As you'll have seen from Simon's post below (thanks, Simon, for the pics and the funky slideshow!!) we had a fantastic couple of days at the B2B Thames Valley event this week. Lots of you attended the conferences and seminars, and we were delighted by the number of visitors to our stand who were genuinely interested in how they could improve their profitability through a better understanding of commercial contracts.
The "Guess the Weight of the Contract" competition was very popular, with over 200 entries in total! I can now reveal that the heavyweight tome clocked in at an impressive 2.475Kg!! We'll be notifying the lucky winners, who will receive Devant workshop places and champagne as prizes, over the next few days. Your units of measurement were a great source of entertainment throughout the event. Lots of you thought in 'bags of sugar' and we had several 'about the weight of my second child' comparisons. But my favourite was the lady who thought our contract weighed 'about one and a half medium-sized cats!!'
If you didn't make it to the event you can sign up to one of our first two public training workshops at a special 10% discount - only £360 for an intensive one-day learning experience that will pay for itself many times over. Contact us to book your place, and mention our BLOG to receive your special discount.
We met some fantastic people over the course of the two days in Windsor, and Alison, Jan, Helen and I would like to thank the organisers of B2B Thames Valley (and particularly Scott Hider) for all their hard work in making it such a roaring success.
We'd also like to thank:
- Simon of Hyde End Studios, and Mark of Facer Designs, for their creation of the gorgeous cake-inspired graphics that attracted so much attention to our stand,
- Christina of Tasty Catering (tel. 0118 979 7134) for her delicious cakes that were enjoyed by all, and
- Emma of I-Candi Designs I-Candi Designs for our elegant cake boxes.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
B2B Thames Valley Exhibition
This annual exhibition held at Windsor Racecourse was a great success for Devant. A full report coming soon but in the meantime, turn your speakers on and click the 'play' button below for little pictorial preview of how the show went!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Cakes and Contracts
Some of you may (secretly) believe that contracts are really rather dull. You would never say so to me, of course, knowing it would hurt my feelings ;0) but the perception is out there, all the same.
At Devant, we don't think contracts are dull at all. For us, they are the DNA of a business - they define the way it interacts with its clients, its suppliers, its business partners and its staff. And, more importantly, getting them right (and, along the way, getting your commercial relationships right), will help you maximise your profits and safeguard your business. Not a bad achievement, really!
So how to help the business world see how truly exciting, essential and (dare I say it?) FUN structuring and negotiating great commercial contracts can be?
Cakes.
Yes, that's right: after much deliberation about the theme for the B2B Thames Valley exhibition (26/27th Sept, Windsor Racecourse, www.b2bthamesvalley.co.uk, in case you missed the earlier post), we've decided on cakes!
Why? Well, cakes are nice. They taste good, bring a smile to people's faces, and make the world a better place. Just like contracts. Well, except the tasting good bit, anyway. So now you're curious, aren't you? How exactly is Devant going to use cakes to make us want to be trained in the art of crafting excellent business relationships? How does a bit of buttercream help us reduce our risks and increase our profits?
Windsor Racecourse, 26th and 27th September. Be there - and find out!
At Devant, we don't think contracts are dull at all. For us, they are the DNA of a business - they define the way it interacts with its clients, its suppliers, its business partners and its staff. And, more importantly, getting them right (and, along the way, getting your commercial relationships right), will help you maximise your profits and safeguard your business. Not a bad achievement, really!
So how to help the business world see how truly exciting, essential and (dare I say it?) FUN structuring and negotiating great commercial contracts can be?
Cakes.
Yes, that's right: after much deliberation about the theme for the B2B Thames Valley exhibition (26/27th Sept, Windsor Racecourse, www.b2bthamesvalley.co.uk, in case you missed the earlier post), we've decided on cakes!
Why? Well, cakes are nice. They taste good, bring a smile to people's faces, and make the world a better place. Just like contracts. Well, except the tasting good bit, anyway. So now you're curious, aren't you? How exactly is Devant going to use cakes to make us want to be trained in the art of crafting excellent business relationships? How does a bit of buttercream help us reduce our risks and increase our profits?
Windsor Racecourse, 26th and 27th September. Be there - and find out!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
To sign or not to sign?
A recent project has highlighted for me a dilemma faced by many small and medium sized companies in business today.
Simply put, it goes like this: "We want to encourage clients to do business with us, and make it as easy as possible for them, but we're selling high-value products/services and would ideally like them to sign a contract to protect us both. "
So there are two apparently conflicting aims: to make it easy for the customer to buy, and to make it safe for you to sell.
This became apparent when we started having a discussion about our client's sales process, and how we would get the customer to sign their contract. Their concern was that requiring the customer to sign something would slow down the process and put a barrier in the way of the sale. The alternative was to consider using General Terms and Conditions, that did not require signature by the client.
The challenge here is that, particularly if you are making large sales, you want to ensure that your terms and conditions will actually be the ones that govern the sale. This can be difficult with an exchange of Ts & Cs as the customer will often return a purchase order setting out their own Ts & Cs - which, strangely enough, rarely reflect yours! If the customer actually signs your contract then the problem of the "battle of the forms" does not arise (providing your contract is well drafted!), and it's very clear which terms apply to the deal.
After much debate, we have now prepared a set of General Terms that set out a clear process for determining when a contract has been made. The next step will be working with the sales and presales teams to ensure they understand these General Terms, and know how to use them in conjunction with the proposal and sales process. This training activity is absolutely key to the value of the new General Terms, as without it they are simply another document sitting on the company intranet. And for us at Devant, it's essential to build the contract into the business rather than leaving it on the side (or in the proverbial filing cabinet!).
Given the high level of opportunities being generated in this particular customer's business, I think we'll quickly have the opportunity to put these new terms and conditions to the test - I'll let you know how we get on!
Simply put, it goes like this: "We want to encourage clients to do business with us, and make it as easy as possible for them, but we're selling high-value products/services and would ideally like them to sign a contract to protect us both. "
So there are two apparently conflicting aims: to make it easy for the customer to buy, and to make it safe for you to sell.
This became apparent when we started having a discussion about our client's sales process, and how we would get the customer to sign their contract. Their concern was that requiring the customer to sign something would slow down the process and put a barrier in the way of the sale. The alternative was to consider using General Terms and Conditions, that did not require signature by the client.
The challenge here is that, particularly if you are making large sales, you want to ensure that your terms and conditions will actually be the ones that govern the sale. This can be difficult with an exchange of Ts & Cs as the customer will often return a purchase order setting out their own Ts & Cs - which, strangely enough, rarely reflect yours! If the customer actually signs your contract then the problem of the "battle of the forms" does not arise (providing your contract is well drafted!), and it's very clear which terms apply to the deal.
After much debate, we have now prepared a set of General Terms that set out a clear process for determining when a contract has been made. The next step will be working with the sales and presales teams to ensure they understand these General Terms, and know how to use them in conjunction with the proposal and sales process. This training activity is absolutely key to the value of the new General Terms, as without it they are simply another document sitting on the company intranet. And for us at Devant, it's essential to build the contract into the business rather than leaving it on the side (or in the proverbial filing cabinet!).
Given the high level of opportunities being generated in this particular customer's business, I think we'll quickly have the opportunity to put these new terms and conditions to the test - I'll let you know how we get on!
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