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Scary isn’t it? If you’re running a business, it seems that the road ahead is going to give you a bumpy ride. The election is now over, and we’ll soon have a new budget. The chances are that we’re in for some major public spending cuts that will ultimately affect the buying power and patterns of that vast majority of UK citizens and businesses. Some sectors have already seen a significant reduction in sales. Just compare the high-street retail sector now to what it was in 2008. Gone are Woolworths, Borders, Zavvi, Threshers,
Sales – creating successful sales habits for the New Economy.
sgilroy, Mar 25, 2010
Banner, UncategorizedThere are many things that are changing or have renewed focus in this new environment we call ‘The New Economy’. Sales performance is always a concern and area of focus for businesses. The recession has caused businesses to focus even more on this area, but more focus alone is not the answer. The following is a blog posting by Lars Tewes (pronounced ‘Tavis’). Lars is a true sales leader, and delivers very sound advice and guidance to businesses on how to put in place reliable sales processes and behaviours that drive true sales performance. So I post the article below because it contains some very simple but key messages. The business world has truly changed. We need to modify our sales behaviours to reflect The New Economy. The following article gives us some great advice ... “P
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We’ve all seen the headlines. In the current economy, many businesses have tried unsuccessfully to raise finance. Their experiences have varied with lots of “flat no”, some “protracted maybe” and very few “definite yes” responses from lenders. The financing prospect for many businesses looks very bleak:
- Banks continue to strengthen their balance sheets. Lending is available, but is much tougher to achieve with higher rates, more security needed and more ‘setup’ or ‘consultancy’ fees than ever before.
- Government l
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Greetings! Like many business leaders, I have enjoyed a business career that spans several businesses, both in the UK and internationally. My current role is Chief Executive at Vistage International (UK) – the world’s leading Chief Executive organisation. The past two-three years have been the most challenging that many of us have ever seen. Fundamentals shifts are taking place within our economy and within the business models that we practice. My background and interests are in two areas: - What are the business models, opportunities and challenges that we now face, and how are they different? - Aside from the economic challenges we now face, what further changes will the use of technology bring about, and what will that
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Prospering in the New Business Landscape. At Vistage, our role is to make our members better leaders. Below you will find a white paper that we’ve produced that suggest what business leaders should be focused on to succeed in The New Economy. I hope that you will find it valuable in planning the future for your business. I welcome your thoughts, comments and suggestions.
You may have seen the revelation earlier this week by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG, in their latest Report on Jobs, that the rise in permanent placements in the UK during December was the highest for nearly two-and-a-half years. The report also said that December was the fifth successive month in which hiring of permanent employees grew and that temporary staff placements also rose during the period, to a 30-month high. So have we really turned the corner, and is UK PLC now into hiring mode again? I don’t think so. I’m as happy as anyone at the good news, but I think it’s impo
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Political Wannabes Can Take a Leaf Out of Business Leaders’ Book
sgilroy, Feb 26, 2010
UncategorizedThe political events of this week – widely interpreted by experts as the unofficial start of the General Election campaign – have got me thinking about the whole subject of leadership. This is because great generals, whether in business or politics, undoubtedly possess many of the same qualities. I guess that politicians have the added challenge of playing out their roles fully exposed to public view, which let’s be honest, must be a significant challenge in itself. And as the election campaign seems to have started really early, then we’ll all have ample opportunity to review the performance of our prospective new political leaders. As part of what we at Vistage call the New Economy, we’ve already identified a series of characteristics that brilliant busine
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We are all too familiar with the steep rise in unemployment over the last 18 months and, without doubt, many of our members have had to shed some staff to survive. However, it does beg the question of how SMEs are going to respond as recovery slowly ensues – when staff are at lower levels, the slightest of green shoots may be enough to strain the capacity of some businesses. Those who did make deep cuts in their workforce early in the recession may now need to re-staff, but with the peaks and troughs of the W-shaped recovery Vistage UK’s top speaker and leading economist Roger Martin-Fagg predicted, it seems many may do so carefully – perhaps usin
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Old joke may be unfair, but economists do differ…so what’s your view?
sgilroy, Feb 26, 2010
UncategorizedRemember that old joke about laying all the economists in the world end-to-end and them still not reaching a conclusion? Very unfair, of course. The fact that we, at Vistage UK, believe in economic forecasting is easy to see – just look at the regular predictions we issue, prepared by Roger Martin-Fagg, one of the best practitioners around. I was reminded of that old insult, however, when I read reports this week that the Ernst & Young Item Club believes the UK economy is already out of
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Read my article in Further Education Today to question whether the education sector has adapted to the changing needs of employers and potential students and if our education system is fit for purpose in the New Economy.
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