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Customer Relationships ? No need to talk.
1 September 2020
It's an early November morning in central Toulouse. Having arrived late the night before, I’m bleary-eyed and in need of a little ‘quelque chose’ to kick off a weeks’ stay in this beautiful city. I find what I’m looking for at a tiny cafe in Carmes. I breathe in the unmistakable scents of fluffy croissants and strong cafe noir. Magic.
And now that I’m warmed up I need to get the basics for lunch back at my rented apartment. A lunch I had agreed to share with a dear friend living in Toulouse. Who happens to be very knowledgeable about cheese. Something I'm not very knowledgeable about myself. Maybe I was a bit rash offering to do such a thing on day one of my stay. But, as can happen, a few glasses of wine can easily dull an acute sense of ignorance of many matters.
I cross the street and march straight into Marché des Carmes not quite in trepidation ….just yet. Shopping for fresh groceries in a packed (pre-COVID) French farmers’ market is a wondrous experience!. Marché des Carmes is not the biggest market in Toulouse but at the same time, it's a fairly large venue …and very busy. Lots of gesturing, shouting, and joking. My French is fine, for normal one to one conversations, but in this swirling setting, it's defunct. But I can gesture just fine!
Number one on the grocery list is of course the local 'fromage de brebis' (sheep’s milk cheese) Needless to say, I have to get this bit right! Being a psychologist I of course do some serious cheese research ( on my smartphone). I save the names of two classics from Toulouse that are guaranteed to wow my guest. Tomme de Carayac and Bleu de Severac. Evocative names.
I smile to myself. I take a long deep breath savouring the sounds and scents about me. And then my phone goes dead. Mais non! I shake it a few times. No good. Open the back. Take out something and put it back in again. Close it tight. Press the start button. No joy. I desperately try to remember those evocative names.....Not a chance.
But surely it can't be that hard to choose a tasty chunk of 'fromage de brebis' in this fine market? I look to the left at a beautifully laid out cheese stall. A pleasant unhurried fromagère (vendor) rearranging the produce. She catches my eye and smiles. I look to the right at an equally gorgeous cheese stall. This fromager chats to an elderly customer as he carves up a massive round slab of fromage. Hmmm.
I venture further into the market and find cheese stalls just about everywhere I look. The same types of sumptuous cheeses seem to be in most stalls. And lots of sheep's milk cheeses on offer. Hmmm.
I decide to give the market a full circle to make sure I don’t miss out on any cheese buying possibilities. I circle back to the entrance a little more stressed than on the first entry. I decide to circle back this time in an anticlockwise direction just in case. As the sheep's milk cheeses all look much the same to me I begin to see reasons not to choose a particular stall. Too perfect, too quiet, too busy, too bright, too small, too dark. Too much choice! I feel a headache coming on.
After a while, I arrive back at the entrance and look at the first stall on the left with that calm fromagère. A small steady queue, short friendly conversations with customers. I join the queue and watch the customers ahead of me take various tastings before they buy.
And then it's my turn. She smiles. I smile. I point to a puffy white fromage. She slices a sliver. I taste. Heaven. I point to another. Slice. Taste. Heaven once more. I’m in love with sheep's milk cheese. I buy 4 different chunks of Heaven for lunch. And she gives me a hefty slice of goat’s milk cheese to munch on before I reluctantly move on.
It all takes about 10 minutes and in that short time I and the fromagère build up the bones of a solid customer relationship. I return to the same stall every day that week. We never actually speak (apart from ‘bonjour’ and ‘au revoir’’). But there is clear communication, trust, warmth, confidence in quality, connection, and loyalty. And that first lunch back at my apartment is of course a huge success.
ATPO are very pleased to be once again linking up with Waterford Local Enterprise Office to deliver these sessions. The five session course, starting on the 5th of September, will be highly interactive with oodles of experiential components and a huge dollop of fun. Moving on from the topics covered in 'Thinking Around Corners 2022' th is online course delves into five more elements of successful business development i.e Resilience, Pivoting, Ideation, Judgement and Momentum Creation.
Sustainable Commercial Transport 2022 Webinar 28th of June 2022
It's been some carousel ride for everybody since late 2019! And for the business community in Ireland the carousel had been fairly rickety already with Brexit and all its many uncertainties. It's also been impossible for businesses to accurately predict three months in advance not to speak of mid to long term.
RESURGENCE 25X for the Planet Webinar 7th of September
Following on from the success of our initial Resurgence 25X event with Waterford Chamber and an R25X radio series with WLRf m on the 5th of May 2021, we were joined by a host of knowledgeble guests, including An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar. They looked at five ideas to get Waterford moving, and offered their expert opinions on how to get them over the line.
RESURGENCE 25X for Health Webinar 19 May 2021 Building further on the momentum of the initial Resurgence 25 X and the Resurgence 25X for the Arts webinars. On the 19th of May, ATPO, in association with w orkLAB Waterford , convened a webinar dedicated to a vibrant recovery from COVID 19 for the Health sector. As is fully appreciated front-line combat with the virus, by all in the Health sector, has been exhaustive and for some demoralising. But this event was about looking a little ahead to see what possible positive change in the sector is achievable. And also looking back to see examples of resurgence from chaos and crisis. It is intended as a platform for ideas that will help its recovery. The intention is to share, magnify, and multiply the ideas and opportunities for a resurgence for the Health sector that can be adopted now and show fruit in 2025. The event included (A) My perspectives on mindset and momentum creation and key momentum shift for the Health sector. (B) Inputs from 5 guest contributors presenting examples from a diverse range of expertise, practice, and perspectives. (C) 5 customised interactive enggement activities (the X element) to expand on and multiply the resurgence themes from the event. Each of the guest speakers was given the same ‘5 for 25X’ challenge. To speak about their perspective on resurgence for the Health sector based on their knowledge, experience, and ideas for our recovery from COVID 19 over the next few years (to 2025). To add to the challenge each speaker was asked to provide at least 5 examples of resurgence in their delivery. The guest contributors and their contributions are presented below. Dr. Sharon O Donnell Sharon is Managing Partner of Waterford Medical Centre - a large busy dynamic General Practice. She works with a dedicated clinical team of 9 GPs, 2 Practice Nurses and 7 non-clinical administrative staff. Her own area of expertise is in Women's Health. Sharon is an active member of the Waterford faculty of the Irish College of General Practitioners in Ireland (ICGP) is part of the hospital liaison group in Waterford, facilitating her interest in making change and improving communication in the health service. In her spare time, Sharaon is a Director of The Majestic Hotel, Tramore – the award winning 4 star seaside family hotel. She thoroughly enjoys tennis, travelling and family time. After 29 years working as a Doctor, she remains passionate about improving healthcare, hopeful for the future and keeps trying to make changes, no matter how small, one step or one person at a time. Here are Sharon's five resurgence ideas Healthy Living Practices with Children Public Exercise Areas for Adults More Integrated IT System Universal Health Card Extension of Community on Call System
RESURGENCE 25X for the Arts Webinar 7 April 2021 Building on the extraordinary success of the initial Resurgence 25X event on the 19th of January ATPO in association with the Theatre Royal Waterford convened a webinar dedicated to a vibrant recovery from COVID 19 for the Arts. All those working in the Arts domain both in Ireland and worldwide have been heavily impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. Resurgence 25X for the Arts is intended as a platform for ideas that will help its full recovery. The intention is to share, magnify, and multiply the ideas and opportunities for a resurgence for the Arts that can be adopted now and show fruit in 2025. The objective is To share, magnify, and multiply the ideas and opportunities for a resurgence for the Arts that can be adopted now and show fruit in 2025. To maximise the engagement of attendees during the event. To achieve the above in a manageable chunk of time for participants and attendees (two hours ). The event included (A) My perspectives on mindset and momentum creation and key momentum shift for the Arts . (B) Inputs from 5 guest contributors presenting examples from a diverse range of expertise, practice, and perspectives. (C) Customised interactive engagement activities (the X element) to expand on and multiply the resurgence themes from the event. Each of the guest speakers was given the same ‘5 for 25X’ challenge. To speak about their perspective on resurgence for the Arts based on their knowledge, experience, and ideas for our recovery from COVID 19 over the next few years (to 2025). To add to the challenge each speaker is asked to provide at least 5 examples of resurgence in their delivery. The guest contributors and theri presentations are below; Sean Corcoran
Supporting Remote Teams Interactive Session for Managers Target audience: Managers of teams working remotely. Objective: To help managers of teams working remotely to support each of their team members and foster contented, focussed and high-functioning teams.
RESURGENCE 25X Webinar 19 January 2021 Five guest speakers. Twenty-five examples of Resurgence. Five customised attendant engagement activities. One goal: Support a vibrant recovery for Ireland from COVID 19. ATPO linked up with Waterford Chamber to deliver this unique event. As part of ATPO’s contribution to a vibrant recovery from COVID 19 Resurgence 25 X took place at 11.00 am GMT on the 19th of January. It is a Waterford conceived initiative to share, magnify, and multiply the ideas and opportunities for a resurgence in Ireland that can be adopted now and show fruit in 2025. It is very clear that the devastation wrought by the COVID 19 pandemic on the Irish population will take a number of years to undo. Whatever steps we take now to get us back to our vibrant best may not take full effect until 2025 (or even later). Government departments, agencies, etc. have been working on the recovery agenda since the start of the spread of COVID 19. But it is also clear that we will need as many options as possible from as wide a field of contributors as possible to push us through to full sustainable recovery. Resurgence 25 X was the first of a number of such events planned for 2021. The objective is To share, magnify, and multiply the ideas and opportunities for a resurgence in Ireland that can be adopted now and show fruit in 2025. To maximise the engagement of attendees during the event. To achieve the above in a manageable chunk of time for participants and attendees (two hours ). The event included (A) My perspectives on mindset and momentum. (B) Inputs from 5 guest speakers presenting examples from a diverse range of expertise, practice, and perspectives. (C) 5 customised interactive engagement activities (the X element) to expand on and multiply the resurgence themes from the event. To begin the session I spoke about the importance of a A positive mindset to allow momentum for positive change and Recognising and building on real momentum shift when it will inevitably occur.
How to make sure you get your points across and your recommendations accepted by a management board.