• We get older
  People over 50 years old 2010:22%, 2050:36%*

• We do live alone
  Top 3 single and single parents household in EU:DE: 45%, DK: 54%, NL:41%,*

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Vaping is a trending word that is being used more and more frequently. But what is it? A hype that will vanish as fast as it appeared? Or is it the future? Is it a future for a whole industry, future for a whole sector, future for a complete category?

Talking about category… is vaping a substitution? Or is it something new; something that wasn’t there before and something that can be that different, that no one would have anticipated?

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Image courtesy of scottchan at freedigitalphotos.net

A while ago I was moderating a workshop for a client in China, helping with identifying the right way to enter new markets abroad. They were at an early stage fulfilling the new 5-year-plan tasks of going abroad and they were wondering how they could identify the right steps towards becoming successful in reaching this goal.

During this workshop we brainstormed quite a bit about opportunities, barriers, motivations and strategies. But at one point we came up with a rather simple analogy how entering a new market works and how you get from just entering to conquering this new market. This analogy accompanied us throughout the workshop days and proved to be rather helpful. And it is as simple as can be as helpful that I thought I would share it. Maybe you disagree, maybe you agree, but most of all do I hope that it might help you with your thoughts on the way of working new markets. Continue reading →

Image courtesy of ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Most of my professional career I have been working in client service, thus working with clients… And when it comes to communication then I have witnessed and experienced many occasions where just choosing the wrong words lead to a major misunderstanding, to dissatisfaction, even to frustration and anger.

I also witnessed that a few adjustments of your communication can help reaching a mutually beneficial outcome of a maybe difficult and negative situation (like telling the client that the delivery will be late). These little adjustments is what I summarized for me into my “10 rules for better communication”.

These ten rules don’t claim to be complete or foolproof. They are just based on my personal experience and are the 10 rules that have helped me most over time. I hope you will enjoy reading my “10 rules for great communication” and I also hope that you will not take everything literally, meaning you don‘t have to start all of your sentences from now on with „Wow, …“ (first example in rule#1)… :-). And yes, the examples are exaggerated… 🙂

All examples are very focused on a consultant-client-relationship as this is where I spent most of my professional time. But I am sure that with a little imagination you could easily translate that into any industry.

Below you’ll find a list of all 10 and examples for each one of them. Let’s go and have a read… Continue reading →