Tag Archives: Engine

How Do You Create a Succession Plan? Three Points

Situation: A CEO, planning for his future, wants to create a succession plan. Done correctly, this should also promote the growth of the company until it is time for him to retire. The challenge is that the company is highly decentralized, and a clear successor has yet to be identified. How do you create a succession plan?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Tie succession planning to growth. This will benefit the company whether the CEO’s retirement is in the planning horizon or the more distant future.
    • Consider geographic transfers to provide growth opportunity for key managers and to proliferate the success of highly successful regions into less successful regions.
    • Develop a leadership generation engine. Consider GE as a model for this as noted in Jim Collins’s books Good to Great and its predecessor, Built to Last. GE’s success is a model for building long-lasting value substantially beyond the current value of the company.
    • Create a vision of what the company could be and the organization chart to fulfill this vision. This will guide and support the two points, above.
  • As new talent is acquired, conduct this with an eye to growth.
    • As the company identifies and hires top prospects, conduct the hiring process to fill the organization chart of the future company that is envisioned.
    • Look at outside hires for growth positions to complement home grown talent.
    • If business or company acquisitions are being considered, be aware that the leadership of the acquired business or company and its top talent may depart. Include retention clauses and incentives in any acquisition contract.
  • This effort must be approached as a long-term development process – it does not happen through quick-fixes but through a commitment to excellence in acquiring and developing talent.

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How Do You Compete Against Free Software? Six Tactics

Situation: A boutique software company with superior expertise in their market competes against a large corporation that provides similar software for “free.” The competitor sells systems with their software pre-installed; however, these systems are known to work better with the boutique company’s software. How do you compete against free software?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Create an alternate message that rings consistently through your advertising, speaking, and media. The core of this message is that if you want a successful experience with the competitor’s installation, the only clear choice is your software. Feature data from your case studies showing improvements in performance, savings of time and resources, etc.
  • Your best target is customers who are in the proof of concept stage. Here they are learning about the system and dealing with the early challenges with the software installed by the competitor. They not only have to pay for the system, but they must pay for installation services. If you can demonstrate both cost savings and smoother operation they will be open to your pitch.
  • Keep a list of the competitor’s trial sites and approach them three months after they try the pre-installed software. Have case studies in hand that demonstrate the clear superiority of your software. At this point they will have experienced enough during the trial that they will be open to your sales message.
  • Focus on the regional rales organizations of your competitor – the people who sell the competitor’s equipment. The RSOs are driven purely by sales performance. Show them that it is easier to sell their systems, and that trials go more smoothly when they recommend your software as part of the sale.
    • Your message: with our software your trial installations go more smoothly; without our software, the entire system sale is at risk.
  • Continue to refine your search engine optimization so that you appear in the first five hits when anybody asks about the competitor’s systems or software.
  • Find an independent Blogger who cares and wants to spread the message that your software is the only way to go with the competitor’s system. Continually feed this blogger with fresh material from your field sales experience.

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