Tag Archives: Decision-Maker

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 Target CIOs of Large Companies? Six Suggestions

Situation: A company’s target customers are Fortune 1000 companies, some of whom are simultaneously clients and competitors. The key target is the VP/CIO. A prime concern of that individual is assuring that their IT systems never go down. What could the company do better to approach these target customers and reach the right decision-maker? How do you target CIOs of large companies?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The approach must be tailored to reach corporate level decision-makers:
    • Conduct a direct marketing campaign strategically as opposed to using a high-volume mailing with a low cost-per-piece.
    • Mail relatively expensive dimensional mailers to a small number of highly qualified prospects. Look for high impact to the best targets.
  • Research and identify the key targets within prospect companies.
    • The best success will come from prospects who have tried other options from the large competitors but are unsatisfied with the results.
  • Consider and research prospects within the large consulting firms. They may have tried IBM or similar options, but weren’t happy with what was provided, either because of cost, time or quality.
  • Also look at next-tier players. Success with these customers can become valuable references to the larger firms.
  • Position the offering as the “safe choice.”
  • Closely monitor customers and their experience with the offering – both pre-installation, during installation and post-installation. The key variables will be quality and ease of installation and adoption of the company’s offering.

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