Did Mckinsey & Company Kill Swissair?
All had been well until the early 1990s, when consultants McKinsey & Company recommended that the company embark on a “hunter” strategy of buying up poor-quality airlines around Europe, sorting them out with some high-quality Swiss management, and so step up into the big league of international airlines. In...
The ignorant customer and the unfortunate salesman?
It is easy to jump to the conclusion that potential customers that don’t get it must be “ignorants.” However, blaming our failing sales strategy on the customers may prevent us from making the changes that could overcome the resistance. Look in the mirror. That’s where all the answers are....
Slow down – it’s not your business
As a management consultant you have to take responsibility for the outcome of the process you are engaged to help improve. You cannot assume responsibility for the final results. That responsibility resides with the client’s executives, but you have to guarantee the quality of your own contributions....
Proposals Are the Last Thing You Do
I now realized the advantage I had in proposal writing. It was never about me. It was always about the customers. What does the customer need and how do we deliver that, mitigating the risk of failure? How can we summarize this in the briefest way possible?...
Predictable Prospecting: How to Radically Increase Your B2B Sales Pipeline
The book is a "must read" for all business development, marketing, sales and other revenue generation professionals in the information technology industry. ...
An Idea That Eventually Turned Out to Be Worth $1.45B
Improving something that already exists by making it easier to use, less expensive, faster to implement or adding some other convenience features is a viable way to start a business....
Curb Appeal – Why It Doesn’t Say Anything about the Interior
All companies have all kinds of issues all the time. The perfectly running company doesn't exist....
Key Considerations for the Direct vs. Indirect Go-to-Market Approach
In the video, I discuss the main difference between the direct and the indirect go-to-market approach and how you can make the indirect approach work in your favour. This is the second video in the Building Successful Partner Channels series of five videos that TBK Consult have made for the Microsoft Smart...
Channel Partner Recruitment from Early Stage to Late Stage
In the video, I discuss the process for channel partner recruitment from early stage to late stage....
“Revenue Generation” as a Service
Let’s just face the brutal facts: Marketing and sales are not the core competencies of most information technology companies and that is the primary explanation that they may make it out of the startup stage, but they very rarely make it to the tipping point and beyond....