Tier 1 Leadership and Championship Culture Leadership

Fundamental Leadership

This course is built on decades of experience in serving, studying, coaching, and developing military special operations and corporate leadership. This is not an MBA class on leadership taught from text. …this is ripped from real world experience learned from failure and success in combat and the boardroom. The primary goal is to learn about what it takes to be an effective leader regardless of your role, and to make real progress in becoming one. Students will learn about articulating a vision, game changing problem solving, and other elements of effective leadership and processes involved in executive decision making.

Total leadership is taking ownership of decisions and outcomes while setting examples by integrating work, home, community, and self-improvement in the whole person concept. The powerful combination of authenticity (being real), integrity (being whole and undivided), and creativity (being innovative) is what sets Tier 1 leadership apart from management, and service above self apart from “climbing the corporate ladder”.

Learning Objectives

Develop a fundamental understanding of leadership and the skills manifest in effective leaders
Demonstrate effective techniques and strategies for articulating a vision
Demonstrate an understanding of the steps involved in setting goals
Demonstrate comprehension of the elements and processes involved in decision making
Ethical Leadership

(Advanced) Championship Culture Leadership

“It pays to be a winner” is a phrase that is said often at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, CA during Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, and that championship culture is what they find meaning in. The practice of leadership is becoming increasingly important in our ultra-competitive marketplace as effective leaders can have a dramatic impact on a wide range of critically important organizational performance variables. Leadership can impact innovation and creativity, transformation, productivity, and employee morale. This course brings commitment, confidence, composure, character, and other pillars of championship cultures into a clarity of action for your team.

There is a saying in Tier 1 military special operations, “you cannot read the label from inside the jar”, and nowhere is that more apparent than in leadership—in military and business. There is a second saying which truly drives this home, “there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.” This is the mantra of ownership of decisions, outcomes, and culture.

Learning Objectives

How to identify the elements of effective team building. Do you have a championship culture?
Understanding the roles of empowering and delegating as effective leadership skills
Demonstrate and differentiate relationship between power, delegation, and empowerment of subordinates
Discuss the role of a leader in initiating change and helping others to adjust to change
Servant-leader’s role in leadership
Identify personal leadership orientation and philosophy

For a full comprehensive course overview, please email us.

Customer Testimonials

This was a ‘life changing’ course.

Added Value Selling

Added Value Selling is NOT just another sales course. Rather, it is a course of action – a business philosophy built on the foundation of customer service. In today’s competitive global marketplace, it is more important than ever to remember that opportunities will most likely come to fruition ONLY when customers trust you and know that you will meet their unique needs. At The Maher Group, we simply call this, Added Value Selling.

Course Description

In AVS, some of the key learning modules address:

How to develop trust and rapport quickly with any customer (or prospective customer) behavioral type
Learning the ultimate art in sales – ‘elicitation’ – to uncover real requirements while simultaneously building stronger business relationships
Penetrating the sales-decision process quickly by defining and selling product value in terms of individual customer desires
Grow current business through the art of the ‘Follow-up’ and ‘Upselling’

Sound simple? Think again. Added Value Selling is an art that needs to be learned and mastered in order to help differentiate your products and services from your competitors.

Tailoring Added Value Selling

As with all Maher Group programs, the tailoring we conduct prior to class launch is what ensures participants will be engaged throughout the session. Tailoring includes interviewing subject matter experts as well as conducting OSINT (open source intelligence analysis) so that the course content is relevant to your:

Products/ services / concepts / solutions
Competitive environment
Current situation (growth objectives/ growth challenges)
Customer set and overall market space

Learning Objectives

Comprehensive Content (2 Days)

Participants will leave this highly interactive course with:

An understanding of the difference between ‘price’ and ‘cost’
A step-by-step communication process applicable in any customer/consumer setting
A thorough understanding of the different customer behavioral types: Dominant/Driver, Ego/Expressive, Complacent/Amiable and Stable/Analytic (and how to effectively appeal to each type)
An appreciation of ‘The Added Value Model’: the sale is always more about the customer than it is about the seller
A strategic path forward for acquiring new business as well as growing existing customer relationships

For a full comprehensive course overview, please email us.

Customer Testimonials

What our customers say about this program.

Best course I’ve ever had. Great energy and made ‘dry’ material exciting.

Sheilah and Justin were great from planning to execution for this class (Added Value Selling + Guerrilla Tactics for Competitive Selling). It was money and time well spent.

I had more “take-aways” from the Maher Groups’s two day session than I did from a two week Executive Marketing class I attended at UCLA. Why isn’t all of our training this good?

Guerrilla Tactics for Competitive Selling

For business development and sales individuals in today’s ultra-competitive and global arena, now more than ever, it is winner take all. There are simply no rewards for second place. Your organization cannot assume it will remain successful simply by doing the same things that it used to do even a few years ago. In the new millennium, good selling tactics and customer relationships are not going to be enough to make your BD/sales team a success. Bottom line: if you want to stop losing to your competition then you’ve got to sharpen your competitive selling skills.

Course Description

This energy-charged, two-day program shows the experienced business development team, as well as the sales novice, how to depart from traditional textbook capture and sales tactics and take a radically different approach to business development using the principles of guerrilla warfare.

Salespeople in any industry need to learn the competitive principle stated clearly thousands of years ago by Sun Tzu: “If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you’ll also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will lose every battle.” This course will remind the student that the lessons, strategies and tactics of war (the ultimate competition) can teach any modern business development team how to win the battles in the 21st century marketplace.

Learning Objective

Prior to session kick off, (up to 3) live fire (real) opportunities/targets are identified for development in the course. Using customer subject matter experts to provide crucial and timely background information, The Maher Group then develops comprehensive outlines which will allow the students to complete actionable ‘white papers’ and ‘business plans’ specific to their target of opportunity.

For a full comprehensive course overview, please email us.

Customer Testimonials

What our customers say about this program.

I have taken many BD training courses in my 25 years of Business Development, both internally and externally, and this one is far and away the best for several reasons. Most importantly, the tasks assigned are real world examples of opportunities that we are pursuing, not just some made-up text book examples ….. this is a welcome departure and something that I feel has always been missing. Our choice to go with the Maher group has been a good one and I can’t wait until the next installment.

Powerful training! This course got quickly to the essence of what we do and how we can do it much more effectively and strategically. Putting these tools into place has meant a huge jump in the PWin for our division. We plan to have Maher Group training for every customer facing title that we have. Best of the best!

L-3 Com-West firmly believes in this training program and our growth shows its effects! Without it, we may not have won PHOENIX, Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle, or several other of our Competitive Must Win Programs.The Maher Group’s hands-on style and deep understanding of our business differentiates this training from everyone else’s. Many of our marketing people take the class again and again to sharpen their skills. We’ll keep training until our entire division thinks like a guerrilla!

The Maher Group is top notch! The material is timeless and relevant for all market segments and any sales/SD/customer facing team!

Justin was an exceptional instructor whose knowledge of the defense industry helped make the training the most impactful I’ve participated in!

Thank you for leading this great class with our capture, BD and program teams. The feedback demonstrates we are bringing continuous improvement to our people in ways that give them training, tools and practical application to making them more capable and effective. Sheilah, once again the feedback demonstrates why the Maher Group is a “go to” training and development partner for our BO and capture business areas.

Guerrilla Tactics is an excellent course that balances customer psychology and contractor technology to create a one shot, one kill strategy.

As a result of the Added Value Selling and Guerrilla Tactics courses, we are going to implement the 7 deadly questions into our pipline process. Awesome course(s)!

Sheilah and Justin were great from planning to execution for this class (Added Value Selling + Guerrilla Tactics for Competitive Selling). It was money and time well spent.

Very engaging training and directly useful to key strategic pursuits.

Persuasive Presentations

Persuasive Presentations uses three real time (customer identified) presentation opportunities. Our 10 step proven process uses a customer centric philosophy which ensures that the presenter doesn’t pitch their products / services or concepts to the audience. Each team will have the opportunity to take part in the development and delivery of a presentation on day two. Delivering a persuasive presentation can make the difference between moving forward (and winning) or losing the opportunity altogether.

Course Description

This intensive, two-day program is a unique presentations skills class developed specifically for the customer-oriented sales/BD process. Content includes the situations commonly experienced when presenting the product or service prior to the final proposal and when presenting the final proposal itself.

Following this powerful focus on presentation skills, participants will immediately be able to implement what they’ve learned to increase credibility, understandability and effectiveness.

Learning Objectives

Students will learn:

Physical Skills
Organizing the Presentation
Using visual aids
Handling questions

For a full comprehensive course overview, please email us.

Performance Based Negotiations

Negotiation takes place every day but it is NOT easy to do well! Every negotiation is different, but the basic elements do not change. The principles of negotiation can be used with one issue or several, and with one person or more. However, at The Maher Group, we believe that knowledge of human behavior is essential to becoming an effective negotiator. Anticipating and satisfying needs, understanding assumptions, and the art of expanding possibilities are the keys to the “Win-Win” negotiation process.

The Maher Group uses three real time targets/customers/opportunities as the basis for all exercises, ensuring that the content is ‘real time’ and relevant to current pursuits and negotiation situations. These may be external (customer) scenarios or internal (organizational) scenarios. The walk away is three completely developed negotiation strategies designed to be utilized immediately following the class.

Course Description

To create a successful negotiation, it is essential to know what the other person wants, needs, or will settle with! Performance Based Negotiations teaches tactics, techniques, and protocols, to gather information and uncover needs skillfully. Recognizing when the customer has a real need and being able to reinforce it while establishing and maintaining rapport gives you the winning formula for excellent negotiations. Your team will be able to close the negotiation or gain commitment to the next step in any negotiation process using a process proven by the top negotiators worldwide, including the NYPD Hostage Negotiation Team.

Learning Objectives

Gather critical information (interests) that is needed to negotiate a successful outcome
Recognize various negotiation styles and personality types, and using basic through advanced negotiation tactics, techniques, and protocols, to fit the negotiation style of the other party
Position the negotiation in a way that ensures the other side recognizes the value, and increases margins, while maintaining an atmosphere of trust
Apply common tactics, techniques, and protocols in the counter tactics of negotiating
Exhibit an attitude or preparedness that sets the stage for successful negotiation

For a full comprehensive course overview, please email us.

Customer Testimonials

What our customers say about this program.

We used The Maher Group’s Negotiations training in a critical re-compete, which we won (and didn’t lower our price!). Hands down-the best course on Negotiations that I’ve taken.

Eye opening! This course taught my team and I a REAL way to win-win Negotiations. The instructor showed us how to use our value proposition as the key to a successful negotiation-NOT price!

Tactics and counter tactics was the take away from this class-I feel I have much more influence in the process now. Superb class. Fast moving and worthwhile!

Winning the Customer Relationship (Program Managers)

In the current defense and aerospace environment it is imperative, now more than ever, that customer facing titles (above and beyond sales and business development) to understand their role in growing customer account value (contract value). When customers know you understand and care for their concerns (requirements), they are more likely to trust recommendations for additional products and services.

Course Description

Winning the Customer Relationship (WCR) is geared toward people with technical titles (customer facing) that have great influence and access to uncover additional customer requirements. WCR was created for the challenges associated with the belief: “I’m not a sales/BD person.”

Learning Objectives

WCR takes a deep dive into improving the interpersonal skills which are critical to master in order for account growth to occur:

Listening for the sake of understanding, not responding
Eliciting critical information via a strategic questioning process
Identifying customer behavioral types using
D.E.C.S (Dominant/Driver -Ego/Expressive -Complacent/Amiable and Stable/Analytic)
Developing deeper trust and rapport with the customer
Gathering, analyzing and disseminating intel to other appropriate players in the pursuit / growth process

For a full comprehensive course overview, please email us.

Customer Testimonials

The Maher Group did a remarkable job in developing and delivering a custom training course for tightly coupling our program managers to our business development team in order to leverage strength in customer relationships and to grow our business. This course was first pass home run.

Top quality program! Presenter was very insightful and provided lots of real world examples to apply the material. Kept the audience engaged!

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! Great training session! Probably one of the best I’ve attended in my career.

L3 Harris

Justin was the most engaging trainer that I have had in my corporate career. He ensured the entire class was engaged mentally and with physical participation.

Northrop Grumman