Tag Archives: Complimentary

How Do You Improve Your Company’s Website and Internet Presence? Seven Suggestions

Situation: A company has not updated their website for some time. As it considers making changes, how can the company optimize their web site for marketing purposes? What have others found to be most effective? How do you improve your company’s website and Internet presence?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Look at how the company is currently using their website and Internet to reach clients.
    • The company currently has email addresses for 80% of their clients.
    • They have been sending an annual survey clients through either mail or email and get a 40% response rate. The best response comes from email. Assure that the survey can be completed in 5 minutes or less unless the respondent wishes to provide more detail as an option.
    • The company has a web page that comes up prominently on Google.
    • They mail or email a quarterly commentary on company performance and initiatives to clients.
  • What are the advantages of print media and mailings versus email blasts.?
    • Does the company have the capacity to automate both envelope addresses and letters for clients without email addresses? If mailings are created manually it makes sense to invest in software to create automated mailings.
    • For more personalization, use stamps instead of meters.
    • Both factors make mailings expensive to prepare versus email communications.
  • The home page of the company website should focus on:
    • Who you are.
    • What you do.
    • Who you serve.
    • Why you do it better than others – what significantly differentiates the company?
  • Invite and include clients in volunteer work to deepen relationships.
    • The company is dedicated to volunteer work.
    • Extend volunteer work opportunities beyond employees to clients who are interested in the particular project.
    • Publicize this on the company website, and send personalized thank you letters – “We built it together as a family.”
  • Create forums on the site for individuals with interest in particular topics related to the company’s offerings and activities.
    • The value of honest discussion is better than no discussion at all.
    • This also keeps the company abreast of changing attitudes and priorities of clients.
  • Create resource lists on the company web site of firms or individuals offering services which complement the company’s offerings.

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How Do You Engage People in a New Offering? Eight Points

Situation: A founder has created a new social media offering. The concept is to attract individuals with complimentary interests and have them engage each other for mutual benefit as a better source of information and connections. Implied trust is an important component of these connections. How do you engage people in a new offering?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • People are willing to experiment with a new social media offering – in this case because they like to help others. It makes them feel good and they like the role of helping others.
  • People are always seeking good talent. If this does a better job helping them to find good talent, they will try it out.
  • Hiring managers prefer to pass on a resume of someone known to them because a bad referral could reflect badly on them. Strengthen this aspect of the offering through information gathered from participants.
  • A small pool is a negative. Broaden the pool to include those who are looking to step up their careers. Think of this as people-to-people direct hiring and use a social approach with broad appeal. This will increase the number of people willing to play.
  • Be the place where people can come to help others. Add additional tags – help to build confidence and get inspiration. Getting a job happens as a consequence.
  • The element of trust and relationship is important to many – 40% of early users of the current network express this. Assure that the value proposition is also attractive to the 60% who are not concerned about this.
  • The network will build on the energy from the emotional play.
  • Expand the options for how people can help. Investigate allowing trusted referral relationships within the system. Allow people to refer trusted people in their own networks. This can include people who “I would trust to refer good people.”

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What’s the Best Way to Develop a Partnership? Four Factors

Situation: A company has been approached by another company with complimentary technology concerning a partnership. The other company is young and rapidly growing, though at this time they are much smaller. The two companies are already collaborating on a project. There have been hints that this could develop into a merger. Under these circumstances, what’s the best way to develop a partnership?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • It’s always best to date and get to know the other party before exploring a deeper relationship. You are already collaborating with this company, so just continue on this path as you get to know them. See how the relationship and value of the partnership develops before exploring options that could result in loss of ownership and control.
  • Partnerships and moves beyond partnership are really about culture and values. Cultural fit is a huge question that is too often ignored when companies discuss partnerships and mergers. This requires more investigation than you’ve done to date. Wait until real challenges develop, and see how the two companies respond. Do they collaborate effectively to develop a solution or does the relationship become contentious. This will tell you whether a deeper relationship is worth exploring.
  • To be successful, relationships have to offer a win-win value that surpasses the cost of collaboration. There is always a cost to collaborating with another company if only in time and effort put into the relationship. Find a way to measure this cost so that you can compare it to the value received. The other company should be doing the same.
  • If you could buy the other company right now would you?
    • If you can’t tell the value of the company based on the information that you have, why would you consider a deeper relationship at this time?

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How Do You Select The Right Strategic Partner? Three Guidelines

Interview with Jim Soss, CEO, Red Aril

Situation: A rapidly growing company is expanding both in its primary market and into new verticals. A number of companies are interested in strategic partnerships. How do you select the right partner in the right space?

Advice:

  • At the end of the day it’s about a connection with the partner which extends across both organizations.
    • Look for cultural synergy with the other company. Do your and their managers and employees “click” or are they oil and water? This is a gut assessment.
    • Is the quality of people in both companies complimentary? Is there similar drive for quality and attention to detail?
    • Will technical integration be smooth? Are systems complimentary? At a minimum are there the right skills on both sides so that this won’t hinder the project.
    • Are sales and marketing approaches compatible? Will teams be able to work together? What about other departments?
  • You need to have strategic commitment across both organizations.
    • Partnerships don’t work if there is only alignment at the top. Executives can’t shove a new opportunity down the throats of those who report to them. There must be excitement about the opportunity across both sides of the partnership.
    • There must be complimentary competencies, capabilities and commitment.
    • Is there a clear understanding of the goals and objectives succeed?
    • Reward structures and incentives must be aligned down through the two parties. Conflicts will lead to struggles.
  • There must be a strategic alignment between the two organizations so that both see the partnership as complementing their broader strategic plans.
    • There must be a fundamental strategic win-win. The venture must be seen by each party as core to their business, plans and results. If this isn’t present, the collaboration can be drowned when a better opportunity that comes along.
    • Look for some gauge that the partnership is as important to the other party as it is to you. What other partners do they have? Is the size of the opportunity enough so that you are assured of their ongoing attention?

You can contact Jim Soss at [email protected]

Key Words: Partner, Partnership, Connection, Culture, Synergy, Quality, Integration, Systems, Complimentary, Commitment, Alignment, Capabilities, Rewards, Incentives, Strategic Plan

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