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David van Toor

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Principal, No Plan B

272 points

Action oriented executive with a passion for integrating experience based strategies into product oriented businesses.

This passion is supported by skills developed in over 15 years in divisional leadership roles with US Technology companies in Australia, New Zealand, and USA ...

Action oriented executive with a passion for integrating experience based strategies into product oriented businesses.

This passion is supported by skills developed in over 15 years in divisional leadership roles with US Technology companies in Australia, New Zealand, and USA, including pioneering integration of Social Media techniques with traditional customer management strategies at Sage Software

I have the privilege of working at what I love to do. Technology is finally allowing people to conduct business in ways they used to in the Bazaars in Cairo - it's honest, direct, and fast. The days of hiding behind your PR firm's spin or your executive assistant's screening technique are gone. I love this directness, and I love helping CEOs enable their companies to thrive in this market.

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WEB: UVO

Dec. 28, 2011

David van Toor and 17 other people answered this question

Are surveys and polls still a valuable tool for learning from customers?

yea, those Slot Surveys are the worst! :)

Customer Service

Customer Conversations

Customer Experience

Dec. 28, 2011

David van Toor published a post

The Fallacy of the Customer Satisfaction Survey

Customer Experience Management

Customer Satisfaction

Nov. 19, 2011

David van Toor asked a question

Are you a Google Adwords subscriber? If so what did you think of your Q3 Performance Report?

Marketing & Advertising

Nov. 16, 2011

David van Toor and 1 other person commented on this post

Sales Discounting - It's rarely the fault of your sales team!

It sounds a little complex from 50,000 feet, but the the real answer to whether the plan is right for your company depends on whether it's driving the behavior amongst the sales team that Management is striving for. Now, whether or not that is consistent ... more

Sales Enablement

Oct. 27, 2011

David van Toor published a post

The #2 Mistake in managing sales teams: Mixed Messages

Sales Effectiveness

Sales Enablement

Sales Leadership

Oct. 25, 2011

David van Toor answered this question

What are some best practices for staggering the distribution of your content?

First rule is have some content worth distributing. I think we tend to lose focus on the power of quality content and think instead about the "trickery" of how to distribute it. more

General Management

Oct. 25, 2011

David van Toor and 22 other people answered this question

How can you train sales reps to have better conversations with prospects vs just pitching?

The doctor analogy is a good one. When I go to my doctor with a health problem that I believe is serious, I'm not talking about price.
Good conversations happen between people who believe they have something to gain from each other. So it follows that ... more

General Management

Oct. 25, 2011

David van Toor and 8 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Sales Training Doesn't Work - Unless You do THIS [10/14 @ 11 am]

Which selling metrics (aside from revenue) matter most in evaluating sales performance?

Useful to consider the problem with sales metrics. It is often difficult to identify whether they are measuring the sales person's ability, or the perceived value of the product in the eyes of the prospect. It's sort of like putting a great race car driver ... more

General Management

Human Resources

Oct. 25, 2011

David van Toor published a post

Seven Mistakes in Managing Sales Teams - Part 1: Not having a clear message

General Management

Sales Enablement

Sales Management

Oct. 24, 2011

David van Toor published a post

Seven Things Wrong with my Sales Team!

General Management

Sales Management

Sales Operations

Oct. 14, 2011

David van Toor and 3 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Sales Training Doesn't Work - Unless You do THIS [10/14 @ 11 am]

How do you get the old sales force connected to the younger sales people?

As the most successful sales VP I've worked with likes to say, "It's simple. Sales folk are wind up dolls. Tell us what we have to do to get paid, and we'll do it".
If collaboration is important to you for valid reasons, carve out a ... more

General Management

Human Resources

Oct. 14, 2011

David van Toor and 1 other person answered this question at this roundtable

Sales Training Doesn't Work - Unless You do THIS [10/14 @ 11 am]

How would you incorporate sales training into a sale/marketing plan, and does this process have any benefit to sales effectiveness?

Sales training is a critical part of a S&M plan. Start of by remembering that a Brand is a collection of delivered promises. Since the sales team are making promises to prospects, it follows that if they make promises inconsistent with what can be delivered, ... more

General Management

Human Resources

Oct. 14, 2011

David van Toor and 12 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Sales Training Doesn't Work - Unless You do THIS [10/14 @ 11 am]

What do you do if your top producer refuses sales training?

Depends on why you think sales training is necessary?
See things from his /her point of view. The only reason he has to take the time away form making commissions is that he believes he'll make more commissions. I'd argue that, so far, the presentations to ... more

General Management

Human Resources

Oct. 12, 2011

David van Toor and 69 other people answered this question

What are your favorite motivational quotes?

As I've said in meetings when this defense is used - "Actually you've had plenty to time, you just chose to use it to do something else..." more

Human Resources

Motivational Quotes

Oct. 12, 2011

David van Toor is now following Stella Stevens

Oct. 12, 2011

David van Toor and 13 other people answered this question

What are the qualifications to be a mentor?

Above all else, the ability, desire, and need to simple LISTEN.
Give me a mentor who is a great, active listener, and has the attributes that Chip enumerates, and I'd sacrifice industry experience all day long. more

General Management

Human Resources

Career Development

Oct. 12, 2011

David van Toor and 16 other people answered this question

What to do when a competitor snatched your to-be product/feature?

Remember this: In 2002, Apple had an MP3 player called an iPod. It was a fairly crowed market for MP3 players. When I brought my first one, I had to convince the sales person at Best Buy that they actually stocked the iPod - he ... more

General Management

Information Technology

Oct. 12, 2011

David van Toor and 10 other people answered this question

I am a smaller company in need of an ERP solution. Will I get the same support as a bigger company if I decide to go with one of the big names like Oracle or SAP?

As a former exec of 2 SAP competitors, I endorse Michaels' remarks. Finding a reseller who understands your needs and your business is the best way of bridging the gap from customer to ERP vendor.
But, like others have said, base your selection first on your ... more

Oct. 6, 2011

David van Toor and 1 other person answered this question

When working w/ cloud vendors, what can customers do to ensure data remains stored in US facilities?

Andrew, it seems we agree. Location of the storage is not important. The Quality of that storage (facilities, governing legal protection, etc) is. more

Information Technology

Cloud Computing

Sept. 19, 2011

David van Toor published a post

A real apology from a CEO is still priceless

Customer Service

General Management

Customer Engagement

Customer Experience Management

Sept. 16, 2011

David van Toor published a post

RIM's earnings woes provide a critical lesson to successful businesses

General Management

Customer Experience

Following 9 Topics

Customer Experience

Customer Service

General Management

Information Technology

Following 2 People

Followed by 22 People

Knowledgeable in 51 Topics

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General Management

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Human Resources

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Sales Management

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Motivational Quotes

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Sales Enablement

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Customer Experience

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Social Business

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Employee Communications

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Customer Experience Management

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Customer Loyalty

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Business Intelligence

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Talent Management

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Customer Service

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User Experience

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Business Finance

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Enterprise Resource Planning

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Enterprise Software

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Product Development

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Entrepreneurship

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Market Research

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Cloud Computing

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Content Marketing

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Social Media Marketing

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