NEWS

  Nov 2011 – New workshop on ‘Investing in your Personal Value
     Proposition’ announced

Nov 2011 – New workshop on ‘Investing in your personal Value Proposition’ announced. Take an evening out to apply marketing theory to the most important 'product' you should be investing in this year – yourself!

With competition in the job market at an all time high, developing and managing your personal value proposition has never been more critical. How will your personal value proposition evolve over time and through career changes? What are the implications of 'channel management' and communication both in company and increasingly, externally through social media? This new workshop introduces a fresh take on value proposition development translating it to the world of personal development and career management.

Lynn Mathieson has delivered a number of workshops on product and service value propositions - which have been attended by over 500 participants worldwide both through in-company and open programmes. Through her work with small and medium businesses, individual workshop participants and as a mentor, Lynn has extended her value proposition process to the challenge of marketing ourselves in an increasingly complex and open environment.

This workshop qualifies for 3 hours of Chartered Institute of Marketing CPD credits

Workshop leader: Lynn Mathieson
Organising body: Chartered Institute of Marketing – workshop open to members and non members
Date: Wednesday 22nd Feb 2012
Location: Sivatech Training and Conference Rooms, Gatehouse Close, Aylesbury Bucks, HP19 8DE

To find out more and book your place at this workshop click here

  October 2011 – Release of co-authored report on The European Electronic      Manufacturing Services Market

A biennial report titled ‘The European Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) Industry 2010-2015’ - The Complete Guide to the European EMS Industry co-authored by Peter Brent in conjunction with Reed Electronics Research is just released!

The tenth edition of the report highlights the issues impacting the European EMS industry. In 2009 the revenues dropped sharply by 15% but had started to rebound through 2010 and early 2011 but new evidence shows that growth will slow for the remainder of this year. If you are an EMS provider, an OEM electronic manufacturer or a supplier to these market sectors, this report is essential reading to understand the forecast size and shape of the market in Europe.

The new report provides:-

  • An analysis and revenue forecasts for both West and Central & Eastern Europe in a single report
  • The key trends impacting the EMS industry over the next 4 years
  • Detailed profiles of the Top 20 European EMS companies, including a ranking for 2010
  • An analysis of the all EMS manufacturers into 4 distinct groups and details of a further 100 top companies
  • Country and regional profiles including key trends
  • A directory of 720+ companies engaged in EMS across over 1,000 European manufacturing locations

For more information and to order your copy of the report click here

  Dec 2010– Developing Compelling Value Propositions
     – easy to say, but not so easy to do.....

It’s the buzz phrase of the moment - put the phrase ‘Value Proposition’ into Google and you come back with 1.4 million searches. Check out leading companies’ press and every CEO will be telling you that he has been concentrating on ensuring that his value proposition is strong, particularly in this testing economic environment. The CIM/Accenture study titled ‘In Search of a Strategic role for Marketing – Leading, Influencing, Supporting?’ published in May 2008 stated that Strategic/cross functional skills were acknowledged as requiring development and in five years time ‘Value proposition development and customer experience management skill development would still be critical’.

So with all this emphasis on Value Propositions, are we sure that we are all using the term in the same way? Put the phrase ‘Value Proposition Definition’ into Google and the searches narrow – to a mere 5,250! If we can find a definition that works well, and most definitions have the same constituent elements, why does the CIM/Accenture study identify this as one of the major areas of concern identified by senior marketers? Surely, if we can agree broadly what a Value Proposition is, producing one can’t be that difficult? And therein lays the real challenge. Developing a compelling value proposition is easy to say and one of the hardest things that a senior marketer needs to do.

To read the full white paper, follow this link.

  Oct 2010– Sales Behaviour Research identifies
     gap between Sales and Purchasing

New research completed examining best practice ‘Sales Behaviour’ from the perspective of both sales and purchasing professionals in B2B

Have you ever wondered why some sales people achieve more than others? What behaviours do sales professionals think that buyers want to see? And what key behaviours do buyers really want to experience from the sales people they meet? This recently completed in depth study uncovered the contrasting views of sales and buying professionals on what constituted successful sales behaviour.

Following an earlier qualitative study with personal interviews of selling and buying professionals an on-line quantitative study uniquely identified:-

  • The 5 key behaviours and their rating by buyers
  • How the views of sales people compare with those of buyers
  • The relative importance of the sales person in the suppliers view of the value proposition
  • How salespeople and buyers are measured and rewarded in their respective roles
  • How the ‘class’ of the supplier impacts how the sales/buying interface

This research has been completed with the assistance of The Chartered Institute of Marketing and The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and supervised by Beth Rogers of the University of Portsmouth Business School.

For more information on this important research, contact:-
Peter Brent on peter@mathiesonbrent.com