With the focus on self-development

At the June meeting of Trade Marketing Club speakers were presenting new ideas and solutions that can help us plan and conduct talks more effectively. Members met in the Fortuna Restaurant in Buda Castle and were welcomed by one of the club’s founders, Zsuzsanna Hermann. She gave the floor to Gábor Sallai, managing director of E-content Solutions Kft. The creative agency’s customers include Pfizer, Egis, Europark Shopping Centre, MAPEI and Pécsi Brewery. The director introduced the work they had done in relaunching the TEVA Eurovit product line in 2013. They were so successful that Eurovit Multilong even won a Best Product Launch prize.

Tamás Csongovai, the commercial director of Coop spoke about the technique of Mind Mapping. The method was developed by a man called Tony Buzan, who was studying how to make learning and note taking more efficient. He was also looking for ways to use our brain more effectively (we only use a small part of our brain and there is no human who utilises all 10 billion nerve cells and the connections between them). Human thinking is based on associations – one thing makes us think of another. With the help of associations we can acquire knowledge with greater efficiency. The dialogue between the right side of the brain and the left side of the brain – which are responsible for doing different tasks – is ensured by the corpus callosum, a bridge between the abilities of creative and analytic thinking.

We need to use both sides of the brain if we want to think effectively. For this we have to get rid of obsolete schemes in our thinking: with the help of mind mapping we can concentrate better and we can rapidly find the connection between different pieces of information, seeing the ‘big picture’ and the ‘details’ at the same time. Mind mapping makes it possible to mark the connections between ideas in our brain, making it simpler to understand and process a problem. Mind maps can help us in preparing presentations, finding the solutions to problems and working out strategies.

The presentation of psychologist István Soós on L&D training apps was also delivered by Mr Csongovai. DISC+ is the name of the application that can be used to improve the skills of sales reps. Those who use it can communicate with customers in a more targeted fashion, increasing the chances for convincing them and selling them the goods. Tailor-made and targeted marketing and sales strategies can be developed by using DISC+. It only takes 2 minutes to create a customer profile and a personalised, detailed guide to dealing with the customers becomes available at the push of a button.

Profiles can be used in many ways. It is a good idea to read the customer profile before talks start with them, together with the related communication instructions. It is also possible to create a DISC map, to check communication efficiency by style based on sales data or other kinds of success index. Sales reps who use DISC+ acquire practical knowledge in their daily work without any special effort. Another advantage of using DISC+ is that sales reps become more effective, thereby increasing volume sales and profit. The DISC Leader app is recommended to those working in managerial positions, giving them a helping hand in leading their subordinates in the form of personalised advice.

Graphic illustrator and visual process assistant Szilárd Strenner, the managing director of Grafacity.eu taught participants how simple drawings and the power of images can make strategic planning and everyday business negotiations more efficient. He told that Eastern cultures are more visual than Western ones, they use more images and symbols that carry lots of information, so by memorising one we can remember lots of important things. Grafacity uses visual techniques and a wide range of development solutions to establish graphic note taking and facilitating in Hungary.

By using visual tools one can summarise existing information and at the same time inspire new interpretations, finding the connection between things and making it possible to go forward with the things we are working on. Lectures, discussions and debates can be recorded in the form large-size graphic notes. Graphics can be as several meters long and be published in the form of an e-book. Trade Marketing Club’s meeting ended with a barbecue, courtesy of sponsors Almdudler, PICK Szeged, Univer Products and Zewa.