Knowledge Base
Podcast episode 3: rapid growth based on high trust
“ “In a bad moment, trust people more, don’t trust them less…In a tough moment, it’s a bit like being a parent..Your team needs to know that you’re there, you support them and you believe in them" ” Nick Hale, CEO, ONP GroupBy Stuart Maister, Joint MD, Mutual Value...
Podcast episode 1: the leader who built trust
“I characterised the past as Model A. Adversarial relationships, short term power based relationships with stakeholders...I said we'll create a new model, Model B...which will mean a shared destiny relationships with all our stakeholders...we're going to try and keep...
Our new book: Choose Trust
“The central message of this book is that the most professional and effective way to behave at work is to trust and be trustworthy. Critically, this is the way to build more valuable relationships. The difference at work is that you need to develop this habit...
“Influence is a team sport”. An interview with Dan Connors.
Imagine applying military techniques to strategic account development. It makes sense – so much of a military campaign is the winning of hearts and minds and using information as a tool of warfare. That's what I discussed with Dan Connors of the Applied Influence...
The 1944 Saboteur’s Handbook may horrify you if you work for a large organisation
“Advocate "caution." Be unreasonable and urge your fellow-conferees to be "reason- able" and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.” The Simple Sabotage Field Manual 1944By Stuart Maister and Richard Holm, Chair of the Thought...
The myth of data and why CRM is never the answer
CRM is not the answer. But it raises plenty of questions - particularly this one: what will change as a result of this new information? By Kevin Vaughan-Smith and Stuart Maister, Joint MDs, Mutual Value In recent times more and more professional services...
How often have you heard from Clients that you were brilliant, but in a close fought contest you just came second and you lost on price?
In this video Kevin explores the reality behind Clients selection criteria, and why this should make us think differently about how we choose to behave.
They are buying my expertise aren’t they? In a world where technical ability and expertise can be found so easily on the web and from software, the thing that will be most valuable to a Client is our ability to build broad understanding of their business and the value they are trying to create. Our focus has to switch to building these kind of relationships.
Transformation is the wrong word to use to drive change. We believe the focus should be on PEP – Permanent Evolution at Pace. Here’s 2 minutes on why that’s the case and how it impacts commercial relationships.
Many Clients have a budget, but this may or may not be rooted in a well articulated business case. In this video Kevin talks about the Mutual Value approach to discussing the topic with a Client. By both parties understanding the business case they have clarity about how they can contribute to it, or indeed whether they agree with it.
Do we know what the Client actually means when they say what they want?
This briefing looks at how to be really inquisitive in such situations. Kevin provides a brilliant and simple way to get to the truth, and help the Client consider more carefully what they really want, while ensuring both sides share the same definition of what this actually means.
We bid to achieve a certain margin – why are we so often disappointed by what we achieve?
Kevin explores how operating within a transactional world, but wanting to do great work and please Clients, can often lead to us delivering lower margins than we should, and we deserve, and points to an alternative approach.
Traditional sales techniques don’t work in a modern world – perhaps its time to move on.
In this video Kevin talks about how the old paradigm is dying. People will no longer put up with being sold at and demand much more from their long term suppliers. Ultimately they wish to move to a relationship build on trust and Mutual Value.
For further information get in touch now...
SOPHIE@MUTUAL-VALUE.COM
MUTUAL VALUE HELPS YOU BUILD TRUST.
Let's have an open conversation about the value this can bring to your organisation. Contact sophie@mutual-value.com to arrange a free video call with Stuart Maister or Kevin Vaughan-Smith.