Communication Skills

The World of Retail and Manufacturing

Working with any retailer can be very demanding, as you know, and we know from being on both sides of the fence.

Having the best people is essential to delivering profitable wins, and whilst ‘people are your best asset’ is a hackneyed term, we all know that they can make or break your profit.

A bad meeting, a poor negotiation, recommendations not accepted, can be disastrous.

MBM understand this industry and can build a People Management Training Course with you, for you, that helps you to achieve your business’ goals.

How MBM Began

Our founder, Darren A. Smith created MBM after spending 12 years at a big four UK supermarket as a Category Manager, he saw the need to help suppliers work better with retailers.

The low point of what he saw, having sat through over 2,000 supplier presentations, was a 3.5-hour presentation on frozen carrots presented by 126 slides, a man who turned up with no pen, paper or bag to a meeting, and presentation after presentation that was poorly thought through for a retailer or has no actionable insights.

Of course, there were many suppliers that presented, negotiated and influenced very effectively. The opportunity gap was and is to make the good, better, and the better, best.

You can find out more about our history, brand and values on our Brand page, or read about background, skills and experiences on our Team page.

Our Unique Training Method

Our best work is done through a programme. Not one day training, courses because they have a limited effect. Sticky Learning ® is the term we use to headline our approach to training.

In essence, our programmes are 6 months each and include 5 main parts; Learning To Learn, Foundation day, Embedding day, Advanced day, and the Sticky Pieces that the Learner completes during the course to keep their learning alive.

Couple this with our comprehensive 5 level evaluation and you have a training provider that cares about your learners’ learning for the long term and your return on investment.

Who We Work With

Our best work is done with companies who within retail because we know the industry and all of the people who work for MBM have either worked for a supplier or a retailer.

Yes, of course, we have worked with a few other companies. After all, who can resist working with great brands, such as NHS or McDonald’s? The vast majority of our clients are suppliers to the supermarkets.