At Toner & Associates we offer the following services:

Sales training, forecasting and sales management

It is normal for businesses to concentrate on cost reduction and margin improvement when faced with difficult markets, but longer-term profitability needs top-line growth.  Higher revenue depends on increasing sales, which requires improved sales methods, good sales forecasting and management, and astute marketing.

At Toner & Associates we help organisations increase their sales, using proven methodologies that are very successful overseas but not commonly used in Australia.  These methodologies are explained below.

Competitive tendering using Strategic Selling^® and the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator^® (MBTI)

Deliberately targeting a customer's buying process can significantly improve the likelihood of winning their tender through competitive bidding.  We advocate Miller Heiman's Strategic Selling^® as a basic methodology, to which we add in-depth analysis of not just the professional needs but also the personal needs and behaviour of each member of the customer's buying team.

We help you identify the actual roles of the real decision-makers in the customer team, and understand both the buying requirements of your customer's organisation and their actual decision-making processes at individual and team levels.  This methodology covers what, why and when people buy.

At Toner & Associates we use the Myers Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI) to help determine how individual members of the customer team are likely to make their buying decisions.  MBTI theory shows that people buy in one of only four basic ways, and in one of only two fundamental ways.  This method explains how people buy and how important price and relationships are to them, allowing you to sell to buyers in a way that fits with their preferred buying style.  This makes each buyer more comfortable with your personal approach and with that of your organisation.  These buyers are therefore more likely to see the benefits of your proposal, to recommend your bid and to develop longer-term relationships with you personally and with your organisation.

Using your knowledge of both Strategic Selling and the psychology of buying when preparing a competitive bid or tender is the best way to sell at an advanced level, and markedly increases your chances of winning that contract.

This methodology is also applicable to organisations buying products or services through the letting of competitive tenders.  It can be used to improve buying policies and practices, by understanding better how the organisation actually buys and how suppliers are selling to its personnel.

Finally, effective sales forecasting is an important function of sales management and is needed by all organisations so that they can make timely and appropriate business decisions.  A probabilistic forecasting methodology using "go/get" probabilities is the most accurate forecasting method when a number of prospects (e.g. more than 10) are in the sales pipeline.  This method can be used to produce likely future sales (measured by revenue or margin or both) by week, month or year.  In addition, the individual prospect lists of each salesperson can be rolled up for each sales branch, and branch prospect lists can be rolled up to the sales director level to give a total company view of likely sales.

Organisational and line-management effectiveness

In current difficult markets, Chief Executives must improve their own personal effectiveness and that of each member of their executive team.  We provide well researched and designed methodologies for leadership and management which result in:

• executive team members personally committing to the Chief Executive's vision for the company, leading to focussed team commitment
• effective team processes which improve communications, problem-solving and decision-making within the team
• implementation of a well-designed “Management Framework” which requires clear accountability of managers for their own KPIs in an appropriate organisational structure.  When implemented, the Framework provides staff with strategic direction and a common set of principles linked to business objectives and values.  It comprises three elements: an effective organisation in terms of strategy, structure and operation, competent management and leadership, and good people skills in each member of the team.  Implementation of such a Management Framework is especially necessary in “technical” companies (e.g. businesses in engineering, construction, accounting, law, IT, science, medicine, etc.) which may not previously have implemented these foundations for an effective organisation.

Applications of the MBTI to leadership, management, teamwork and organisation design

The Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most widely-used personality typing system in the world, and is based on Carl Jung's famous work on the different psychologies of every person.   The MBTI can be used to describe and demonstrate people's preferences for:

• where they get their personal energy (from themselves or from the outside world)
• how they perceive the world (through facts and details or overall)
• how they make judgements and decisions (impersonally/objectively or personally/subjectively)
• how they organise their lives (with considerable planning or flexibly and spontaneously).

The MBTI is therefore an extraordinarily useful tool for analysing and increasing a person's level of Emotional Intelligence, which is a determinant of their leadership and management abilities and styles.  Myers Briggs theory is used to improve the design and effectiveness of teams, to predict how an individual will respond to change, to suggest how individuals might develop their careers to satisfy their personal interests, and is useful in many other areas of organisation structure and operation, especially sales.

Marketing and licensing of intellectual property and technology

The commercialisation of new intellectual property (which may include technology) can be a significant challenge for owners.  We can help you manage your IP effectively and develop appropriate approaches and strategies for both local and overseas markets.  Preparation of business and marketing plans, protection of your IP, external funding and resource planning are typical key activities.

Coaching and mentoring of executives

Chief Executives and senior line managers are usually under pressure to achieve tough performance targets while at the same time needing to properly develop their own careers and those of their staff. They can be supported on a personal level by an external coach who has the experience to help them achieve their KPIs while developing their careers. Use of such a coach allows the line manager to gain useful business and personal insights, adopt new techniques and have a confidential “sounding board” for resolution of difficult issues.

At Toner & Associates we offer a choice of coaches with skills and experience covering leadership, general management, business strategy, sales and marketing, strategic HR, organisation development, teamwork and career planning.