders at both the university (Ryerson University – Management Program) and college level (Seneca College – Management Training).

Here’s what some of Peri Shawn’s clients say about her:

“Peri is an extremely engaged, caring and passionate leadership partner and presenter. She had done multiple presentations for my management and leadership teams over the past many years. She’s well-prepared and truly professional with a results-oriented approach. I’ve learned so much from her both professionally and personally and have thoroughly enjoyed working with her. I highly recommend Peri to anyone looking to improve the skills of their leadership team.” Sue Stauth, Regional Vice President, RBC
“Peri was fabulous! We contracted her to do 3 interactive keynotes (2 on coaching and 1 on sales) for our 2-day business education event. Peri is thought leadership in action. Her content was thought-provoking, original and real. Of all the speakers, the participants asked for Peri to return for our next event. Her interactive keynotes were very engaging. I recommend Peri to anyone who is interested in providing real value to their participants.” Don Loney, Chief Learning Officer, Dragons’ Den Business School
“Peri recently delivered presentations to my group of CEOs and my group of fast track business leaders. It was obvious from the very beginning of her presentation that she had done her homework, that is to say, that she knew her audience. Both groups felt that her presentation style and ability to engage the group made the topic of interest to all the business disciplines in the audience. In addition, her content was original and thought-provoking. She was a dream to collaborate with.” Brian Foley, TEC Chair

Here’s Peri sharing her journey:

I started my research into what causes others to perform better over 20 years ago.  And much to my surprise, questions were the key (today I know it doesn’t matter whether it’s sales, leadership or sales coaching conversations – questions are key).  

It all began during my first career when I was teaching high school and I developed a model of learning that got real results – consistently.   It worked for students of all backgrounds – top students, average students, struggling students, students with learning challenges, students who were artistically inclined, students who were scientifically inclined, and students who had no idea what their strengths were.
 
The model of learning I developed got the attention of the government.  I became an action researcher. They gave me grants for my research. I taught other teachers how to use questions in their classrooms (this was before the term “coaching” existed).  Then I taught professors how to teach using questions.

And then, I was teaching teachers and educators at conferences.  

It was at one of these conferences when someone from the corporate world approached me and said, “You have to take this to corporate.”  At first, I said no because I saw myself as a career educator.
 
The corporate leader was persuasive.  I agreed to working with the sales team and the executive in that corporation for 1 day a week over 6 weeks during that summer.  At the end of the 6 weeks, they doubled their sales.
 
Thus, began my career as a corporate partner in sales and people development.
 
Since then, I’ve discovered the neuroscience behind why questions (and other things) help others buy more and perform better.  I’ve researched, tested, developed and designed materials to help salespeople sell more and leaders learn how to help their teams do better.  

Today, I’m an award-winning author (I’ve won 3 global book awards) of Sell More with Sales Coaching (Wiley), The Coaching Guide, The Sales Coaching Guide and The Sales Guide.   You may also have read some of my articles in such publications as LinkedIn Pulse, Entrepreneur, SellingPower, Salesforce, Financial Post, Sales and Marketing Management Magazine and Forbes.  

Today, I have the privilege (and responsibility) to teach and coach executives and their teams how to increase sales, present better and coach more effectively.