By David Nour

The most valuable resource you have to work with as a Project Manager on your projects are people. With this fact in mind, one of my favorite questions to ask senior executives early on in our relationships is: How’s Your Bench… Really? Here’s why: (more…)

By David Nour

As a mentor of mine often says, “If you’re not tooting your own horn there is no music!” Those whose livelihoods depend on business relationships such as Project Management Professionals, all understand the power of reference selling.  In any economy there is an enormous level of comfort in a buyer’s journey when they get unsolicited recommendations from other satisfied buyers – it’s simply called “credibility by association.”

When I work with Project Management Professionals, I often ask about their current or perspective client reference selling efforts. Recently, a consultant at a client complained that although she had extensive industry experience and subject matter expertise, she was seldom tapped into for possible client project engagements. So naturally, I asked her “what are you doing to package, market, sale, and proactively reference her value add and ideas, within the firm?”  When she gave me a blank stare, I offered what I consider five best practices to reference selling her value and her ideas and a way to effectively “toot your own horn.” (more…)

By David Nour

Value creation is derived from value chain disruption. Adaptive innovation, by definition, is destructive in its character, open to a broad base of business models, and must be driven by high performing teams focused on maximizing the current and future capabilities of their respective organizations.

By David Nour

The changing dynamics in buyer behavior will force many organizations to engage and influence their current and prospective customers very differently in the “new norm” of 2010 and beyond.  Marketing will have to focus much more proactively on one-to-one relationships (as advocated by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers of Peppers & Rogers Group in the early 90s – talk about being ahead of your time!) whether on the corporate website/blog, or a multitude of social networks.

The organizations of 2010 and beyond must become much more astute in how they identify and respond to the ever fluid market dynamics.  In short, they have to learn to engage and influence more and mass broadcast less, participate in communities, set up LinkedIn groups and Facebook fan pages, read blogs and respond to tweets, create conversations, and share photos – in short, Listen Louder! In many ways, social networks are changing the rules of influence and engagement.
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