Colin Shea
Vice President for Strategy, Planning and regulation, Vodafone Czech Republic

Colin is a Marketing Wizard! He mixes bold pricing with innovative leading edge services and… Presto! Cool services that customers can’t get enough of. Find out how this strategist goes against the wave, use the ‘basic’ and transforms it into the ‘compelling’ and …generates revenues in the process.

What has he done?
Colin came to Vodafone with extensive consulting experience in Business Intelligence, telecommunications and market research. He participated in the foundation of financial advisory firm belonging to the Core Group working in Central and Eastern Europe. Before that he worked KPN Mobile, where he was responsible for strategy of mobile data in the retail customers segment.
‘To think well is wise, to plan well is wiser. And it is even wiser if you add corporate strategy to the planning’. Colin manages all these activities really well. At Vodafone he is responsible for corporate planning processes, inorganic growth and business development, relations with other operators, regulation, legal affairs and external relations. He is also responsible for transformational programs and implementation of processes leading to streamlining activities of the operator.

What will you learn?
You will learn about Product development and pricing.
1) Product development and innovation seem to be the key difference between competitors.
How much is too little and how much is too much? How do you know if you’re developing products fast enough?
2) The right pricing has an immediate effect on revenues. What are some tricks of the trade where you increase price and still retain customers?

Actionable learning for you to take home?
“One of the most important choices for a company to make is to what degree product development and innovation is core to its value proposition. It is not a strategy to be taken lightly; meaningful product development means meaningful investments in technology, people, and customer insights. It is not necessarily bad to be a fast follower, or even a slow follower in some cases. However, what definitely does not work is claiming to be an innovator or product leader but dimensioning as a follower.”

Colin’s favorite Quote
“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than to initiate a new order of things. The initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones. ” – Machiavelli

How someone quoted Colin
“He has this strange ability, that the more outrageous and dangerous his ideas are, the more reasonable and enlightened he makes them sound”.

Join us at Leaders in Marketing on October 18, 2012 in Bucharest, Romania to hear more about Colin Shea and our roster of international Marketing heavyweights.
See http://leadersinmarketing.ro for more details.

Leaders in Marketing
Get Smart …stay Smart!
Smart people welcomed

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Michael Ruckman
Relationship Centricity Pro, Founder, President and CEO
Michael presents a framework for building mutually beneficial relationships with customers. This man has a vision, a different approach. Although using a banking approach first, Michael’s holistic approach to reaching out to customers and securing relationships can apply to other industries as well such as telecoms, broadband, cable and utilities.

What has he done?
Michael worked in his twenty-year career both as a banker and as a consultant for retail banks in over twenty five countries around the world. He is also known for his leadership in promoting the value of Customer Experience in retail banking, he has a tremendous experience in distribution network development, alternative channel roll-outs, sales development, alliances and ventures, systems implementation, and corporate culture development.
He has authored a unique methodological approach to operationalize the Customer Experience principles in practical use, resulting in greater customer loyalty, increased sales, and better customer service. He regularly writes articles for a number of professional publications in Europe and the United States and makes appearances in international conferences as a guest speaker. In addition, Michael has been a guest professor at an Eastern European MBA program, introducing students to modern economic theories and their practical implementation in the business field.
Michael’s work portfolio includes a number of large-scale transformation projects for brands such as Abbey National, Alfa-Bank, Atlantico (Millennium BCP), Banco Venezolano, BNP- Paribas, Citibank, ING, Vneshtorgbank, Bank Menatep SPb, Nadra Bank and many others.

What will you learn?
Like in any business, the most important stakeholder is the Client. Michael explains that relationship-centricity is the concept that a provider and a customer can have a mutually beneficial relationship. Learning what your customers really want just might be the key to creating a relationship-centric relationship.

Actionable learning for you to take home?
“We must stop selling products. Instead, we need to sell solutions that help people to achieve certain results. Regardless what can be found in the package, it is important to that it offers a solution for a specific purpose. First, we should find out the customer needs and then start developing a plan for ways to achieve those goals. And I am not talking just about the goals that the customer has today, but those that he may have in six months, a year or two…”
Join us at Leaders in Marketing on October 18, 2012 in Bucharest, Romania to hear more about Michael Ruckman and our roster of international Marketing heavyweights. See http://leadersinmarketing.ro for more details.

Leaders in Marketing
Get Smart …stay Smart!
Smart people welcomed

The post Leaders in Marketing: Speaker Profile appeared first on .