Tag Archives: Opportunity

When Do You Focus on the Plan –  When Do You Adjust? Four Guidelines

1 Reply

Situation: The dynamics of an early-stage business require balance between focus and opportunity. Both are important in a dynamic business environment. The challenge is in the balancing act. When do you focus on the plan, and when do you adjust?

Advice:

  • Never allow friends to become statistics. Think of your customers as your friends. Often the most loyal and vocal friends were early adopters and got the company where it is today. They remain important participants in the conversation and should always be in focus.
  • When using social media to communicate to your audience, remember that this is a face-to-face conversation. This is a key point of focus. Remove as much friction from online interactions as you can. Make it as easy as possible for people visiting your web site to buy. This requires both live interactions with users and attention to detail. If a question keeps coming up, answer it; put the answer right up front on your web site where it cannot be missed. We’ve all made hundreds of tweaks, each tiny. Each has removed a point of friction. As the company grows it is easy to lose sight of these details. Never lose sight of details.
  • Much of what businesses face is transitory. It is important to stay nimble and not get stuck fighting the last skirmish. Early in our business history we found that a subscription service was difficult for institutional users like purchasing departments in schools to understand. We focused on fixing this.
  • Be careful not to chase bright shiny objects – opportunities that take you outside your principal market competence. Would you try to modify a hammer to put in screws? One company’s principal product is a communication device for kids with verbal challenges. Some have suggested that it could also be a teaching device. In the future there may be room in the company’s plan for a teaching device, but this will be addressed as its own market and application when the company is large enough to diversify.

Thanks to Phil Bookman of Assistyx for his contribution to this article.

[like]

What are the Key Strategic Components of a Marketing Plan? Five Points

Situation: A CEO has decided that his top opportunities are to increase visibility and gain market share. As he focuses on these opportunities what are the areas on which he should focus as he builds his plan? What are the key strategic components of an effective marketing program?

Advice:

  • The best marketing plans don’t start with your company, product or service, They start with a focus on your customers and the benefits you can deliver to them.
  • The first step is to identify who your customers are. This can be challenging in B2B businesses. For example, for a company offering outplacement solutions, there are several possible customers: the HR department at the company seeking outplacement services; the CFO at these companies; the HR department at companies seeking good candidates; and the individuals who are going through outplacement and seeking new positions. Each of these audiences has different objectives, priorities and approaches. To succeed, the company needs to connect to each of them where they are and be prepared to offer effective solutions.
  • Once you have identified your target customers, the next step is to develop messaging and message delivery systems that capture and maintain their attention. The messaging must express a differentiation that is easy to grasp – something that clearly sets you apart from your competition.  In technology marketing, Apple’s Super Bowl commercial, with its man-versus-machine contrast, is one of the most famous examples of this.
  • Your campaign must consistently touch your potential customer base. Research suggests that this requires a minimum of 4-5 touches to effectively gain customer attention and to communicate your message.
  • Accompanying the messaging and the increased visibility that you seek, you must have an effective way to respond promptly and directly to customer interest or inquiries. Rapid and responsive follow-up are critical to success.

Thanks to Sanjay Sathe of Rise Smart for his contribution to this article.

[like]

How Do You Design an Effective Sales Model? Eight Points

Situation: A company is in the process of building an inside sales program to complement their outside sales capabilities. What are the most important strategic components of an effective sales model? How do you design an effective sales model?

Advice:

  • In a marketing/sales system, marketing is the precursor to everything. If you can’t effectively deliver your message to your audience, you have no lead generation machine and sales must resort to cold calls. In today’s online world, two of the key components of a marketing system are email and online campaigns, combined with tools for rapid and responsive follow-up.
  • In an effective system, the inside sales team has primarily responsibility for following up on leads. This team’s role is to qualify the prospect responding to the company’s marketing outreach. Is this person the right buyer for their company? If not, who is?
  • A strong rapport between inside and outside sales is important. If this isn’t present opportunities are being lost.
  • Has the company allocated an adequate budget to fund an outreach strategy? If not, when will they?
  • The most critical aspect of the inside sales rep’s role is to be an effective filter in collecting and passing data on to the field sales force.
  • Many inside sales reps fail because their performance is measured on the number of calls made, not on the quality of the calls, information gathered, closure rates, and the value of closures. Effective incentives for inside sales are based on the quality of data gathered and on the success of field sales in closing the leads they receive from inside sales.
  • The effectiveness of outside sales comes down to choosing the right people. The 80/20 rule applies here. Typically, one out of five field sales reps hired is truly successful, one is marginal, and three don’t make it. Hire based on past experience selling to the company’s target customer groups, subjective elements aligned with company culture, and careful reference checks.
  • For the CEO, attracting and hiring good people this individual’s most important role. 

Thanks to Sanjay Sathe, President & CEO, RiseSmart.com for his contribution to this article.

[like]

How Do You Bring Different Teams Together? Seven Points

Situation: There are many opportunities to team with other companies, whether through partnerships, joint ventures or M&A. This is accompanied by the challenge of bringing together different teams to succeed in new roles and tasks. How do you bring different teams together?

Advice of the CEOs:

  • People are an investment. Just like the stock market is not up every day, neither will be the performance of your people. Bringing people into new relationships, roles and responsibilities takes patience, work and nurturing to build skills and to get the best out of people.
  • To optimize this, build an organizational chart of the new or revised organization that you will build. Fill in the spaces with the individual who currently holds responsibility for each role. This means that some people will have several different roles. This is OK. As you add additional people, they will fill many of these roles.
  • Build a set of company or project values to guide individuals through the decisions that will drive future growth. Involve the full team in this exercise so that ownership of the resulting chart is broad.
  • Develop and consistently express the roles and boundaries of the company or project.
  • Focus on systems and processes, not just on tasks. The core of any organization is people and relationships. These are best expressed through systems and processes, not tasks. Tasks express discrete roles. As sophisticated as these may be, they won’t encompass the richness or complexity of the systems, processes or the people involved.
  • When dealing with people always ask “What is my role?” and “What is their role?” In each situation, work to understand the other’s perspective and what opportunity or concern they are bringing to the table. Trying to transform an individual into someone that they are not doesn’t work.
  • Particularly in a company or venture that focuses on high levels of customer service, act urgently, but avoid emergencies. You want your response to customer needs to be swift, but you don’t want to destroy operational rhythm.

Thanks to Jennifer Choate for her contribution to this discussion.

[like]

How Do You Maintain Focus on Your Core While Growing? Six Considerations

Situation: A company has established a strong core business and it is time to diversity. The most promising opportunity for growth is complimentary to but a different business model from the company’s core. What are best practices for maintaining focus on the core business while developing a new opportunity? How do you maintain focus on your core while growing?

Advice:

  • Most importantly, be emotionally and strategically ready to make the bet and commit to action. In doing so you must “know thyself.” Specifically, take a long look to determine whether you tend to overanalyze or are too quick to pull the trigger. Understanding your tendencies will help in the steps below. 
  • Establish the prerequisites for pulling the trigger. This means determining:  the level of operating stability for the core business that will allow you to split focus; the level of financial stability and predictability that will support both core and expansion efforts; and the level of organizational and process stability that will allow you to take on the new opportunity.
  • Understand and define the differences between the old game and the new game. What are the financials of the growth opportunity? How do they differ from your core business? Are there conflicts that must be resolved? Can you launch an innovative solution to differentiate the new offering?
  • Gather enough understanding of market need that will satisfy you with the new opportunity so as to be able to address it effectively.
  • Establish a sound execution strategy and timeframe for launching the new business. Some of your decisions will be wrong. You need the resources to tolerate a learning curve while running fast towards your goal.
  • Draft a leadership development plan for both the core and new business before you start. This plan must define the skill sets and growth needs of each business.

Thanks to Clark Avery for his contribution to this article.

  [like]

How do you Boost Value in a Commodity Market? Five Suggestions

Situation:  As a result of the technology revolution, products in established markets have become commoditized. For example, advances in medical technology has driven down price while increasing incidence and prevalence of diabetes has driven up demand. How do you boost value in a commodity market?

Advice:

  • Taking a broader view of the market is critical. Analyze the entire customer experience, not just your segment of the market. Assess markets and industries surrounding your primary offering and look for un-served opportunities and gaps. Where you find opportunity, elevate your offering to the next level by integrating your product as component. Create a compelling advantage but avoid unnecessary adaptation of your existing product or service. Can your technology become part of a broader service offering, or even part of a personalized solution? Are there opportunities to move higher up in the value chain?
  • Begin your transformation at the first signs of commoditization. Being first brings a huge advantage.
  • Once you identify an unmet need, consider working with related industry groups to create new standards addressing these gaps. Implementing the resulting standards will give you a new competitive advantage against your competitors.
  • Find other applications for your product or service. Consider new applications for the components used in your current offering. Find new customers outside of your historic customer base. Consider alliances with other companies experienced with the new opportunities you find.
  • Within your own organization begin a process that routinely analyzes the customer experience and general needs beyond your current offering. Working with an outside consultant can help by adding a new perspective.

Thanks to Dirk Boecker for his contribution to this discussion.

[like]

How Do You Find Good Salespeople? Five Suggestions

Situation: A CEO wants to expand his company’s salesforce by adding “diamonds in the rough” – hungry individuals motivated by a high commission/low salary opportunity with high total compensation potential. How do you find these individuals? How do you find good salespeople?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Hire “out of school”. Create a career path from a lower paid inside sales position to eventual higher paid outside sales position. Give the individual(s) time to get up to speed understanding your technology as they develop sales skills. This helps to generate revenue to cover costs while developing new salespeople.
  • Accept the fact that you will likely experience turnover hiring candidates out of school. High commission sales forces in other industries deal with 85% turnover over 3 years to find “keepers.” This may be a significantly higher level of turn-over than you are accustomed to in other positions.
  • Look to sales job fairs and Craigslist for candidates.
  • Give your current sales people a bonus for referring friends or acquaintances who will stay with you for 6 or 12 months. Pay theses bonuses out over preset time periods.
  • Hire a good sales recruiter to find experienced high-producers in companies or industries with a similar product sale. The appeal to these candidates will be a high earnings opportunity combined with the chance to sell an interesting product. Because these people will already be high earners, consider creating a draw system so that they do not have to make a significant short-term earnings sacrifice by switching to your company.

[Like]

How Do You Scale Up a Product That Is Taking off! Four Points

Situation: Demand for a product produced by a company has increased dramatically. The CEO realizes that they need to scale up production quickly to meet this unexpected demand. The company is small and the CEO wants advice as to how his company can accomplish this without killing the product. How do you scale up a product that is taking off?
Advice from the CEOs:
• This represents a major change of both mentality and culture. Essentially, the company needs to move from a “handmade” process to a commodity volume process. This may also mean moving from low volume/high margin production to high volume/lower margin production. This shift will significantly change the company.
• If there is high confidence that the company will land a contract for long-term production consider establishing high volume production at a new site. Rent or lease another facility. Alongside this hire a set of experienced people who understand the challenges of scaling up rapidly. Consider giving this facility a new name to suit the new team. This will help to establish a new culture suitable to the new opportunity.
• While negotiating a lease, ask for an option for additional space to be included in the lease. If things don’t pan out, look at this new space as the eventual location for your existing team.
• Two other options to consider: (1) Outsourcing to a 3rd party manufacturer. This is an option unless the company is an OEM outsourced producer itself. However, be careful – you could be telling your customer that they could go directly to your OEM source at a lower price. (2) Establishing an overseas production capability – one where you own the facility and manage quality control. This will be a challenge if the customer wants to specify “Made in US”, or where quality concerns are essential.

[like]

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.

[like]

How Do You Expand Business Internationally? Five Suggestions

Situation: The President of a company wants to expand its business in Europe, but has limited resources, particularly in terms of personnel. What have others learned from their international business opportunities? What has worked and what hasn’t? How do you expand business internationally?
Advice from the CEOs:
• Hire a Business Development person to develop your European business. You want to find an individual who has experience working with international partners as well as their clients.
• Allocate budget not just for the individual hired, but also the travel budget to fund extended trips.
• Plan for time to train existing and interested international partners to sell or service your offering.
• Hire an individual who is at least minimally comfortable with the language or languages of your prospective European partners. While most European business people are fluent in English, they appreciate foreigners who at least make the effort to speak their language.
• Network with local and online resources to identify both potential customers and allies in Europe who can assist you. LinkedIn is international and a good way to search for both customer and partnership opportunities. Check your local Chamber of Commerce for others who are engaged in international business and network with them. Utilize networking organizations such as the Alliance for Corporate Growth which has chapters around the country and internationally. Connect with the International Trade Administration’s U.S. Commercial Service. They specialize in promoting export opportunities for American companies. Partner with a venture capitalist who has European contacts and who may be interested in supporting your efforts.

[like]