Thanks to all who managed to make it to the Building Centre in London last week. I'm sure you'll agree that it was a very worthwhile and interesting afternoon thanks to our 2 speakers Richard White & Don Ward.
Richard kicked of the afternoon with an excellent interactive session on "Storytelling." One of the most powerful sales techniques is to tell a prospect of a time when you helped someone just like them in the form of a short story. He helped us to refine our stories to include:
* People
* Pain
* Payload
* Plot
There were some excellent stories in the room, some of which have already stuck in my memory...! Richard has a website with many more free tips and techniques
www.theaccidentalsalesman.com/
Don Ward then followed on with a talk on "The Effect of the Recession on Partnering in the Construction Sector." As Chief Executive of Constructing Excellence Don's brief is to drive the change agenda in construction following the Latham and Egan reports of the late 1990's.
Don shared the progress that has been made with many of the largest construction Clients and their supply chains over the last 10 years, with many embracing the partnering concept. The danger of the current financial crisis is that clients will revert back to single stage, lowest price tendering which is a false economy as contractors will need to generate claims to make a profit. The resulting confrontation between client and contractor results in cost/time over-runs and eventually means that the project is delayed and significantly over budget.
Some best practice examples of partnering were considered (Heathrow T5 and the MOD with Andover North amongst others) where the costs and processes were managed to ensure profitability for all concerned and were delivered on time and on budget.
I have had quite a few requests for Don's presentation and he is happy for it to be shared amongst the group, so please see it below.
Feel free to carry on discussions below
