Testimonials

A FEW WORDS FROM OUR HAPPY CLIENTS.

“Over the years of our operation, we had developed a number of processes that we were unable to verify in term of relevance. (...) ValueView® is a simple and straightforward way of identifying what improvements we should make and what we should focus on“

 

Ryszard Lorek President of SGB Bank SA Poland

“Organizational Agility helped to clear the air so we could proceed with necessary changes in strategies and practices that reflect the basic values of our company.”

 

John Young, Former CEO, Hewlett Packard

“I wish to express Council’s appreciation for the work Dawson McDonald & Associates undertook earlier this year to help us better understand our organisational climate.
Council has been determined to improve its performance and the quality of its service delivery to its diverse range of customers. The Organisational Alignment Survey has enabled us to better understand the workplace culture and key issues which have hampered our capacity to improve delivery.
Whilst the details of our survey were, at times, confronting, the analysis provides a very clear picture and subsequent path for Council to follow to achieve success.“

 

Alastair Dawson, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BEAUDESERT SHIRE COUNCIL, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

“Your Executive Overview presentation really helped my Executive Team to focus on the critical issues that arose from the results. I liked the combination of being given clear recommendations on the action we should take and also have the option of examining the detailed statistics. One of the most powerful aspects of the Survey is that it has given us fresh insights on issues critical to our business success.“

 

Fiona Mellor, Advertising Sales Director, The Herald & Weekly Times Pty Ltd. (HWT), Australia

“The most pleasing feature of the survey was the ability to capture the information that is important to us in such a timely manner. Confidentiality was of clear importance to us and the ability to complete the survey on line, via a password control, guaranteed the integrity of the anonymity. Hence, the excellent participation rate. “

 

Mark Matheson, General Manager – Human Resources, Primus Telecom

“I was amazed to see that the OAS findings for each of the 12 assessed categories were similiar to our personal observations of the company. The OAS benchmark data, using data from Service Industries as well as the comparison report between my organization and the best in class organization from the database, was very impressive. OAS has helped identify opportunities for Paradise Hotel and Casino to become a true 'paradise' by doing things with the appropriate strategies, which the OAS feedback suggested.“

 

Mr. Yun-soo Jung, Senior Executive Director, Paradise Hotel and Casino Korea

“The OAS has served to validate a number of key assumptions as well as uncover areas of concern that are not currently on management’s radar screen.“

 

Martha Collard, Former Director – Human Resources Asia Pacific, Grey Worldwide

“Retention is a better indicator of business success than market share.“

 

Sasser & Heskett, Corporate Culture and Performance

The workshop “The Persuasive Communicator” was very inspirational, energizing and brought to the team lots of ideas and knowledge. An excellent program. I would rate the training as a 10 out of 10 and highly recommend to Sales teams and all other teams who need to improve relations. The app is really great and helpful.

 

João Figueiroa, Human Resources Director, Europcar Portugal

“I would definitely recommend you to others.

This was an excellent workshop delivered at a personal one-on-one level. The day spent with John & Carmel was definitely an eye opener where I learnt new things about not only how I am perceived by my colleagues but they also equipped me with tools that would aid me in influencing key people in the hierarchy and external clients.“

 

Philanthropic Relations Coordinator, Deakin University, Australia.

“I Can talk about it only in Superlativus.“

 

Zsuzsa Dioszegi, Pharmaceutical Site Director at Sanofi

“The Persuasive Communicator from Persona Global is a complete methodology. We have used it in training our team leaders in order to become better skilled as mentors and coaches for their people. Everybody expressed satisfaction about the feedback report, about the training methodology and insights and, of course about the trainer and the course atmosphere. Great experience working with MMM Consulting the Persona Global partner for Romania.“

 

Anca Tudorache, HR Head Siemens Romania

The renowned Leadership Academy Aarau judges Persuasive Communicator as the best in class concept to develop communication and leadership skills of the participants during learning and in their professional environment.
Particularly appreciated by the participants are topics related to challenging situations such as complaints handling, conflict management, peer coaching or to perform a convincing presentation.
In their end-of-program review, students regularly qualify the 2-days offsite workshop, performed during the first two month of the program, in the top three of all sessions.
Above all acclaimed is knowledge and consideration of social styles being extremely positive towards quality and efficiency of project work and on the team's overall progress.
Not to forget the inclusive positive effect on Alerion’s reputation because the number of participants equal number of companies talking at management level about us.
Next sessions already planned for Nov. 2017 and Nov. 2018

 

 

Persona Persuasive Communicator – Fundamental impact in Swiss Post Graduate Leadership Program

“Our clients like Nestlé, Vodafone, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Nissan, Volkswagen demand this kind of skills. They need to get our information our ideas very effectively, very briefly. In order to reach the same my team attended to a very professional program called Professional Presentation Live. We use this kind of skills in our daily life especially in tender presentations where 4, 5 or 6 advertising agencies are competing for one project. In order to reach the same I think my company uses these presentation skills every day and we are very happy that we attended to this kind of program.“

 

Csaba Kollar, Client Service Director at PopGroup International Advertising Agency

“I usually say to my employees as there is no life without air, similarly too there is no business success without strong communication skills. Presentation skills can only be developed by lots of practicing. I am delighted that there is a good program that makes it possible. I strongly recommend this  FreeRunner simulation or I better to say I feel it mandatory for every sales and management personnel.“

 

Attila Tihanyi , Caterpillar Hungary, Logistic Manager

“I appreciated it very much that I can practice with the help of FreeRunner for these occasions in a riskfree environment. I was faced with examples and situations which happen really in real life therefore it prepared me very well for my real situations. Also in terms of applicability I find it a positive fact that you can use it in a wild range within the organization. You might wonder why a finance director is that keen on presentation techniques but I believe that these days without proper communication skills there is no leadership function or job that you can fulfill properly and your impact will be only the quality one if you are prepared well for those situations.“

 

Peter Konecsni, Finance Director of Unilever in Central and Eastern Europe.

“This app is now as much a part of my toolkit as my phone and tablet. It’s mobile, it reminds and assists me to approach others in the way that they want me to. Since using the app I don’t talk my way out of as many opportunities.  The Persona app is installed on my tablet and is easy to use without drawing attention to it.  Client profiles are saved so I can refresh before I talk with prospects again.

It’s not a gimmick, it’s simply about understanding people and communicating with them in the way that engages them. Isn’t that the point of relationship building?

I’ve been to a lot of sales & relationship building courses, but this is the first one where you take the tool with you into your business.“

 

P. Marshall, Manager — Business Development. ProRisk

“The (PG) Persuasive Communicator Program is an excellent work tool and its applicability to the Sales Force makes a positive impact and also plays a decisive role in the results.

This is a fantastic technique that promotes a positive behavior change in the way of performance of the Sales Force.

I write this based on my experience - the methodology implemented for approximately 650 professionals: Directors/National Sales Managers/Territory Managers/Technical Consultants/Account Managers/Representatives/Interns/Marketing and Brand Managers/ between Danone (my current company) and Pfizer/Wyeth (previous company).

The applicability of the sales force is very simple and immediately after the Course. The concepts are very simple to incorporate into the medical calls and the coaching process by Sales Managers.

Beyond the Sales Force, the project can (and should) as a suggestion to involve other areas directly related to the business of the CIA, for example:

  • Internal: Marketing and Healthcare can prepare and adapt the promotional materials and strategies, customizing promotional messages according to the communication style of doctors.
  • Sales Managers (all levels): improved communication (relationship) between the team and assists in the process of coaching.

 

Paulo Henrique Garbuio, Sales Training Manager, Danone Medical Nutrition

“Mi opinión respecto al Proyecto “Transition to Management” de Persona Global es muy positiva. Ha cubierto nuestras expectativas, ya que ha sido recibido de manera satisfactoria por nuestros colaboradores por su aplicabilidad y utilidad demostrables; y además, es una muy buena herramienta para su desarrollo directivo que les permite adaptar la comunicación a cada situación, mejorar su impacto e influencia y manejar con éxito las situaciones de conflicto. Me gustaría destacar la profesionalidad y atención del equipo de Persona Global."

SARA MARTÍN-PORTUGUÉS GONZÁLEZ
MAPFRE SEGUROS DE EMPRESAS
Recursos Humanos

"My opinion on the project "Transition to Management" by Persona GLOBAL is very positive. It has met our expectations,has been successfully received by our staff for its applicability and demonstrable usefulness,and is also a good tool for management development because it allows them to tailor communication to each situation, to improve its impact and influence and successfully manage conflict. I would like to highlight the professionalism and care of team Persona GLOBAL.“

 

SARA MARTÍN-PORTUGUÉS GONZÁLEZ, Recursos Humanos, MAPFRE SEGUROS DE EMPRESAS

“Persuasive Communicator is an interactive course where participants were able to interact with each other, to assess themselves but also other colleagues, to understand why at some point we behave in one way or another, and how we can improve our relationships with others. As with any soft skills training, the contribution of the facilitator is very important, and we had a teacher who knew how to provoke us in discussions and exchanges of views, to advice us, to explain not only the course theory but also to give us examples of everyday life. I think after this course, my team unrevealed some mysteries of human behavior and from the course on people worked together much easier and had an optimal approach with clients who come in contact (that is a telesales team).“

 

Irina Captariu, Tele Management Lead, Microsoft Romania

“Together with MMM Consulting, we organized in April a workshop for our management team. I have found the methodology “Persuasive Communicator” more than adequate for what we had need. We are a new team, a team that is in its beginning state of knowing each other and we hope that soon we will reach the stage of consolidation.

We experienced a more than useful tool for our organization and more than that, we had a trainer who had the ability to present this tool and its benefits in a pleasant manner, with examples close to our reality. Finally, I discovered things I have known about us, but also completely new things, I have seen what is the perception of others regarding our communication style and more, I left with confidence in us and trust us as a team. Different opinions shows you different perspectives but also helps you know yourself! “Persuasive Communicator” helped us in have an insight about our individual flexibility and about the level of empathy that we have. In terms of our organization, we will use again the questionnaire for different employees and I am sure the results and their feedback will be as positive as it was from the management team.“

 

Irina Captariu, Tele Management Lead, Microsoft Romania

“My opinion on the project ""Transition to Management"" by Persona GLOBAL is very positive. It has met our expectations,has been successfully received by our staff for its applicability and demonstrable usefulness,and is also a good tool for management development because it allows them to tailor communication to each situation, to improve its impact and influence and successfully manage conflict. I would like to highlight the professionalism and care of team Persona GLOBAL.“

 

Sara Gonzalez, Human Resources, MAPFRE, Spain

“I find myself surprised by the fact I am writing these words, my participation in the Persuasive Communicator workshop proved equally a surprise. The workshop showed itself to be insightful and informative, anyone participating will not only receive what I could best describe as a formula for needs of other individuals, that being customers or co-workers. I previously may have I am sure subconsciously 'Attempted to satisfy another individual needs' That's not a line many of us use frequently 'Attempting to satisfy other peoples needs', simply put interact with a person in a manner they feel comfortable, I admit I prefer to work with people who are like minded, the workshop however enables you to do this in a far more systematic manner. Knowing how best to offer your thoughts and ideas tailored to any given person or situation is obviously a very useful platform in building a relationship with customers and or colleagues.“

 

Paul Speechley, General Manager, Smith-Confind S.R.L

“Thank you for your guidance and coaching. The sessions were excellent, challenging and deeply useful. You fundamentally changed my approach to ‘coaching’ our management team and provided some powerful tools and insights that have enabled me to communicate more persuasively up the line. (This was) one of the most useful personal development programs I have completed.“

 

Fernando Lima, Human Resources VP, Votorantim Brazil

“I’ve been in the training industry for 20 years and I’m convinced this is the best program I’ve ever seen.”

 

Yvon Dray, Director of Training for Operations, Alcatel, Mexico City

“I do recommend everyone from sales people to top managers of huge corporations to participate in the "Persuasive Communicator" workshop. This is incredible how much easier and more pleasant you may communicate with your trading partners, employees, same level managers and even your family at home. People start listen to you and they hear what you are telling them! And what is most important, the results are immediate.“

 

Grzegorz Bors, Managing Director – Privater Market, Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa, Poland

“I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to you for your very professional service and delivery to my senior staff with regard to the Persona Leadership Program. Each one of them found the experience to be very beneficial.

Whilst some of the findings were confronting and challenging at times, they were able to feel positive and confident about a) receiving the feedback b) engaging in some self reflection and c) learning strategies for improvement.“

 

Joan Fitzpatrick, CEO, Australian & New Zealand Institute of Insurance & Finance

“This is the moment I’d like to thank you.

It took a while, but I could use my acquired skills in action at a conference in Malta a few weeks ago. I suspect that if I was not sure about the power of the story, I would not have decided to go out to nearly 200 people from all over Europe.

Never before have so many people come to me to congratulate an intriguing speech.

And all thanks to three stories: about Robert Lewandowski, holes in Iron Curtain and Wedel chocolate. And thanks to what I learned on Storytelling for Leaders.“

 

Jan Biłyk CEO Laurens Coster Poland

“Just wanted to let you know how impressed I am at your team’s efficiency and incredible client focus . You guys really rock !!
Your team was awesome at getting the job done and we are now in a position to launch the Aptus Health MAP operation on time – thanks to you guys

Thanks a lot to everyone at Persona !!“

 

Claude MacDonald, Managing partner Talentuum Inc., Canada

“Thank you for your guidance and coaching over the past eight months or so.  The sessions... were excellent, challenging and deeply useful.  You fundamentally changed my approach to ‘coaching’ our management team and provided some powerful tools and insights that have enabled me to communicate more persuasively up the line.

Your style, knowledge and very evident practical industry experience made your coaching sessions one of the most useful personal development programs I have completed  You run a very professional program and I am thankful that we somehow came to be working together.  Please feel free to include me as a very satisfied client.“

 

General Manager, COUNTRY FIRE AUTHORITY, Australia.

"The strength of the Direct Leadership® is, that it looks at the world from the leader's day-to-day perspective and takes a practical, pragmatic approach to the job of leading others. The roles provide a good overview of the many-facetted challenges and the four styles show how to take different approaches depending on the situation. To me Direct Leadership® ​has been a very good tool to create clear expectations about leadership at different levels of my organization."

 

Bente Balling, CEO of Danish Employment Insurance Company

Our customer service level not only increased measurably, our customer complaints dropped to zero and our profits hit record levels.

 

Vice President, Multi State Financial Institution

“In the realm of leadership and management training, the focus on what you do versus what you know is a new idea for many.“

 

Michael Skirving, MaST U.K., implemented Persona LE methodology for Haden Drysys

“We are much more effective now that we are committed to performance measurement and focusing on customers, we intend to stay on top of market shifts and keep adjusting our culture to provide premier value to customers.”

 

Robert Powell, Executive Vice President, Omaha Paper Company

“This training is easily accessible to anyone, whatever their level. It is a training that will be useful to everyone, whether they are managers or not. And it is not only theory but also practical applications to what is learned. You leave the seminar with concrete tools. Those tools can be implemented as soon as you go back to work. I will undoubtedly recommend this training inside my own company.“

 

Valérie Morainville - ALCATEL-LUCENT UNIVERSITY

"Color Accounting®​ has the advantage of showing how accounting works visually. We all tend to see problems and relationships more easily visually, so the Accounting Comes Alive approach takes advantage of how we lean most effectively. As such, I believe that it is of value to anyone who is interested in understanding how accounting works (from high school students to undergrads to MBMs to business executives).“

 

Professor Paul Healy Head of Accounting Unit, Harvard

“The value Dawson McDonald provided to my organisation was their ability to communicate the importance of quality customer service in a very clear, logical and non-threatening way to staff. The results being that staff were empowered to think differently about their roles and how they could make a contribution to improving the Institutes overall customer experience.“

 

CEO, Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE, Australia.

“What would have taken us months to learn about each other, we learned in 3 days at Cooperation and Beyond. This accelerated us toward the relationship we desired.

 

Bill Desmond Team Leader and Manager Chevron Supplier Quality Improvement Process

“I appreciated the care of the participant, the flexibility in the design of TM and the ability to tailor the process for assessing talent in our region.“

 

Fernando Lima, Human Resources VP, Votorantim Brazil

“Our experience with Cooperation & Beyond elevated the traditional long-term relationship to a new dimension of empathy and trust. This appreciation for each party’s unique challenges produced collective energy. It prepared our group to focus on positive mutual results of the core team and set the stage for continuous improvement through open, honest and fun dialogue. “

 

J. Michael Fitzpatrick, Account Manager, World-Wide Alliances, Steelcase, Inc.

“The Innovative Decision Making workshop is very valuable to me as a Sales Manager. I have attended other workshops on decision making but Persona’s IDM is different. It is easy to follow, down-to-earth, and user-friendly. I’d like to see all supervisors to go through it.”

 

Vani Sardjono, Regional Sales Manager, Garuda Airlines

“The Customer Experience Management methodology and the subsequent audit of AAAT's major touch points with our customers resulted in a list of specific action points designed to improve our product and service quality and the likelihood of customer recommendation. CEM acts as an 'early warning system' enabling companies to take remedial action in their specific markets to ensure sustained or increasing profitability and customers who will recommend them to others. I would be more than happy to recommend the CEM methodology to other companies, as implemented by Dawson McDonald & Associates.“

 

Tony Carrucan, Research Manager, AAA Tourism Melbourne, Australia

“I found the CEM+ survey to be of enormous value to O2 Ireland. Based on previous research we all had our own interpretation of what customers expected and how we were performing relative to the market. The research findings gave us unprecedented clarity around what earned loyalty in the market and enabled us to communicate hard facts to senior managers and staff alike. I would recommend Shaun's approach to any business embarking on a strategy centered around the customer.“

 

Darren McLean, Head of Customer Insight & Research O2 Ireland

"The CEM+ provided insight into the relative importance of certain attributes, as valued by our customers, which in turn has helped set the priorities of our actions. By splitting the results between two different customer groups, CEM+ also gave us insights into previously unrecognised issues.“

 

Andrew Webb, Group CRM and After-Sales Director, The Carphone Warehouse

“In  my 32 years  of selling and managing sales team there have been few workshops and conferences that have meant much to me and to my team; personally and professionally  “the Persuasive Salesperson –Persona “ delivered by Starmanship is one of those few.


It is no exaggeration to say this course was transformative, the purpose of “Persuasive Salesperson “was clearly stated by Starmanship and met my expectations
Rita Diab, the Starmanship presenter, played an important role to make my team feel eager to start implementing and using every single idea from; the four elements of trust, to the  six step negotiation process, and others ……


Without a doubt, I confidently recommend “the Persuasive Salesperson- Persona” for those who are looking to have one of the most rewarding learning experiences and I am very grateful to have Starmanship as an exclusive trainer to me and my team during the last 25years and  more to come …”

 

Nakhle El Houssainy Agency Manager-Stars Agency MetLife

“SCA has given us a means to precisely identify the shortcomings of our sales force. It is a cost effective tool and good investment in our sales force.“

 

Michael Zilbermann, Training Director, Xerox France

“Pride is our communication and training link with TQM. It’s the driving force in building our customer focused corporate culture.”

 

Daniel Cassity, General Manager, KI Krueger International