Tag Archives: Focus

What New Business Options Should You Pursue? Five Guidelines

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Situation: The CEO of a company observes that the business climate has been uncertain, but she hopes that it will improve soon. This will open up new options for her company. As these start to develop how do you decide what to do and what not to do? What new business options should you pursue?
Advice from the CEOs:
• Talk to your customers. What do they value about your current product or service and what is less valuable? Build on opportunities that customers value. What options are most consistent with the company’s strength and focus?
• Consider a customer survey – either online like Survey Monkey or by telephone. If there isn’t in-house expertise to design and administer a survey, look for knowledgeable outside resources. Assure that the survey questions will drive understanding of the company’s focus and potential.
• Get an expert to review the survey and administration plan. Before launching the survey to your full customer base, test it with a select group of customers. This will tell you whether it will produce usable information. If it doesn’t, revise the survey.
• Which opportunities will build sustainable recurring revenue vs. opportunistic or one-time revenue? Recurring revenue can be lower margin if the income stream is sustainable. Balance efficiency and utilization. For example, fixed fee service contracts that renew consistently.
• Judge opportunities against your “Hedgehog” as defined by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great: What you are passionate about? What you can be best at in your marketplace? What you can measure by a single economic ratio?

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How Do You Jump-Start Sales in the New Year? Four Points

Situation: A CEO has been working with his team to jump-start sales to set the company on a positive growth path. His team has come up with some interesting ideas. He would like to hear from others as to what they have done to set their companies up for a year of positive growth. How do you jump-start sales in the new year?
Advice from the CEOs:
• Set up a focused, manageable revenue target list of 30-100 existing and desirable new clients. Focus sales efforts on these clients. This is much more effective than a shotgun approach.
• Touch-up and refresh the target list on a consistent basis. Create and lay out a schedule of contacts by email, telephone or meetings and stick to it.
• Schedule regular meetings with the team to share successes and insights gained from their efforts. Compliment this by awarding points and recognition for the best contributions to the meetings. Rather than deciding on the awards yourself, have the team vote on the best contributions. This will increase the camaraderie of the team and will encourage them to support each other
• Develop a focused network to link to former colleagues. For example, if you’ve worked at other companies join or create an alumni group for those individuals on Linked-in. This can develop unexpected new opportunities.

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How Do You Find and Keep Good People? Seven Suggestions

Situation: A company needs to both find and retain good people to continue its profitable growth. What experience can the group share to assist the CEO in his efforts to address these needs? How do you find and keep good people?
Advice from the CEOs:
• Before starting the recruitment process create specific position profiles including desired skill sets, qualifications, and functional responsibilities.
• Set up a recruiting team to develop current and future employees and candidates. Offer scholarships to new and existing associates to continue their education.
• Once a new person is hired, create a first 90 day skill set plan. Include challenges that they have to pass, as well as scheduled training and support.
• The first 90 days is critical. If someone slips up during the first 90 days it is taken very seriously as a sign or more to come.
• Profile and hire attitudes as well as focusing on skill sets. Lots of people have skills. It is those employees who possess both the right attitude and right skills who make great hires and who will stay with the company.
• Share the company’s culture and goals. Let candidates and new hires know how they fit into both.
• To boost retention, focus on charities that employees care about. Encourage employees to participate in worthy causes and give them time to support these charities.

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How Do You Balance Competitive and Collegial Behavior Within The Team? Three Points

Situation: A CEO has built a company which is very collegial. She is interested in adding an element of friendly competition within the company. Would it be destructive to add an aspect of competition to the mix? How do you balance competitive and collegial behavior within the team?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • This can be achieved by focusing on recognition, and encouraging recognition of each other among the team members.
  • One example is to have traveling trophies.
    • One trophy could be circulated on a periodic basis based on measurable criteria. Examples include new client acquisition, increases in revenue, or increases in savings by improving processes. There are many positive achievements that can be recognized.
    • A second trophy could be awarded for “assists”. Examples include one team member helping another to land new accounts, a team of employees developing a cost-saving improvement to process, and developing a new accounting technique that saves the company money.
    • A third trophy could be awarded to one team member for a job well done, and then awarded by that member to another member for another job well done, and so on.
  • To add to the collegiality, some of the trophies can be passed around spontaneously for on-the-spot recognition. Others can be awarded on a scheduled basis such as annual or quarterly employee or company meetings. Mix it up and be sure to make it fun!

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How Do You Frame a Make Versus Buy Decision? Two Thoughts

Situation: A CEO is facing a decision whether to make or buy key technology frequently used by the company. What have others done when faced by similar decisions? What are the most important factors that impacted those decisions? How do you frame a make versus buy decision?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • In considering either option evaluate the opportunity by asking whether the technology:
    • Complements the company’s core strategic focus – the company’s “Main Thing” – what you are passionate about, what drives your key economic denominator, and what can you be best at in your market.
    • Supports the key economic denominator – the single factor that has the greatest impact on the company’s profitability and growth.
    • Complements the best use of the company’s critical resources.
    • Protects the company’s process secrets.
    • Feeds your passion as CEO.
  • In evaluating a buy decision look at the strengths of the people who come along with the opportunity.
    • Do they complement the company’s strengths or not?
    • Will they fit the company’s ecology and culture?

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How Do You Optimize Your Product Offering? Four Points of Focus

Situation: A CEO wants to take better advantage of his company’s product offering. There are many opportunities available, but the company needs more focus on optimizing these opportunities. How do you optimize your product offering?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Brand – Where has the company been? Where is it going? The world is constantly changing – what’s the company’s new brand? The brand identifies the company and both your customers’ and business partners’ identification of the company and its products and/or services. In a changing world with increased competition and “noise,” having a strong handle on the brand and brand message is critical to remaining at the top of customers’ and partners’ awareness.
  • Education/Customer Advocacy – An underutilized source of marketing strength includes both customer education and customer advocacy. Customer education allows the company to better position its product and/or service to the customer and helps the customer better meet unrecognized needs. Customer advocacy positions the company along with its customers in an area of mutual interest and strengthens both bonds and loyalty.
  • Diversification & Channels – In a changing and rapidly diversifying world, being open to new opportunities and channels through which to reach the company’s stakeholders is a source of sustainable advantage.
  • Partnerships to Take Advantage of Diversification & Channel Opportunities – Partnerships are an underutilized resource to creatively diversify and open new channels to stakeholders. They require less investment than doing everything on your own and can form the basis for key alliances and strengths going forward.

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How Do You Interview for New Hires and Promotions? Part 1, Three Points

Situation: A CEO seeks advice on interviewing both for new hires and promotions. What advice and guidelines do others suggest to improve interviews? How do you interview for new hires and promotions?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Preparation before hiring or promotion is critical.
    • Preparation means having a road map – for what will be accomplished in the new position and for how the company selects and hires or awards promotions.
    • Discipline: have the patience to do it well.
    • Be aware of and watch for possible legal issues. This has become increasingly important under DEI.
  • Raise the bar. Each new addition or promotion should enhance the company’s capabilities instead of just filling a slot.
    • Hire individuals with skills that complement areas of your own or the organization’s weaknesses.
    • Be creative in developing sources or new hires.
  • Ask open-ended questions and follow-up with additional open-ended questions to clarify areas that the response opens.
    • Focus interview questions and processes to identify demonstrated values and habits.
    • Insert pregnant pauses into the interview. How does the interviewee respond?
    • Listen for what is NOT said as much as what is said.

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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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What Should You Look For in Selling a Company? Eleven Points

Situation: The owners of a company wish to sell the company. The CEO is 50% owner and some senior employees are partial owners. Ideally the CEO wants to maintain the company’s culture for the good of the employees. What should the CEO look for in an acquiring company or a merger? What pitfalls should be avoided?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Key Considerations – Define the exit objectives. Understand that pursuing an exit will take time away from other activities. Know your buyer’s team.
  • Stakeholder Alignment – Make sure various stakeholders agree in advance on exit objectives.
  • “Keep an eye on the ball” – Selling a company can be a distraction. Focus on running the company, not on the novelty of selling.
  • Watch Out for Deal-Killer Individual – One member told of a CFO of a buyer company who sabotaged a sale at the last minute.
  • Qualify the Buyer’s Decision Process – It is valuable to understand the process that the buying company will follow to made the acquisition.
  • Broker or M&A Specialist? – About 50% of private party deals are not handled by a broker. These are sales within the industry. Few sales to insiders, such as employees or family, are handled by brokers. The same is true for synergistic companies that are already familiar with each other.
  • Avoid Over Reliance on a Broker – One member told of losing touch with important details of a sale transaction when using a broker. A better alternative was a transaction advisor as opposed to a broker paid by commission.
  • Consider an “Insider” Sale – Some businesses cannot be easily sold to outside buyers. In this case selling to insiders, employees or family may be a good solution. Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), or “S” ESOPs using an S-Corp entity, have been numerous and successful.
  • Consider Private Equity – One member spoke of selling to an investment group or private equity group that specializes in buying smaller companies.
  • Buying on the Come – Buyers look for growth. Showing a history of profitable growth is highly desirable. Having a plan for future growth in place is also valuable.
  • Leverage Strategic Partners to Boost Value – One way to increase equity value is to partner with another company. Examples include a partner that provides greater distribution and sales, or which can validate the viability of a technology. That partner can become a future purchaser.

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