"Engineer in business"
The meeting was kicked off at 12:30 by Marc Lambriks president of KIVI CI. The theme of this first KIVI CI congress was "Engineer in Business" where the questions were "What commercial skills are important?" and "How commercial should you actually be as an engineer?"
The congress was very well attended! In total, there were 56 participants of which 38 were KIVI members (17 CI, 14 non-CI, 7 board members), 11 non-members and 7 speakers.
In response to social developments and the role of the (commercial) engineer, the KIVI Commercial Engineer department formulated a new mission. Based on this new mission, the new KIVI CI slogan was proudly presented: Commercial Engineer: For those who can appreciate engineering! With this mission and new slogan, the KIVI CI Board will develop a vision in the coming months and organise related activities that meet the needs of 'the commercial engineer'. The chairman invited attendees to contribute ideas during a number of sessions that are yet to be planned. The annual conference is the kick-off for this vision development and needs assessment. Presentations by the various speakers are attached. Twan Hillebrand's presentation can be found here.
Introduction by Marc Jonkman; member of merit KIVI CI and chairman of the day
After a brief introduction about his experiences as a commercial engineer, Marc Jonkman gave the floor to the first speaker prof. dr.ir. Bart Nieuwenhuis in the session Business Innovation and Marketing.
It's all about Service by Bart Nieuwenhuis
His presentation "It's all about service" addressed the competitive advantage the manufacturing industry can gain by developing innovative service business models. The transformation of existing business models based on 'value-by-production' and 'value-by-exchange' to 'value-by-use', 'value-by-co-creation' and 'value-by-co-production'. All this was outlined with telling examples and future perspectives that Bart Nieuwenhuis, as lecturer of the new Business Service Innovation lectorate at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, will explore with colleagues.
Organising chance by Bart van Emden
As the second speaker in this session, Bart van Emden presented 'Organising chance in marketing & sales'. Here, he challenged the audience to put themselves in the customer's shoes and made a connection between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Every company should strive for high customer loyalty, or in other words transforming loyal customers into ambassadors. It is interesting to note that companies spend most of their money on advertisements, glossy brochures and sales capacity instead of independent publications, peer-to-peer communication and creating 'loyals'. The message is 'Identify your fans' and 'engage them'!
The importance of communicating by Bart Sterk
As the first presentation in the Sales session, Bart Sterk indicated that really listening to your customers means not using the other person to position yourself, product or service, but rather to give the other person space. This seems easy but turns out to be a difficult task for us as human beings, and certainly as engineers. Respect, personal trust and loyalty are ingredients for improving contact quality. His advice: do not play a role, you are not an actor, be authentic and genuinely interested in your interlocutor. This leads to trust and therefore to awarding.
Pitfalls of sales conversations by Stefan van Happen
Based on his own experiences, Stefan refreshingly revealed a number of pitfalls in sales conversations. Don't start by talking but listen to your customer, don't immediately start telling them all the things your product or service can and does offer; the doctor metaphor was a nice eye-opener. Don't just assume things but verify this in the conversation (ASS U ME), ask through. The whole presentation was framed with fun and striking examples. A nice stepping stone to the master class PPEPP talk that Stefan plans to organise together with KIVI CI, where you will learn to give more structure to your sales conversation and motivate the customer to buy from you.
Soft skills needed for successful interaction with clients and colleagues by Margot Dijker
In her presentation, Margot gave her view on which competences and skills a (commercial) engineer should develop. Mastering these skills leads to new opportunities also in sales. Based on a survey of frequently requested competencies in sales positions, she elaborated on pro-activity, empathy, result orientation and entrepreneurship.
Self-knowledge, self-confidence, network building and retention, influencing and the ability to change (learnable) prove essential. The answer to the question "What does it take to be a commercial engineer?" turns out to be "Motivation and entrepreneurship".
Softskills in customer contact by Twan Hillebrand
Twan approached softskills in sales from the perspective that people need time, desire attention and want to be heard. Three things that get in the way of a 'deal'. His message was to look for the person behind the customer and avoid automating customer communication. Here, it is essential to have self-knowledge and knowledge about the person on the other side of the table. It is important to develop balance in the relationship with your customer which will maximise the effect (= quality x attention) in the relationship with your customer. The DISC model is a personality analysis tool that can give you these insights.
Panel discussion
Despite a hesitant start, a lively discussion eventually ensued with the audience reacting to the speakers' presentation and submitting sharp questions from their own practice to the speakers.
It followed from the discussion that a distinction should be made between commercial acting and thinking, and communicative acting and thinking. Not every commercial engineer needs to be a salesman but the future engineer will have to work on his/her communication skills. An engineer should be able to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams and dare to transcend his/her field of expertise. Every engineer will need to develop commercial awareness. One of participants with his own company stated that every engineer can play Einstein in his company, but he expects this person to contribute to the commercial success of his company. Working on non-technical skills and learning to think commercially are essential here.
The comment came from the audience that KIVI CI could sound out from all departments which commercial skills are desired and put together a basic course for this purpose. Some engineers consciously choose a commercial career, others are 'forced' to go in this direction, a basic commercial skills course could help. Another interesting discussion is about what skills female engineers should develop. The conclusion is that female engineers already have communication skills that their male colleagues naturally lack. The message therefore is: ladies, put these skills to use! In short, lots of interesting discussions, perspectives and advice on the role of commercial engineer, the desired skills, needs and how KIVI CI could facilitate this.
Closure, hot buffet and networking drinks
KIVI CI president Marc Lambriks summarised the outcome of the panel discussion and the first annual conference. And on behalf of the other KIVI CI board members, he indicated that the day was more than successful, the KIVI CI board happy with the information gathered. 6 volunteers signed up to take part in the Benen-Op-Tafel sessions in which future topics and forms of activities that KIVI CI will organise for the (commercial) engineer will be discussed.
The annual conference ended with a hot buffet and networking drinks that well passed the 21:00 mark. The conclusion is clear: KIVI CI is alive and has a clear right to exist. The KIVI CI board is now preparing the 2018 programme Meanwhile, it has been decided that the next KIVI CI annual conference will take place on Monday 29 October 2018. Make a note in your diary!
Description
The KIVI Department of Commercial Engineering is organising its first annual conference in autumn 2017. With this annual conference, we want to connect commercial engineers and future commercial engineers to share knowledge and experience. This year, we have chosen the theme: "Engineer in business: how commercial should you be as an engineer?". The conference will take place on 12 October 2017 at the KIVI building in The Hague.
Value of technology
The role of the commercial engineer in making technological innovations viable and successful in the market is recognised and seen as essential for the development of the business and society. Understanding technology, seeing the technical opportunities and translating them into valuable products and services requires both technical and commercial skills. Which commercial skills are important and how commercial should you be as an engineer? We would like to have this discussion with you during the annual conference.
Connect and share
KIVI CI currently has over 560 members with extensive experience in the field of engineering and commerce. 560 commercial engineers who are engaged daily in creating value for their organisations, companies and society. As KIVI CI, we want to share this knowledge, experience and insights with KIVI members and non-members enabling them to further develop their role as commercial engineers. Our mission is to involve our members, connect fellow professionals and share knowledge with the aim of developing the commercial engineer.
Heart for technology, mind for business
The annual conference is intended for engineers with a heart for technology and a mind for business. The commercial engineer who wants to (further) develop at the interface between technology and commerce.
Programme
After the reception and welcome speech, a number of presentations will follow in the field of business innovation, marketing, sales and commercial skills. Naturally, there will be the necessary breaks during which plenty of discussion can take place. After the panel discussion, we will end the day at 19:00 with a delicious hot buffet where we can chat and do plenty of networking. A preliminary description of the programme is below; further details will be worked out in the coming month.
Speaker(s)
Margot Dijker / Dijk Training & Coaching
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Twan Hillebrand / LeerMaatWerk
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Marc Jonkman / Stork
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Bart Nieuwenhuis / Fontys Hogescholen & TU Twente / Knowledge for Business Innovation
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Bart Sterk / SiS Training
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Bart van Emden / Van Emden Marketing Consultancy
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Stefan van Happen / Sales Trainer and Sales Advisor (ICT/Technology)
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Location
Prinsessegracht 23, 2514 AP The Hague
Organiser
Commercial Engineer
Name and contact details for information
John den Ridder (john.den.ridder@bluelite.nl) Marc Lambriks (marc@lambriks.nl)