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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