Once a year at the annual meeting of General Electrics top one hundred executives, each of the firm's thirteen business leaders is required to present an environmental scanning analysis of his or her respective businesses.

Each business leader presents one-page answers to five questions:                                 

• What are your business' global market dynamics today and where are they going over the next several years?

•  What actions have your competitors taken in the last three years to upset  those global dynamics?

•  What have you done in the last three years to affect those dynamics?

• What are the most dangerous things your competitors could do in the next three years to upset those dynamics?

• What are the most effective things you could do to bring about your desired impact on those dynamics?

I wonder what your answers to these 5 questions would be in, particularly in the light of the current business climate?

Sales training and negotiation training needs to equip people, particularly sale managers, on how to find the answers to these critical business questions.