The time we got angry with Santa
In today’s reflection we have something to say to Santa Claus: we want to ask him why he decided to take us by surprise with unwanted “gifts” and will try to find the deep meaning that these “gifts” carry.
My best enemy: how to best manage the relationship with competitors
One of the most complex aspects of market strategy is managing competitive relationships. Is it possible to collaborate instead of competing?
Empathy: what it is and how to develop it
In the world of business we are increasingly hearing about empathy: communicating empathically, making products and services empathic, being empathic with customers and so on. But what does empathy really mean, and how can we develop it in a professional context?
Customers as promoters: activating positive word-of-mouth
How can we increase the chances that our clients will speak well of us, therefore contributing to positive word-of-mouth?
We’ll try and give an answer in the next few lines.
Punctuality as a choice: maintaining elegant and efficient relationships
While walking in the streets of Milan we came across an advertising poster of a well-known tailoring company, which said “A gentleman knows the value of time”. This expression made us think about an important issue: the value of punctuality. This healthy but often neglected habit, which Calvino described as necessary to social order, not only has the power of making our days more productive, but it can also add respect and elegance to our relationships. Here are some tips to learn how to be punctual and some of the resulting advantages.
Story telling, story making, story living: bringing your values to life
Summer 2020 started with a mixture of impatient desire for payback and fear for what the following months would actually have in store for us. On the basis of these emotions, it seems that the majority of Italians opted for short journeys to rediscover the local beauties: a kind of holiday which is much the same as our fathers’, who “were just happy” to spend their holidays visiting their distant relatives, going for car trips or reading a good book under a beach umbrella. We believe that, after all, this might have been a good thing as slowdown, return to traditions and time spent with family can play a very important role in making us reappreciate our true essence and values, giving us the opportunity to literally see them in action and perhaps teaching us something useful about our jobs and our way of approaching the market! And that’s why…
A wake up call
We have contacted Carolina and Pietro, who are great experts of the world of luxury and of the market dynamics related to it, to ask their opinion about the future of this sector and, by extension, about the tastes and trends of post-coronavirus consumers.
I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
“Is it necessary to always tell the truth when dealing with clients?” this is one of the most common questions we receive from those who take part in our courses. As the creators of the Sales Ethics method, our only answer should be “Of course!”. In fact it is not so easy to be always completely sincere with clients. Not so much because of the budget and sales targets we need to achieve; in fact sometimes expressing our personal opinion can prove useless, if not detrimental to our clients. Let’s see how and when this might happen, and analyse what serving the truth really means!
Business as (un)usual: facing the challenge of change
“Business as usual” is an American expression used to stress how in economics things are always expected to go on in spite of everything. Personally we have never agreed with this point of view: in business (as we intend it in Passodue) the concept of “usual” should not even exist, neither in good times nor during emergencies. In order to survive in modern markets, business models should adapt to the variation of situations and interlocutors. Therefore let’s try and seize this opportunity to make innovations and evolve: the only certainty in what we are experiencing is change.
The 5 basic principles of effective communication
What does effective communication mean and how can we achieve it? We asked Massimo Franceschetti who is a professor at Bologna Business School and an expert in effective communication.