How do we help you achieve success in your business?

Primarily through training and consultancy. And as interim managers, we can also help you to implement a program that is practical and effective.

We believe that training is part of a consultative process. One or two day workshops on their own won't do much for your organization. The new ideas and the motivation to implement these ideas tend to fizzle out once you or your staff return to the office and are distracted by everyday tasks and duties.

For training to be effective, you need to embark on an ongoing program to make it happen. If you are a medium to large organization, you should devise a business case and launch a project - assigning responsibilities or perhaps even employ a dedicated project manager.

As an SME, it may be more appropriate to engage an interim manager (perhaps one of our team or create a temporary managerial position) to be responsible for the project. We can act as occasional advisors to help keep the project on track.

So what do we do?

• Gary Orman helps you to think strategically and design a practical project plan. He then works with your project team, who report together in a brainstorming workshop, usually one day a month. Gary's main contribution is to keep the focus on your ultimate objectives by keeping your underlying mission in mind and by helping to discover creative solutions using creative thinking techniques and changing perspectives and proposing innovative alternatives.
  
  There may be some solutions that at first seem unrealistic. For instance, sometimes you don't even need to produce your own products, you can simply promote someone else's products and provide the same support and maintenance as before.Or you could form partnerships (sometimes even with a competitor) for handling non-profitable areas of your business - but which may be profitable to your partner.
  
  Gary's other main contribution is to keep the Big Picture in mind, and develop ways of recording and measuring progress towards the primary objectives.
  
  The tools include Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, ASIT as well as ISIS Accelerator (from Alan Atkisson) for measuring and monitoring highly complex sustainability issues.
   
• Alex Mavro helps you to focus on the holistic cycle of Corporate Responsibility. He can devise a strong business case for genuine care of staff, customers, the community and the environment on a long-term, sustainable basis.
  
  Longer-term thinking and planning may seem a little expensive at first, but if you look at it in terms of an investment in developing a new market (or product or sector in the market) and you budget for it appropriately then your business can benefit from a variety of spin-offs.
  
  One area that reaps remarkable cost savings is implementing Green Office principles. A small investment in a weather-sensitive thermostat control system and similar initiatives can halve your electricity costs. Via his extensive network, he can also advise you on cost-effective water treatment systems. If you manage a resort or hotel or condominium, this can virtually eliminate your water costs.
  
  But the area of greatest return lies in community development, in a fairly wide sense. Sponsoring a local school or community initiative is wonderful and you shouldn't stop doing this. However, building an ongoing community development program into your core business activities will reap far greater rewards, not only for the direct beneficiaries but also in terms of increased sales and profitability.
  
  A simple example. There isn't much to distinguish many competitors in the same field of business. Logistics, for instance. Most of the top companies are already reputable, have excellent customer service and quality control mechanisms in place - and all charge more or less the same price. They aren't competing on price anyway - there are not many ways one can dramatically reduce shipping and labor and administration costs.
  
  But if your company is active in developing the community, from involving expats (usually the wives) in voluntary activities, perhaps even maintaining a community network for expats and Thais to socialize, and use your existing logistical expertise to transport clothes and food and supplies and volunteers to various sites around Thailand (at marginal cost to yourselves, not to mention tax deductible)...
  
        then you will attract the lion's share of the market.
  
  If there isn't much of a choice between one company and another then most consumers will choose the one that's doing the most good, because it helps them to feel better about themselves. After all, it's not costing them anything extra. It's simply a choice of who to do business with.
  
  Alex can help you to navigate through the complexities of devising and implementing various programs for achieving Win/Win and long-term profitability for your business.
   
• Stephen Reynolds is a master sales trainer. When you engage with your customers, when all else is equal, it's the words you use to communicate with your customers in finding the service that most benefits him/her personally that will make the sale at the end of the day.
  
  Stephen trains everyone in your organization who talks to customers (including those who write advertising copy and emails) on how to sell - responsibly - to your audience.
  
  As we discuss in the conference, by delivering on your marketing promise, you nurture a trusting relationship that turns the occasional purchaser into a loyal (and evangelical) customer.
  
  Stephen will show your sales people who to help the customer achieve their goals and desires, in a way that is profitable in the long term to your business. He won't show you how to achieve the "quick sell", but he will train you and your staff to develop a lasting relationship with your customers.
  
  IBM learnt this simple lesson the hard way. Remember when they were trying so hard to push their over-priced and unreliable personal computers into the corporate workplace? Their reputation suffered and they lost market share and profitability.
  
  And then they decided to sell consultatively. IBM sales people sold their customers whatever IT systems they felt was most appropriate and beneficial to their clients, even if it was a competing product!
  
  And virtually overnight, IBM bounced back to become trusted Big Blue again.
  
  Let Stephen and the rest of our team help you to achieve a comparative level of success in your market.