Last updated on November 2, 2025
In this classic interview, recorded live at “The Arts Club” in London, ex-Telecity CEO Mike Tobin CBE joins Nat Schooler to share his hard-won sales and success secrets.
Mike, who helped grow Telecity from a $6M market cap to over $3 Billion, discusses resilience, sales metrics, and why his core philosophy is “Forget Strategy, Get Results.”
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Key Insights from This Episode
Here are some of the key lessons from the conversation with Mike Tobin.
On Sales: “I Will Succeed or I Will Learn”
Appreciating that failure is one step closer to success and understanding your sales metrics is key to avoiding disappointment. Mike recalls his sales training:
“Imagine you are a broom salesman and you go to 100 houses, 99 houses don’t want one. Statistically, one in a hundred wants to buy from you, so you should rejoice when people turn you down.”
This mindset shifts the goal: “I will succeed, or I am going to learn.” In life, there are not that many lessons to learn. Selling yourself and building trust is what it is all about.
On Career: Focus on Skill-Set, Not a Role
When thinking about your career, focusing on a specific skill-set is key as opposed to a specific role.
Mike mentioned his daughter wants to be an artist, and how he explained this to her: focus on your skill-set and not the career. Being an “artist” is very narrow, but focusing on being “artistic” will help you use your skill-set and open your opportunity portfolio.
“Communicate well, you must engage with people, sell confidence, people will trust you and will buy whatever you are telling them to buy. But it does break quicker than it is made, if you sell someone something they don’t need! People have confidence in you and will buy from you.”
On Focus: “What Can I Do Today?”
The rate of change is getting faster; having a single objective isn’t the most important thing. Every day we should wake up with the question, “What can I do today to move me forwards towards my goal?”
Perhaps having a single task isn’t the way forward, but an objective that you are aiming towards every day. Focus on:
- Tenacity
- Resilience
- Stamina
- Taking the knocks
- Engaging with people
On Funding: “Go to the Bank Before You Need Money”
People always say getting funding for a small business is tough, but Mike doesn’t agree.
It is a good idea to go to the bank before you need money. If you go to the bank and tell them what you do instead of going to ask them, you should engage with them when you don’t need to. This will build a relationship, which can help you grow.
On Strategy: “Forget Strategy, Get Results”
From his book “Forget Strategy Get Results,” Mike explains that while the title is tongue in cheek, the message is that strategy is less important than taking action.
No one writes 5- or 10-year business plans anymore. Focusing on delivering a vision is the way forward. If you are focusing on going on holiday, you don’t know what color your plane is and you don’t know which route the taxi is taking. If there is a detour, you take it and arrive at the airport anyway. Find a way through it.
On Big Data: “Collect Data From Everywhere”
Companies need to work out what they want to be famous for. They need to collect data from everywhere, not just in their own niche.
Producing data on clients means we need to do the work of inputting all the client’s touchpoints into a CRM system. You have to put the data into the system before you can analyze it. Do the work around the engagement, enrich the data, and then use it.
On Leadership: The “Maverick” Mindset
Mike shared a story about merging two businesses. To get the teams to bond, he took them to the ice hotel in the north pole. He deliberately made people who didn’t like each other share a bed.
In the middle of the night, when one needed the toilet, they had to shine a torch on the person they didn’t like to wake them up (you can’t go outside alone, or you’ll freeze). In the morning, they were best of friends.
He also organizes the CEO sleepout, raising over 150K per year for action for children. It’s about getting up just one more time and taking the knocks.
On Work/Life Balance: “It Doesn’t Exist”
Mike doesn’t believe in work-life balance. If you look at the great leaders like Nelson Mandela, they didn’t have a work-life balance. If you are so driven to success, you can’t compromise.
Having a phone on the table at dinner frees his mind from worrying about it, allowing him to be 100% present. Mike tells a story (hear it in the podcast) about how a partner who works with you to find a solution is the key to making sure your home life doesn’t suffer.
Get Mike’s book here: Live Love Work Prosper.
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