Topic

process

A collection of 186 issues

Innovation ≠ Invention

I was flicking through one of the Fast Company sites recently. I’m always interested in the sources of innovation, so clicked with eagerness to learn about the six questions [http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679231/the-6-questions-that-lead-to-new-innovations] that lead to new innovations. But what a missed opportunity. It was far too

Grading Opportunities

With the season of stuffing now past, I’ve read a slew of articles recently on the battles people have with over-indulgence. It is eye watering that one in four people in my homeland are currently considered obese. One such article quoted celebrity high-protein diet creator, Frenchman Pierre Dukan, as

Check Solution Belief

[http://www.inc.com/sales] Small business information for the entrepreneur. That’s how America’s Inc. pitches itself. They have a section devoted to sales [http://www.inc.com/sales]. Unfortunately, it leans towards the kind of vagueisms that the rest of its articles steadfastly avoid. Rather than hear

How To Frame A Conversation

The sales-savvy CEO of a £60m business shared with me this little nugget recently. He described a piece of consultancy he’d had a few years back which he liked. It offers a framework for speaking to a senior person (or C-level Exec, as today’s jargon goes). it gives

Passion Before Reason

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume] At the start of my second ever day of sales training, the old sage conducting affairs wrote up on a flip chart the following teaser; the decision to buy is ____% emotional and it was open forum to fill in the blank with a

Falling Out The Sky

You hear it on documentaries. Even Malcolm Gladwell referred to it in Outliers. When a plane crashes it is seldom through one single, isolated cause. It’s usually because several small things happen. When one wrong turn occurs, subsequent issues arise which can compound it. Combined, these cue tragedy. [http:

The Sales Platform

Many years ago I had the pleasure of meeting the ever-genial leader inside international transporter Keuhne & Nagel’s sales operation. I’d like to say Bob Ashkettle was very much old school. Strip out the Luddite connotation, mind. Big on relationship and big on new ideas, a popular and

Challenge Meetings

Here’s an interesting selling stage that a specialised business broker uses. As part of their pre-engagement work with a business owner, they always seem to find that the prospective vendor has what they term an “aspirational value” higher than the true worth of their firm. [http://www.lowmanbrown.com/

Heston's Recipe

[http://www.thefatduck.co.uk/Heston-Blumenthal/] As any foodie will tell you, uber-chef Heston Blumenthal [http://www.thefatduck.co.uk/Heston-Blumenthal/] is a man at the top of his game. Given the extraordinary amount of rain the early season cricket has suffered, it was a delight to hear him during

Tempo Management

This is evidently an inside phrase as used by football referees. It relates to the flow of the match. In England, referees are renowned and praised for an observed focus to “keep the game flowing”. When the on-pitch atmosphere gets a little spicy though, with tasty tackles and plenty of