Antoni
Alexander Louw
Chairman and Founder
A scholar and athlete, born in Northern
Rhodesia (now Zambia) Toni began as a personal improvement
counselor, later launching a successful career in sales
and marketing in the publishing business. It was then
that he first became enamored with the idea of helping
business professionals excel through applied versus
theoretical performance improvement.
The opportunity then to move from
Africa’s bushveld to the concrete jungle of New
York was a challenge that Toni couldn’t resist.
Within his first five years in the United States as
a partner in a training firm, he had acquired a formidable
list of national and international clients, 50 of whom
rank among the Fortune 100.
In 1984, Toni founded Louws Management
Corporation specializing in two performance improvement
arenas.
Training and Coaching:
The first focused on researching,
developing and piloting workshops to train people to
exponentially improve their Persuasive Public Speaking,
Presentation, Meeting Management and Communications
Skills.
Immediately after the economic crash
of 1987 Toni saw a need for specialized training for
Louws Management’s Agency clients, so he designed
what is now considered a hallmark in the industry – the
New Business Development Program.
Of equal importance to both prospective
account pitches and current client relationships, Toni
developed an industry exclusive training workshop and
set of principles on How to Sell Creative Ideas, Work
and Strategy. Due to its incredibly unique and exclusive
nature, this training is sought after as far afield
as Australia and Hong Kong. To date Toni has collectively
counseled over 450 Advertising, Promotions, Direct,
Interactive and Public Relations agencies worldwide.
Agencies were visibly more effective
in the way they did business – and their clients
(advertisers) took note.
This is when The New York Times asked
for help to get their circulation above the one million
mark. In his inimitable manner, he rolled up his sleeves
and went out with the reps to see how they could do
the job. 18 months later their circulation hit 1.2
million.
Exxon Mobil's International Fuel
Sales Division needed to become more proactive to deal
with increased global competition, Toni created the
Cross Cultural Sales Negotiating Program. It was the
perfect answer, combining the aggressiveness of the
Salesperson with the finesse of the Strategist. It
was so successful that Exxon Mobil decided to use it
for every continent in which they operated.
Dr Pepper approached Toni with the
challenge of increasing national revenues from 8% to
10% - six months later they were at 12%.
Presidents and Senior Directors at
major corporations like Pizza Hut, Frito Lay, Genentech,
Nike, Coors, American Savings & Loan, Prudential,
Bayer, Chrysler, The Bass Brothers, Prudential, National
Car Rental, Red Roof Inns, Ciba Geigy, and dozens of
others ask exclusively for Toni’s coaching in
readying themselves for their annual national sales
and marketing meetings.
Then, in the fall 1994, due to his
marketing and sales background and success, he ventured
out into the second area for which Louws has now developed
a formidable reputation.
Brand and Marketing Consulting:
Here he has worked with the likes
of 7-11, Quiznos, Pizza Hut, HEB, The Houston Chronicle,
Mahindra, Dr Pepper, Goretex, Hills and Bayer to re-brand,
re-position and competitively re-market their businesses.
However, unlike this industry’s
obsession with selling advice, Toni asked and answered
the question “what good is this advice if you
cannot moderate, facilitate and ensure its application?”
The answer came from his background
in training and coaching which he used to develop one
of the most effective brand and marketing training
programs of its kind today. This allows for the marketing
consulting to be put into practice and effect the change
it has been paid to achieve.
When asked why Louws versus any of
the many other options out there, Toni's reply captures
the essence of what has made Louws a preeminent player
in the training and consulting fields:
“A complete and utterly
uncompromising focus on achieving results by way
of improving the performance of both individuals
and teams of employees. Corporate America knows that
their next performance, market strategy or direction
might be the make or break point in their company’s
success without necessarily having the luxury of
a second chance. And so they come to us because they
know that we don't just try for improvement, we achieve
it!"
When he’s not training, consulting
or lecturing, Toni lives with his wife of over two
decades in Tucson, Arizona. He is also the father of
two beautiful daughters, one of whom has already made
him a grandfather. His other daughter currently attends
college. His interests include equestrian pursuits,
hiking, biking, yachting, scuba diving, canoeing and
contributing to humanity as a community volunteer through
his church activities.
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