In the News

Lou Schachter's mantra is that in the post-GFC environment, selling solutions is not enough. To outgun their rivals, sales professionals have to deliver improved results for their customers. So how does this work in pharma? It's a matter of value, says Schachter

BTS' Rommin Adl shares perspective on what contributes to CEO success in this Chief Executive Magazine article, "The 2010 Conference Board Survey of 2,000 senior executives identified strategic alignment and speed of execution as the most pressing CEO challenges. Successful CEOs understand that comprehensive kick-off events, monthly town hall meetings, executive roundtables and hefty investments in technology are not enough to ensure the success of a new strategy. Instead, results are determined by the degree and the speed with which leaders align their organization to the strategy and build execution capability among important players to deliver the desired results."

For those of you who develop your ideas in a much less linear way than is typically accommodated in business planning exercises, check out this interactive game site, called SymbioCity, where you and your team can run through scenarios that might affecting your planning for a smart city… The game was developed by BTS Group, which uses simulations to help organizations create strategies.

Sales professionals across the globe have sounded a huge sigh of relief. Busineses surviving the GFC have begun to open their cheque books once again , and the days of stalled pipelines and defered projects , a signature of the GFC , may we ll be forgotten – we ll at least for some.

When NetApp Inc. executive Suresh Padmanabhan signed up for a class on honing management skills, he expected whiteboards and PowerPoint presentations. Instead he found a conference room full of board games.

Robert Cohen interviews Autodesk's Tom Kopinski who implemented a sophisticated computer based business simulation designed by BTS for Autodesk's VAR's. Said Kopinski," We needed our 1,700 VAR partners who accrue 90% of our sales, to sell higher within an organization. VARs need to move from a transactional model to a solutions model where they help customers to manage change and solve business problems.” More than 500 VAR sales reps, in 12 countries, in 8 languages, have gone through the simulation since March 2009.

Coauthored by BTS' Marshall Bergmann, this article describes how Coca-Cola Enterprises, the world's largest bottler of nonalcoholic beverages, has made a training investment in new customer-facing employees as a strategy for reducing turnover, improving productivity, and increasing employee engagement. CCE Pathway, developed with BTS USA and Coca-Cola Enterprises, is a structured program of daily self-study, on-the-job learning, peer coaching, reflection, and weekly manager assessments that accelerate onboarding so that new frontline employees can quickly focus on keeping their customers happy.