Many companies don't struggle with solving problems, but they do struggle with what is the problem. Across 17 countries, Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg surveyed 106 C-suite executives from 91 private and public sector companies. 85% of executives said their companies were bad at diagnosing problems and 87% agreed this incurred significant costs. Most managers tend to leap straight into searching for solutions, without checking they deeply understand the problem.
Read MoreThere are two main risk-taking styles on the continuum. It is important to know your basic style, as it has a great impact on your willingness to take risks during a negotiation. But, regardless of your personal style, you will move along the continuum and back again during a negotiation.
Read MoreIt is surprisingly difficult to predict how your account team will adapt to a more strategic way of managing their accounts, and the more influential role they will play in the company. Until your SAM program is underway, you won't know who will make the transition.
Read MoreIf there is anything that will destroy your negotiation, even before you start, it will be your belief that the other side is far stronger, wiser, bigger, has better products, or whatever.
Read MoreYou have a mountain of data but how can you use it to persuade and provide you with a competitive edge?
Read MoreThe B2B world is changing, and the skills and capabilities of staff need to change to match this. Is your company prepared? Have you started to build your capabilities for an unsure and volatile future? Creativity, critical thinking and tech capability are becoming essential skills for leaders.
Read MoreOver the last five years, we have all watched Amazon dominate book sales and many retail book stores have closed unable to compete. So, when I heard Amazon were opening bookstores, I was baffled. When Amazon have destroyed bookstores, why would they start to open bookstores?
On a recent visit to New York I was curious to see just what an Amazon bookstore looked like. See for yourself:
Read MoreImagine you have a meeting with seven senior managers. The task of the meeting is to choose four customers to manage differently for the next 24 months. How long will it take to decide which four customers? Are you talking hours, or maybe days?
Read MoreWhether you are negotiating on the sell-side with your best accounts or negotiating with key and strategic suppliers, the leadership team needs to be clear on how suppliers can create value that flows through to your best accounts.
Read MoreIt is one thing to have a problem to solve; it is another to use this as a means of improving and strengthening your business, to make it your competitive advantage. When you have a problem to solve and need to establish a project team, it's an opportunity to develop internal relationships and remove inter-departmental barriers.
Read MoreA story or metaphor is a persuasive use of words because stories persuade with emotion.
Some of the best persuaders: sales people, negotiators, psychiatrists, counselors and consultants persuade with stories and metaphors.
Read MoreThe issue of creativity will determine whether or not your company will survive or become a statistic. Trying to create an environment that is conducive to creativity, both for yourself and your teams will ultimately become a top priority for your company. How can your team become more creative?
Read MoreMany companies work in silos, geographically or by business units. Implementing a company-wide initiative like Strategic Account Management (SAM) poses many challenges, particularly around the main resource - staff.
So, for leaders of companies with these siloed structures getting the whole company aligned around strategic customers, and committing time, money and people can be a major challenge.
Read MoreMany managers say their meetings don't work, and get frustrated with wasting hours trying to solve problems and choose solutions, without generating any fresh ideas.
What if there was a process that could you help you with this?
Read MoreTo make a decision in a negotiation you need to understand what will satisfy you and what you need to do to satisfy the needs and interests of the other party. Do they value the process of expanding the pie or are they fixed on a single outcome?
Read MoreDoes this sound familiar?
This morning, three hours discussing the poor results from the employee survey and getting nowhere. We tried to agree some actions to improve satisfaction. But we went round and round in circles. Helen from HR wanted to find ways to get staff more involved. Mike in Manufacturing thought that was a waste of time and we should just rewrite role descriptions so everyone was clear what they should do. Sam from Sales thought getting more involvement from staff and new role descriptions were both a waste of time and that we needed to make our salaries more competitive in the marketplace. We spent 9 minutes just arguing why each of the three solutions were wrong.
No wonder many managers say their meetings don't work. So, what can you do?
Read MoreWhen Persuading for Results, involving your audience throughout your presentation helps maintain their attention. Indeed, self-discovery and practical application is often the most effective way of learning and the most effective way of persuading. There are many ways to involve people, depending on the size of your audience. You may like to give people an opportunity to test your product, or to have them work with your ideas actively. Make sure the activity you use is linked back to your message. The activity should reinforce your message, not distract from it.
Read the full blog for some ideas on involving your audience.
Read MoreCompanies are increasingly finding that their traditional value proposition is falling short. The strength of their brand has less value in the buying process, and competition is intensifying from well-resource established players and emerging niche players. Pressure to reduce prices is now the norm. So, margins are deteriorating and profits are shrinking.
How can you stop this?
Read MoreHas innovation become a cliché? What does it really mean? People have many different ideas and here are just two:
In a disruptive and volatile B2B world, senior decision makers need to improve results much faster than ever. But growing revenue and profits in a sustainable way and creating more value for customers is becoming harder. So, everyone is searching for some innovation to help them overcome their increasing challenges.
Read MoreMost global B2B companies have realised they need to manage their major customers - who represent most of their future revenue and profit - differently to the rest of their customers. Why? Well if you want to create opportunities to grow with your major customers, and earn the right to keep doing business with them, you need to offer much more than the average supplier. How can you do this?
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