Business and commercial

Five commercial skills to stay relevant in today's shifting economy

Commercial awareness and business acumen can make a significant difference to your credibility, performance and career trajectory.

1 hour

Members: £0 + VAT
Non-members: £0 + VAT

Summary

Commercial awareness and business acumen can make a significant difference to your credibility, performance and career trajectory.

Register Now>

 

When you hear about commercial skills, you may think “I’m an engineer, not a salesperson!”, however, developing commercial awareness and understanding the part you play in a business as an engineering professional can be critical to your success and that of your organisation.   

“We can be the best engineers in the world, but we will never reach our full potential whilst we insist that commercial awareness is ‘not our remit’. It’s everyone’s remit, and it can become your competitive currency in today's challenging climate.” – John Hattam 

Commercial awareness means understanding what your company needs to do to be profitable, be successful, and serve its customers well. Your effectiveness and credibility can be significantly elevated by gaining a working knowledge of your organisation's strategy, its competitors, key stakeholders, customers and the challenges it faces. Knowing your organisation's (and team’s) strengths and weaknesses means that you can feed that information into making more informed and thoughtful decisions.  

Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, once observed: “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else”.  

This webinar provides an overview to broaden your general knowledge and highlights five key commercial skills that will help you thrive, rather than just survive, in our shifting global economy. 

Register Now>

Who should attend?

Professionals keen to understand how they can improve their effectiveness and credibility by developing a greater awareness of commercial tools and strategies which impact an organisations bottom line. Engineers to want to keep ahead of the curve, spot trends, drive innovation and remain competitive.

How will I benefit?

Understand key commercial skills. Why they are important and relevant to you and your work, how to use them to help your team and organisation thrive and accelerate your career. 
Contributes 1 CPD hour

Key topics

    •  The four levers of profitability 
    • Understanding customer needs 
    • Managing stakeholders 
    • Building a business case  
    • Negotiation
  • Meet our trainers

    These trainers regularly teach Five commercial skills to stay relevant in today's shifting economy.

    • John Hattam

      John Hattam

      John has built a successful consulting business in both the private and public sectors, specialising in sales and marketing, product and customer development, and business planning.

    In-house and bespoke training

    Tell us your team's CPD needs and we'll come to you with a specialised training programme, customised for your engineering sector.
    Contact our advisors if you need help finding the most appropriate training for your team.

    Share:

    At a glance

    • Duration:
      1 hour
    • CPD Hours:
      1

    Need some help?

    Contact us if you have any questions about our training courses.

    Terms & conditions of booking IMechE training

    Train your team

    Offers and bundles

    A range of options to help you maximise your training budget.

    More about offers and bundles

    Related courses

    • 2 day course

      Commercial risk

      Focusing on collaboration, this 2-day course will help you to understand risk management through practical remedies. It will support you in developing solution-based engineering contracts which protect the interests of both parties.

    • 2 day course

      Commercial skills

      Profitability is everyone’s responsibility, not just the “commercial” functions; and engineers have a pivotal role to play. This is an overview of some of the practical ways engineering can contribute to your organisation’s financial health

    • 2 day course

      Consultative selling

      Traditional ‘selling’ doesn’t work. A consultative approach helps you to understand and deliver on your customer’s requirements and position more compelling solutions, whilst building and sustaining long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

    Train your team

    Tell us your team’s development needs and we’ll come to you with a specialised training programme, customised for your organisation.

    What options are available?

    • Off the shelf – we can deliver any of our training courses at your chosen location, providing you with a cost-effective and efficient solution
    • Tailored courses– our personalised programmes can help you work through issues specific to your team or sector and equip you with the practical tools you need to move forward
    • Blended programmes – we use a range of delivery methods, development subjects and performance resources to ensure your team have the knowledge and skills they need to help your business thrive

    More about in-house and tailored training.

    Request a Training catalogue

    Discover the most extensive series of professional development courses for engineers who are committed to shaping the future of our sector.

    Some of the companies we've worked with

    • Alten
    • AMH Material Handling
    • Avara Foods
    • bmt
    • Bombardier
    • Bombardier
    • Frazer Nash
    • Gas Networks Ireland
    • International Nuclear Services
    • JCB
    • Martin Baker
    • National Composited Centre
    • Network Rail
    • Smurfit Kappa
    • sse

    Our training acumen

    • Over 30 years of experience delivering training
    • More than 200 courses designed for engineers
    • Over 10,000 engineers trained each year
    • Trusted by over 800 companies
    • Business solutions delivered in 48 countries

    Average customer rating: 4.75 out of 5


    Get in touch

    Get in touch if you need help finding the right course, or qualification, for you or your team.

    Terms & conditions of booking IMechE training