The Step Change Blog

The latest thinking on business, strategy, marketing and sales

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November 22, 2023

4 Smart Ways to Speed Up Your Sales Cycle Effectively

B2B Sales, Sales, Decision Making, Marketing Automation, Alignment, Brand Positioning, Sales Strategy, Marketing Funnel

Convert sales-qualified leads to real customers effectively using these four tips.

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August 24, 2023

Marketing Budget: How Much Should You Spend on Marketing?

Predatory Marketing, Business Strategy, Branding, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Business Growth, Challenger Brands, Alignment, Brand Building, Strategy Frameworks, Brand Positioning, Measures That Matter, Strategic Planning, Brand Saliency

Finalising your budget? 

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July 20, 2023

How Do You Overcome a Bad Decision?

Business Strategy, Decision Making, Productivity, Culture & Leadership, Scenario Planning, Institute of Change, High Performing Teams, Business Opportunities, Smart Decision System, Smart Risk

When you've made a bad decision, how do you overcome? Here are four simple ways to recover from a bad decision.

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April 20, 2023

10 Key Business Areas Powered with AI: A Guide for Board Members

Technology, Business Strategy, Artificial Intelligence, Innovation, Decision Making, Digital, Business Growth, Marketing Technology, Marketing Automation, Software, Challenger Brands

What’s all this noise surrounding artificial intelligence? Is AI worth the hype? And how do you even get started? Do these questions sound familiar?

With marketing technology (martech) and AI becoming a critical part of mainstream business strategy, getting the buy-in from the top brass is essential. But lack of understanding, fear of the unknown, ethics, biases, and costs can get in the way. 

So how do you demystify martech and AI and get the ball rolling?

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January 31, 2023

3 Ways to Transform Board Meetings with Measures That Matter

Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Business Growth, Board, Strategy Frameworks, Measures That Matter, Tracking, Strategic Planning, Reporting

UPDATED: As of 25th January 2023

 

Ever been to a board meeting that left you feeling unproductive and confused? 

In an increasingly data-led world and with the rise of artificial intelligence, businesses are able to track more than ever before. But it’s easy to get caught up in tracking and forget to drive results altogether.

As a board member, it’s critical that you’re able to look beyond the documentation and into the priceless insight that lies between the lines. Question is, how?

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October 19, 2022

Knowledge Nuggets: How Minds Change

Better World, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Productivity, Knowledge Nuggets, Leadership, Team Efficiency

Have you ever tried to change someone’s mind? Have you ever found someone trying to change your mind? And how did these experiences go? Like it or not, many of life’s interactions are but replays of these two scenarios — only with different choices and characters.

Sure, influence and persuasion are must-haves in every leader’s toolbox. But have you ever looked beyond your agenda and asked yourself — wait, how do minds change? And how does this shape the world that we live in today?

That’s exactly what journalist and self-proclaimed psychology nerd David McRaney did in his book “How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion”.

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March 9, 2021

An Effective Framework for Strategic Decision-Making

Decision Making, Culture & Leadership

Companies do not come to faster decisions by osmosis — it is always the result of a better decision-making framework.In agile organisations, the ability to make nimble decisions lead to 2.5x the growth, twice the profit, and a 30% higher ROI on investments.

How can you unlock your ability to make better, smarter decisions?

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February 17, 2021

6 Key Principles for Creating Lightning Strike Moments: Exponential Marketing

Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Creativity, exponential marketing

Learn about the scenario planning mistakes and how you can prevent them from misfiring your strategy so you can navigate complexity efficiently.

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September 25, 2020

Navigating Complexity: 5 Scenario Planning Mistakes & How To Stop Them

Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Creativity, Culture & Leadership, Scenario Planning, Alignment

Learn about the scenario planning mistakes and how you can prevent them from misfiring your strategy so you can navigate complexity efficiently.

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September 15, 2017

How Genghis Khan and Mother Teresa Would Beat Amazon in Australia

Business Strategy, Power of Model Thinking, Decision Making, Popular Posts, History's Greatest Strategists

If you had to make a list of some of the most powerful brands in history, online retail giant Amazon would undoubtedly be right at the top. According to one recent study, the company saw $2.371 billion in net income in 2016 on the back of $136 billion in net sales — and that’s just in the United States. The company is also growing at a rate of about 27% year-over-year and currently employs more than 341,000 people. All of this is to say that the fact that Amazon has decided to make its long-awaited move into Australia should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody. 

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September 6, 2016

How to Boost Individual Participation in Team Decision Making

Power of Model Thinking, Decision Making

Looking for ways to get your shy team member to openly contribute ideas? The Stepladder Technique could do the trick.

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May 27, 2016

Making Better Decisions: The Ladder of Inference

Ladder of Inference, thinking, Power of Model Thinking, Decision Making

Learn about how the Ladder of Inference can help you make better decisions

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May 26, 2016

3 Common Biases Affecting Your Decision-Making

Gamblers Fallacy, Power of Model Thinking, Decision Making, Confirmation Bias, Fundamental Attribution Error

There are 100,000,000,000,000,000 processes running through your head right now. Learn the best way to recognise the biases that can occur and how to manage them in your decision-making.

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March 8, 2016

The Power of Decisions

Bias, Personal Growth, Power of Model Thinking, Decision Making, Power of Decision, Culture & Leadership

We make choices everyday. If we improved the quality of our choices, what impact would what have on our lives?

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