MBM Testimonials

“I have been working with MBM for over a decade. During that time they have worked together with me and my Sales and Marketing team on both category projects and people development. I have come to trust that when they say they will do something they will, they bring me solutions, and not problems, and can be relied upon to do a great job. My recommendation is MBM because as well as looking after the development of my team very well for many years, they have also helped us solve many category challenges”.
Andy Jenkins, Sales and Marketing Controller, Cranswick Convenience Foods plc

“We brought-in MBM to help us win more business. Over the 6 months we worked with MBM we found them to bring new insight to our category, fundamentally change our approach to dealing with UK supermarkets and they surprised me in how much value they could add. Sadly, we did not win the business. Though, what did happen, was what MBM did bring to us – They had enabled us to not only win back our business a year later, but to also go on to win a lot more business. I would highly recommend using them if you are open to approaching UK supermarkets differently and want more business”.
David Flynn, MD, Fyffes UK

“I learnt a huge amount during my Time Management training course. Practical, fun, very, very useful and lots to take away and use straight away”.
Nigel Whittaker, Commercial Director, Greencore

“This series of guides sets out to provide solutions to three extremely common issues faced by the vast majority of organisations irrespective of their size, location or nature of their enterprise. The issues roll up into a single challenge. How can we make sure that the time, effort and resource invested in training reap rewards? This challenge has been a thorn in the side of training and development professionals and their stakeholders for a very long time. Mary Broad and John Newstrom’s work in the 1980s and Broad’s book, ‘The Transfer of Training’, spelt the answer out clearly.

For training to be effective, it needs not only to be designed well, but also needs support from managers back in the workplace. Darren Smith has provided 16 straightforward solutions that address these issues, from practical advice on distilling learning and converting it into behaviour change (‘real’ learning) and mindset change, to effective engagement. Covering approaches from mind mapping and ‘trigger’ habit development, Smith offers practical actions to extend the impact of training beyond the classroom and back into the workplace.

The profession will welcome these guides and the help they offer”.
Charles Jennings, Founder of the70:20:10 Learning Model, talks about theFree Guides

“Undoubtedly the most useful, engaging and insightful Course I’ve been on. Excellent Course pitched at an excellent level and I cant wait to apply the new material” [Leadership training].
Sue Mawe, Logistics Manager, AMT Fruit

“I found the results of my own profile [HBDI Training Course] quite interesting in that I was surprised that I had any yellow capability at all! Besides the fact that I am very rooted in the present and like to deal in plain simple facts I do like to think I have some skills in the other three quadrants so I was happy to see that perhaps I understand my own limitations quite well. I would never describe myself as a people person but as you have already identified I am fascinated by human behaviour and love learning all about why humans behave the way they do. In addition to this I now have an understanding why so many people find dealing with my manager frustrating and yet I have developed a very basic method of interpreting his business needs and translating them for those of us that are not as comfortable in his natural arena”.

“I also now understand why other more social creatures find me “odd” or “difficult” because of my absolute need for the finer details in everything and my unwillingness to speak unless I actually have something worth saying. This feeds into my need to learn tolerance of those who do not function in the same way I do and also tolerance for myself when I get annoyed at myself for not being more creative – guess I need to throw out the “I hate humans” mantra and implement the “different strokes for different folks” one instead”.

“On the training itself – You told us you naturally sit in the blue quadrant of the model but if you had not told us this I doubt anyone would ever have guessed. The training was interesting, well delivered and dynamic. The group were comfortable with the content, pace and delivery and you leave people looking forward to the next session – so Thank You. Often when put onto a training course it is “hard work” and uninspiring but nothing could be further from this in terms of the training you have provided”.
Marion Flynn, Assistant Technical Manager, Hilton Foods Ireland

“MBM took us on an eye-opening journey with the Must Win Meetings masterclass. The team was highly engaged, and I think the value lies in the breadth of material covered. While all of the course was informative and insightful, what I observed was each member of the team encouraged to hone in on just one or two techniques that most resonated with them, and to explore that in more depth. I think this is a great approach to learning, as it makes the course more personalised. Many thanks MBM, we look forward to working with you more in the future”.
Guy Wootton, Director of Category & Insight, Moy Park

“I have worked with DAS and his team for the last 6 years within different companies and have found them to really understand the challenges and barriers which FMCG companies come up against with retailers. The courses are well structured and all about results delivery and how to maximise them. The courses take you out of your comfort zone and slowly put you back in, making the journey tough but worthwhile, especially when you get that light bulb moment and the negotiation examples work in practice”.
Kim Matthews, Commercial Director, O’Brien Fine Foods

“Initially I was very sceptical of the whole concept; to me it was being placed into a box and “this is were you are”. After Wednesday’s session my view has changed; for me personally I found it very rewarding and a great eye opener.

If I was to take one thing above all others away from Wednesday it would be how one group of people see other groups. From that, it steered me into thinking how my work colleagues interpret what I’m trying (struggling) to say/communicate/explain. What has it done for me; it slowed me down, I now try to find the key pieces of information that will get people engaged into what I am trying to say. I appear to have more time.

This is what the 3 hours Wednesday did for me, both professionally and personally. It was great and probably one of the best sessions I have had in Hilton in my almost 14 years with the company”.
Adrian Regen, Hilton Foods Ireland

“MBM trained my team in Negotiation Skills and Time Management. They worked with my team over a number of sessions both classroom and 121, to help them improve their abilities to negotiate and manage their team better. I would recommend MBM to any supplier that is has a need to negotiate more effectively and focus on getting more of what is essential,
John O’Brien, MD of O’Brien Fine Foods

“Ensuring newly created teams hit the ground running is not easy alongside the day job and that’s why we engaged MBM.  We needed the individuals within our new team to gel fast and work together from the start, and we then we needed this new team to collaborate openly and effectively internally cross function. MBM provided the framework and support that met our needs and exceeded expectations…MBM took a relevant no-nonsense approach that was quick to realise and at an appropriate cost.”
Simon Spence, Sales Director, Westbridge Foods

“I have been trained by MBM now for 18 months. In that time I seen great improvements to the team creating a vision and pillars to achieve. I have also benefited personally from some of the soft skills that I have learnt in this time, with time management being very useful to have learnt early in my career.  I would recommend MBM to any team that have a desire to improve. Darren and the team have a great way of presenting without the old school handout/powerpoint methods which kept the team engage for the full days of training.
Stuart Robinson, NAM, Hilton Foods

“I really enjoyed the <LTL> course. The Learning styles exercise was particularly enlightening. So much so that I got Andy to give me a spare copy. Then I asked my wife to complete it that evening, so that I could try and understand her a little better! The learning styles piece is great for my own self-awareness and to make me conscious/aware of why other people may react differently in a meeting/course etc.

Plus, to better understand the team who work for me and how I may need to tailor my approach with them off the back of it – The way I do it is probably indicative of how I would want to learn, rather than how they would best take things in. The mind mapping was also great and is something I have occasionally used in the past but having seen how to do it properly, something I will use more.

Finally, Keepers and triggers – I have already started to note down the room, who’s there, who I’m next to, weather etc. Habits – not incorporated any of these into my work life but certainly have done at home and got myself a trigger to make sure they are linked.”
Marc Summers, Account Controller, AG Barr

“MBM quite simply gave me the tools to do the job in a far more advanced and professional way. From delivering professional coaching to effective category management practices, these learnings have allowed me and my team to undertake these skills very effectively with our key retail customers. Thanks to the whole MBM team for their continued support of our business.”
Graham Issac, Head of Retail, Greencell

“I’ve been fortunate enough to work with MBM over a number of years on both category and people projects. Das and his team have added immense value to the process, and to my own personal development, on every occasion, and I cannot recommend them highly enough”.
Alan Chapman, Acting Managing Director, Walkers Sausage Co.

“Darren successfully delivered a bespoke team away day that matched the objectives I set him. He quickly harmonised the different levels of enthusiasm and personality of my team to ensure a positive dynamic and cohesive bond throughout the day. He was able to get the complete commitment and honesty from the team because he was able to project the fact he was actually ‘one of us’.

Passions were soon ignited and the team quickly realised their individual contribution was vital to shaping future strategic direction of the business unit. The content of the day was very relevant to our actual business environment and most importantly was fun. This created a platform post the course to focus on continued personal development objectives and the greater contribution of individuals towards the business unit’s strategic output.”
Clive Huntley, Business Unit Director, AG Thames

“MBM really helped us to pinpoint the areas of category understanding that offered us the greatest opportunities and then transformed how we talk about Category across our business. They are challenging and will ask difficult questions to get the best out of your team and the knowledge within. More importantly the flexibility of their approach means the project is tailored precisely to your objectives and MBM will keep you on track throughout. Most importantly their retail experience helped us distil a complicated and broad project into simple, meaningful and actionable pieces which buyers understood and welcomed. Project Clear was hard work, great fun and genuinely business transformational”.
Tony Walsh, Category Controller, Florette

“MBM organised our annual team away day and delivered a first class event. Building the schedule around  resolving business challenges and conflicts, the content was well-managed and supported by Darren’s insight into high performing teams in customer facing environments. We were impressed with every aspect of the training and would not hesitate to recommend MBM.”
Jon Barfoot, Commercial Director, Barfoots of Botley

“We asked MBM to lead an away day for our leadership teams and they delivered exactly what we needed. Tailoring the session to meet our needs (and adapting it as he went along to ensure they stayed engaged). Andy led a highly entertaining and interactive afternoon based around their HBDI ® assessments with a group of GPs, Senior Nurses, Mangers and the Executive Team and six weeks on people are still talking about what colour they are and what that means for how they work together. A hugely successful event and I’d highly recommend them if you want to shift the thinking with your teams.”
Jo Betterton, Associate Director for Organisational Development, The Hurley Group

“I have attended 3 courses with MBM over the last 18 months; Time Management, Category Management & Influencing with Impact and have completed each course with clear direction & effective improvements to my working life. Attending all three courses has opened my eyes to the potential EVERY employee has if they follow the process & practices MBM teach you in each course."
Andrew Hollingworth, Customer Marketing Manager, Continental Fine Foods

“The Time Management training course gave practical methods of managing my time, it opened my eyes to areas which I thought I was good at i.e. multi tasking but actually needed to stop and be specific and focus. This has helped enormously in my work and whilst I naturally move toward multi tasking I can now recognise it and focus myself on 1 area at a time using such methods as eat the frog, breaking down a wooly mammoth and also question the work I do in relation to why I’m employed by the company which was one of the biggest learnings I took away. It’s a very interactive course which helps drive home the methods, the keeper sheets are good memory joggers which I still use. The advanced course was helpful in that it refreshed what I had taken and was using from the initial course, whilst going into more depth in very specific areas for the group I was with, which was extremely helpful and it was actually fun”.
Michelle O’Mahony, Launch Co-Ordinator, Greencore, Hull

“After a short phone conversation, we received the ‘Are You Struggling To Demonstrate The Return On Investment You Get From Your Training Providers?’ free guide. This guide gave a clear, accurate and most importantly practical way learning and development specialists can measure their impact to the business, which is arguably now more important than ever before.”
Danny Benton, Learning & Development Manager, for Western & Northern Europe and Asia Pacific, RES

“This training programme has provided the team with a skillset which is multi transferrable for professional and personal life. The toolkit which we now possess gives us an insight into how best to approach individuals and situations and guides us to be the best version of ourselves possible”.
Donna Harris, Category Manager, Hilton Foods Ireland

Darren was recommended to me by a former colleague who had used Making Business Matter specifically to delivery GSCOP training and I wasn’t disappointed. From the moment that we engaged I was filled with the confidence that Darren would deliver, and deliver well as he certainly knows his chosen subject matter. Combined with a credible and proven retail background Darren was both personable and experienced and delivered eloquently, informatively and in a friendly style that worked well with my team particularly as our session included colleague’s from both commercial and cross functional disciplines. GSCOP is such an important subject and we clearly had knowledge gaps prior to our training session but I can comfortably say that now the whole team are more informed, more aware and have a much clearer understanding of the code. Thank you”.
Testimonial from Eamonn Kavanagh, Head of Retail at JF Renshaw

“We have been working with Darren and his team for around 18 months now within Hilton. The first year they were a training provider purely for the Category Department.

This training was the reason why Darren was then invited to one of our 2 day management events early 2017 and presented to the Senior Management for both our UK & Irish site. People were impressed with what they saw and more so impressed with Darren when he talks so passionately about sticky learning as we have had many training providers in over the years who were not able to keep the momentum going.

This is when we sat down and explained to MBM the challenges we had site wide and asked them to design a training programme that would be bespoke to our culture and our requirements.Only a short time after MBM were able to present to us with fresh behavioural masterclass development approach which was just what we were looking for. Training commenced in May of this year and so far has been a huge success, there’s work involved for both the learner and their manager surrounding the sticky learning but MBM have supported us all the way in achieving what we set out to achieve.”
Testimonial from Kelly Pope, HR Manager, Hilton Foods