Niraj Kapur

Director of Sales and Marketing UK

📢 LinkedIn™️ and Sales Trainer that gets you Results 🏆 LinkedIn Top Voice 💪 Professional Speaker 🧠 1:1 Coach 💯TEDx speaker 📚 Author Everybody Works In Sales

The biggest challenges in sales right now are indecision, ghosting, overcoming objections, AI overwhelm, pressure from above and hitting target. 

Then you often have to deal with posting on LinkedIn and trying to sell in the DMs which most people get wrong.

If you are facing any of these challenges, I can help. Don’t expect several hours of PowerPoint, that’s not good enough. 

My training is interactive. You will learn the cadences, sequences, habits and proven modern-day methods to achieve more sales.

You’ll overcome fears through roleplays. You will get continued personal development through my accountability, learning documents and checklists.

Having spent 23 years in the corporate world, I understand the frustrations and challenges a sales team endure on a daily basis. 

I also understand, having been a selling manager, how to train a team to hit target and make sure they keep hitting target.

As an official LinkedIn Top Voice and someone who regularly visits different LinkedIn HQs, you will learn how to use LinkedIn effectively for branding building and growth.

140 businesses like Salesforce, Exertis, Barclays, and NBM Group have given me LinkedIn recommendations, sharing the positive experiences they had working with me. 

Salesforce awarded me a Top Sales Influencer to follow 2021-2025.

LinkedIn awarded me an official Top Voice in Sales badge from Nov 2021 - Jan 2026.

In my free time, I'm proud to:

🏅 support local charities like Autism NI, Foodstock, Lighthouse and Hope 4

🥁 work as an influencer for major brands like Salesforce, ZoomInfo, WINN.AI, Noota.io and Hubspot.

If you want to increase sales, grow on LinkedIn - and are looking for someone to take you and your team to the next level, DM me, email: niraj@everybodyworksinsales.com or visit www.everybodyworksinsales.com

Managing Director

I've delivered personalised, modern-day highly relevant sales training,  LinkedIn training, speeches and 1:1 coaching that gets RESULTS for your business. What I help you with includes:

- Prospecting (what to say to clients you don't know and how to listen)
- LinkedIn Training (how to engage with clients, build your brand and generate more leads and sales)
- Overcoming Objections (what are the biggest challenges you face and how to overcome them)
- Turning around negative mindsets (plays a massive part in your success or failure)
- Holding you accountable (pushing you hard to get the results you need)
- Effective Sales Email Writing (over 90% of businesses can't write sales emails)
- Getting the delegates at your event to be inspired and take action

We all work in sales. Most people don't like selling, don't want to sell or don't know how to sell. Now you have a solution.

The more you learn, the more you earn.

To get results for your business:  email niraj@everybodyworksinsales.com or DM me 

www.everybodyworksinsales.com

Corina Goetz 💫

Middle East Strategist | Keynote Speaker | Simple steps how to decode the Middle East | Consulting | Training and Online Resources at star-cat.co.uk |

Most Western businesses do not fail in the Gulf because of their product.
They fail because they misunderstand the culture, the moment, and the way trust is built.

I explain how business and culture actually work across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait—beyond outdated assumptions and surface-level advice.

Doing business in the Gulf today is not about flying in with a polished pitch or translated materials.
It is about understanding:
- how decisions are really made
- why relationships come before transactions
and how national pride, ambition, and context shape every interaction

When those things are missed, deals quietly stall.
When they are understood, doors open.

I work with Western leaders and teams who want to operate in the Gulf with confidence, credibility, and cultural fluency—not guesswork.

What I help with:

- Navigating business and social etiquette without second-guessing
- Building trust with senior stakeholders
- Adapting communication and strategy to how the region actually works
- Turning insight into long-term presence, not short-term wins

What clients say
“For years we dabbled in the GCC. Now we have a focused, confident team that knows how to build real relationships—and we are seeing the impact in our pipeline.”

“We struggled to connect before. Shifting our mindset and communication changed everything.”

Ways I work with teams
- VIP strategy days
- Cultural and commercial advisory (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman)
- Workshops and group training on Gulf business culture

Speaking on:
- Doing business in the Gulf as a Westerner
- Saudi cultural insights
- Women, entrepreneurship, and influence in the Middle East

Resources and tools:
👉 www.star-cat.co.uk/shop

If you want a simple place to start, I share practical insights in my free newsletter:
👉 https://star-cat.uk/newsletter-page-8920

If this resonates, you can reach me via DM or email: support@star-cat.co.uk

Founder

Star-CaT helps companies and professionals to succeed in the Gulf region. We have been trusted advisors to many HNW clients from the Gulf and we now teach others how to build these relationships.
Our Services include:
🌙 Training 
🌙 Advisory
🌙 Middle East Membership for ongoing support (for companies and individuals) 
🌙 Speaking
🌙 Online Resources
www.star-cat.co.uk

I landed in Saudi Arabia with LinkedIn connections as my only local contacts.
They did not just show up 
— 
they exceeded every expectation.

Before I went this is what everyone told me:

🚫 “It is not safe.”
🚫 “You will not have rights.”
🚫 “You cannot travel alone.”
🚫 “You will not enjoy it.”

And yet my experience in Saudi Arabia has looked very different.

On several trips, I travelled with local guides I had only ever met on LinkedIn before landing.
No prior introductions.
No long history.

If you want to see Taif, Jeddah or Al Ula - you call Khalid Alsherbi
If you want to experience Aseer you call Ibrahim Fathy

And every single time?
This trips lit me up because of the hospitality. (and I send them all my friends!)

Why?

They are:
✅ proud of their country and genuinely excited to show it.
💚 super friendly — the kind of warmth you cannot fake.
✅ incredibly knowledgeable about history, culture, and the transformation happening under Vision 2030.
💚 protective in the most respectful way — making sure I was comfortable, safe, and seeing the best of their cities.

I travelled alone.
As a woman. 
Let that sink in. 

I explored.
I had long conversations about family, ambition, faith, and the future of the region.
And I felt safe.

These photos were taken in Taif during Rose season (yes rose season! 🌸 )

Saudi does not reveal itself to people who arrive with assumptions.

It opens up to those who arrive with curiosity — and to those willing to build real relationships (yes, starting on LinkedIn).

If you want the real stories, practical tips, cultural nuance, and behind-the-scenes insights from my Saudi trips…

Do not miss the next edition of my newsletter ⬇
https://lnkd.in/eUHptpb9

Corina Goetz

Explaining how Business and Culture actually work across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait.

The Gulf is not just a “market” to me.

It is people.
It is homes I have been welcomed into.
It is clients who became friends.
It is conversations over coffee and dates at sunset.

Seeing what is happening right now breaks my heart.

To everyone in the region — I am thinking of you.

May you be protected.
May your families be safe.
May calm return quickly.

Some moments are bigger than business.
This is one of them.
💔

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When headlines explode, the real story happens in private messages.

The last 48 hours have felt heavy.

Before forming opinions, before analysing anything, I reached out to friends and clients across the Gulf.

The responses varied.

Some were shocked.
Some could not sleep.
Some were very calm.

And that contrast struck me.

Because the Gulf is often spoken about as one entity.

It is not.
It is individuals. 
Families. 
Different temperaments. 
Different emotional responses. 
Different ways of processing uncertainty.

What was consistent, though, was something else entirely:
People checking in on each other.

“Are you safe?”
“Are you home?”
“Let me know if you need anything.”

No strategy.
No positioning.

Just humanity.

Whatever your view. 
Whatever your politics. 
Whatever your perspective.
Whatever your religion.

I simply hope everyone stays protected and safe.

In moments like this, I am reminded why I believe so deeply in what I do.

Relationships matter more than headlines.
Always. 💔 🙏

I did not expect this to be what unsettled me most this week.

Watching parts of the UK internet turn on people living in the Middle East.

"They left for tax reasons." 
"They made their choice." 
"They are getting what they deserve."

I had to put my phone down.

Because I know these people. 

I have worked alongside them, shared meals with them, watched them build companies, raise children, and move between worlds in ways that most people never will.

They are human beings — in a region that right now feels deeply uncertain — and the response from some back home has been smugness.

That is worth sitting with.

You can have views on tax policy. 
You can debate where people choose to live and why. 

That is a legitimate conversation.

But implying that civilians forfeit the right to safety because of a postcode?

That is not political commentary. 
That is dehumanisation dressed up as one.

Many of the people I know in the Gulf still pay UK tax. 
Many support families back home. 
Many were sent there by British companies. 
Many have been there for decades — long before any of this unfolded.

And even if none of that were true —
Safety is not something you earn by living in the right country.

Compassion is not a reward for the financially conventional.

One of the things that working across the Gulf has given me is a very clear sense of how connected this world actually is. 

How many British lives, jobs, and industries are woven into that region. 
How many families sit across both.

The comment section does not reflect that reality.

When a region is in turmoil, the only appropriate response — whatever your politics, whatever your economic views — is to wish people safe.

That should not be a controversial position.

For years, I have been writing about the Gulf. 
This week, I saw the impact in real life.

At several events, people I had only met on LinkedIn walked up to me and said:
“You have completely changed how I see Saudi.”
“I did not understand the Gulf until I started reading your posts.”
“You explain it in a way that finally makes sense.”

And what struck me most was not the compliment.

It was the pattern.

Different industries.
Different rooms.
Different places.

Same message.

For years, there has been a gap between how the West talks about the Gulf… and how the Gulf actually operates.

One side moves fast, loud, headline-driven.

The other moves relational, strategic, long-term.

Most misunderstandings — and missed opportunities — live in that gap.

If my writing, keynotes, and conversations are helping close that gap even slightly…

Then I am doing what I wanted to do.

Not to defend.
Not to persuade.
But to translate.

To help Western leaders approach the region with intelligence instead of assumption.

To help Gulf partners feel understood rather than explained.

This week reminded me of something powerful:
When you consistently show up with nuance, clarity, and respect — people notice.

Bridges are not built in one post.

They are built in hundreds of small, steady ones.

And from the conversations I had this week…
The bridge is being used.

And that makes me so happy.

Here are some resources that may help you:
Middle East Insights: https://lnkd.in/eUHptpb9
Middle East Sunday Pages: https://lnkd.in/euwrazAC
Gulf Etiquette Success Playbook: https://lnkd.in/e5p3RrRE

The Gulf is not expensive.
Failed Expat assignments are.

Companies regularly spend £200,000–£300,000 relocating a Senior Executive to the Gulf.

- Housing packages.
- International school fees.
- Flights.
- Allowances.
- Relocation support.
Sometimes much more.

And then something happens that nobody planned for.

Within 6–12 months, the assignment starts to struggle.

👎🏻 Relationships stall.
👎🏻  Meetings feel confusing.
👎🏻  Decisions move in ways the Executive does not understand.

Not because they are not talented.

But because no one prepared them for the cultural operating system of the region.

Different signals.
Different trust dynamics.
Different ways influence actually works.

This means your brilliant Executive, you just hired, arrives with the right CV, the right experience and the right mandate…
…and 
spends their first year trying to decode the room.

That first year is often the most expensive year of the entire expansion.

I see this pattern again and again with Western companies entering the Gulf.

Which is exactly why many organisations now bring me in before their Executives land.

Because compared to the cost of a failed expat assignment, preparation is a minor cost.

If that is happening in your company - we should talk.

Now.

I am going to say something most Western commentators will not.

What we have seen this week in the Gulf has been a Masterclass in leadership under pressure.

Because crisis reveals competence.

While Western timelines spiralled into outrage, commentary and hot takes… the response on the ground was different.

👌 Hotels funded for stranded tourists.
👌 Rapid coordination.
👌 Clear communication.
👌 Leaders physically visible in public spaces.

Not hidden.
Not dramatic.
Present.

Having coffee in public. 
Being seen. 
Calm.

That is not accidental symbolism.

That is strategic reassurance.

And here is the part no one wants to say out loud:
There is a reason Instagram is full of thousands of reels asking people in the Gulf:
“Don’t you feel unsafe?”
And 
the replies are almost identical:
“No. Because we know who protects us.”

You can roll your eyes at that if you want.
or 
you can study it.

Because trust like that is not built in a press conference.

It is built over years of visible authority, decisive action and social contracts that people believe in.

In the West, leadership often gets louder during chaos.
In the Gulf, leadership gets steadier.

Less commentary.
More containment.
Less panic.
More presence.

You do not have to agree with every policy.
You do not have to align politically.
But 
if you care about leadership as a discipline — you recognise when it is executed well.

And sometimes the most uncomfortable truth for Western observers is this:
There are regions that handle crisis with more composure than we expect.

Underestimation is a dangerous habit.

And the Gulf has a long memory.

An Iftar Invitation Is Never “Just Dinner.”

If you work with the Gulf, read that again.

And one of the biggest mistakes Western professionals make is assuming an Iftar invitation is a networking opportunity.

It is not.
It is a trust moment.

When someone invites you to break the fast with them, they are not just offering food.

They are offering proximity.

To their rhythm.
To their values.
And often to their family.

And in the Gulf, proximity is currency.

I have seen Executives:
– Confirm and then cancel because “something came up.”
– Arrive late.
– Rush into business talk.
– Follow up the next morning with a proposal attachment.

None of these are dramatic mistakes.

But they are quietly remembered.

Ramadan softens hierarchy.

CEOs sit beside children.
Royals sit beside founders.
Family members are present.

Your emotional intelligence becomes more visible than your job title.

Are you patient?
Are you observant?
Do you read the room?
Do you understand that silence is part of the rhythm?

Iftar is not about pushing things forward.

It is about showing who you are when the formal structure drops away.

Today's Middle East Sunday Pages talk exactly about this: 
https://lnkd.in/euwrazAC

Because in the Gulf, it is never “just dinner.”

It is taking you to the next level of the relationship. (if you do it right)

When the world feels loud, I look at the signal — not the noise.

Yes, the headlines are intense.
Yes, emotions are high.

But here is the thing: 
The region does not stop.

It adapts.
It recalibrates.
It builds.

The Gulf has always been long-term in its thinking.
And in moments like this, long-term thinking matters.

This month's Middle East Insights are not about drama.

It is about perspective.
It is about momentum.
It is about understanding what is quietly moving beneath the surface.

Because if you work with the region — or want to — you need signal clarity.
Not social media panic.

If you would like more Gulf updates, you can subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/e9DW3zd2

Stay steady.
Stay informed.
Stay relational.

The Gulf always rewards those who understand it.

In Today's Issue for you... Star-CaT Updates and News Dates you need News from the Gulf Stats You Should Know To Become More Skilled in the Gulf In 2 

Open article: Your Gulf Intelligence Brief — March Edition by Corina Goetz • 4 min read

Your Gulf Intelligence Brief — March Edition

Everyone suddenly has an opinion about the Gulf again. 
Few people actually spoke to anyone there.

Over the last few days I reached out to friends and clients across the region.
🇸🇦 Riyadh.
🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi, Dubai.
🇶🇦 Doha.
🇰🇼 Kuwait City.
🇴🇲 Muscat.
🇧🇭 Manama.

Not to discuss politics.

Just to ask a simple question:
“Are you okay?”

And the responses were fascinating.

What struck me again was something I see often when the region appears in Western headlines.

The distance between the narrative and the reality.

In the West the conversation quickly becomes dramatic.
Speculation.
Predictions.
Strong opinions from people thousands of miles away.

But the conversations inside the region felt very different.

More grounded.
More personal.
More focused on people than politics.

And something else became very clear:
It means a lot when you reach out.

Those small gestures travel a long way in the Gulf.

Because relationships matter here.

More than headlines.
More than narratives.

So I decided to dedictae this week's Middle East Sunday Pages to everyone in the Gulf. 

Because this week they inspired me with:
🫶🏻 their courage
🫶🏻 their optimism
🫶🏻 their foresight

You can read it here:
https://lnkd.in/euwrazAC

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Niraj Kapur

Corina Goetz 💫

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The Battle

Niraj Kapur

Corina Goetz 💫

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Likes

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