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.

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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. 

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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.

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    • Duration:
      1 hour
    • CPD Hours:
      1

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