Category Archives: Team

How Do You Find and Train Staff for Satellite Offices? Five Points

Situation: A company plans to grow from a single site to additional distant sites. The CEO has two concerns: how to bring in the new people, and how to preserve the culture that they have developed as they build new sites. How do you find and train staff for satellite offices?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • First, how does the company currently identify customer targets?
    • Typically the company targets specific personnel within a potential client who will be decision makers or influencers on the company’s projects. Market developers then build relationships with these individuals.
  • Points of focus in selecting employees in other geographic areas.
    • What will be the office configuration? Likely 3-4 individuals, including an engineer, office manager and project manager.
    • Promote the company as the preferred place to work in the new locations. Offer signing bonuses for employees who identify and bring in new people, as well as for the new employees.
  • Does the company anticipate that maintaining company culture will be a challenge as the company expands? Yes.
    • Train new employees in the home office for one month to help them understand the culture. Immerse them in a project so that they experience the work ethic.
    • Have current personnel serve short term stints in the new offices. This will help to build consistency of service and delivery between the offices.
  • What is the best way to recover from a service challenge?
    • Occasionally we all make mistakes. Don’t miss the opportunity that “service recovery” presents to strengthen relationships with clients.
    • A competent and timely response to a problem situation can create an indelible impression on the client.
  • What else can the company do to improve its marketing?
    • Assure that there is an existing cost calculator in each remote site. This speeds response without having to wait for decisions from the main office.
    • Install a traffic plug-in on the webpage for each remote site and feature this on the site webpage. This allows current and potential customers to schedule their visits to their convenience.

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How Do You Increase Lead Generation and Motivate Sales Development? Seven Points

Situation: A company needs to generate more leads and increase new business closure rates to make plan. Their customers are primarily tech companies and they use advertising, trade shows and customer lists to develop leads. What advice do others have to help the company meet their objectives? How do you increase lead generation and motivate sales development?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Look closely at the definition of your market. Refine the definition of the market in light of new technology developments and opportunities. If necessary, rewrite the value proposition and the characterization of the company’s typical customer.
  • Hire a Marketing Director to take charge of this effort.
  • For each of key customer or key customer category, develop the important features and benefits that will appeal to that customer or group. Think, through their eyes, “what’s in it for me?”
  • Focus on one or two areas where the company adds the best value. Don’t attempt to be all things to all people.
  • Define the behaviors that will generate sales and inquiries. Assure that these are up to date with the market. Train or retrain your salespeople as necessary and manage those behaviors.
  • Select and manage a sales process. If necessary seek outside help to develop this. Options include; Sales Solutions, Miller Heiman, and similar sales training companies.
  • Use a wide array of resources to develop potential customer lists and to identify the needs of each of those customers:
    • Business partners
    • LinkedIn.com
    • Google Ads
    • Salesforce.com or Jigsaw
    • Webinars and Social Media

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How Do You Negotiate a Merger? Eleven Points

Situation: A company is considering a merger with a smaller company. What are the important considerations to take into account in considering and negotiating a possible merger? How do you negotiate a merger?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Look for synergies between the companies. During the negotiation, emphasize these and the mutual benefit available to both companies.
  • In a merger between a larger and smaller company look for the key motivations of each party. What does the smaller company have that the larger company wants? How much is that worth to them? Make a list.
  • Consider combining vs. merging. An alliance can be mutually beneficial while allowing both companies to retain independent ownership.
  • Look at earn out options in a purchase scenario. What are the possible terms and the financial implications of these?
  • Beware of the distraction that a merger will present to current day-to-day operations.
  • Identify other parties with whom mergers are possible. Why is the target partner better?
  • Partner prior to the merger – how do the two companies play together in the sand box? This can reveal cultural differences and differences in focus that will impact the value of the merger.
  • Consider an LLP option – a third Company that is the owner of the two merged companies. This may present tax and other advantages.
  • Look at Product vs. Service
    • Product is always worth something.
    • When service stops, it is worth nothing.
    • Key players must work together well or the service evaporates.
  • Never assume what the other party’s interests are. Make sure that both interests and priorities are discussed and evaluated during discussions between the parties.
  • Ask clarifying questions anytime a topic is raised that requires additional understanding.

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How Do You Position a Company for Value and Growth? Six Points

Situation: A CEO wants to set up her company for long-term growth in value. The business has favorable margins relative to competitors and high cash flow. It is currently single-site but has a good model that could be expanded to multiple sites. How do you position a company for value and growth?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Paint a picture of growth and cash flow. Use this picture to inspire both the home site and remote sites as they are developed.
  • Develop and demonstrate a Growth Model. It is important to demonstrate the success of the model so that it can be replicated in remote locations.
  • Get multiple sites up and running as proof of a profitable growth model.
  • As the company moves to a multi-site model, assure that each site manager has a financial interest in the success of the site. Develop a compensation system that rewards the manager for both growth and profitability. Develop a complimentary system that rewards key site personnel.
  • Develop additional products and accompanying services. These can be sold to current customers as well as new customers at the home and remote sites to boost growth.
  • As the model grows use the improved cash flow to buy other companies that are complimentary or expand the capacity of the existing company.

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How Do You Interview New Tech Hires? Four Necessities

Situation: A CEO wants advice on hiring new technical staff. Important considerations are cultural fit, identifying the characteristics of effective people, assuring that the right people are hired, and evaluating people for specifics tasks. In the past hiring technical people has proven challenging and poor hires have inhibited company growth. How do you interview new tech hires?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • It is critical to be clear on the factors necessary to be successful in the enterprise. Once these have been identified, align the factors with existing individuals in the organization as role models. Also align these factors with those who will be involved in candidate selection. This facilitates identification of good candidates.
  • Develop clarity on candidate evaluation. Identify and develop questions that will allow candidates to describe what is important to them and what they want to get out of their career choice.  In addition to specific knowledge, candidates should demonstrate a personal value system compatible with the company’s culture. They must also demonstrate a high energy level.
  • Once there is clear articulation of desired characteristics of candidates work with others such as college placement organizations, friends of the firm, Craig’s list, and so on to assist with candidate identification. A well written position description not only describes the type of individual desired, but also why someone would want to join the firm.
  • It’s imperative to be able to give a sales presentation on the company including specific reasons why people should join it. Avoid getting so wrapped up in the selection mode that you fail to recruit. Some who have done this were stunned to find that after they have made their selection the candidate was no longer interested.

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How Do You Manage Seasonal Gaps in Project Flow? Five Options

Situation: A company experiences seasonal gaps in project flow. This makes it difficult to project both cash flow and staffing needs into the future. In addition, monthly cash flow tends to be uneven. What can they do to improve control of internal and external resources in this environment? How do you manage seasonal gaps in project flow?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The company currently focuses 60% on consulting and 40% on internal projects, some of which produce future projects. Relative proportions shift over time, and projects can be cancelled.
  • Try to write the company’s contracts to push revenue to early stages of a project, so that there is more cash cushion to help ride out short cash periods.
  • Look for options to change the business model to increase financial flexibility.
    • If there are significant margin differentials between different types of projects this has overhead implications when resources are shifted.
    • Look for ways to allocate less expensive resources or virtual resources with a lower cost to lower margin projects. Look for opportunities to utilize remote resources if these resources cost less.
  • Adjust staff assignments to maximize payoff, as well as staff retention options. Look for project work opportunities.
  • Analyze and evaluate the ability to switch personnel between paying projects and internal development projects.

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What are the Basics of a One-Page Sales Plan? Four Points

Situation: A CEO wants a simple, one-page plan for her sales organization to help coordinate the company’s sales and marketing efforts. The objective is to boost revenue growth and market penetration with consistent sales messaging. What are the basics of a One-Page Sales Plan?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The key elements of construction are: research, identification of revenue sources, and construction of a Road Map.
  • Three Examples of a One-Page Sales Plan are:
    • The Customer Survey-based Sales Plan – Ask the top 15 customers what the company’s current share of wallet (SOW) looks like and what they need to do to gain additional SOW. Use the responses to identify additional revenue sources and construct the Road Map.
    • The Service Extension Sales Plan – Construct a grid representing the company’s products and services currently offered to potential customers – particularly the company’s top customers. Create a separate grid showing services that the company does not currently offer and ask customers what the company needs to do to make those services appealing to them. Use the information gained to construct the Road Map.
    • The Current and Potential Revenue Sales Plan – Construct a grid representing the customers and markets currently served and by what product or service. Look at additional customer markets not currently served. Estimate the size, new business closure rates, and the total potential market opportunity. Use the information gained to construct the Road Map.
  • The advantages of a One-Page Sales plan include:
    • One page simplifies the process.
    • Summary of current and new targets.
    • Easy to track and measure.
    • Increases the chance of success.
    • Key people get on the same page.
    • Filters out undesirable customers.
    • A plan that can be completed and implemented quickly, cost effectively with a high ROI.
  • Additional Observations:
    • The company’s principal challenge is prioritizing business opportunities. Creating an “Ideal Customer Profile” helps to produce the desired result.
    • The company has limited resources to invest in new projects. Using an effective, low-cost tool helps to maximize the impact of investment.
    • The ideal customer profile will change over time based on the business environment and the company’s long term goals.

How Do You Take on Additional Business When You Are Capacity Limited? Seven Suggestions

Situation: A Company has been growing rapidly over the past year. This has strained resources in some departments, including manufacturing. New customer demand just keeps coming in. What can the CEO do to meet customer demand without busting at the seams? How do you take on additional business when you are capacity limited?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • There are three questions to be asked before taking other steps:
    • Is it possible to expand manufacturing by outsourcing?
    • Can the company just hire more people?
    • Is the business that the company is getting good profitable business?
  • First, what a great problem to have – not to belittle the challenge that the company faces.
  • If there is concern about the company’s vulnerability to future downturns and the company is holding off adding staff because of this, look for a filler product that can help the company to smooth business cycles.
  • Farm out constrained work to other departments of the company – for example engineering. Are there independent entities that the company could partner with to add temporary capacity?
  • If there are financial constraints, then look at adjusting the pricing for new business.
  • If there are conflicts between capacity in manufacturing and engineering, consider becoming more of an engineering-focused firm and invest in this area. Look at outsourcing manufacturing capacity.
  • Look for sources of temporary capital to fund the company through the adjustment. Use an existing bank line of credit or a loan to finance short-term capital needs.

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How Do You Encourage Employees to Take Full Responsibility for their Jobs? Five Points

Situation: A CEO is discouraged because employees are neither taking initiative nor holding themselves accountable for results. They see potential problems, but don’t act to either prevent or resolve them. They continually bring situations to the CEO and expect the CEO to solve the problem or save the day.  What have others done to shift responsibility and accountability to staff? How do you encourage employees to take full responsibility for their jobs?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • There are two important questions to ask:
    • Is this a situation that includes a large number of employees or just a few? If it’s just a few then these situations can be handled individually. If more than a few then systemic changes may be necessary.
    • Are all employees clear on their responsibilities and what is expected of them? Is there written documentation on responsibilities associated with specific roles or individuals? Has this been communicated to individual employees during performance reviews?
  • It is essential that direction and individual responsibility be clearly stated and understood. Encourage dialogue once direction or instruction is given to test understanding. Important direction should be documented in writing.
  • Have clear core values been established that guide both the company and individual responsibility and decisions? Have these core values been publicized and posted in break  areas as well as work areas? Use the core values to assess employees’ work to reinforce emphasis.
  • Assure that employees are clearly empowered to make decisions. This is particularly  important if employees have been subjected to micromanagement in the past.
  • Ask for and encourage dialogue, both in one-on-one situations and in team and company meetings. Make employees part of the decision process so that they feel ownership over their responsibilities. Assure that excellent performance is recognized, rewarded and publicized.

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