Alan O’Neill

Alan O’Neill MBA is an international business guru working with blue-chip organisations across the spectrum of industry… in Financial Services, FMCG, Industrial, Motor, Retail, Hospitality, Telcos, IT, Tourism, Travel and others. Coupled with his own 30+ years of front line board level experience – he has lots of no-nonsense expertise and has lots to say.

Facilitating multi-billion euro businesses to achieve amazing results he knows what it takes to drive change right through a business – from top to bottom… and front to back.

Up to 2004, Selfridges for example was a sleeping giant – but in the last four years has achieved two significant accolades… it’s officially the best department store in the world… and has also become the most profitable department store in the world (per m²). After 20 years – Alan continues to work with Selfridges Group board members to make that possible.

His retail experience ranges from food to fashion… luxury to mass… big box to multiple site… and down-town to travel retail… in Europe, Russia and the Middle East. He has identified key characteristics of best in the world retailers, such as… total focus on customer… move at pace… are sophisticated yet practical… use science senses and theatre to romance, entertain and sell… and they excel at driving footfall, conversion and average spend. All made even more possible with a strong business model and a high-performance culture.

His experience in B2B includes international giants like Chevron, Disney, Kizad, Lavazza, Nissan, Pepsi, Symantec and Xerox, where he has brought discipline, rigour and common sense to change projects.

Alan O’Neill believes that where organisations focus on culture – how we do things around here – they get consistency and the behaviours they deserve! He also believes organisations far too often complicate things and that causes us to take our eyes off the ball – or the customer more especially. Yes it’s a complex changing world and we need to understand those dynamics, but let’s not forget the basics!

He is a trusted mentor to several chief executives and board directors who seek his counsel and advice on a range of issues. Alan has a reputation for making the complex simple…for being down-to-earth and practical… with a commercial focus that brings everything back to the customer. He’s the strong voice of the customer! So whether the issues are about vision, strategy or structure… or high performance culture… leadership… or customer service – Alan has stories, models and real-life case studies that will adapt.

Alan is currently working on his new book ‘Super Service Made Simple’ with other titles in the pipeline.

Keynote Speaker:

It is this unrivalled business acumen that has seen Alan O’Neill facilitate and speak at conferences on several continents and conduct master-classes with C-level executives. He asks hard and uncomfortable questions such as:

• How do you change an old culture and get it ready for emerging global challenges?
• How do you overcome cynicism and resistance to change?
• How do you overcome complacency, procrastination and accountability?
• How do you develop a customer service culture?
• How do you retain the best talent in a high-performance challenging culture?

With every engagement, Alan O’Neill takes time to understand the brief, the hard business challenges, the expected messaging… and builds empathy before meeting his audience. He is energetic, passionate, engaging and motivational – and will leave your audience with thoughts and challenges relevant to your particular issues, that are guaranteed to provoke, shake up and inspire. But most of all – he gives hope.

He is also a competent conference chair – helping to get the structure and content matched to the expected outcome.

Speaking topics include:

Change Management

• Show Me the Lid on the Box
• Change Management – in 5000 Easy Steps…
• Future-proof Your Business – and stay relevant
• Who are you? What’s your Brand DNA?

High Performance Culture

• Maximize Your People Productivity in Five Steps
• Leaders also need Followers – especially in tough times
• Now I get it – it’s about Values, Silly!
• Selfridges – High Performance Results from High Performance Culture
• What added value can the HR community provide in a new world?
• What added value can the HR community provide in a new world?

Customer Service

• How to develop an obsessive Customer Service Culture
• Is Customer Service really important in a B2B environment?
• In a new world – Customer Experience vs. Customer Service?
• In a digital world – does ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ really matter?
• Going the Extra Mile is a Waste of Time, unless…
• Customerise Your Business
• Disney – the business behind the magic
• Disney-inspired Destination Development
• Super Service Made Simple
• Selfridges – From Good (71%) to Great (91%), consistently

Retail Thinking

• Retailers learned the art of great service from the world of Hospitality – now retailers teach us all how to Convert Our Customers to Cash.
• The Art of Retail Thinking – Retailers are at the coal-face and know how to turn on a sixpence – how can we have a bit of that.
• Supercharge your business with retail-inspired thinking and strategies
• Drive Sales using FCA
• What is your true Commercial Driver?
• Secrets of Success from the Giants of Retail
• DeBijenkorf – best in Netherlands, but not there yet!
• The Selfridges Story – the Best Dept Store in the World