Hi everyone, Been recommended this site highly! I'm 35 years old been in sales, marketing, business about 10 years in varying capacities....However, now really looking for a high-level thinking, strategic, commercial role...working in conjunction with different business departments. Thought I was in that as CD for a Market Intelligence firm (but have ended up having to do a lot of New Business "cold calling" not really where I want to be and too 1 dimensional) Have BA and Postgraduate ....+ advantage of 5 languages..just don't think I am maximizing my potential....Now thinking about options: 1) MBA studies? 2) Management Consultancy? - but depends on level I could go in at 3) What type of company to go for (Big 4 or smaller boutique) ....My best skills sets: languages, commercial, strategic thinking, creativity (business angles) presentation skills. building rapport. Thanks for suggestions Alexi

It's not clear what kind of role you mean - to be frank there is a lot of fluff here and no actual content. And if you wound up in a cold calling new business role then it rather undermines your claims to strategic insight, creativity around business angles etc.I'm not sure an MBA is necessarily the best route, although on the basis of your post it's probably the only one. Can't see what you would offer a consultancy firm.Let's drill down, maybe we need more clarity. What kind of role are you actually looking for when you say 'high level thinking, strategic, commercial...' ...?

Surely the obvious route here is to become a marketing director or something?Or, if you're after client-facing work, work for a marketing agency?Being able to generate new business (especially opportunities via cold calling) is a very desirable skill... And given your language skills, could you find some sort of marketing agency that does a lot of global work?

Bushy the OP suggests a pure sales record, not one suitable for a marketing role.

well correctedLooks like business development roles might be the way forward? Just go up a few ranks leading sales teams and the like?

Hmmm. Take this as constructive challenge (pretend I'm a recruiter), but I've seen CVs andcovering letters like this a lot. Usually it means......I used to be really good at sales but the relentless pressure has taken its toll and I'd now like a "senior" role where my 5 years of cutting the mustard validates me directing the efforts of others without having to hit sales targets or cold call myself.Consulting firms will only take an experienced hire like you if you have previous consulting experience or come from one of their core client targets.Otherwise it would need to be an MBA, but you'd be looking at a 50k investment, just to get a manager position at a big4, on 60ish grand. Nothing below Director would give you the strategic view that you are looking for at a big4Give us more info to work with.

Just a comment. The average age of MBA's in the US is ~28 and UK/EU ~29.You are better off thinking about a Sloan Masters. You can check this out:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloan_Fellows

Re-reading your post over my afternoon coffee - the answer seems rather obvious! You need to apply for the job you thought you were getting at your current company. The pertinent question is - why is the current role not living up to expectations?

...or redefine how your current company is doing new bus dev. I never cold call and yet I have a constant flow of new business. Maybe you need to take the high ground where you are and try to develop new, better ways of winning new business? could be an opportunity for you ..?

Sage advice from Mars as always

Thanks a lot that's sound advice - and that was the tactic I was on contemplation looking at employing ...thanks for your wisdom.

Yes that's exactly right. However, often the case the role you think you will be doing doesn't always transpire. Therefore, I guess it is the case of manipulating the role in my favour - demonstrating strategic ability and reiterating key strengths. I am sure I can make things work out and get to where I should be! Thanks for constructive comments - taken on board. Cheers!

Yes you're right - my strategy for success would be A combination of research, some cold calling mixed with well -thought about e-mails, exploiting various channels - LinkedIn etc ...Face to Face presentations, Skype presentations, powerpoint presentations to maintain interest and hit prospects from different angles -- would want to implement all these but currently Managing Director in favour (for Q1 and Q2) hitting the phones playing a numbers game (which doesn;t work that well in Europe + it is beginning in some instances to tarnish the brand name) Guess it is up to me to have a "word" and look at putting things right. (Just need to think of best way to approach it and not come across to forthright) ....

Hi Alexi,good to see you taking a positive approach. Best of luck. My question on why you think the role has not quite worked out so far was meant to identify if you think you can change things or is there a problem at the firm.For example, some firms are simply too small to merit a "strategic" role - more likely that one person sells, delivers, "washes bottles", etc all day and spends about 1 hour a month of "strategy"I've also seen situations where the firm is a subsidiary and all strategic direction is decided upon by the distant parent company.Worth identifying the "why" in order to identify a fix.Good luck

Cheers again! and thanks for the tip re: Sloane Masters. You sound a smart individual and one I am glad to be acquainted with. Have good weekend.

Obviously without the "e"

[quote]Yes you're right - my strategy for success would be A combination of research, some cold calling mixed with well -thought about e-mails, exploiting various channels - LinkedIn etc ...Face to Face presentations, Skype presentations, powerpoint presentations to maintain interest and hit prospects from different angles -- would want to implement all these but currently Managing Director in favour (for Q1 and Q2) hitting the phones playing a numbers game (which doesn;t work that well in Europe + it is beginning in some instances to tarnish the brand name) Guess it is up to me to have a "word" and look at putting things right. (Just need to think of best way to approach it and not come across to forthright) .... [/quote]All good stuff there Alexi, just change that 'me' to 'we' and you'll get people on board - make it a company imperative not a personal need.

Yes - you are so right!Enjoying being on here and communicating with like-minded people - very refreshing!

Alexi - your firm sells market intel but your MD thinks you should "hit the phones"! Does he not see the irony in that!? Its like walking into a Giorgio Armani shop and finding all the staff are dressed in a uniform supplied by Marks & Spencers! Surely market intel is used to provide focus and insight in order to better focus scarce resource and establish priorities...--------------------------I previously headed up a practice at a start up consultancy and we had to consistently punch above our weight in the absence of a marketing or advertising budget. We did this by targeting very tightly and then spending more money than our bigger competitors on very tailored approaches. For example, we once mocked up an entire board game around a particular market issue, then we sent it to 5-10 execs at each of ten or so target firms. Each of the execs got the same board and rules, but they ALL got a different "character" that they were meant to play the game as. The character cards looked a bit like Top Trumps, each one with strengths and weaknesses, etcIn the package we put the game, a briefing note and an invitation (undated) to "play the game" with their colleagues at an evening briefing that we would host and at which there would be a guest speaker (a well thought of academic who had published on the topic). We then hit the phones to get dates for the "game session" - and in almost every target client we got at least 2 or 3 people interested. We didn't REALLY care about the game - in many cases we ended up just getting 1-2-1 sessions, and in NO cases did we actually end up playing the game, but the point was - the game LOOKED great - it deserved to be played and it showed that we really understood this particular issue.It also made us look very different to all our competitors who were very grey and dry in their approach.One rather sad head of finance liked the game so much he gave it to his kids.worth a thought...

Hi do you think you can elaborate a bit more on the Game Strategy sounds an interesting concept Cheers.

Do you have a copy of the game still ?

no - long gone.not much more to add - I really only meant it as an example of how you can target a very tight group of companies and then make sure you get a response from multiple execs at that company by being a bit creative.The game topic (trendy at the time) was "The Internet". The game had two basic rounds - round one - gather together assets you need to launch an internet business, round two allowed the characters to move down one of a number of different paths - e.g. standalone dot-com, online integrated with offline, bricks and clicks, etc. All the different characters (Ops Director, Content Manager, Head of Sales) all had different "powers" so naturally all gravitated towards different paths....The detail is not important - its the idea that you commit to a target audience and then invest some time and effort into that audience - a physical asset like a mocked up game is just a way to impress upon your target that you have spent a lot of effort on the pitch - not just phoned them and read out a script...Like I say, we NEVER played it. But we did get dozens of interested targets.