To view the recent
Today Tonight segment on Aldi Food Stores click here
click on Aldi fightback, then watch video.
As one of Australia's
busiest and most respected business speakers and consultants,
Barry Urquhart has facilitated interactive workshops with the
management and supervisory teams of some of Australia's and
the world's largest, most innovative and creative corporations,
as well as many dynamic, growing small to medium sized enterprises.
As a media regular,
Barry's expert insights into the unique challenge facing retailers
have been sought by Australia's Today Tonight current
affairs program (courtesy of the Seven Network):
Undercover Shoppers
The 5-Second Customer Service Challenge
Marketing Focus has
developed a number of unique and exclusive frameworks within
which participants can review, refine, formulate and document
appropriate strategies, tactics and action plans. These have
an emphasis on providing challenging and entertaining learning
experiences, with key focuses of our workshops including:
Corporate culture change
Marketing skills for non marketers
Implementing change strategies
Non price-based competitive actions
Customer service culture growth
Workshop formats
Barry's workshops
are typically offered as either half day Interactive
Seminars or Syndicate Workshops of
one or two days duration.
The framework, content
and format of each is customised to the specific circumstances,
needs, objectives and nature of your organisation. To ensure
the best possible outcome, Marketing Focus conducts extensive
background research in advance of each workshop.
Popular themes
While our management
development workshops cover a diverse range of needs and interests,
the themes generating the most frequent interest include:
"Changes, Challenges and Opportunities"
"Service is a Way of Thinking - Before Doing"
"Business Warfare"
"Price is What you Charge; Value is what you Deliver"
Brainstorming
Sessions
The dynamics and nature
of modern business demand creative, innovative and new ideas
to cut through the competitive marketplace.
Increasingly, business
owners, managers and executives are respecting the realities
and implications of the statement:
“Repetition
is Death”
To achieve and sustain
optimal sales, revenue, margins and profits, it is imperative
for businesses, products and services to break free from the
strictures of tenders, written quotes and long term price catalogues.
Professionals from
the disciplines of accountancy, engineering, law, real estate
and industrial sales in particular have utilised Marketing Focus
to facilitate focussed, intense and interactive Brainstorming
sessions. They typically seek original and differing
marketing inputs to establish impact, to differentiate their
value packages and to enjoy competitive advantage.
These customised half
day and full day sessions are fun learning experiences, which
foster enhanced self confidence and are the initial phase in
an integrated business development initiative.
In addition, two new
workshops (detailed below) have been developed to address the
rapidly changing realities of today's marketplace.
"Transforming and Refining the Company Culture"
- Driving Change and Development
Regardless of size or business sector, organisations seeking
success in today's dynamic marketplaces must address and embrace
the need for:
Change;
Innovation;
Enhanced service;
Recruiting the right people;
Retaining key contributors; and
Cohesion
While there are myriad
ways to achieve these, there is an emerging consensus among
business leaders on the outcomes, principles, advantages and
benefits of each. Moreover, there is an agreement that success
in achieving and sustaining these initiatives has been at best
variable.
Marketing Focus has
conducted extensive research into the reasons for this lack
of success, identifying critical factors that are decisive in
achieving organisational transformation.
The Company Culture
This high impact
workshop creates a framework for team members to determine the
essence of the appropriate and evolving corporate culture.
Relevant case studies,
analyses and concepts are detailed to provide participants with
a comprehensive understanding of the seven distinct building
blocks and six key elements of a company culture.
The workshop also
emphasises the importance of the need to achieve a balance between
the formal and informal company cultures.
Applications
This workshop is
particularly suitable for:
Internal company workshops and conferences;
Management retreats; and
Conferences of franchise networks and buying groups.
Outcomes
Individual and group
analysis of the prevailing and appropriate cultures (formal
and informal) promotes and reinforces:
Confidence;
Group cohesion;
Corporate stability;
Tolerance of risk-taking;
Pride in the entity and its people; and
Recognition of the need to deliver enhanced service to
external and internal customers.
Comprehension of
and commitment to the company culture contribute to improved
staff retention and heightened success in recruiting the "right"
people vital outcomes in today's labour market environment.
"Fantasise,
Strategise, Optimise"
The current pressures
and focus of business demand a heightened focus on the short
term and cashflow.
For time-poor organisations,
opportunities to visualise the future (fantasise) and strategise
for the intermediate to longer term (5 - 10 years) are significantly
diminished an issue exacerbated by the general volatility of
the competitive environment.
A corporate culture
that is inclined to react inevitably overwhelms a business,
leading to suboptimal performance.
This workshop contributes
to the establishment of a disciplined approach to strategic
planning, business development and client retention. It considers
the emergence of unforeseen external factors that typically
impact on the well being of an entity, its people, products
and services and offers participants the opportunity to determine
the specific elements of a strategic and competitive plan that
is both integrated and dynamic.
Key elements
The hierarchy of
purpose;
Five strata of planning;
The effective ratios between strategies, tactics and targets;
The "corporate fit" to the marketplace;
The five external driving forces of change; and
Anticipating, identifying and analysing the "left
field forces".
Comments by clients
"Barry Urquhart
is regarded by our members as THE authority on the ever-changing
global business environment. When I asked Barry to create a
one day, high impact seminar on how registered clubs could increase
their profit and their potential, he undertook extensive research,
conducted many one-on-one interviews with industry representatives
and delivered his presentation with enthusiasm, confidence and
a high level of knowledge about our industry. I commend Barry
to any prospective conference organiser without reservation."
Ralph Kober
Education Manager
Club Managers' Association Australia
"In today's
competitive world, our members are looking for the competitive
edge what is going to sustain their businesses into the future.
Barry's insightful perspectives on the issues of recruitment,
retention and 'making yourself different' to attract the best
staff generated much discussion and forced members to reflect
on their own practices and policies. The workshop session was
an outstanding success and gave members a new and fresh perspective
on the issues at hand."
