Constantly curious.
Oliver Nickels · Advisor to business owners
About me
I am a consultant, founder, marketer, computer scientist, IT analyst and sales trainer – the order keeps changing. New things emerge where fields meet that normally have nothing to do with each other. That is my conviction, and it is why I stay curious. My cigar start-up came about exactly that way: engineering thinking and technology in a product that has stayed unchanged for a hundred years.
How I work
I start with my clients’ customers. That is exactly how I began and defined my own brand. What makes someone go out of their way for a brand is the starting point of every conversation. What it takes to get there comes after.
What we could talk about
Four theses worth arguing about. They all lead to the same question.
The real question
Why would a customer go out of their way for my brand?
Background
Co-Founder and Chief Cigar Engineer, German Engineered Cigars GmbH
Hand-rolled premium cigars from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, with an NFC chip in the band as a certificate of authenticity and a direct line to the customer. Operations and supply chain run largely with AI support.
Principal Analyst and Executive Advisor, ISG
Domain Lead Applications & Infrastructure and author of provider analyses (ISG Provider Lens®). Sales coach for pursuit optimization and differentiation at the major IT providers worldwide. Plus individual projects with clients and providers – for instance an IT team at a DAX-listed group that had to move its users from a popular tool to a new one at short notice.
Lecturer in Social Media Marketing and the Fundamentals of AI
At universities, and in workshops for staff in companies and the public sector.
21 years at IBM
Sales, international business development, marketing management, building new brands and integrating established ones. German and European Marketing Manager of the Year, Best of B2B Award, Clio Gold.
A first conversation
30 minutes, no slides.
We look at where your company stands. We decide on the next steps together afterwards.
Schedule a conversation