Procurement departments are perceived as only being focused on reducing prices, so many suppliers will avoid procurement where they can. Instead focusing their energy on building relationships and providing value for business unit contacts. So, suppliers only deal with procurement when they are forced to.
But is this too big a risk, how much influence do procurement have in your industry and how quickly is this influence growing?
Read MoreColour is a powerful tool that can enhance any presentation. Research shows that colours can evoke an emotional response and make your message more memorable and persuasive. However the psychological impact of colour can also ruin your persuasive message, so think carefully about your choice of colour.
Read MoreThis blog follows on from previous blogs on organisations that are too good to change. In this link to a 13 minute TED video, Alison Sanders discusses the art and science of tracking trends. Apart from some fascinating trends, she discusses the importance of timing your action. Most organisations are too late because they do not prepare soon enough for the dramatic impact.
Read MoreOne of the world's experts on this topic is Gene Zelazny, Director of Visual Communications for McKinsey and Company. Just pause for a minute and consider that one of the world's top management consultancies pays someone to be the Director of Visual Communications. McKinsey specialised in fact-based analysis, so why pay attention to visual communication? Because, it takes more than logic to persuade an audience to act. The audience must understand, agree and remember. Visuals help people process the message faster and are more persuasive than words.
Read MoreWith fewer customers generating more of our revenue, we need to get better at managing our strategic relationships. Whether we call this Strategic Account Management or Key Account Management, we must get better at managing the customers we can’t afford to lose.
There is good news and bad news about managing these strategic relationships.
Read MoreOver the last couple of years, we have seen several organisations that are too good to change. But, how can organisations possibly be too good to change?
The answer is simple: they can deliver better profits this year doing almost exactly what they have always done.
Before you get too confident consider that a company's fall from grace can frequently be traced back to its time of greatest achievement!
Read MoreImagine the phone rings, a voice says we have kidnapped Jill and you need to pay $500,000 in 24 hours to get her back alive. The phone goes dead, what should you say next time the phone rings?
Before we answer the question, let’s consider ...
Read MoreWhen you are creating a presentation to a client or a workshop presentation - be sure to include some visuals to help make your message memorable and to increase your credibility.
More than 80% of what we learn is linked to what we see.
Read MoreOver the past 25 years I have enjoyed working with individuals and teams on live negotiations in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China.
Cultural differences in negotiations tend to occur because we overlook or ignore small differences that can be amplified into major issues.
Read MoreToday, thanks to my friend Ian Byrne of Pegras, I read that everyday its estimated humans are producing data equivalent to 10 million blu-ray discs. The world in general and business in particular is overflowing with data. Back in 1978, Samuel Coleridge Taylor wrote: water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Perhaps if he wrote this line today he might say: data, data everywhere and not a bit to persuade.
As the tsunami of data washes over us, we drown. While the tsunami of data is new, techniques for understanding data are old.
Read MoreOne of the most common problems people selling complain about is pressure to reduce their prices. There are several ways to prevent price pressure. In this blog we will discuss how to resist price pressure when negotiating.
Read MoreImagine you could start your business again. What if you could start with a blank piece of paper and design your business to take advantage of the internet?
Read MoreMany of us are time-poor, so we rely on social media to keep up to date. Recent research from Italy warns us this can be risky.
While the research was based on Facebook, the conclusions apply to all social media including more business-relevant social media like Twitter and LinkedIn. One questions tested was:
“When online do people encounter opposing views or do they create the equivalent of gated communities?”
The short answer is people create the equivalent of gated communities. People select and share content that supports their views and ignore the rest. This is hardly surprising because it has been known for many years.
Read MoreAs the year begins we start to plan. On my desk when I arrived back at work was a brochure. A brochure for the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) conferences.
SAM is helping some of the best performers in markets deliver faster growth and higher profits. At the same time SAM is building stronger strategic relationships which uncovers more sales opportunities and makes their competitive position even stronger.
Read MoreAt the end of a failed negotiation too many people blame bad karma for the result. Often they failed because they got to the negotiation table too quickly. The rush was to negotiate, where it should be to prepare.
Read MoreRecently we chaired a panel session at a conference run by the Medical Technology Association of Australia. The title of the session was Sustainable Healthcare, a panel discussion exploring the differing business needs of suppliers and hospitals. While it was about health, the problems with KPI’s apply to many businesses.
Read MoreOn my desk is a book called Catastrophe. The subtitle of the book: The story of Bernard L. Madoff, the man who swindled the world. In case you don't know who he is, he was a respected fund manager and former chairman of the NASDAQ who was arrested by the FBI for the "white-collar crime of the century": swindling investors out of US$50 billion.
So, how could so many professional investors and regulators be fooled, and for so long?
Read MoreClearly in most negotiations involving technology it is becoming harder for negotiators on the supply side to show the strategic value of the technology to organisations on the buying side.
Clarity is required not around the features and benefits, but around the value piece.
Read MoreRecently in China we delivered a three-day workshop in Strategic Account Management. Many things were different. China has 33 provinces or states. Account Managers can be responsible for one or more province? So what? The ten biggest provinces have populations between 54 million and 104 million. So an account manager can be responsible for a region with a population of between 2 and 4 times the population of Australia. How's that for a challenge in managing your time?
Read MoreThere is no doubt that Big Data is coming. No, let me correct that: Big Data is here.
But how much big data are we generating?
Read More
