Trick-or-Treat: Sales 101

(Reposting) by George Pastidis

I did not get to live in the States when I was a kid that Halloween was always big. And back then, in Europe and in Greece in particular that I grew up, it was not among the known or popular customs. Things are changing fast though. The movie industry and internet has closed the gaps between different countries and cultures and today we see Halloween parties and Trick-or-Treaters everywhere. Trick-or-Treat, what an amazing Sales 101 course! You learn so much there read more…

What I tell my daughter before her new student life

by George Pastidis

We’re packing today for driving our daughter Chryssa to Aix-en-Provence tomorrow to help settle and start her studies at Aix-Marseille University. Planning to leave behind our little one after 18 years, putting between us 743 km, it’s neither easy nor simple for me and my wife. Although we might need ourselves some good tips soon for reinventing our relationship, for now I will stick with advising my daughter and all the kids going through a similar situation. A situation I experienced myself exactly 38 years back and I had to learn things the hard way read more…

Find purpose at work

by George Pastidis

We were cruising through some YouTube music videos with my wife Katerina when we bumped into the concert for the 50 year career of the Greek singer Vasilis Papakonstantinou. A 73 year old man on stage bursting with energy and energizing a huge crowd that had swarmed the stadium. Super good! read more…

The differentiator you’ve been looking for

by George Pastidis

I have heard so many sellers and participants in sales trainings, telling me over the last twenty years things like “customers care about price only”, “we all offer the same stuff more or less”, “we’re treated as a commodity”. We see then here basically two issues arising. To avoid being treated as a commodity and to avoid feeling you deserve being treated as one read more…

The “Giannis” winning mindset

by George Pastidis

Following the Milwaukee Bucks’ loss on the very first round of the NBA playoffs, their leader Giannis Antetokounmpo was asked during the post-game interview if the season was a failure. Responding to this question, Giannis provided another mini lesson. This time on resilience and reframing. A lesson which will make this journalist, any journalist actually, to think twice before he drops a similar question read more…

How to quickly succeed in your new job

by George Pastidis

Perhaps I should be more concerned with the large workforce reductions in tech including the company I work for but this is a sensitive and gloomy issue that I wouldn’t like to touch for now. I’d rather have a write up on something way more positive that a good friend’s request got me thinking a lot about the last days. How someone can succeed quickly in a new job role and company read more…

From Adam Strange to ChatGPT

by George Pastidis

When I was a kid, one of my very favorite comics was Adam Strange. It was a rather cool comic published from the late 50s thru the early 60s. When I started being capable of reading magazines, it had already been discontinued in Greece but I discovered and got access to that through trading old magazines with older kids. It was featuring an archaeologist who was teleporting between planets with his super jetpack, had a laser gun, a powerful suit and helmet protecting him in tough situations and he would develop his intellect with studying. Ray guns and flying cars all around. This is how people were fancying their future, our present, back then read more…

Why sales and marketing do need AI

If you’ve reflected in past year about why Sales and Marketing do need Artificial Intelligence(AI), then my guess is you’re not alone. Having thoughts on what type of AI is most suitable and what AI goals to pursue is kind of expected– since AI has gained popularity, is changing the way we sell things and helps business to keep a competitive edge. Many questions have been bugging us. I have the luxury to hear hosting today my dear colleague and subject matter expert in this field Andreas Mansson, Marketing & Communication Data & CRM Director Ericsson, has many answers in his insightful article below: read more…