Focus - Reviewing
Responses and Proposals
When did you last have an independent review of what you are putting in your responses and proposals?
Think of a recent pitch or bid document you submitted. Was it really focused on the client? Was it clear what differentiated you from the competition (from the client's perspective)? Did the message you wanted the client to take away jump out at you? Did it have the LUV factor?
Better still why not take up our New Year special offer to review a response or proposal for you free of charge? In 12 years training in sales and business development this is probably the most valuable thing we do for our clients. Even the most experienced salespeople and bid managers can get bogged down in the process and miss the vital messages.
Email or give us a call on 0161 236 0724 if you'd like to take up the offer.
Seminars
"How Your Clients May View You" seminars:
Thurs 5 Feb, 7.30am, Liverpool
a Barnardo’s event
Thurs 5 Feb, 6.30pm, Manchester
a CIM event
If you’d like to run a seminar
in-house - either for your team or for a client event, get in touch
Go on, ask us. Anything you like. A question about something you’ve read in Sphere or some feedback on what you think of Sphere. We love hearing from you.
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Happy new year to you all. Hopefully some of you managed to avoid the UK lurgy and enjoy the Christmas holidays. In the first 2009 issue of Sphere here’s a thought on the subject of goals, targets and opportunities.
Enjoyable reading.
Jim Wigg
Business Relationship Coach
Ready…Aim…Fire
Christmas 08 was extremely enjoyable for the Wiggs. It was a family-oriented affair reconvened in the United Arab Emirates where my sister-in-law and her family have lived for the past three years. The whole Kay clan were present (8 adults, 3 kids), the weather was a perfect 24 degrees, the itinerary of sporting events exemplary (boules, pool, trivial pursuits, arguing) and a very relaxing time was had.
My brother-in-law, Dave, is a bit of a creative genius (he will be very embarrassed by these words). He’s a great bloke to be around - you only have to spend five minutes with him and his creativity, ingenuity and enthusiasm will rub off on you. He looks at things in a different way - what appears to be a bit of flotsam or jetsam to me he can turn into an amazing gadget or piece of furniture.
His favourite Christmas present was his new air rifle and he was like the proverbial kid with the new toy. He’s passionate about guns (antique, modern, anything) and knows a thing or two about them having been Army Service Pistol Champion in 93, 94, 95 and 97. Whilst giving me and Sandra (the wife) the introductory lecture on the component parts of the air rifle followed by a lesson at shooting targets he gave me a great insight.
You may be thinking “what’s this got to do with goals, targets and opportunities” – stick with me, here’s a bit of technical background and then the answer.
Attached to his new rifle is a modern sight called an Aimpoint sight. You simply look through the sight with both eyes open, aim the red laser dot on the target and fire. Sounds easy – and even looks easy when the expert’s demonstrating - but in reality it’s not that easy for the novice to actually hit the target, as we found out.
Aiming with the Aimpoint sight is very different to an old fashioned sight. When you look through the old fashioned sight you have to line up four things before you fire – your eye, the rear sight, the fore sight and the target. This means you have to close one eye and your whole focus is on the target – you have no peripheral vision and are very vulnerable to attack from an unexpected angle. You’re also unlikely to see another opportunity to hit a more important target.
The advantages then of the Aimpoint sight (red dot) are: it’s quicker and easier to take aim and you keep both eyes open. This could be vital as it means that you can focus on your target and be aware of an attempted attack on you from the side or see a better opportunity.
Applying this to business – goals and targets are a great thing because they give us motivation, purpose and direction. They keep us moving forward and give a sense of achievement when a goal or target is achieved. The danger is if we become over-focused on one thing then we can miss other (maybe more profitable or interesting) opportunities that emerge on the way from unexpected directions.
So the moral of the story is: set goals and targets, work towards them and keep both eyes wide open to watch out for other unexpected opportunities that may present themselves.
Happy hunting.
In keeping with our Ready...Aim...Fire theme, here’s a vintage clip from Blackadder Goes Forth where he’s meeting his firing squad (my favourite bit comes just after 1.10 seconds):
Watch it now!
...and now for something completely different.
We haven’t got kids so unfortunately can’t take part in the social game of Proud Parent Tennis, eg
Parent A: “Our little Johnny is the fastest kid on the block”. 15-love.
Parent B: “Our little Jimmy is the brainiest kid on the block”. 15-all.
But we have got nieces and nephews we can boast about and over xmas they excelled themselves. We were treated to two fantastic renditions:
1. Millie, aged 12, performed a solo recital of seven songs (including granny’s favourite “The Snowman”), one of which she also played the piano
2. but Jack, aged 16, burped the alphabet - yes, all 26 letters. Charming!
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