We are delighted with the appointment of Steve Wozniak as an adjunct professor at the University of Technology, Sydney in December 2014. His passion and enthusiasm will bring an innovative perspective to the university.
Read MoreOften in conversations about sales and customers, people talk about hunters and farmers. For those of you not familiar with the idea, the idea is that sales people can be classified as either Hunters or farmers. Hunters are sales people who go out and make the kill: get the new order or get the new customer; farmers are those sales people who manage existing customers to gain more orders from them.
Read MoreIn most companies, when you ask an Account Manager to contact a C-Level Executive that they’ve never met at one of their accounts, they squirm...
Read MoreInteresting to see Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined UTS as an Adjunct Professor, the first appointment he has accepted at any university in the world. I can’t imagine that anyone would have predicted he would choose an Australian university. Most of us still think within the constraints of geography...
Read MoreWhen consulting on the toughest negotiations, we often see our client has missed the bus. Have you missed the bus: do you know the other parties’ problems and business priorities? ...
Read MoreThere are a lot of clichés around about success and luck. I often tell negotiators the better your negotiation plan, the better your questions and the better you frame value, the luckier you can be...
Read MoreToo many strategic plans become yearly reviews not dynamic plans for how to compete. As Michael Porter teaches, the objective of strategy is to win in the marketplace, delivering superior sustainable performance. His convincing argument requires ...
Read MoreIn the health industry (medical products and pharmaceutical) we see procurement continuing to put pressure on prices. Why? ...
Read MoreAs customers are becoming more sophisticated in their buying strategies, so sales and key account management teams need to be ...
Read MoreNegotiators build trust through listening
One of the great pleasures I have in working on live negotiations with senior global executives, is being able to watch great negotiators reach a successful outcome in tough circumstances. This is achieved through careful planning and a genuine connection with the other person or persons...
Read MoreMost development and change programs fail simply because they focus only on knowledge and facts and not on changing the mindsets of the individuals who will be affected by the change...
Read MoreFollowing on from our earlier blog – Why bother with Strategic Account Management (SAM)? - if you are considering implementing SAM in your business then this case study recently published in Velocity magazine will give you some practical help. A successful Strategic Account Management process needs transformational change in your business...
Read MoreLast week, Peter Browne from Gordian Business was presenting in Florida at the Strategic Account Management Association’s 50th Anniversary Conference. Peter was presenting a case study of a successful client who in a mature market grew profit ahead of their 5 year plans...
Read MoreIn business there is a constant tension between managing risk and capitalising on opportunities. SAM is a critical element for doing both...
Read MoreFast-paced negotiations need agility not speed.
I have just returned from projects in Malaysia and Singapore. The region is fast paced, chaotic, and full of opportunities and pitfalls. When dealing with these opportunities and pitfalls I am surprised with how agile successful people and companies are...
Read MoreNot long after publishing the last Blog, Flatlining: Senior managers does your presentation have a heartbeat? my phone rang. Jo Madden, HR Manager from one of our best customers was on the line. “In presentations, another way to look at adding emotion to logic, is to adding right-brain thinking to left-brain thinking”, said Jo. That was another interesting perspective on Flatlining...
Read MoreSenior managers often ask us to review critical presentations. These presentations may be critical because of who they are being presented to: directors, head office, best customers or important prospects. Or presentations may be critical because of what is being presented: winning the sales is budget-critical or convincing the audience is career-critical...
Read MoreThe business world today is changing and changing fast. Are you aware of all the changes that could affect the future of your business, both within your industry and beyond?
Read MoreOne of the key messages from each of those senior executives was that their business reality is changing and changing fast, that they are dealing with unprecedented competition in their markets...
Read MoreDid you know the unit price of a product or service may only account for about 10% of the total costs. To reduce the remaining 90% you need to ...
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