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New Results Need New Behaviours
Why what got you here won’t get you there! Are any of these scenarios familiar to you? You’ve been recently promoted. You’re in the same job you were in a year ago, but the scope is a lot bigger today than it was then. You’re working in an organization where the performance bar has been raised dramatically. You’re operating in a constantly changing competitive environment. I expect you are in a position where you could easily pick two, three or
Price and Value
Why price and value must co-exist… The most important thing in pricing is value. This is not the value as you determine it, or but rather the value as perceived by the customer. The price a customer is willing to pay, and therefore the price you can achieve, is always a reflection of the perceived value of the product or service in the customer’s eyes. There is a relationship between price and value which the Romans understood; in Latin the
Management & Leadership
A business needs to have both effective managers and effective leaders; it cannot operate without one of them. Leadership and management are different roles, not different people. As such, all leaders are managers but not all managers are leaders. Let me explain further. There are many in management positions – those who control or administer part of the business who have a title such as “manager”, or “supervisor” or “director” – who have the necessary management skills (for example, being
Network Effects & the Collaboration Curve
Building a stronger business through network effects & collaboration Network effects are becoming increasingly important for businesses; especially those involved in technology, as by understanding them you can not only build better products but also a better business. A network effect occurs when a product or service becomes more valuable to its users as more people use it. For example, when people first started using telephones they had little value as there were very few other people who you could
Competitive Advantage & Cumulative Advantage
How to make it easier to retain and attract customers In the world of accelerating change and increasing competition, how can you keep existing customers, and attract new ones? Clearly, your value proposition needs to be relevant and superior compared to those of your competitors or potential substitute offerings. However, just because your value proposition has attracted customers, it does not mean it will continue to do so in a changing world. You need to help your customers to continue
Land Mines vs. Gold Mines
How to ask customers for feedback to build better relationships and drive sales Too often businesses adopt pessimistic mindsets when using customer surveys, with the surveys being focused on problems and what has gone wrong – your “land mines”. This is so the business can identify what has gone wrong, focus on what can be improved (or avoided), and allow customers to vent. However, this does not help businesses to build a long-term, positive relationship with customers as it focuses
Improving Your Leadership Skills
…the one thing to create a multiplier effect for your leadership skills There are a broad number of leadership skills that you are expected to have and to develop. However, this takes time and effort and you cannot develop these skills in a classroom. You have to develop them in real-time and quickly. The “key leadership skills” that are commonly cited include: inspiring and motivating others, problem-solving, delivering results, good communication, driving innovation and strategy, providing direction and goals, developing
Feeling is a Form of Thinking
Emotions can make you a better negotiator… Normally when you think of making decisions, negotiating or dealing with others you do so on the assumption that you are a rational person, and that the other person is a rational person. In short, logic makes you think, and thinking makes you act. Think of how you negotiate. In the book, Getting to Yes, Fisher and Ury, outline four key steps to take when negotiating: Separate the person - the emotion -
Developing a Personal Strategic SWOT Analysis
How to create strategies to build the You of the future. We are all familiar with a SWOT Analysis being used on our business. SWOT is an acronym for identifying your company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. But did you know you can use it on yourself? And that you can use it to generate strategies to help you develop yourself? There are several steps involved: 1. Identify your Key Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats – have no more than 5