MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Folks - looking for some advice please....
I'm going after a job with a pretty large company as Business Development Manager.
ive been a BDM for the last 13 years across a couple of industries but not worked for as big a company as the one I'm chasing.
I've been invited to a second interview. As part of that, they want a ten minute presentation discussing my startegy for getting into a very big account from whom we've failed to get business from in the past. we have provided them post project FM services but never got any project delivery business.
The brief states that the account hasnt been well managed in the past, and the project procurement guy has refused a meeting so far. they want me to focus on the strategy and process for developing a large account.
Ive got my own ideas about getting in front of them, leveraging the FM contacts and so on, but have you any tips/ideas?
Yes - stick to the time limit and make sure you meet the brief.
We set presentations a lot at interviews, is a good test of a person's ability to follow instructions, analyse information, get their point across clearly and quickly and most importantly that they know when to shut up. Throw in a few jokes, remember, this could be the eleventieth presentation the panel has seen on the topic today!
ALso - don't assume any fancy tech will be available - have printed slides 5 max for a 10 minute job - image heavy with a brief summary of each slide below. One for each panel member you can hand out if the tech fails. Grace under pressure and preparedness scores well at interviews.
You've been a BDM for 13 years, you should be able to answer the question yourself tbh
thanks TW, clearly I know everything and couldnt benefit from the hive mind.
Obvious other presentation stuff to consider...
* If you're using your computer make sure it's got a neutral backdrop, clear up the desktop of any unnecessary or potentially embarassing icons, etc. If it's their computer take two copies on a clean USB with no other files on it.
* Get someone else to spelcheck your presentation.
* Practise the presentation first.
thanks TW, clearly I know everything and couldn't benefit from the hive mind.
NP, but it is a little like asking someone else to do your homework for you. If you are applying for this job and have the level of experience you claim then honestly you shouldn't need to be asking other people for help.
You should always ask other people for their views and that scores well at interviews too - it is easy to get set in one way of thinking, especially when you have been on one organisation for a while. If you don't need to check your thinking from time to time and when venturing out to the real world then well done you TW.
You should also prepare for the question - how did you prepare for this ? Collaborative and well researched approaches, showing judgement about how to select the most authoritative infromation will always score better then "I know everything I am awesome I did this all by myself cos I know everything and I am awesome - how dare you suggest otherwise"
We generally go with a "land & expand" strategy for clients that are difficult to get into. Often starting by asking them their main business challenges and then proposing a small project addressing one of them (in an area we have IP or expertise), in conjunction with their own people if they prefer (this usually helps anyway as going in blind you need access to their key people to get up-to-speed quickly), all done at cost (or better if a major potential client).
The idea being we get to demonstrate the business value we can provide and gives the client the confidence we can deliver so they hopefully follow on with larger engagements.
Needs your company to be willing to cover a lot of the costs for the initial engagement though. It helps if any solution that comes out of it uses your own IP so they can't just do it in-house/go to someone else but the chances of that depends a lot on the business sector you're in.
If it’s their computer take two copies on a clean USB with no other files on it.
If doing this, check their computer will read from external devices. It's quite common for "sensitive" business sectors to block this.
You should also prepare for the question – how did you prepare for this ? Collaborative and well researched approaches, showing judgement about how to select the most authoritative infromation will always score better then “I know everything I am awesome I did this all by myself cos I know everything and I am awesome – how dare you suggest otherwise”
Do you think "I asked a random bunch of strangers on a cycling forum for advice" will do much better?