Chris Croft Training

The power of marketing - we are planning to take my three year old grand daughter to a tour of a sewage works (they are really educational, and she has this fascination with poo) but instead of "Sewage Works Tour" we are calling it "A fun visit to the Poo Factory" and now she's really excited. The power of re-branding!

Going on a 'Round the Bend Tour' with Wessex Water In the spirit of this website being about off-the-beaten-path travel and exploring the places that no one else goes, today I went on a free Round the Bend tour in Tisbury, Wiltshire, run by Wessex Water, one of several they do across the region. It really is a way to see something unusual, different...

One of my pet hates is people who leave a really nice comment about one of my books but then only give it four or three stars. I've even had some nice comments and one star from people who seem to think that one star is the best rather than the worst. Anyway, THIS one is the reverse (and not one of my books) - five stars and yet he didn't like it. Baffling!

Vegetable of the week! And this week it’s……
The Peach of Performance!

This is what you get if you give people lots of praise and thanks and encouragement. Alternatively, if you criticise people, you end up with the shrivelled Prune of Performance.

For more information see “Management Vegetables” as paper book https://buff.ly/2LchVEO or kindle https://buff.ly/3hyrytD
…which contains more than another 100 vegetables (and fruit, and a tortoise)

Management Vegetables - Full colour edition A random collection of management theories illustrated in a bizarre way using vegetables, fruit, animals and other objects including chocolate and a kebab. Featuring the Fennel of Failure, Time's Turnip, The Plum of Performance, the PEAR of Promotion, The Banana of Boredom, and many more. Amusing an...

Jargon Of The Month: What a complete waste of time sending this to me - and probably to most people. Test your mail-outs on your mum or your granddad or someone first . (this is a real one I received recently!)

Vegetable of the week! And this week it’s……
The Turnip of Time!

T = turn it down (say no)
U = unacceptable to say yes and not do something (it is!)
R = Routine stuff needs a good system
N = Negotiate over time spent / place / when / who / where
I = Imperfect is good enough, if it's not an important task
P = pass it to someone else (delegate)

For more information see “Management Vegetables” as paper book or kindle
https://buff.ly/3AzQwHj
…which contains more than another 100 vegetables (and fruit, and an egg)

Management Vegetables: Useful management ideas illustrated in a memorable fashion A random collection of management theories illustrated in a bizarre way using vegetables, fruit, and other objects including chocolate and a seagull. Featuring the Fennel of Failure, Time's Turnip, The Plum of Performance, the PEAR of Promotion and many more. Amusing and informative, with illustr...

I love getting messages like this:

"Hi Chris
Thank you for your negotiating course.
I tried one of your tips and made or saved at least £3000.

Your tip was: let the other person open first.

Here is my tale:I am selling my flat and the buyer wants to buy all (!) the furniture with it. How do I price that? ? It’s all secondhand, some items are lovely and new and others well used. The buyer and I agreed a list of items and we each went away to think of a price or offer.

I chewed the end of my pencil and came to a figure of £1700.
But I let them open first.. and they suggested “£5000, negotiable if I found that too low. “

I didn’t have the nerve to negotiate higher (!) but I did thank them and say it was acceptable.

Outcome: £5000, no removal fees, no bed (!), happy days!! You may use this (anonymised) example if any use to you. As you say, onwards and upwards.

Best regards
X

I just bought a pack of these from management30.com and I think they're really good. You can use them for training, or for REAL projects and tasks, to discuss with your team what style of management they would like you to use - or to explain what sort of management you think would be best for the project or job, and then discuss it.

Here's an interesting page from Managing Up by Melody Wilding - a book worth getting if you have a boss! This page is some ideas for how to ask for a pay rise!

Do you sometimes feel that there' never enough time for the big stuff because all your time is used up on the small stuff? Answer here:

Stress 2 - no time for the big things Part of a zoom session I ran for a large group of retail managers and assistants from the USA - on how to reduce the effects of stress

Not sure where I got this from, otherwise I would credit it - but it's such a clever illustration of such an important idea....

https://buff.ly/3HHGy6t I like Jazz, but not Agile project management - but surely they are the same approach really? (Improvise, be free and be creative). Or are they.....?

Is Agile like Jazz? I love jazz, because it's different every time, even when the same people are playing the same song - and I find Classical music mostly rather dull because

Negotiation Test for you - two possible good answers, and one terrible one:

Imagine there is a scale from 1 to 10, and the seller has opened at a price of 9. The buyer has three options for how to respond.
a) is to say "That's too much for me, can you reduce it at all?".
b) is to say "I can only do 8" or "Could you do 8?" or "How about 20% off?"
c) is to open at the other end and say something like "Thanks for your offer but I can only afford 3".

Which do you think is the best answer, the middle one, and by far the worst answer?

My answer will be in the comments shortly.....

https://buff.ly/4cmhXBU Numbers 6 and 7, just saying....

Top 10 Business Courses on Udemy In this blog I have researched the top 10 business courses on the world favorite e-learning site Udemy raking them by student feedback.

Change "I can't" to "I'll try" and also change "I'll try" to "I will" - both of these are well doable - and then look how far you've moved in just two steps!

Asking the world a question – this is what linkedin is for!

So, it's a negotiating question for everyone who reads this……

What are the rules in this situation? : They have made an offer (maybe they are buying or selling, I think it doesn’t matter, the question is the same) – should you a) ask for a better offer or b) come in with a counter offer?

Similarly, if you have made an offer and they have rejected it, should you a) make another, slightly better offer, or b) bat it back and ask THEM for an offer next?

Should offers just alternate between you, like a tennis match with you edging nearer and nearer to the net, or should you try to get more of yours or more of theirs?

Is there a rule for this? I think there might be, I’ve been pondering it, I think it’s pretty important to know, it could affect all of the outcomes of all of your negotiations....... I'll reveal my thoughts soon.

But first – what do YOU think?

New video on YouTube on SLOP and SLOOF - you need to know about these! https://buff.ly/4guU2By