CSK news

Target of the workshop: This is the right place for you if you —as a bid center manager and manager— aim at leading your bid team more efficiently and make it more successful. In this intense workshop series, you will learn the most important levers, tools and methods to make your area of responsibility even more successful.

Target group: It is aimed at all those who have overall responsibility for bid/proposal management in the company: bid/proposal directors, bid managers, head of bid/proposal management. In other words, everyone who leads a team of bid/proposal managers. It doesn't matter whether "Director" is on your business card or not.

Format: The three interactive online workshops take place in small groups (max. 10 participants from different industries). Each session lasts 90-120 minutes and takes place at weekly intervals to fit optimally into everyday work. Christopher S. Kälin provides best practice inputs, which are then discussed together in a practical context. The intensive exchange between the participants offers valuable suggestions for one's own environment.

Christopher S. Kälin will be sharing CSK's knowledge on customers' decision making during the quarterly Chapter Event of the APMP Florida Sunshine Chapter on June 13, 2023.

The Magic Behind Customer Decision Making and How To Win the Game

Despite the fact that buying organisations have made a dramatic shift in the way they make purchasing decisions over the last years, most sales executives haven't adapted properly, yet.
In this entertaining and informative presentation, Chris focuses on how your customer's buying centre perceives your sales messages and why typical sales twaddle (sorry!) is often perceived as dull and useless. Learn how to truly understand your client's decision making process -and the science (!) behind it- to enable you to design a truly compelling value proposition.
While presenting some stunning and surprising facts about the human decision making, he provides simple but effective tools to make an impact.

BQ14 - Good Practice v Best Practice is out now.

What does good practice or best practice mean to you? This was the question Martin Smith posed to BQ's panel of global experts and guest writers for Issue 14 of Bidding Quarterly.

BQ14 also features Chris Kälin's article 'We have a process in place!' - The fundamental misconception about the relationship between best practice and processes

Worth reading!

Christopher S. Kälin will be sharing CSK's knowledge on stunning pitch presentations during the May 'Voices of Liberty' of the APMP Liberty Chapter.

Topic: Win More Business through Stunning Pitches

Don't screw it up with a dull pitch presentation! In this entertaining webinar session, you will acquire everything you need to differentiate your offering from your competition. Chris will provide you with simple but effective tricks and tools for your next pitch presentation.

more information

CSK is proud to announce that The Ultimate Bid and Proposal Compendium has officially gained CEU approval from APMP, helping bid and proposal professionals to maintain their certification.

It is eligible for up to five CEUs (Continuing Education Units) in the Self Study Category.

Chris Kälin will be part of nFold's 'Lightbulb Moments' round table on 13 October, talking about 'Digital Transformation in Proposal Management':

Date: 13 October 2021

Time: 9 am SAST/CEST

Panellists:

• Chris Kälin, CSK Management, Switzerland
• Nigel Dennis, Bid Write, Australia
• Izane Cloete-Hamilton, nFold, South Africa

Click here to join Zoom

Meeting ID: 871 4534 7087

Passcode: 543016

We are thrilled to announce that Chris Kälin will be speaking at Loopicon 2021!

Attendees can expect two days of outstanding sessions focused on working smarter, growing professionally, and winning more. Plus, you'll have the opportunity to hear from Chris Kälin and other industry-leading speakers, and to connect with peers.

Register to join on Sept. 28-29, 2021

APMP has put together a volunteer council of 15 APMP members with varying experience levels, job descriptions, geographies, association tenure, and opinions to provide input regarding the association’s brand. The purpose of the Brand Transition Council (BTC) is to develop a path forward for APMP by coming to a resolution regarding the brand activity of recent, and put that resolution before the board of directors for their consideration and action.

"I feel honored to have been selected to serve on the Brand Transition Council. [... ] I promise to give my best to represent what I believe is the members' view." said Chris.

April 15, 2020: Chris Kälin conducted the most successful APMP webinar ever: 1766 attendees (source: APMP Annual Report 2020)

Hidden Link

BQ10 - Old Father Time, is out now.

Martin Smith from Bid Solutions has brought together twenty fantastic articles from the brilliant BQ team of experts. They discuss everything from time management techniques, to self-care in challenging times, and social learning techniques. You’ll learn about ‘reader drag’, ‘bid unicorns’ and diminished attention spans.

It also features Chris Kälin's article about differentiating between common and best practice.

Worth reading!

Just in case you believe your organisation does not yet perform as it should when it comes to writing executive summaries and pitch presentations...

We are delighted to announce that we have completely re-mastered, enhanced and updated our two eLearning modules 'Truly Compelling Executive Summaries' and 'Powerful Proposal Presentations (PPP)'!

They are available for individuals or for groups. They can be easily integrated into your corporate LMS (Learning Management System), too, enabling you to distribute best practice systematically within your organisation!

Truly Compelling Executive Summaries

Powerful Proposal Presentations (PPP):
(now with new content about virtual pitch presentations)

CSK is excited to announce a new free webinar series: The CSK Tool Check.

We are excited to announce the first VIRTUAL BID AND PROPOSAL SUMMIT!

The global event will take place on September 9-11, 2020, including 3x2 presentation streams dedicated to the APAC, US and European timezones. The fully virtual conference also features a large virtual exhibition space, interactive chatrooms and much more...

Tickets will be available from USD 49 (early bird APMP member price), soon.

Stay tuned and get our information: Send a quick email with the subject ‘UPDATE’ to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Looking back, the BPC Europe 2020 has been simply a great event.

Hidden Link

See all the pictures here

On March 5-6, 2020 the inaugural BPC Europe 2020 will take place.

Chris Kälin will be presenting 'Storytelling? -- No! Storyselling! How to write truly compelling proposals!' on 6 March at 10:30 a.m. in the Graanbeurszaal (the plenary room).

See the BPC Europe's schedule

On 13 November, fourteen members from T-Systems International  completed the APMP Foundation-Level Certification. Members from Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Austria, France, Singapore and South Africa attended the workshop led by CSK's Chris Kälin. All participants successfully passed the 75-question exam at the end of the workshop.

Congratulations!

The certification is one step of a comprehensive initiative, led by Christoph Blaser, bringing the team to a next level.

In response to the many changes we are all facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, APMP is offering a series of free webinars for members and nonmembers.

On May 28, Chris Kälin CPP APMP Fellow, Managing Partner at CSK, will talk about Storyselling

You do know how to write a good proposal, don’t you? OK Boomer!

For those who are looking for a step-by-step guidance to develop truly compelling proposals, then, Chris’ presentation is just that. In this entertaining session, you will learn how to introduce a train of thought into your proposal. You will be able to develop consistent, clear and hard-hitting messages, while also applying a logical structure that makes the document itself easier to read and evaluate for your customers. You will learn how to demonstrate really compelling value to the buyer, leading to drastically increasing win rates. Learn how to trigger their 'yes'!

And, believe it or not, this presentation is also provoking, emotional, and surprising at the same time…

CSK's Ultimate Bid and Proposal Compendium is mentioned in an article in APMP's Winning The Business.

The article from Betsy Blakney (Director Proposal Management at CACI Inc, CPP APMP Fellow and former APMP CEO) talks about process improvements using APMP's Benchmark Report and CSK's reference guide book.

read more: https://winningthebusiness.com/mentoring-and-best-practices-go-hand-in-hand/

After two years of planning, APMP announced that it is starting a new conference under the Bid & Proposal Con (BPC) brand for Europe on March 5-6, 2020.  The announcement was made at the 15^th Anniversary of APMP Netherlands and Interdisciplinary Conference today.  The new conference will be called BPC Europe 2020.

On February 13, twelve tender managers from Panalpina completed the APMP Foundation-Level Certification. The participants from Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Italy, Dubai and the Czech Republic attended the two-day workshop led by CSK's Chris Kälin. All participants successfully passed the 75-question exam at the end of the workshop.

Congratulations!

On February 5, T-Systems' Swiss Deal Enablement Team completed the APMP Foundation-Level Certification. Twelve members from Switzerland and Germany attended the one-day workshop led by CSK's Chris Kälin. All participants successfully passed the 75-question exam at the end of the workshop.

Congratulations!

The certification is one step of a comprehensive initiative, led by Annette Osswald, bringing the team to a next level.

On April 10, Panalpina's Corporate and European Tender Team completed the APMP Foundation-Level Certification. Sixteen members from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic attended the two-day workshop led by CSK's Chris Kälin. All participants successfully passed the 75-question exam at the end of the workshop.

Congratulations!

The certification is one step of a comprehensive initiative, led by Patrick Güth, Senior Vice President and Panalpina's Global Head of Tender Management, bringing Panalpina's global tendering team to a next level.

"This is a great step forward in leveraging best practices in our tender management. The APMP certification reinforces our tender management as an important role within Panalpina. It also demonstrates a personal commitment of each team member", says Daniel Jones, Regional Head of Tender Management Europe.

CSK runs the APMP Foundation-Level certification workshop during the certification day at this year's Bid and Proposal Con in New Orleans.

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CSK runs the next APMP Foundation-Level Webinar Series, starting October 31, 2014