by George Pastidis
The price issue pops up usually either in the beginning or in the very end of the buying cycle, when final negotiations take place. An experienced seller can – and should – easily overcome the first obstacle, avoiding talking price too early. But how can we avoid having a price impasse shock right before the closing stage? read more…
by George Pastidis
We are few days only before the year end. Fingers crossed, we are about to enjoy the harvest of our investment in time and hard work. What comes next is relaxing time with family and good friends for charging up our batteries. And then 2017. Next year that we need to start thinking of and planning. Of course planning starts with assessing our current status; understanding the existing situation; our strengths, weaknesses and hinders. Before this critical milestone, I thought I should share with you all, the thoughts of my friend Petros Kavazis, a fine young professional read more…
by George Pastidis
Last evening, I had the luck to attend a dinner where keynote speaker was the Greek-French prominent academic and Byzantinologist Dr Helene Glykatzi Arweiler who was the first woman Principal of the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Later she was named Dean of the Academy of Paris and Chancellor of the Universities of Paris. An amazing woman. An amazing woman that despite her 90 years, she stays sharp, inspiring, fascinating and eager to share her remarkable lifetime experiences read more…
by George Pastidis
November is such a tricky month. We are between the last turn and the finish line on our racetrack. We are on the “last stretch”. Then we can have holidays in peace and start working on our smart new year resolutions. Unfortunately, David Copperfield is not our colleague. So, neither rabbits nor pigeons can come out of our black high hats. If we want to bring our numbers, we need to work effective and efficient read more…
by George Pastidis
Last weekend, I visited with family, beautiful Bruges. When we arrived in, I went straight to the reception saying: “Good morning. George Pastidis. Checking in”. The receptionist remained seated and said getting on a defensive mode for no reason: “It is 11 o’clock. The room cannot be available before 15:00”. No “good morning”, no “welcome”, no “smile”. Two days later, when I was checking out to another receptionist, I complained about the room’s bad odor coming from the drains. The receptionist said: ”OK I’ll let them know” read more…
by George Pastidis
I don’t want to talk politics. I want to talk negotiations. I want to talk about and have a close look at Donald Trump’s negotiation skills. Last weekend, I had the luck to read the brilliant analysis https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/donald-trumps-negotiating-profile-its-consequences-us-dimarakis?trk=prof-post of Yannis Dimarakis, a professional trainer that specializes on Negotiation Skills and I shared his gem with some friends and colleagues that I knew they would see value in this. There I had the luxury to get the feedback of Jack Williams, another excellent negotiations professional trainer and consultant. Two different angles, two different perspectives that I would not dare to criticize. I will only try to put together and give you the chance to see two different views, equally powerful read more…
by George Pastidis
The fear of public speaking is one of the very top phobias. I read the other day that 70% of employed Americans that give presentations, say that presentation skills are critical for career success and 20% of them say that they would do anything to avoid giving a presentation. They could pretend they are sick or have a colleague do it, even if that means “losing respect” in their workplace read more…
by George Pastidis
I just left a meeting at the bank I am a customer of. They had asked for an appointment for presenting a house loan product. Not that me and my wife were interested in any, but they have always been so polite and supportive that there was no way to refuse giving them some of our time read more…
by George Pastidis
I usually comeback from my summer vacation, having some spicy customer service related story to share. It is not the case this time. I have nothing particular worth writing about. I am back though full of lovely memories and pictures read more…
George talks sales. Usually, this is the case. I like telling you sales related stories. This time, I feel, I strongly feel like making an exception. read more…
George Pastidis 