wanna get lucky?

So at a recent Churchill Club function in our Innovation thinking stream, we ran fascinating event Luck. As part of the panel, we brought up a chap called Jason Bresnehan from Tasmania to talk. Jason is a corporate advisor who last year decided to start writing articles about becoming luckier.
Jason had [...]

Dont go to networking events, if you want to build a great network

The two weeks or so ago I took part in a panel session on Networking for CIOs. It was an interesting conversation although it pretty much centred around event attendance and using social networking tools like LinkedIn. At the end of the session, as I reflected on what  had come out of it, [...]

6 tips for “un-networking”

Imagine this scenario….

You go to a networking event, hovering at the edges of the crowd , desperately searching for someone you know, so you can chat and relax.
Succumbing to the pressure to “network” you give up and introduce yourself to a nearby stranger, who is also standing by themselves.
To your disappointment your realise that they [...]

Does Commission Only sales actually work?

Quite regularly I get offered  commission only sales work.  Rarely though its ever phrased that way.  Normally its a discussion about how exciting and lucrative the opportunity is with a statement at the end like “we don’t pay retainers though”.  Instead there is a discussion around “spotters fees”, “trailing revenues”, “your margin” or being “looked [...]

What great questions have you got?

My son, like many children, had his birthday around the cutoff date for entry into Primary school. So my wife and I had a choice “do we send him a little earlier, or a little late.  My position on the matter was “Give me one good reason we should hold him back”. [...]

Time & Materials V’s Fixed Price billing

Just before Xmas I had one of my coffee/mentoring sessions with a vibrant young Victorian entrepreneur and an interesting question came up around how she should invoice her services. Although not an expert in the area of pricing models (I generally recommend Jon Manning of Sans Prix for some hard core consulting), I [...]

What would a Sales 101 course look like?

Something that drives me mad is that in my humble opinion, our Universities are undermining the success of Australian business. I say this because from my observation the number one skill required for success in business, regardless of profession, is the ability to sell. To sell your product, yourself as the right candidate [...]

A Process Approach to Effectively Managing Sales & Marketing

After a long struggle, I now have real ‘cut-through’ in my sales and marketing processes. I’ll tell you the secret…[ Note I wrote this 18 months ago, but only just found it again]
When I looked at marketing texts, they tell me that marketing is about product, price, placement and promotion. Unfortunately, this hasn’t ever helped [...]

Networking Numbers

I was thinking the other day about two guys I knew that were really good at generating new business.  Earlier in the day I had dismissed both of them with the comment – “they are only selling into their existing networks”.  but at my afternoon coffee, I wondered whether I had thrown the “baby out [...]

Pitching for Government Agency IP

In 1999 a small web development business called Pyra Labs was founded by two people.  They were trying to build an online Project Management system called Pyra.  Times were tough and staff number fluctuated dramatically (at one stage, down to one person holding on to the vision).  Eventually some interest was shown in a side [...]