Adapting
The concept of an “agile leader” is an unfortunate subcategorization that is both vague and conceptually already covered in servant leadership. Agility, in terms of adaptability in decision making as well as process management, has and will be one of the cornerstones of time tested business practices that have been successfully utilized for decades. – Kamyar Shah, World Consulting Group
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Remember What You Can Control
The only true difference is the perception of the recipient. One can choose to utilize it or choose to take it personally. We have no control over how someone communicates or their motives. However, we can choose what we get out of the communication. – Kamyar Shah, World Consulting Group
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Define Your Wants And Needs
Defining your wants and needs is by far the most significant step that should supersede any other. Without a clear outline of the “what, when, and how,” every other action taken is either meaningless or destined to fail. This should be followed by leading by example — don’t ask your team to do something you wouldn’t do yourselves. – Kamyar Shah, World Consulting Group
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Don’t Panic
The single most important action should be understanding the reason behind the nosedive. Though it sounds elementary, it is surprising how many stakeholders jump to action without knowing what the proper action needs to be. Don’t panic – use qualitative and quantitative methods. The time to take action is after you are sure you have found the issue(s). – Kamyar Shah, World Consulting Group
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Treat Them As You Would Like To Be Treated
The best rule of thumb is to treat your client the way you would like to be treated. The size of the company is not relevant — a one-man shop or a national brand — without happy customers, no business can sustain itself in the long run. Don’t complicate it; use your personal experiences as your guide. – Kamyar Shah, World Consulting Group
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Leading a business to success requires a good amount of knowledge about operations and day-to-day tasks.
These are what keep your business afloat. But you will likely miss out on market opportunities. That is unless you are incorporating yearly strategy sessions into your planning cycle. Worse, you may find that your competition has outpaced your business and your company is no longer relevant.
Businesses that use strategy consulting as part of their yearly cycles are more adaptable and stay ahead of the competition. Having a better understanding of what strategy consulting is, and how it can benefit your business, is the first step in bringing real value to your company.
Strategic Planning for Your Business
Strategic planning usually occurs annually. It is the process where a business analyzes its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Then, the business creates a set of strategic initiatives to whittle away at for the next year or five years.
Strategic planning is difficult, both in the planning as well as the implementation phase. Keeping everyone in your company keyed into your businesses‘ strategic plan is important. It is what keeps employees engaged and committed to improving their workplace day after day, year after year. And, it is important for every team member at the company to advance strategic goals and include them in their daily tasks.
The number of strategic planning sessions and duration, who is involved, and who are the strategic plan “champions,” are all things to consider when putting together your company’s strategic plan. To stay relevant and outpace your competition, you will need to use several strategic planning tools. These tools will give you insight into your competition’s capabilities. They will also highlight your businesses’ own strong suits.
PESTEL Analysis Tool
To launch a successful annual strategic planning process, focus on external influences to your business first. Market research will help kickstart your analysis. It will also lead to better decision-making. This is because the more information you have access to, the better informed your decision will be.
A great tool to use as a starting point for this external analysis is the PESTEL. PESTEL stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal categories.
Businesses do not exist in a vacuum. They occupy space in a particular location with their own competitive landscape. Here we drill down into each category of the PESTEL to better understand the particular influences that could be affecting your business or industry.
Political
Political leaders, policies, and the level of governmental control all affect business. When governments approve new policies they can be business-favorable or unfavorable. Trade policies, protectionism, and trading restrictions are a few examples of policies that can affect your business.
Be aware of leadership’s political affiliations and the threats or opportunities that a political party or leader poses to your business. If a particular party has promised tax breaks or other incentives, plan for a worst-case scenario anyway.
Finally, stay abreast of changes and keep your ears to the ground. Policies can morph quickly. Assume your competition is keeping tabs as well. Your competitors are smart and capable. Underestimating them and their capabilities can be detrimental to your long-term business viability.
Economic
Currency exchange rates and the strength of the stock market are examples of economic influences that affect your business. Business locations in areas where residents tend to have more disposable income create a favorable economic opportunity. On the other hand, inflation and high wages can have negative consequences for your finances.
Some governments have programs where they cut taxes to create business opportunities. This can also have a profound effect on your business operations. Take the time to outline the economic background of your business. This includes taking into account key economic drivers in your industry or geographic location.
Social
Knowing the social landscape is important for every business. Customers may be more or less likely to demand certain products in various countries. Proximity to other countries, or size of country and population, can affect business as well.
Not only do social implications concern customer demographics but they concern labor preferences as well. For example, customers in certain locations may put more pressure on businesses to source ingredients ethically or sustainably. Labor may also organize more effectively in one country than another. It is important to note that these social implications can be tied to political ones as well.
Technological
Where your business is located may mean that you have easier access to technology, or not. Protections on innovation like patents can also keep your business’s proprietary information safe from competitors, or not.
Access affects your ability to remain swift and responsive to market changes. Protections on technological advances give your business a competitive edge for a certain amount of time.
Environmental
Governments may regulate with a heavy or light hand on environmental issues depending on the country or location of your business. This can affect your business operations as well as any fees or overhead you incur from damaging practices.
Consumers may also buy only from environmentally-friendly businesses. Both of these factors drive the market for goods and services and must be taken into account.
Legal
Laws are borne of governmental policies and legal challenges alike. Both can have an impact on your business as an external influence.
For instance, if your company monopolizes the market, certain countries can lodge an anti-trust suit again you. Or, certain countries have minimum wage laws that prevent the exploitation of cheap labor. Knowing your legal environment can help you understand what your cost of doing business will be.
Porter’s 5 Forces Tool
The Porter 5 Forces Tool was created by Michael E. Porter as a framework for understanding the industry climate. The 5 Forces strategic analysis tool highlights the competitive landscape of your industry as well as its strengths and weaknesses as a whole.
The tool provides context to the business when each of its five categories is explored. The five categories include the threat of rivalry, entry, substitution, suppliers, and customers. These categories are outlined below.
Threat of Rivalry
The threat of rivalry category asks you to list the major players in your space. How much market share does each have currently? What are the projected forecasts?
Furthermore, consider the maturity of your market or industry. Is it stable or changing? Or is your industry on a growth trajectory versus a decline? Where do your rivals fit into this picture?
Threat of Entry
The threat of entry category exposes the rivals of tomorrow. Staying one step ahead of the future’s competition will ensure your business keeps its blind spots in check.
To remain competitive, your business will need to consider not only current rivals. Tomorrow’s rivals likely will have improved technology and processes that you will need to adapt to stay relevant to consumers.
Threat of Substitution
Will your industry be replaced by a future market? This threat of substitution is difficult to identify. But like the airplane eventually replaced boats for across-seas travel, the threat can completely undermine your business.
Substitutions must be considered and adapted to if they pose a serious enough threat. Not every substitution will need to be dealt with in the next five years. But keeping your eyes on the horizon will help your company succeed in the long-run.
Threat of Suppliers
Changing conditions in your supply chain will affect how you make your product and in what time frame. Because of the threat of suppliers, the delivery timeline to consumers can be affected. This is another way your competition can best you.
Parts expense can also be prohibitive. If suppliers cannot produce parts cost-efficiently, it may indicate a threat. Perhaps it would be better to bring production in-house. This is something to consider at the strategy initiatives stage of the strategic planning process.
Threat of Customers
Customers have bargaining power that varies in degree across locations. When customers have the ability to organize effectively to pressure your company, you have a threat to customers.
The amount of leverage that consumers have will impact your decision-making. Operations will likely be affected at your business as a result.
Now that you have an idea of what opportunities and threats exist in your industry or market, you can turn your gaze inward. Use the following strategic planning tools to discover key internal capabilities and strengths. Also, pay close attention to your weaknesses – this is likely what your competition will be focusing their attention on as well.
VRIO Analysis Tool
Understanding your value chain and rating each piece of it gives you insight into your internal capabilities and weaknesses. Start by mapping out the pieces of your value chain bit by bit. This can be done as a drawing or on a computer file. Just be sure you can add to it easily, as the list will likely grow during the analysis phase.
Examples of Value Chain Capabilities
Over time, businesses build up capabilities in different departments and processes. These can be developed to such a degree that they become significant strengths. They can become so strong that they are difficult for the competition to imitate.
The technology development component to your value chain could be successful in innovating new market solutions. Your human resources department could be adept at recruiting, training, and retaining talent at your organization. Your procurement platforms could be one step ahead of that of your competitors.
More examples of value chain capabilities include your sales and marketing team, customer service, and supplier assembly. Consider each of these value chain components at your business. Are they strengths or weaknesses for your organization?
You may need to consider the competition when analyzing your value chain. Think about your marketing department in comparison to your main rival’s marketing department. Which is stronger? Why? Asking these questions will help you in the next step of the process.
Label Each Value Chain Component
The point of the VRIO analysis is to identify strengths and weaknesses in your value chain. VRIO stands for valuable, rare, inimitable, and organized. If your marketing department is valuable, and it is, consider next if it is rare. Does your main rival have a similarly built-up marketing department?
Then determine if your marketing department is easy to imitate. If it is not because your marketing department has built up a valuable network of clients and a solid consumer pipeline, then move on to the last consideration.
If your organization has the ability to organize your marketing department effectively in response to change, then this is a key competitive advantage that your company holds. Be honest during this stage of the process. Consider only current capabilities when building out this analysis. This will help you build strategic initiatives that are valuable to your business. This, rather than initiatives that speak to a future state.
SWOT Analysis and Building Your Strategic Initiatives
As a business, you do not want to compete in an area where you have little to no competencies. You will want to minimize risks, weaknesses, and threats. But to compete effectively you must exploit your strengths and opportunities first and foremost.
The SWOT analysis is the meat of your strategic planning session. You will use it to inform your strategic initiatives and improve your businesses’ strategy. SWOT simply stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Create a 4 x 4 box and label the X-axis as strengths and weaknesses, and the Y-axis as opportunities and threats. Try different combinations in each box: SO, ST, WO, and WT. Take a look at examples and more information online if you are having trouble visualizing your SWOT table.
From these combinations, you will create your strategic initiatives. For example, to minimize an external threat, you will focus on a key internal strength you have identified. Ideally, you will have about 12-20 strategic initiatives that you will then pare down or combine to about three.
Three is a great number of strategic initiatives to have at the end of your strategic planning session. That number of initiatives is easy for everyone to remember and incorporate into their daily improvement process.
Consider Different Outcomes With Scenario Analysis
What do your company’s distinct futures look like? To be most effective, choose three different scenarios. Create a basic forecast and modify that base case to reflect three distinct future outcomes for your business.
For instance, your company may face a high-revenue and low-revenue future based on the effectiveness of your new sales strategy initiative. You can create a model that shows these futures and their monetary impact on the company.
Scenario analysis and sensitivity analysis tools help you visualize best and worst-case scenarios and present these to your management team. Some factors have a greater impact or are more sensitive to change. They can have high risk but also high reward. Decide as a team what strategy is best for you given the current external business and industry environment.
Implementation is Strategy Too
It can be easy to forget, after putting so much effort into creating strategic initiatives, that implementation is just as important as planning. Be aware of how you communicate your new strategy to your team. A good communication plan and the use of project champions can help move your initiatives along positively and productively.
Human resources can be especially helpful at this stage of the implementation process. Allocate personnel to the strategy team early on. They will help your business stay on track and keep employees informed at every step. Remember: no strategic leader can disseminate information solo. Rather, a strategy is a team effort.
Easy access to training information is important for your team members, especially ones that will be directly affected as a result of strategic initiatives or changes. Ensure that each employee has access to key information well ahead of deployment dates of changing technology or processes. Consider interactive, feedback-oriented sessions to increase buy-in.
It cannot be overstated how important implementation is to the success of your strategy. Alignment is key. Your company will not be able to move its strategy forward without buy-in and employee engagement. You can have the smartest strategy in the world and not be able to execute it.
Strategy Mapping
Strategy mapping can be an effective way to communicate strategic initiatives with your team members through the use of visual aid. Prioritize your strategic initiatives in order and place them on a color-coordinated map for deployment and training purposes.
One purpose of using a strategy map tool is to explore how your strategy affects four key aspects of your business: finances, customers, operations, and learning or growth at the company. Fitting your strategy to address these aspects forces you to think about the consequences and implications of your strategic initiatives. It also helps you think about why this strategy is a best-fit, and what goal it helps you achieve in the long-run.
Try to tie all strategic initiatives through the map back to specific departments or employees. This process can also help your team members understand how their actions affect the whole. This keeps them well-engaged and focused on value add work.
Some of us are visual learners. Presentation is everything. Executing a clear and colorful strategy map can help you disseminate important information to your employees. It can be a best practice for helping get everyone on the same page and working toward a common goal.
Balanced Scorecard
How will your team measure the company initiatives’ success or failure? How will the company’s team members know that they have achieved their goals?
The balanced scorecard is borne from your strategy mapping process. It also incorporates the four key aspects of your business: finances, customers, operations, and learning or growth capabilities.
Set clear metrics and targets for your team. Then, make sure everyone is aware of the business direction moving forward. Prioritize what your team measures and provide examples or templates of key resource documents.
A poorly executed balanced scorecard can be detrimental to employee motivation. It is important to only measure what is important. Furthermore, you must not be unrealistic in your measurable goals. In the worst-case scenario, this can encourage fraudulent behavior or the fudging of results.
When executed well, a balanced scorecard can provide a baseline for improvement. It can also be incorporated in year-end bonus negotiations or annual celebrations.
The best balanced scorecards are indeed balanced. Team members should not be able to succeed by performing in only one priority, category, or strategic initiative. Performance should be measured more holistically.
The balanced scorecard does not need to be the most complicated document in the world. It should be standardized for use across the company. The balanced scorecard should also be simple to understand.
Capturing Your Blue Ocean
In business-speak, there is an ideal state called a “Blue Ocean Strategy,” a term coined by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. Finding that market that holds opportunity and for which you are particularly well-suited is the ultimate goal.
On the flip side, your business will want to avoid a red ocean, where competition is fierce and the only way to compete is by lowering the price of your goods or services. Nothing can spell a quicker disaster than this scenario.
Avoid the red ocean and exploit the blue ocean by implementing these strategic analysis tools. The next point to consider is whether an in-house strategy team or an outsourced strategic consultant is best for your business.
What is Strategy Consulting, and Why Do I Need It?
Strategy consulting is when businesses bring in third-party consultants to perform the strategic planning cycle. Many companies find value in bringing on a third-party rather than performing strategy planning in-house. There are a few reasons for that.
Executing strategy planning can be a daunting and time-consuming task for any business owner. Furthermore, some businesses simply lack the resources to invest in a proper strategy team. Everything from your company’s position in the maturity cycle to your employee’s capabilities as strategists can indicate the need to outsource. This, as opposed to keeping your strategic planning in-house.
Strategy consulting relies on outside consultants to map your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for you. This is so that you and your business leaders have more time and energy to focus on daily operations.
This can be a great option for entrepreneurs and start-ups, or businesses that simply need an outside perspective or fresh pair of eyes. Having consultants take part in your strategic planning process can help keep you honest. It can also result in the best strategies for your business if taken advantage of correctly.
Why Hire a Strategy Consultant?
The stress of running a lucrative business is high. Your business leaders can be stretched enough as it is. Excess time is hard to come by and hiring an internal team, for whatever reason, is not feasible. This is the environment at many businesses, which can make the choice to hire outside an easy one.
You may also lack the expertise necessary to perform strategic planning. Perhaps your company needs outside help for clarity, feedback, and fresh ideas. Blind spots are present at every company. It is important to consider every angle thoroughly and without bias.
Lastly, your company may not have access to the latest and greatest technology for market research. Working with a strategy consultant that has access to these tools can bring value to your business.
When you shoulder a high level of responsibility at your company already, feeling alone when making decisions about the future of your business is possible. Helpful support and collaboration can alleviate this feeling. Strategy consultants provide this service to business leaders at all types of companies.
Different Types of Strategy Consulting
Strategy consultants can specialize in particular areas depending on their education and career background. Different consultant or consultant companies may have different time ranges of availability.
Bringing a third-party strategy consultant onboard comes with the decision of which type of consultant might be best for your planning process. Here we will discuss several different types of strategy consultants and the value they can bring to the table.
Brand Strategy Consultant
A brand strategy consultant can help you understand your company’s product and overall brand positioning in the eyes of your customer. This can help you develop an idea as to your brand identity. Developing your brand strategy can also help you be more effective in product messaging and retention of customers.
Brand strategy consultants can also offer strategic advice on brand protection and durability, or the deployment of a brand new logo design. Introducing a new product to capture a different market segment? Depending on your branding needs, a brand strategy consultant can help you develop a winning strategy.
Marketing Strategy Consultant
When you need robust and accurate market research, turn to a marketing strategy consultant to chart out changing market landscapes effectively. This type of consultant can also help you develop your business product’s value proposition.
When you need a successful marketing strategy, a marketing consultant can help you develop customer profiles and use data analytics for maximal impact. Categorize segments and explore product choices by outsourcing your marketing strategy implementation and development.
Financial Strategy Consultant
There is no quicker way for you to go out of business than for your company’s finances to be mismanaged. But understanding taxes and tax impact, how to forecast or budget, and other important financial topics is difficult and time-consuming, to say the least.
Leave it to the experts to conduct a product line profitability analysis. Financial strategy consultants can give you the best, most up-to-date information on asset depreciation and investment or disposal moves. And capital gains and losses can seriously impact your liability and cash flow. For expert assistance in all matters financial, collaborate with a third-party financial strategy consultant.
Operations Strategy Consultant
An operations strategy consultant assists with operational efficiency strategy generation. If your company needs a serious look at cutting costs or overhead for higher levels of profitability, operations strategy consultants can be just the ticket.
They can also help with effective implementation. Everything from training modules to the strategy deployment schedule can be worked into the strategic plan.
Risk Strategy Consultant
To prevent financial or other value loss, a business must avoid or mitigate risks in their environment. This goes back to the PESTEL and 5 Forces analyses – if you have threats in your industry or geography, these can affect how you do business.
Having a risk strategy consultant on your team can help you identify risks and develop mitigation strategies to deal with those risks. Industry experts can be excellent choices for this type of strategic consulting. They have the experience that translates well to your needs.
Technology Strategy Consultant
Many companies install new technology or software solutions into their business to help them achieve higher levels of profitability. They also install them to help the business remain competitive in a changing industry or market landscape.
Technology strategy consultants can help install new technology, identify risks with that technology, and communicate results to management and employees. New software and technology integration can seriously improve business operations. Enlist a technology strategy consultant to help keep you moving forward effectively.
Acquisition or Merger Strategy Consultant
Mergers and acquisitions are notoriously difficult to manage. Business identity and politics can prevent effective mergers and lead to mass talent exits.
To plan for and mitigate these negative consequences of a growth acquisition or merger strategy, hire an acquisition or merger strategy consultant. These consultants can assist with everything from full acquisitions to joint ventures, considering everything from legal to operational consequences of the move.
Online Business Strategy Consultant
COVID-19 and the resulting pandemic have had a serious impact on normal business operations. There is an increased need for remote, on-demand expertise. Online business strategy consultants can provide comprehensive or specialized assistance, depending on your needs.
Your selection of the right strategy consultant depends wholly on your business and the particular risks you face. Plus, expertise needs can differ drastically for small businesses versus large businesses.
Strategy Consulting for Big & Small Businesses
There is no doubt that running a small business is very different from running a large company. This is because the number of team members you employ is different. But also, your consumers have different needs as well.
Because of these reasons, small businesses will have different goals and track results differently than large businesses. Strengths and weaknesses will depend on market size and the number of employees you have.
Additionally, the guidance you need on strategic next steps and implementation advice will vary. Setting goals may be a one or five or twenty-year process depending on the size of your business and the maturity level of the industry. Because large and small businesses have different amounts and types of resources, the allocation of those resources will be different.
Are you expanding or downsizing? Bring in a strategy consultant for help on moving in or out of the small or large business space. But be sure to let your consultant know how your growth will help you achieve your long-range goals. Being clear on your overarching goal from the outset helps you get the most out of your experience with a strategy consultant.
What to Look For in a Strategy Consultant
Many strategy consultants will have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in business management. Beyond credentials, however, you must vet for skills and experience.
The best strategy consultants will have high-level critical thinking skills. They can see the big picture and long-range goals as part of the development process. But they are also adept at performing detail-oriented work and getting into the specifics.
Communication is key. Your strategy consultant must be an excellent facilitator and very people-oriented. Change is difficult for many employees. The better your consultant can communicate, the easier the transition into a new and changing strategic path will be.
Because things change quickly, it is important that your strategy consultant can go with the flow, so to speak. Being flexible and adaptive, yet results-oriented is important. The business must keep in mind its ultimate goal at every step of the process.
The bottom line is that considering your strategy consultant’s background and career expertise is a great starting place. But more importantly, your company’s new strategy consultant must have the ability to mesh with your team members. If this key puzzle piece is missing, the process of strategic planning may fall apart quickly.
Pricing Your Strategic Project
The cost of hiring a third-party expert strategy consultant can vary widely. Start with creating your company budget. Spending on strategy is important and cannot be de-prioritized. But ensure that your budget is also realistic and there is wiggle-room in case the project extends longer than planned for whatever reason.
The costs should be split into two categories: pre-planning strategy generation phase and post-planning implementation. Determine whether your company or business will require both or just one. This depends on your internal capabilities and capacity.
Depending on the firm reputation and level of expertise, you may pay more or less for a qualified strategy consultant. Be sure to do your research before scouting out the best fit for your business. Doing this will help keep your sights on realistic options rather than setting your sights on consulting above your price range.
Many consultants charge by the hour, at an average rate of $150 per hour. Price can vary depending on geographic location, demand, and timing. If you search for a consultant near the end of the year, when many other businesses have their fiscal year-end, you may pay a surcharge due to high demand timing.
Choose the Best Consulting Firm For You
It may go without saying, but choosing the right consulting firm is a highly personal choice. Your business may choose to work with a local consulting firm for one project and a large consulting firm for the next. Or, your business may keep it consistent by retaining the same strategy consultant each year for the yearly strategic planning process.
There are upsides to each, which again can only be determined by your specific needs. Everything from your location and access to quality strategy consultants, to project needs or specific challenges, will help decide what company or firm is right for you.
Resiliency During the Pandemic
The pandemic has changed the face of business for the long-term. COVID-19 has left its mark on the way we work from home. It has determined which industries are essential. The pandemic has even reinforced online markets and delivery services.
Small and large businesses alike are having to rearrange their business models and reinvent or scrap previously profitable product lines. The threat of the pandemic has also created an opportunity to connect more with consumers digitally.
An online strategy consultant can help your business weather the pandemic as part of the annual strategy process or not. The best consultants can give you information on new stimulus packages, loans, or government business incentives.
These impacts are changing quickly and can be hard to follow in the news. Having a trusted consultant at your side to keep your business moving forward is important now more than ever.
Although consulting used to be a travel intensive industry, travel is largely on hold these days. This does not mean your business must forfeit expert consultant third-party advice.
To maintain resilience during the pandemic, consider working with a strategy consultant to help you through the worst of the economic downturn. Flexibility and adaptability have always been the name of the game. The pandemic has just sped up the competitive process.
Kickstart Your Business’ Path to Success
Keeping a business moving toward its goals is the primary objective of every business owner or leader. Incorporating an annual strategic planning session into your yearly calendar can help you keep your eye on the ball. It can also help keep your business competitive and responsive to every opportunity.
Your business’ strategy consulting pathway to success starts by hiring the right third-party consultant expert for your team. For more information on how to keep your business competitive, and more business strategy tips, check out our blog.
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Are you wondering whether your business needs strategy consulting vs management consulting? While at face value they might seem the same, but there are key differences.
In this in-depth guide, you’ll get to discover what strategy consulting is and isn’t, and what management consulting is and isn’t. Read on to explore how consulting can help your business succeed whether it’s becoming more profitable, fixing problems, or standing out in the competition.
Consulting is when a business gives expert opinions to a specific field or person. It’s giving advice to different businesses based on organizational structures, strategy, management, and operations.
A consultant will bring their experience to help businesses succeed. While the base term of consulting doesn’t require certifications, firms, or degrees, management consulting and strategic consulting often do.
It’s about helping a person solve their problem and move from the current situation to the desired state. For example, say someone who is an accountant makes about $60,000 a year.
Maybe they’d make more working for a company, but they have entrepreneurial goals. A management consultant or strategic consultant can work with them to help go after their desired goals to make more money and stand out.
Some consultants will reach out to other experts to ensure that they’ll deliver the results the client is looking for. For example, an accountant looking to grow might require learning digital marketing to stand out online.
Many hire consultants for 3 main reasons. The first reason is that they don’t want to waste their efforts or time. They want a proven system to follow.
The next option is that although they might have an idea, they’re not quite sure how to implement it. The last reason is that they know the problem, but aren’t sure how to solve it.
While some might be patient and take time exploring the best methods for problems, many want the reward as quickly as possible. They realize that if they try to learn it from the beginning, there might be mistakes along the way, and it’ll take longer.
Management and strategic consultants will have the education and expertise necessary to give businesses a proven system. It’s up to the business to implement the system after the consultant leaves.
Another term for consulting at a base level is giving advice. When you take a look at different types of consulting, for example, IT, they help their client with IT problems.
Management is about combining the different departments and functions of a company. Management consultants work on business problems at a top-level. That includes the Board of Directors, Boards of Management, CEOs, etc.
Another term for a management consultant is what’s known as a management analyst. Their goal is to help businesses come to an outcome whether that’s to be competitive, profitable, or solve a problem.
Management consultants can break down into different functions such as IT or inventory control. They can also have specialties within an industry such as education, manufacturing, and healthcare.
A management consultant works with a leadership team to identify the different problems in order to come up with a solution. They can be found in teams or self-employed working with different businesses. Most work for a consulting firm and will help different businesses.
Responsibilities:
Strategy consulting is where the consultant has experience in what they’re providing expert advice on. This can include future directions or strategic issues so the value and growth of the company improve.
This can include marketing and corporate strategies. The marketing strategy can include relating products with products of the competition for customer experience, channels, and pricing. Under the corporate strategy, it’s about market positioning, growth, etc.
Since management consulting is a broad term it can refer to different niche areas of business management and handles different problems and issues of an organization. It’s about taking a look at data gathering, recommendations to management, defining problems, and being part of the implementation process.
Under strategy consulting, it’s about taking a look at the overall strategy of the management team. While it falls under management consulting, it takes a look at specific issues that those in management experience.
All strategy consulting firms fall under management consulting. Not all management consulting firms are strategy consulting firms.
Certified consultants will gather research and data for their company. They spend a large amount of their time doing the necessary amount of research.
They’ll take a look at different focus groups with 3rd parties, research industry reports, interview company employees, and take a look at internal financial figures.
This can include large files with raw data. Management consultants are organized and will have this data on an Excel sheet to better understand it.
The consultant will meet with them to further discuss the project and plans. Every meeting doesn’t have to be with a C-level executive, but instead, the consulting team that you as the client approves.
This can include directors, VPS, etc. You’ll receive updates every few days or weeks from the point of contact.
Your management consultant will spend a large amount of time with their management team in order to have a clear objective in mind before beginning.
Discussions can include interviews with employees or taking a look at financial information. Many consultants will start with a hypothesis for a solution and what data they’ll use to test this idea.
Both strategy consulting and management have different methods when it comes to business situations. Strategy consulting comes up with plans for a certain period of time to ensure that there are cost reduction and promotion of a new product.
It’s about solving a problem for the client to have satisfaction. Strategic consultants are a good idea when there are issues that need to be solved. Whether that’s unexpected events, developing a new business, etc.
Management consulting is about developing a method for faster solutions. They’re good when there’s a known opportunity or issue. Or, when there’s a tested solution available.
They’ll come up with a competitive business strategy for different businesses with a detailed action plan. Different methods and tools will be provided to meet the goals of the company.
It can include:
Since a strategic planning consultant is from the outside they can give you a new perspective without being influenced by the company’s culture. This can lead to new ideas and suggestions that’ll help the business gain clarity.
They’ll collect market intelligence and analysis on markets, competitors, industry trends, etc. This research will help businesses in evaluating and identifying opportunities that lead to growth.
They work with management to come up with a business strategy that works for a business. This includes taking a look at the budget, tasks, strategies, goals, and other needs of the strategy implementation process. It lets a company know what will be done, and what will be the goal.
A high-quality management consultant will make a company’s issues and business a top priority. A management consultant will ask business questions during the sales process to dig deeper.
There are industry specialists and generalists. While a generalist might not have that special quality, they can solve and see different problems and opportunities from a fresh perspective. A specialist in that industry can bring in an understanding as well.
As a business, it’s important to see the gray areas to develop and use them in businesses. A strong management consultant will see the gray areas in order to see the difference between OK and good opportunities.
Before hiring a management consultant, find out who you’ll be working with before you begin. See if they take into consideration the gray areas as well.
The right management consultant will create reports in a timely manner. It’s harder to find one who will give you measurable results as well, but it’s possible.
They’ll help with building out new ideas into the real world. A firm that can take a look at tactical and conceptual ideas is important as well.
A management consultant should have the outcome as the most important part of the process. A company’s interests should always be at the forefront of what a management consultant does.
Before hiring a management consultant, it’s a good idea to find one who understands the scope of the project. After they pitch to a business, a company should decide whether the consultant understands the problem and their needs.
Ask the management consultant how often before a response will be received, or questions a business may have. A consultant with a strong response time is important to ensure that there are no steps or questions missed.
Avoid a consultant who will walk around the question and make a response to salesy. Pick someone who will listen to the needs of the business to ensure that they understand the facts. Make sure that the business will receive the specific answer to that question before proceeding with that consultant.
Look for a consultant who has the experience necessary to help. While each business will have different requirements, it’s a good idea to find a management consultant with plenty of experience.
To understand the differences between strategy consulting vs management consulting it’s important to take a look at examples. Imagine a restaurant that’s having trouble with getting new customers.
Maybe they had a commercial to advertise their products but it fell flat. Also, say this company underpays its staff who is also overworked. They also don’t have healthy options so lack variety.
This restaurant keeps going to the same methods and hoping something will change. Strategy consultants and management consultants will handle this situation in a different way.
A strategic consultant will provide advice on specific management topics instead of identifying the problems as a whole as a management consultant will do. To help the business, they might reach out to different consumers and conduct surveys and interviews.
They’ll also take a look at different data to analyze and test different hypotheses they come up with. The conclusion is what path they’ll take to help this failing business. As a strategy consultant, they’ll take a look at one management issue and come up with a plan to fix it.
A management consultant will take a look at the restaurant’s entire business operation. They’ll take a look at the different components that are behind the company’s problems. This can include different parts of the organization such as IT, marketing, finance, etc.
It includes taking a look at the different concerns from the different parts of the organization. They’ll provide either advice or actionable solutions that the organization can take.
This can include a new plan from new market research, or even creating a healthier menu. It might also include improving the training for the restaurant managers.
They might also recommend higher pays for the employees and how this can be done. Objective opinions, guidance, and advice can also occur as well. A management consultant will use their understanding from different businesses, problem-solving, and other professional experience to solve the problem.
When looking for an external consultant, find one who has strong experience. Whether you’re looking for a strategic consultant or management consultant is up to the needs of the company.
For example, for more of a consultation to do with the business, choose a strategic consultant. For a broader sense of multiple issues, they’ll want to pick a management consultant.
A strong management consultant will have good communication skills in writing and speaking. Also, one who will listen to the needs of the company they’re working with.
The management consultant will listen to the business and current needs in order to help. If a management consultant doesn’t listen, then it’ll be harder to come to a strong conclusion.
The right management consultant will be organized with the information when they come up with a solution. Not just organization on their desk and in papers, but in their mind as well. They’ll be able to formulate a solution that best fits the business based on their past experience.
Every business and client is different. Whether it’s the same business or completely different, a management consultant will need to be able to adapt to the needs of each business.
Since each situation and client is different, a strong management consultant will be able to think creatively in order to achieve results. There will be no cookie-cutter approaches, and instead, they can take a look at the weak points of a business. They’ll take a look at what needs to improve, the different facts and figures, and solutions to the problems.
The ideal management consultant will have writing skills to fill out different manuals, reports, and other types of documentation. They’ll be able to communicate their different reports to you as well.
A high-quality management consultant will be great with time management. This is due to either being paid with a fixed-fee agreement or per the hour.
In order to become a management consultant, a person must have at least a Bachelor’s degree from a strong institution. They must have strong attention to detail, knowledge on researching, presentation, and analysis knowledge.
They must be independent contributors who can work alone or with others. They’re self-directed and don’t need guidance.
Preferably, they should have a few years of experience under their belt, and an MBA from a top institution. They need to be strong in PowerPoint, Microsoft Suite, and Excel as well.
A management consultant needs to be confident in what they say and be able to work in a team environment. They also need to be able to work with heavy workloads. Some management consultants will have different certifications such as a Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst.
Under the umbrella term of a management consultant, you have different consultants such as information technology and strategy. An operations consultant is someone who provides the business with guidance for business practices.
A financial advisory consultant gives advice to clients regarding acquisitions and mergers. Human capital consultants give businesses solutions as far as organizational changes.
The main role of a management consultant focuses on research and white papers. They contribute to the pieces. As time goes on they normally pick a specialty to focus on.
A management consultant’s role is about giving solutions to different businesses. It can include strategy development, process optimization, new technology introduction, etc.
When hiring a management consultant, they help businesses grow. Whether it’s guidance or help in solving one problem or multiple, a management consultant can help. Management consultants can help identify problems that businesses aren’t even sure that they have.
Some think that management consultants are only hired when advice is necessary. The truth is, they can be hired as well for improving profits and efficiency as well. They can help with standing out in a competitive market.
Different methods are used in order to come up with a plan of action. For example, that can include interviewing management and employees. They do so in a manner that won’t interrupt a business.
While some business management professionals can work for a business, some are self-employed. Whether a business wants to work with a large, small, or self-employed firm is up to them.
But, with a self-employed firm, there’s that personal touch. You can find consulting firms within public institutions, big corporations, private equity funds, and non-profit organizations.
The length of time a management consultant will work with a company varies from 3 months to 1 year. It can start out with signing a short-term contract of about 2-3 months, and then change from there.
The fees involved depend on which consultation team you choose. Consultants charge more because they work with other consultants across the world for different ideas.
Many management consultants work overtime to meet the needs of the different companies they work with. The role tends to require travel whether that’s by car or plane. They spend very little time in the office and are often out and about from place to place.
A management consultant should be hired when a business is looking for temporary help with a problem or skill. When a problem comes up in a business and they’re not sure how to solve it, a management consultant can help.
In the supportive role, they’re similar to consulting but slightly different. For example, function specialists are within the function support center. In the research and intelligence role, they’re in offices providing support for projects in multiple locations.
A more popular supporting role is what’s called an implementation consultant. It’s similar to a consultant since they work with clients. The focus of their work is mostly on the implementation of recommendations from past projects.
The advice given by a consultant comes with conditions that must be met by the business. While some are done properly, others are not.
Consulting is known to be a prestigious field and many go into it. Many who start out in consulting may eventually go into other roles as well.
There are different tracks for consulting such as entry and ranks. Entry is for those with a background in any education. Business knowledge isn’t required.
Some consultants might have a background in Math, engineering, etc. Next is what’s known as different ranks.
At different firms, there will be different ranks, but normally 3 groups. There are project owners, managers, and staff.
After consulting, you might find some switching to other roles such as corporate strategies, entrepreneurship, operational roles, etc. They can also head into finance and work with Corporate Finance or Private Equity firms.
Strategy consulting is great for an entrepreneur who doesn’t have a plan of action. Many who own their own business often make the mistake of taking a look at the competitors and what they feel comfortable with only.
While some might wonder why employers can’t pull employees from different departments to fix an issue, it has to do with focus and time. Strategic consultants have the experience necessary to guide a business with the right strategies.
Strategic consultants are normally hired for a set period of time. During this time they’ll place their effort, time, and energy into different problems.
Executives at businesses are busy running their business. That’s where a strategic consultant comes in. They’ll be able to focus on the different implications of changes within the business.
Also, they’ll bring new ideas instead of just the company’s ideas. They won’t have judgments or sensitivities that an employee might.
Whether they’re managers, board members, or executives at businesses, they’ll have stakes in the business they won’t want to risk. Having a consultant come in will bring a fresh perspective that can help.
Being a strategic consultant involves analytical thinking. Along with this, there must be problem-solving skills as well. Under strategic consulting, they’ll have a specialty as well.
Along with these, a strategic consultant must have time management. This is due to being able to research, meet with clients, and meet deadlines.
Since they work with people they must have strong communication skills. They’ll also need to be able to get down to the problems a business is facing.
Flexibility is important as well since no one knows everything. This means that there will still be parts of a business they’ll need to learn to come up with a solution.
This includes coming up with new information and trends. Strategic consultants often work with CEOs of different companies.
A strategic consultant will take a look at whether or not you want to launch a new product. At that point, they’ll decide how the business can stand out from the competition, and if it’s possible.
They’ll also find out whether the company wants to collaborate with other companies or not. Also, how they’ll market for the future.
Plenty of experience will be a requirement for a strong strategic consultant. They’ll need to understand how to be professional with executives, and have an effective approach.
They’ll need to be confident in the results and advice they give. It’ll take a few years before a strategic consultant will meet the requirements to be a successful consultant.
A strategic consultant will have at least a bachelor’s degree, often in the business field. Having a bachelor’s degree doesn’t guarantee a position, and it often requires an MBA.
This is due to firms wanting candidates who have knowledge of business management and problem-solving skills. They’ll also develop analytical skills from the MBA as well.
First, look for a strategic consultant who has experience within the business industry. Choosing one who specializes in the field is another option.
Next, decide what services they’ll be offering you, and if they fit the business needs. Some consultants might only provide you with a report on how to proceed, but others will give more in-depth knowledge.
Next, decide on the budget of the business. While it’s important to find one who has experience within the industry, they need to be within budget as well. Some strategic consultants charge a flat-rate project fee, while others charge by the hour.
Next, check online to identify the right consultants for the business. Do they have reviews online? If not, businesses can ask for testimonials from previous clients.
While asking friends and colleagues for referrals is an option, every business will have different needs and requirements. After the research process, you’ll need to interview the consultants.
It’s important to ensure that not only will the consultant fit within the budget, but they must bring what they claim. It’s a good idea to interview different strategic consultants to find the right one for each business.
Next, decide whether a self-employed consultant or one who works for a firm is the better option. Look into the different expertise that the consultant has as well.
You’ll want to find a strategic consultant who has facilitation skills. Facilitation is what can help you succeed in your business.
Facilitation is an important part of the complex components of the business. When a facilitator comes in they’ll be able to take a look at the different personality types within a business to see what’s working. They might make adjustments to the discussions for the most effective results.
Another advantage is having a strategic consultant who has experience in various industries. While it’s important for them to have experience within a certain industry, they can bring more to the table with multiple backgrounds.
A consultant who has experience in multiple industries can provide curiosity and versatility. This can lead to success within the business when they’re given a fresh perspective.
A strong strategic consultant will have experience, confidence, and competence. They’ll have a strong portfolio to back up what they say and communicate it properly.
A strong strategic consultant will be able to speak with different employees and help them gain confidence in what they’re doing. Without building that rapport the employees may fail to deliver the requirements.
Before hiring a strategic consultant, it’s a good idea to encourage honesty and transparency before beginning. A consultant who is transparent about the good and bad about a company is vital for a business.
Even going with a strategic consultant, it’s a good idea to find one who has open communication and will let a business followup with questions. A business should understand too that while a strategic consultant will provide a plan, it’s still up to the business to run it, in the end, to be successful.
Businesses should be aware that as they choose a strategic consultant, they’ll need to be open to extending deadlines and other recommendations. While it’s important to be open to recommendations, it’s also vital to understand why a consultant can’t meet the deadline if they promised a certain date.
When a business interviews each strategic consultant, they should see if the solutions they brainstorm make sense for the company. Ask the consultant how the solution will address the needs of the business and how it’s better than other choices.
Picking out a consultant who can communicate in a clear way is important. While a consultant who speaks in hard-to-understand jargon might be appealing, it’s important to understand what they’ll do and why.
Some consultants charge for the whole project, others by specific tasks, and some by the hour. Some might offer the option to break the project into different sections. Within each section is a fee. It’s about ensuring that these fees are affordable for the business as well.
How many projects is the strategic consultant currently working on? Do they have the time necessary to take on another project?
Or, do they focus on one project at a time? Find out the time frame they’ll be able to finish up the different work requirements.
Once the contract ends, will they answer questions? Even after the report ends, it’s a good idea to find out if they’ll be open to helping with any questions a business may have. While not every business needs ongoing support, it’s a good idea to find out whether a consultant does provide it just in case.
Being a management consultant can have cons. For example, they might experience a large amount of stress.
Businesses can demand a large amount from a management consultant. While they’re providing exemplary results, it’s about balancing the needs of the client, meeting the requirements for solving a problem, etc.
While there’s much critical thinking involved in the role of management consulting, creativity is limited. At a junior role, they’re more involved in analyzing data and gathering research. For creatives, it’s not the best role.
Being a management consultant there aren’t tangible results. At the end of the day even with strong research and support, it’s up to the client to follow the guidance given. Seeing these results is rare since when the project is done they’ll head to the next project.
Independent consulting is when a person chooses to run their own business around what they know. This is when they choose to be self-employed instead of working for a company.
Many can be found online building their business. Also, independent consulting can be on a broad range of expertise.
This is often when someone has years of experience under their belt in a particular industry. This can include technology, software, and IT. It can be B2B consulting, in-housing consulting, etc.
The different types of consulting can include online programs, individual coaching, group coaching, done with you consulting, and done for you consulting. Done with you consulting is where the consultant and the client split the work.
It’s not providing the entire service, but instead, just a section. It can include receiving a part of the service but still receiving advice on the other methods.
This is where the services are delivered by the consultant. For example, maybe you’re helping a business increase their sales you’ll offer lead generation. This is the most time-consuming delivery option for consultants.
This is where a group of clients will receive help at the same time. It can include 20 people or 3. Whether on a phone call or through the internet, there are different options available.
This is where a consultant creates a course or program that can be viewed by as many people as they’d like. This allows clients to learn different information in their own time.
Some consultants choose this method since it’s a more passive option. There isn’t a time commitment required with this method. They receive the course and then implement the methods taught.
Before choosing a consultant, businesses should request proposals that state project goals, the budget, and time constraints. This helps both the consultant and business decide if they’re the right fit.
The post Strategy Consulting vs Management Consulting first appeared on Kamyar Shah.
There is every chance that at some point in your career you will need to take on advice on where to take your business. Maybe you will get this from a peer, a previous colleague, or it might be your manager. Either way, it might turn out they do not have the answer you need.
This is ok, not everyone has every answer available at their fingertips at all times. Sometimes you need a little extra help, and that is where consulting firms come in. With so many businesses dedicated to consulting, however, what type of consultancy do you need?
This article will delve into both strategy consulting vs business consulting. By the time you have finished reading, you should have a good idea of what both directions can offer you and which you should be aiming to hire.
There are a large number of reasons why you might require a consultant, generally. It could be that you are losing money, or you might not be making the deals you wanted to make. You could have conceived of a strong concept for your company but when it came time to actually implement it you may have had problems.
In general, a consultant should be coming to your company with a strong sense of who you are and an intent to improve your business in a variety of ways. They may already know what the problem is, or they might need to spend time investigating your issues from the ground up.
Given enough time and freedom to make suggestions, a consultant can help your company plan for the future of your industry. They can also give both general and specific advice on how to improve your potential in your friend.
It may be that you are missing opportunities that come up due to putting out fires in your own workplace first. If that is the case they will suggest reorganizations you can do to make the most of the situation as it currently stands.
One of the best things about a consultant is they can give you an outsider’s view. This will likely be far more objective than any viewpoint currently espoused within the company itself.
Third-parties are much more likely to see problems and talk plainly about them. Whereas insiders often cannot see the woods for the trees or feel they must hide behind etiquette.
Generally, consultants can assist you where your own teams have failed and can be a boon for any company looking to be self-reflective. So long as the company has the follow-through to improve, they can take what they get told on board.
Both the use of strategy consulting and business consulting can be a time to reflect. They are often used to improve your company’s processes one step at a time in a way that should improve your approach. Which one is best for your company depends on exactly the situation you are trying to resolve.
In a very broad sense, business consulting is generally focused on business processes. These are things like human resources, finance, building maintenance, and health and safety. A consultant would look at these and discuss methods by which money could be retainable in each area.
They would also search for areas of liability and determine where you may get in trouble in the future. This can be so the efforts by the consulting are not in vain at a later time.
Strategy consulting, on the other hand, will focus itself on a specific concern. It may be that your company is losing money to a competitor. If that is the case they may focus on what makes you and your competitor unique to find a unique selling point for your product.
Strategy consulting is often described as a niche in management consulting. It will often advise the highest echelons at a company.
Alternatively, it could be that one of your products underwent a market perception shift. If that is true, they may be able to inform you of how to remarket yourself towards a new vision for the product.
There is a lot more to both approaches, however, and you should be aware of exactly what each one entails before deciding on a path for your business.
Strategy consulting began as a part of the larger concept of management consulting. This started in 1886, formed by a group called Arthur D. Little Inc.
Their first major project was with General Motors’ initial research and development branch. In this area, they gained a fast reputation as being able to solve any problem.
In the 1930s, however, a boom in the economy led to huge growth in the demand for such services. Multiple companies opened their doors to assist other groups. Many new businesses needed advice, and such consultancies were champing at the bit to prove their worth.
By the 1980s, the industry had grown in leaps and bounds. In this decade, there were at least five consultancies with over one thousand employees. By the ’90s, this had exploded to over thirty firms.
One of the main reasons for this was the sudden surge in information technology needs. This meant a great many people needed advice on how to set up and maintain I.T. infrastructure.
This new technology pushed the strategy consulting business in new directions. They took advantage and expanded their ability to promote themselves.
These days, even governments hire strategy consultants. They do not take part in decision-making. Instead, they evaluate government entities.
Government strategy consultants evaluate existing industries or publicly-owned groups. and provide reports on their success. This entitles the governments they work with additional insight into these areas. Areas where the government may not have personal experience or good business acumen.
Strategy consultants are also often seen these days as people who focus on trying to change company culture from within. Directives such as the FISH! Philosophy or diversity groups present themselves as this kind of consultancy in action.
During the history of management consulting, a specific set of niches developed. These were for when companies needed to focus on their internal processes, such as finances, law, marketing, or human resources.
Many of the same players as in the strategy consulting world got involved with business consulting from an earlier stage. It was only when different forms of consulting began to take shape, however, that business consulting became a form in its own right.
These days, business consultants get brought in earlier and earlier in a company’s timeline. They are often focused on companies in a period of growth and upheaval. Therefore, they tend to assist when a human resource division needs to be set up.
Alternatively, they get involved when companies install various legal frameworks. They enter at this stage to ensure the company follows appropriate guidelines to ensure its legal position.
Over the history of business consulting, they have grown more and more focused on specific areas. At the start of the consultancy industry, you might have one consultant for your whole business. These days, you would tend to require one for each area where you are having difficulty.
As the Internet has become more ubiquitous, business consultants have been able to stay more and more in contact. This has allowed niche consultants to remain off-site and get called on for specific tasks more often and not always be on call.
Despite the disparate nature of such consultants in this day and age, the market for business consultants has now grown. It now stands at over one hundred and thirty billion dollars. This has made it a very healthy place to work and thrive.
Business consulting, or management consulting, is a very large part of the consulting industry. Because of this, most consultancy firms have dipped a toe in its waters.
Due to this lack of focus, the business consultancy industry has split itself into multiple spheres of interest. These include information technology, recruitment, or employment agencies. Each of these spheres has skewed into the consultancy business to take advantage of the profession’s needs.
Regardless, some companies hold onto these branched firms. They continue to consolidate themselves into corporations with significant reach. This allows them to reach dizzying heights in the industry and beyond.
The four primary consulting firms, known as “the big four”, include:
The above four consultancy firms make up over thirty-nine percent of the consultancy market in terms of business share. This makes them a significant player in the area.
With the rest of the top two hundred entries, they add up to around eighty percent of the market. This shows that these four hold a significant amount of clout.
As time goes on, both the market as a whole, as well as these four’s shares, continues to grow. There are huge gains still available even for those who are not currently in the top four.
Booz Allen Hamilton, for example, recently won a contract with the US Department of Transportation. They are showing that even the big players are beatable in the open market.
This method of consulting focuses only on the proverbial levers it can pull to deliver the intents of the business. It is externally-focused. While it may change things within the company, its goal is wholly the grand success of those it grants consultancy for.
Changes it may choose to make could be from a wide set of areas, examples include:
Challenging organizational structures: This is to ensure employees are well-managed. They will ensure members of staff follow processes appropriately. Older companies are prone to stagnation, meaning a shakeup can help discover areas of issue.
Encouraging transparency: Ensuring the top level of the organization has eyes on all of those underneath them. This is so that management can make decisions with the highest level of scrutiny and knowledge available.
Preventing micromanagement: This is often done by retraining management and executive teams. After this, they will have greater trust in those underneath them. If necessary, hiring and firing of others must occur so that the executive team can have faith in those they are overseeing.
Investigating the current strategy: To ensure management aim the company in the correct direction. If money is being wasted on superfluous tasks, the consultant will discover it. Those in charge can then ensure things are moving forward wisely.
Checking human capital: The consultant can ensure the business’ human resources are well-assigned. This is to make sure the correct amount of human resources are available to reach the company’s strategic goal. They will be able to inform a business of exactly how much they need to upscale or downsize in each area.
Discovering specific concerns: A strategy consultant will interview individual team members. This will occur to find weak links in the chain. They will then make recommendations on retraining or reassignment as needed.
Business consulting is usually aimed at senior management. It aims to focus on the business’s processes to find areas of concern in how they organize themselves.
Executives hire business consultants for one specific purpose. For example, a company may wish to focus on ensuring their team does not limit customer growth. Or will encourage the company to innovate in a particular area above everything else.
Business consultants will investigate that one concern above all others. They will then iterate on methods to boost the company’s ability in that regard.
Some of the consultant’s roles may overlap with those of a strategy consultant. A business consultant, however, also attends to organizational matters. While their role may involve discussing a new strategic plan for the company, it will not come down to them to put it in place.
Example tasks for a business consultant may be to focus on:
Outsourcing: Determining what the company can remove from their docket by pushing it to an external agency. This will assist the organization by allowing them to focus on important and complex matters. This is in contrast with day-to-day problems which the company can move elsewhere.
New Technology: A business consultant may investigate a new IT system, especially if the old one is holding the company back. They will make use of the resources at their disposal to upgrade the company with minimal cost.
Optimization: Some companies have a definitive output. such as software iterations or discrete products. In these situations, a business consultant can look at the internal processes by which the company produces its product. They may make recommendations on new flow, systems such as Agile development or lean architecture.
Management coaching has often been mistaken for business and strategy consulting. This is due to such consulting sometimes needing to improve management’s outlook.
Management coaching is a process by which those in an organization’s decision-making tier improve their methods. There are many methods by which this can happen. Examples include direct teaching and training, or by allowing managers to shadow other members of the company.
Business consultants may encourage the upper echelons of a company to undergo management coaching, but it is not the same process. Similarly, strategy consultants might ask for managers to gain a better understanding of how to succeed. It is still not the same, however, as other things happen at the same time during a consultancy period.
A strategy consultant is often required when you notice a company has lost its direction. This may be due to several reasons, but a common symptom will be that it tries multiple methods of changing its output in quick succession. This often suggests it is struggling to find its feet after a failure.
In this situation, the effectiveness of the company’s current strategies has been somewhat lacking. They may need an outside perspective.
Internally, their organization may be performing poorly and morale may be at an all-time low, leading to a failure to output products. Externally, the perception of the company may show confusion and it may be hard to ascertain what the company’s direction is.
If external impressions are that the company can travel in a straight line. If that continues, it will start to lose clients as they feel like the organization cannot match their needs.
As someone in charge of the organization, you should remain aware of this possibility at all times. Other symptoms may include increased defensiveness from senior staff. This will likely be due to them wishing to justify their position.
Alternatively, problematic behavior from non-management staff may suggest such problems. This will be as they feel aimless or pulled in multiple directions.
There is often not one reason for this to be the case, but you should investigate which it is. Different problems may lead to you requiring different forms of strategy consultant to react in unique manners.
There is a great diversity in the disciplines of strategy consultants. As this is the case, being able to communicate your needs well is a good first step.
Then again, you can always hire a strategy consultant to perform the diagnosis first.
Sometimes you may find your output slowing down when there has been no need to pivot. This is often a good sign you should hire a business consultant. It will often be a symptom of an internal problem rather than a concern with the business’ direction in the wider world.
Another area might be if you find yourself falling behind technologically. Sometimes tech has simply been an area you have not ficus and therefore you do not have the internal expertise to diagnose how to improve. A business consultant can interface with your I.T. specialists and ensure you get the best upgrade possible.
Other areas of business consultancy include attempting to reassert an appropriate company culture. This can be very difficult, especially if you wish to pivot to a new line of thinking within an existing space. Business consultants are well-placed to assess your company and determine how to go about this.
They can investigate how your employees currently work, then determine how best to change that. Trying to enforce a new culture from the executive level down rarely works. Instead, they will foster a culture that fits your employees and gets the best work out of them.
If you find your company growing, remember that you do not always need to set up internal processes yourself. If you require a new HR department due to your company growing, business consultants can help get them off the ground.
Alternatively, you might all-of-a-sudden find your business not needing a portion of the company. This may be due to an internal redundancy or a market change. In these situations, business consultants will look at your company’s needs and perform a variety of roles to determine how best to move forward.
When you bring a strategy consultant onboard, you will want to ensure they are up-to-speed on the company’s history. You will also want to make sure they are aware of existing strategies.
This requires they be a fast learner and able to pivot to working how your business currently operates. If they do not, they will fall behind. They will be unable to evaluate your position in the market and provide methods by which you can seek to improve.
A consultant must work with many external businesses. Because of this, they should be able to adapt to any situation no matter what they get thrown their way.
You do not want someone who uses the same methods again and again, because they worked with previous companies. You want someone who is highly adaptable and able to work with you to produce results despite not being in the same location they were before.
When working with a strategy consultant, you want to ensure they are self-motivated enough to get going without your oversight. They are the ones who should produce reports on how to improve your company, not you. You are, however, expected to follow their advice.
When working with a strategy consultant, you should also ensure they have a strong understanding of the market as it currently stands. There is no use in having someone focused on strategy when they do not know how to move. It would be like playing chess and not being able to see your opponent’s pieces despite knowing how they can move.
Finally, trust your gut. If you feel you do not trust a strategy consultant to have the best interest of your company at heart, you can always ask for a new one. Sometimes someone might simply not be a good fit.
Similar to a strategy consultant, make sure any business consultant you bring on has your specific company in mind. If you get the feeling they are peddling out the same tried solutions to everyone, show them the door and hire someone bespoke. If they are not invested in making your company the best it can be, they are of no use to you.
A good business consultant will also not give you one solution. They should have a good range of knowledge and also allow your business to make its own decisions based on many options. Therefore, a consultant who knows their stuff will be able to offer a range of solutions.
You will then be able to pick one which matches your culture and budget. This will get much better buy-in from your staff than receiving a mandate about what they should do at every turn.
Good business consultants should also have a solid network of contacts. If you hire them to assist you in building an HR team or an IT infrastructure, they should have multiple people who they can draw on to assist. If they only know of one group who can help you with a particular problem, they are either accepting bribes or are terrible at networking.
Finally, you should know that the best choice for consultants is someone who cares about improving a company, not pushing methods. They may love Agile, lean processes, waterfall, or many other things. That does not matter, however, when it comes to the fact your company’s output should be the priority for them.
If the consultant is pushing a personal favorite methodology, maybe it does work. They should also be aware, however, that your company might not work with that process.
Ensuring a clear line of communication between the management team and a strategy consultant will be the best way to empower them both. Without this, the consultant will not be able to ask questions when they need to and the managers will be unable to learn what to do next.
This often starts with focused meetings and interviews with those in charge but can go a lot further than that.
Ensure the managers know the reasons the consultant will have involvement in the company. There needs to be buy-in from all affected levels, so they need to understand and own up to their own failures. If they do not, the company will be unable to move forward even with the consultant’s assistance.
Regardless of what kind of consultant you have, you also need to make sure they get feedback. Consultants thrive on knowing how they are performing and how the team is responding to their suggestions.
One of the biggest problems a strategy consultant can come across is a team that does not trust them. The consultant’s credentials and attitude should speak for themselves. If this is not the case, however, work with them to improve the situation.
Sometimes the best thing a consultant can do is be honest about the reasons behind their purpose there. Even if there is a chance their feedback will have wide-reaching repercussions for the future of the company.
It is better for everyone that their interactions be from a position of transparency and honesty than finding out the worst later on. If that happens, it will taint any further interaction. You do not want to find yourself with a consultant whose expertise is no longer put to use as they are not trusted.
Working with a business consultant to make changes in your company can have many benefits, but their hands need to be free to make those changes.
To ensure this happens, make sure to get them up-and-running with whoever it is they need to be working with.
As they will be new to the company, introduce them to whoever their main point of contact will be and make sure they have an open line to them whenever needed. This will prevent them from finding bottlenecks as they start to work and allow them to get answers to questions fast.
It is very unlikely they will need as much onboarding as new employees, as they will not be actually working within the processes of the company. It is important, however, to ensure they get the same literature as the rest of the company. Handbooks and other documents may reveal issues with the internal policies which ripple into other areas.
You should also be aware that sometimes consultants try to move outside of their assigned field. If someone is there to set up a new HR department, then they attempt to look into hiring and firing processes, you should not be afraid to question it.
They may be acting with the best intentions and may even believe these are part of their role, but you want to focus them on their primary task.
What you should do is define a direction for the consultant, communicate expectations, and have them show they understand. It is not a problem to put limitations on someone if that is all they are there to do. On the other hand, be aware that you may do this when it is not required and you should be aware of your own motivations at all times.
Sometimes it is very important to get different outlooks on a particular issue. Some firms, therefore, choose to hire one consultant for advising on strategy. Then they adjusting the business based on the results of that consultation with another consultant.
This may be for a variety of reasons, but one of the most significant ones is that some firms are better at some tasks than others. One might be better at the analysis of a problem in a company, whereas the other might have a better network of people who can assist with a solution.
Be aware that you have formed your company out of disparate demographics. The consultants who work with the executives may have buy-in from your CEO, but that does not mean a shop floor or group of programmers will trust them. The reason the consultant works well with the CEO might be that they think alike, leading to a culture clash with other sections of your company.
Alternatively, the issue may come down to money. A consultant for your business may pitch a different estimate for costs for different kinds of consulting. Make sure to talk to multiple companies about what they can offer and for how much.
Also, be careful of hiring both in at the same time. The last thing you want is different firms vying for your attention at different times. Most will be too professional for such a thing to happen, but it is not outside the realms of possibility if two groups compete.
According to popular comparison websites, consultancy rates can vary depending on several factors.
Unfortunately, most consulting is a well-kept trade secret. This is because companies wish to charge different rates for the same services based on the client. This means there is only limited advice available to work with.
Rates can go from $50 an hour for a business consultant all the way up to $350 per hour for someone working for a leading strategy consultancy firm, or more.
In general, however, most fees are not related to the types of consultancy which are occurring. They are instead more based on the firms which are providing the service.
As expected, the top four firms are those who will be charging you the most. In exchange for that, you can expect a level of professionalism. Many people, however, prefer a small independent outfit for the bespoke service they provide.
Also, you should be aware that a consultant may start to discuss “retainer agreements”. These are a flat fee for a service, rather than for hourly work. If you begin to trust an individual, this may be more beneficial to you as a business to save money.
Business consulting will often be likely to only take up one smaller project, rather than ongoing work. For this reason, a strategy consultant kept on over a longer period of time will likely ask for a retainer. This is up to you if you choose to go for it, but just be aware of how it may affect your annual or monthly budget.
There are potential differences between how those in the workforce perceive different consultants. Most of these relate to who they interact with and produce very different results.
If a consultant is only working with the executive team, as strategy consultants often do, employees may perceive them as aloof. There may also be a lack of trust if they work with an adversarial exec group. This would be part of a larger problem, so you should be aware of it as a possibility.
The perception of business consultants is far less likely to be similar. This is due to them focusing on improving specific business areas. They are far more likely to make enemies if they tread on people’s proverbial toes. If they make sure to work with other employees and prove their worth, however, you should not have issues.
Those in your company may welcome a business consultant, but make sure to remind them that the individual is not a part of the company per se.
Not only will that improve morale once the contract is over and the consultant must leave your services, but there are legal reasons for this also. You do not want to confuse the matter of whether or not the consultant works for you as a full-time employee or not.
The post Strategy Consulting vs Business Consulting: What’s the Difference? first appeared on Kamyar Shah.
Have you ever had the perfect dinner at your favorite restaurant and the waiter brings you the dessert cart?
The temptation is real as you stare at those decadent creations but you know you can’t finish one. All you need is a bite to make you happy.
That one bite is very similar to the feeling you’ll get from hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. You’ll enjoy the flavor, without the burden of a full portion.
In this post, we’ll discuss what you need to know about a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer vs. a Chief Marketing Officer. Keep reading our in-depth guide below.
Whether you are starting a business or getting ready to invest heavily in sales or marketing, you could benefit from having a Chief Marketing Officer. If that investment or startup includes starting a major commercial website, an advertising campaign, or an SEO-driven content marketing initiative a Chief Marketing Officer would be an invaluable asset.
Chief Marketing Officers can go by a variety of titles like Marketing Director, Global Marketing Officer, or Chief Commercial Officer. Regardless of the title, the duties remain the same. The CMO is responsible for all things marketing within an organization.
A good Chief Marketing Officer job description will include oversight in marketing communications, brand management, public relations, advertising, market research, distribution channel management, product pricing, product marketing, and customer satisfaction.
As a member of the C-level management team, the Chief Marketing Officer in most cases will report to the Chief Executive Officer. If your business doesn’t include a C-level management team that won’t preclude you from bringing in a CMO. You probably have the structure in place already without the C-level titles attached that a CMO can effectively operate within.
The Chief Marketing Officer is much more than a salesperson. They must possess a diverse skill set to help them manage the brand from concept to customer satisfaction. CMOs will coordinate efforts between research and development, operations, manufacturing, and sales.
They will create a marketing strategy for profitable growth that increases brand recognition while mitigating risk and reducing and controlling costs that might easily spiral out of control.
Any research and development efforts will be closely monitored by the Chief Marketing Officer. New products must be forecast into the sales process, both financially and from a marketing perspective.
They must be developed to dovetail into the CMO’s vision for the future. Otherwise, they will create contrasting perspectives to the overall brand.
Your Chief Marketing Officer will work closely with your Chief Information Officer to develop a website that captures the CMO’s vision of the company brand.
The CMO will also be involved in any online sales platform you may need or use to ensure that customer satisfaction is achieved throughout the online sales process. This will include capturing critical data from the online sales and marketing process to help improve and grow the brand.
If manufacturing is part of your business model, your CMO will work closely with your Chief Production Officer or manager responsible for overseeing the production and manufacturing processes.
Their communication is critical to effectively manage the sales process, especially when running promotional campaigns. Your CMO will strike a balance between production and sales that doesn’t overwhelm one while shorting the other.
Brick and mortar sales channels present their own challenges for a Chief Marketing Officer. Brand management is critical across multiple retail outlets.
Your CMO will develop advertising campaigns to include signage and other advertising through online, television, or radio channels. Overall store decor and even employee uniforms or dress code fall under their oversight to ensure the brand’s vision is realized.
They will also coordinate the distribution effort between manufacturing and operations to ensure timely delivery of your product. While your Chief Marketing Officer doesn’t get involved in shipping arrangements directly, they will need to forecast effectively the needs to support both the regular and promotional sales efforts.
Good Chief Marketing Officers are able to react quickly to changes in the marketplace, whether they be environmental in nature, new competition, or the creation of new vertical markets. Often they will predict what will happen before it does, which could give you an edge over your competition.
Their ability to reshape your company’s strategy and execution plans in a fast-paced environment can be the deciding factor to successfully navigating market fluctuations.
Chief Marketing Officers will constantly analyze sales and marketing data looking for trends both positive and negative. They will take critical customer demographics, product sales, and sales channel effectiveness to help plan for the future.
The results will then be communicated back to the CEO for review and together they will plot the future efforts of your company, sometimes a year or more in advance. At this point, the cycle starts over again with R&D, manufacturing, operations, distribution, and sales planning.
This takes a deft hand to unite these departments which can often seem at odds with one another. Your CMO will need to be an expert communicator and motivator, and in many ways a politician because they must bring together these teams to pull in the same direction.
A Fractional Chief Marketing Officer is essentially what the name says it is. They have the ability to meet all of the above challenges, yet they will only perform a fraction of them. Basically, they are brought on in a part-time or temporary capacity, but that will depend on you and what your business needs and can support.
This fraction might come in the form of time. You can hire a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer to work 10, 15, or 20 hours per week during which time they will work the entire marketing plan from R&D to customer satisfaction. They will then spend the other fractions of their time with other companies.
Most Fractional Chief Marketing Officer arrangements are set at a six-month minimum, regardless of the model. This is essential because most efforts take time to come to fruition.
When you first begin discussions with a candidate, you should have an idea of what you want them to do for you. Once hired they will focus on these predetermined tasks, but they will also offer their expert opinions on a variety of subjects within your organization.
They will assess your operation and make recommendations as to what else they could or should be doing. This doesn’t mean you can’t pick and choose which recommendations to move ahead with. It simply gives you an idea of what they believe will be helpful.
Remember also that they are marketing their services and any good marketer will make a compelling argument. They should always present these recommendations with a return on investment.
You might hire a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer to oversee specific challenges, like planning entry into a new vertical market. This FCMO will work with your management group to assess the individual departmental challenges your company will face.
These challenges will include internal production and sales issues, as well as specific issues you will face unique to the new vertical market. They will then create a plan that unites the team and drives the company forward to successful implementation. Upon completion, the FCMO will move on to other clients.
If you are planning to rebrand your company then hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer can help. They will work closely with the CEO or company strategist to capture a new vision and create a new brand.
This effort will tie together all aspects of your marketing and sales to fit within the brand concept. Your FCMO will work with research and development to ensure they work with future products to fit the brand. They will also forecast and create advertising campaigns to present the new brand concept to your customers.
You might feel like you are missing out on reaching the entire market for your product and you wouldn’t be the first company to realize this. Aggressive sales campaigns can be scary because, by their very name, aggression can be risky.
An FCMO will review your intended results and create a measured approach designed to help minimize your risk while staying aggressive. This might include a unique multi-media advertising approach or bundling products and services.
Regardless of the campaign, they have the experience and knowledge to implement it effectively and keep the risks and costs manageable.
Many businesses have a great product, a great manufacturing program, and a great sales team, yet need a little help taking the company to the next level. Maybe you’re considering taking your product from a regional market space to national market space, or maybe national to global.
A Fractional Chief Marketing Officer can help you make this jump in a deliberate way. They will assess the new market’s growth potential, forecast the cost to expand from a distribution standpoint, and provide feedback to the manufacturing department to help them forecast for the new demand. They will also develop a sales and marketing plan to address the new market space.
Sometimes a company’s growth occurs organically and they find themselves operating at levels they hadn’t originally planned on. You might end up with a national sales force that might be producing just fine, but with distinctly different processes.
This can result in uneven production and fulfillment issues which ultimately cost you money and customer satisfaction, limiting your future growth potential.
A Fractional Chief Marketing Officer can help implement a national strategy that keeps everyone marching to the proverbial beat of the same drum. An FCMO will create national proposals that reinforce the company’s brand and product. They can also implement new software to assist in both the prospecting process and the closing of new sales to streamlining your distribution efforts.
If your company has developed a new line of product or products you could benefit from hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. This is especially important if your new product is outside your original scope of products offered, and even more so if your new product has the potential to revolutionize the way people do things.
Your FCMO will need to work closely with all areas of your company to ensure consistency with your brand and your new product. Marketing and sales presentations must be developed to highlight your new capability.
Advertising must be deliberate and targeted to reach your customer base and make them aware of your new product. Your manufacturing team must be ready to handle the forecasted increase in sales and your distribution and fulfillment channels have to be prepared as well.
As the Owner, President, or Chief Operating Officer of a company, your time is always precious. You are responsible for all aspects of your company’s success.
If you’ve created a solid organization with capable managers at every level, then perhaps you can manage to perform the duties of a CMO while delegating other duties.
However, the question always comes down to competence, and marketing is a unique animal in the business jungle. If you don’t have the experience to handle the myriad of duties, you are better off hiring either a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer or a full-time Chief Marketing Officer.
One reason you should consider hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer vs. a Chief Marketing Officer might be because you are a small to medium-sized business and simply don’t have the budget to support a full-time CMO. In fact, this is the most common reason to bring one in.
An FCMO affords you access to C-level leadership without the cost of hiring a full-time CMO. In most cases, this ultimately ends up with you hiring a CMO full-time because the initial effort has grown your business enough to support one.
Your business may be functioning okay but there is no consistent message being presented to customers. This could be a lack of marketing material. That leads to individual sales representatives producing their own flyers, proposals, and more.
Chief Marketing Officers and Fractional Chief Marketing Officers can create a consistent brand message. They do so through marketing materials, proposals, and presentations. They can also create training programs to help the sales team speak with one voice.
If this is only one of a few skills you are looking to find, an FCMO can handle it at a lower cost than a full-time CMO.
For decades, salespeople have been negatively stereotyped as particular types of people. They’ve been called everything from sharks to snake oil salespeople. There’s no question that some industries have earned their reputations.
Car salespeople have had a notorious reputation for the longest time. Car salespeople have a stigma that many dealerships are looking to remove. It’s because they realize the negative connotation doesn’t sit well with consumers anymore. It comes down to trust. No one likes walking away from a purchase feeling they didn’t get a fair deal.
Companies today realize this and are careful to craft a sales approach that doesn’t offend consumers. If your company doesn’t have a sales process that consumers can trust, a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer can craft one for you.
This is true whether you need a consultative approach, a formula-driven bidding process, one based on addressing needs, or some other method that your industry embraces. An FCMO can create one that works for you and your customers just as well as a CMO, but for a lower cost.
Marketing savvy in this case speaks to having the proper knowledge to make good marketing decisions. Too often companies will create a website because someone said they needed one.
Or they might jump on the pay-per-click bandwagon because that’s what SEO experts tell you is another hot way to market your business. Sometimes they invest in branded giveaways like shirts or coffee mugs to give away at conventions or sponsored events.
A Fractional Chief Marketing Officer and a Chief Marketing Officer possess the skills and knowledge to identify where your marketing dollars can be best spent. They do this by evaluating specific metrics within your industry and your company in particular.
They then develop a strategy to spend your marketing dollars wisely, getting you a positive return on your investment. Everything your FCMO does will be to drive revenue and growth. Most importantly, they will not succumb to frivolous spending for the sake of spending.
Chief Marketing Officers and Fractional Chief Marketing Officers both must get results to justify their salaries. However, a CMO is held to a slightly different standard for delivering results than an FCMO. A CMO is a permanent, full-time employee with a high salary, excellent benefits, a robust commission structure, and even profit-sharing in some cases.
These are all great perks for your CMO when they succeed. But what happens when their intended results fall short? They are far more likely to try riskier endeavors to keep themselves employed.
An FCMO has a contract with a term that expires, with or without results. They are far more likely to ride out their plan and show a marginal gain, rather than spend more of your money on riskier projects. Spending frivolously doesn’t have any upside for them.
A savvy FCMO knows that even marginal gains can create a return on investment and they can build off that for future contracts. These will come as part of a proposal to extend their services, complete with detailed ROIs on any new initiatives.
What if your company is well-established in the industry and has been operating for years or even decades, but you’ve never had a marketing manager? You likely will benefit from hiring one.
Times change, now more so than ever. Technology, social media, and global markets can catch companies like this unprepared. Have you suddenly seen your sales or market share dropping and can’t understand why?
Hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer vs a Chief Marketing Officer can address this concern effectively without the full-time investment. They will develop a strategy to bring your marketing program into the modern business environment.
They can take advantage of technology and other mediums like social media to build brand awareness and make you more competitive.
You might be a well-established company that has employed a full-time CMO for years but the position has recently become vacant. Hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer vs. a Chief Marketing Officer in a rush is a bad idea.
It can be detrimental to the long-term success of the position and your company to hire too quickly. An FCMO can help bridge the gap while you take the necessary time to search for a permanent replacement.
If you’ve been working with the same marketing program for years, you could benefit from hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer vs. a Chief Marketing Officer. Having them conduct an audit of your program is smart. You might have a marketing manager already and simply want to give them support, or you might be considering adding one.
Regardless, they will come in with a non-biased perspective and assess what you are doing. This can be very helpful to companies whose growth remains static within their industry.
An FCMO will review all aspects of your marketing and make a list of recommendations. In many cases, they will help you implement new strategies as part of an ongoing consulting agreement. You won’t find a CMO for a temporary assignment like this.
Fractional Chief Marketing Officers are usually highly qualified, experienced marketing executives. They aren’t consultants, per se, yet they can be brought on in a consultative manner. Typically though they are contracted for a minimum of six months up to two years, sometimes with extensions built into the contract.
Marketing is a fast-paced, ever-changing field and might be the single most important element to a successful business. You could have the best product on the market, but if you aren’t marketing it properly you may never succeed. Good marketing can take a good business and make it into a great business, so don’t undervalue it.
Finding the right Fractional Chief Marketing Officer is critical to the continued growth of your business. A strong leader in the marketing department is challenging, especially in a small to medium-sized business. There are some important steps to take when searching for a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer to ensure you make the right decision.
You should begin with an assessment of your marketing operation. This can be done by the CEO or another operational manager, or you can bring in a business consultant. Either way, you need someone to review your processes with a critical and unbiased eye.
You’ll be looking at a number of key measurables first. How much are you spending on marketing? Where are you spending that money? What, if any, is your return on investment?
Marketing is a costly endeavor and the money can disappear quickly. Knowing how, where, and why are important measurables that will help you plan for the future.
Once you get through the financial part you need to look at what kind of demographic information you’ve collected on your customer base. Who is buying your product? Who isn’t? Are they male or female? How old are they?
These are important insights you should be collecting. If you haven’t been collecting them by now then you most certainly need to create a system moving forward. This information can help you spend wisely.
After a demographic review, you want to drill down a little more. You should be looking at advertising campaigns you’ve run in the past. You want to look at the materials and methods you used during these campaigns.
You’ll also want to look at the company or companies you worked with to create these marketing materials. It doesn’t matter whether they be print, radio, television, social media, or something else.
Also very important is a review of your company’s operating philosophy and culture. Be sure you can easily describe these things.
A casual workplace with break rooms that feature video games, massaging recliners, and a well-stocked and free snack bar is much different than a business-professional environment that is fast-paced and bottom-line focused. These will be important considerations during your search because you’ll want to find an FCMO who blends well with your culture.
Once you’ve completed your internal assessment, you should have a clear picture of what, if anything, is working. You’re probably starting to get an idea of where you’d like to improve too. Now it’s time to set some goals.
Your goals should run the gamut from easily achieved to wildly optimistic. Don’t sell anything short because good marketing can make almost anything a reality. Assembling a variety of short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals is the best approach.
A good short-term goal might be to revamp your company’s proposal package or create some new, modern advertising flyers. You might also consider creating several advertising campaigns targeting specific demographics you know to be consumers.
Mid-term goals might include an expansion into a new vertical market you know has a need you can fill, but you haven’t yet attempted to reach. This could also be true from a regional expansion perspective. Entering new, untapped markets outside your area of influence can prove profitable.
Long-term goals might include a rebranding of your company or product line. As previously stated, times change. Your product may still be useful, but if you are targeting a stale market you won’t realize your full potential.
Regardless of your goals, keep in mind they aren’t something you can necessarily complete on your own. That’s the point of hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.
At this point you should have a clear understanding of what you’ve done right, what went wrong, and perhaps even why. You also have an eye toward the future of your company and its marketing program. Now it’s time to start looking.
All your candidates will have the qualities you would want in a Chief Marketing Officer. That’s why they do what they do on a fractional basis. However, you should look for those with experience in what is important to you.
Start with your industry. Anyone with experience in your industry will shorten their learning curve. This is important when it comes to understanding how to market your company.
If one of your goals is to expand into a new vertical market you’ll want to find candidates with this experience. They will have met similar challenges and be better equipped for such an endeavor.
Perhaps one of your goals is to revamp your sales process from the ground up. Maybe you wish to install new techniques, equipment, and technology. Someone with a record of success with this type of work will be more beneficial than a candidate without this experience.
Maybe you want to get into rebranding your company. Someone with a track record in creating brand identity and awareness will work better than someone without it.
One important quality you should be looking for is will their personality fits with your company’s culture. As previously stated, the casual work environment is different than the suit and tie business world. Your Fractional Chief Marketing Officer will need to fit in with whatever your culture might be.
This doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out proposal. A good Fractional Chief Marketing Officer will submit an overview of their qualifications. They should relate to what your stated needs are. The more specific you are upfront, the easier it will be for them to give you a comprehensive Statement of Work.
As part of their Statement of Work, they should include measurable actionable items. These should also include some rough pricing information at the least. They should know what these things will cost you. Your return on this investment should also be explained.
Some of these actionable items are easier to quote than others. A good FCMO will be very detailed when presenting a proposal to you. They should also come with timeframes for completion.
You’ve found the right marketing professional, congratulations. Now it’s time to sign a contract.
Everyone has a different idea of how much they are worth. As a rule, you should check the current salaries for Chief Marketing Officers in your industry. Salaries can vary by region as well, so be conscious of this fact. If your company is in New York City, you can expect a higher salary than say for Boise, Idaho.
If you are contracting for a certain number of hours per week, you should take the annual salary and divide it by the number of weeks. From there you then divide it again by the number of hours you’ll need them. This is a fair number for most people and a good place to start, but, they will be submitting their price to you.
You always have the option to turn them down. Negotiating a different price isn’t considered bad form either, but not everyone will. If they are an experienced and desirable Chief Marketing Officer, they might be able to pick and choose their clients. This will seriously limit your ability to negotiate.
That said, if they have the requisite skillset you need, then you should feel good about hiring them. If they fit with your culture, and their Statement of Work is one that offers a good return on investment, you should feel good about signing a contract.
An integral part of the contract negotiation should center around time. Not only the hours per week you will need them but the length of time of your contract. Some will be willing to go with monthly contracts, but most are looking for at least a six-month agreement.
They will need time to implement their plans and changing a marketing program isn’t like turning your car around. It’s more like changing the direction of a cruise liner in a tight port. It must be done carefully and without rushing.
Another element of time to consider is what will happen at the end of the contract term. Will your Fractional Chief Marketing Officer be available to stay on? Will an extension be month to month or a simple six-month renewal? Will there be an option to hire them permanently?
Be prepared for the worst here, because there’s a real possibility they will want to move on. They are highly skilled individuals with a unique mindset to create solutions. Once things are running smoothly they may have a natural desire to find their next challenge. They may want to stay on, too, but it’s always better to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
And the best thing you can do is to put a consulting clause in the original contract that gives you an easy way to invite them back for special projects. At least this way you have someone who helped design, build, and implement your marketing program only a phone call away.
There’s nothing wrong with having a relationship with a marketing agency while looking to hire a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. In some cases, having a relationship might be beneficial. Your FCMO will likely need some marketing material to be produced, and maybe in several different mediums, so the agency you have could be the answer.
Many marketing agencies need a contract that can prove burdensome, especially if you consider taking on an FCMO at the same time. Often the contracts come with a retainer fee built-in and billed monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually. This retainer fee works like a draw on services provided.
If you have a $10,000 retainer fee you essentially must spend that money on marketing services with them. They will provide you with suggestions on how to spend it and will develop the material which you will have final control over.
Yet you won’t get the level of expertise you would from a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. A marketing agency will have subject area experts, but probably no single person at the agency will possess the C-level skillset of an FCMO.
You’ll have a cancellation clause with your marketing agency so you won’t want to cancel. If you are considering hiring an FCMO then you are probably not satisfied with your marketing agency on some level.
A good idea would be to plan on hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer shortly before your marketing agency agreement ends. You’ll give your new FCMO a chance to review their prior work, evaluate the services they offer, and decide which they would like to keep.
If your new FCMO is interested in keeping them on in some capacity, he can handle negotiating a new contract.
This answer is dependent on your particular circumstances. As previously detailed, an FCMO brings a unique skill set focused entirely on marketing. If you are a small company just starting out, hiring a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer vs. a Chief Marketing Officer is the right choice. Hiring a full-time CMO is likely too expensive.
If you already have a steady revenue stream and are ready to invest in the future, an FCMO is an investment in that future with tremendous upside.
The post Fractional Chief Marketing Officer vs. Chief Marketing Officer first appeared on Kamyar Shah.
When a company begins to scale up, it may find itself faced with problems it just doesn’t know how to solve. When this happens, it may be time to consider bringing in a Chief Operating Officer (COO). However, that may not be the right fit for every kind of company.
The goal of this article is to analyze the differences in the roles of the Fractional Chief Operating Officer vs. Chief Operating Officer. It is important to determine which one is right for each growing business.
Understanding what a Fractional Chief Operating Officer is, and the ways the role differs from a traditional Chief Operating Officer can be pivotal to setting a growing company up for long-term success.
Before making any decisions, it’s important to understand the complicated role of a Chief Operating Officer. According to Accenture, the COO is “perhaps one of the least understood roles in business today.”
Yet, having a COO can be vital. Especially in times of rapid growth and transformation, when the risk for business execution is highest, a COO can make all the difference.
Keith Rabois, former COO of Square, describes the COO like a doctor in an emergency room. This means they will be the ones fixing and diagnosing problems to see if they are minor or serious. If a company faces an uncertain future, a COO could be the critical component to completely transform business operations and ensure long-term success.
When a company is ready to scale up, a COO can serve as the leader of the necessary change efforts a company needs to make. They define needed changes, lead the charge, and manage the change efforts. Perhaps most importantly, COOs celebrate each change’s success.
Often, the COO will serve as the glue holding a company together. They are a vital part of rounding out the leadership team.
Well, there are many different types of COOs. In fact, the COO position is one of the most varied positions in the world of business. It’s rare for any two COOs to come from the same background, have the same experience or operate in the same way.
Commonly, COOs should at the very least have deep knowledge of marketing, sales, and operations. It is their job to integrate all aspects of a company’s revenue cycle, ensuring that a CEO’s vision leads to actual profit.
In fact, a COO is generally regarded as the CEO’s second-in-command. They need to be able to have strategic competency. This means they can analyze and lead the implementation of necessary strategies to help businesses turn a profit.
Bringing in someone with a fresh perspective, but deep respect for the CEO’s vision is key.
A COO must have the ability to keep their company’s high-level strategy front and center while making detailed decisions about day-to-day operations.
Someone who values and appreciates talent. At the end of the day, a COO should have the ability to recognize how to find the right people for each job.
If a COO spends their time trying to usurp the CEO, the partnership probably won’t work out. They need to be trustworthy and respectful.
Being able to study the minutia of daily-data can ensure that high-level vision translates to profitable operations.
Ultimately, the role of a Chief Operating Officer is to bring a company together. It is their job to ensure a more efficient, and therefore more effective, workflow.
On occasion, a Chief Operating Officer may even be someone with more experience than a CEO. This can be vital, as a deep understanding of business operations on all fronts is a necessity. Also, they should be someone who can think about a high-level, while still maintaining a deep focus on day-to-day operations.
The role of the Chief Operating Officer can be difficult to define. It is a role that is unique structurally, socially, strategically, and politically. It is also a role that is extraordinarily situational.
In fact, when examining COOs as a class, the Harvard Business Review found that there were almost no constants. Salespeople and marketers have been successful in the role, as have Financial and Human Resources executives.
Despite their many different ways of operating, they found that anyone from any background could succeed in the role, as long as they meet the needs of the company, and more importantly, the needs of the CEO.
As previously mentioned, there are many different types of COOs. It is not a one-size-fits-all type of role. Many times, the function of a COO is dependent on the specific needs of a company.
The main purpose of a Chief Operating Officer is to fill in the gaps of expertise that a CEO may be lacking. Because of this, the COO position is unique in that it is less related to the actual nature of the work, and more related to the needs of the CEO as an individual. However, in some cases, a COO’s position may be more related to the specific needs of the business itself.
The main thing that sets a Chief Operating Officer apart is the high level of trust established between them and the CEO. This should be a close working relationship, with extreme respect between both parties.
A COO may be responsible for a bulk of a company’s operations, however, they usually receive little of the credit. The CEO will always have a larger spotlight.
A COO’s work is almost always done behind the scenes. Therefore, a good COO must be someone who recognizes the importance of their work without needing public attention.
COOs must be excellent communicators. They must be able to communicate effectively with executives and the teams and departments they oversee. A large part of their role is the ability to mediate conflict and negotiate among stakeholders.
Besides, they will have to act as a spokesperson for both the staff and C-suite executives of a company. Generally, they control the flow of communication, so attentiveness to messaging and communications is vital.
The COO is there to transform the CEO’s abstract vision into a profitable reality. They have to be able to achieve measurable results. Aligning company goals with day-to-day operations is pivotal. They have to be sure they can think both at a high-level and in the daily minutia of operations.
Delegating tasks is a key function of the COO role. It is imperative COOs know which tasks should go to which departments and teams. This requires a unique understanding of each departments’ skills and strengths to ensure that everyone on every team is working at their most effective level.
It is important for the COO to understand the overall vision of the company. This is because they are also in charge of ensuring every team is working toward the same goals.
A good COO will have all four of these major traits. That’s a unique ask from one single employee, but that high level of skill is what sets Chief Operating Officer apart from everyone else. COO is a demanding position that requires a highly skilled employee.
At the end of the day, the COO is there to make the CEO’s long-term vision a reality. This means that a COO must have ultimate trust in the CEO’s vision. On the other hand, the CEO must have ultimate trust in the COO’s ability to implement that vision.
As previously stated, the role of COO is a varied one. They come from many backgrounds, with all manner of unique experiences and leadership styles.
However, according to Harvard Business Review, COOs can typically be put into one of seven categories. These include:
When most people hear the term COO, this is usually what comes to mind. Executor-style COOs are focused entirely on day-to-day operations.
This leaves the CEO free to focus on the larger vision, public relations, and high-level decisions. This type of COO minimizes the CEO’s need to keep close tabs on the minute details and inner workings of the company.
This type of COO is usually brought in to help a stagnant company get moving again. When growth vision stalls or market performance is weak, these COOs can come in to reinvigorate public interest in the company.
Usually, they have a unique set of skills and experiences. Sometimes, they even come from a different industry with fresh ideas to shake things up.
Sometimes, the CEO may be new to the business world. They might have become CEO thanks to a novel idea or invention, but lack the business acumen to lean on.
If the CEO is inexperienced in business, the mentor-type COO can help guide them through difficult business decisions. Usually, this type of COO is a highly seasoned professional.
Here, the COO and CEO complete each other. They almost function like the left and right sides of the brain.
This type of COO stays grounded and logic-oriented. This allows the CEO to think more abstractly and unpredictably. This COO will ensure their workforce receives consistent instruction, information, and communication.
This COO is often being prepared to follow in the CEO’s footsteps. If a CEO is planning on retiring or stepping down, having their next-in-line serve as COO can be a great shadowing opportunity.
This COO is mainly there to learn the ropes of managing a company. This is a great way to streamline CEO transition.
This is when a former staff member rises to the rank of COO. Typically this happens when a team member displays a high level of value to the company.
Promoting them to COO can be a good way to keep them at the company, providing them with higher status and compensation. This will make a great employee much less likely to leave the company to chase competing offers.
This COO helps to round out a leadership team. For some CEOs, having a team can make them more efficient. This provides CEOs with the ability to bounce ideas off of another person, while also drawing useful knowledge and skills from an experienced individual.
Though the CEO will slightly outrank the COO, they are more close in standing when in this kind of relationship. Similar to The Other Half, they operate almost as one entity in terms of managing the company.
Each of these types can bring something unique to a fledgling company. Based on the needs of the CEO or the company itself, finding the right type can supplement a company’s strategy.
Additionally, these seven roles are not mutually exclusive. Though it is unlikely that one person could serve in all seven roles, it is not far-fetched to imagine a single COO wearing one or two of these different hats. However, the distinction between them makes it clear why outlining the role of COO is such a difficult task.
At the end of the day, however, the most important factor in finding a COO is for the CEO to find someone they can trust completely. They must be able to fill the role most needed by the CEO. According to Wendell Weeks, who went from COO to CEO at Corning, the CEO-COO paring needs to be a “true partnership, in every sense of the word.”
As a CEO, finding the right type of COO can turn a good business into a great one.
Most companies do not start out with a Chief Operating Officer. For the early stages of business development, they aren’t really a necessity. However, as a company begins to grow, so does the need for efficient operations.
Many companies wait until it’s too late to hire a COO. Sometimes this is because of budgetary restraints or the idea that COO is an unnecessary position. It’s important to have an understanding of where a company is at and where it’s going to understand their need for a COO.
Basically, a company should begin thinking about bringing on a COO right before things go bad. If a CEO realized their company is beginning to scale up, odds are they’ll soon be overwhelmed by the workload. Hence, the use of a COO will be necessary.
Another reason to bring in a Chief Operating Officer is if there is a specific business need or area of expertise the CEO lacks. COOs can be pivotal in filling in those necessary gaps, which in turn will ensure long-term success.
A CEO is spending too much time working in the business instead of on the business. They do not have the capacity to shift their focus to long-term goals and vision.
Many in the company, but especially the CEO, are feeling overwhelmed. There is a daily struggle to ensure appropriate operational efficiency.
A business is maintaining a steady profit. There is a specific need to begin scaling up. Without the ability to scale up, the company’s growth will stagnate and stall.
A company needs a stronger leadership team. Without it, everything may begin to unravel.
There are important questions you should ask to determine if it’s time for a COO.
If a CEO can confidently answer these questions, a Chief Operating Officer may not be necessary. However, if they struggle to come up with the right answers, or see far enough ahead into the future, it’s probably time to start looking for a COO.
Many growing businesses may find it difficult to bring on a full-time executive. The costs can be astronomical, and they might not even know what exactly they want or need from the position.
For these companies, it might be counter-intuitive to bring in a full-time COO right off the bat. There are many things that go into bringing on a new executive, such as building a new executive office, creating a unique hiring process, and putting together an expensive perks and benefits package. Doing all of this could put a company even farther into the red, which isn’t great when trying to scale up.
Luckily, there is another option. If a fledgling business is not yet ready to bring on a COO, a Fractional Chief Operating Officer may be the answer. Fractional COOs can ensure more effective business operations for a growing business, while still maintaining budget-appropriate costs.
Simply put, a Fractional Chief Operating Officer is a highly-experienced consultant who operates as a part-time COO. This allows a business to retain the insight of a COO without having to bear the full-time costs.
This is perfect for small businesses and start-ups who need the support of an operations expert, but cannot yet afford a full-time executive. The main purpose of a Fractional COO is to provide leadership support and cost flexibility for those up-and-coming businesses trying to scale up in a competitive market.
Hiring a Fractional COO can mean the difference between successful business scaling and harmful stagnation for any company on the upswing.
Often times, Fractional COOs may be more useful to a small business than a full-time executive. They provide businesses with the flexibility they need while remaining laser-focused on the company’s needs.
To begin, a Fractional COO will get to know a company’s business model. Once they’re well versed in that, they will begin to work within that framework to bring a business the leadership and accountability in any area of the CEO’s choice.
Often times, a Fractional COO is brought into a company to completely overhaul operations. By introducing new strategies and processes, Fractional COOs can be the key component in bringing businesses to the next level. This creates a smooth scaling-up process.
This type of Fractional COO will be with your company for a set amount of time, serving until a company no longer has a need for them, or is ready to hire a full-time COO.
These Fractional COOs may assist a company with one or more projects. Then, when those projects are over, so is their involvement with the company. This type is useful if there is a very specific business need.
This type is often brought in to assist the CEO. They serve as a consultant to the CEO, providing advice without necessarily taking over any operations.
Choosing the right type of Fractional COO is entirely dependent on a company’s immediate needs, as well as any budgetary constraints. But, one of the key benefits of hiring a Fractional COO is the flexibility to choose what is actually needed.
The most obvious benefit is the cost. Hiring a Fractional Chief Operating Officer allows a company to customize the level of involvement the Fractional COO has with a business. Therefore, this allows a company to customize the necessary compensation package for the Fractional COO based on the company’s budget.
In addition, a Fractional COO is oftentimes more laser-focused on a specific area. This means when a company has a very specific need, a Fractional COO could provide the necessary expertise to fill in any gaps. For example, if a company struggles with innovating in the realm of marketing, they can bring in a Fractional COO who specializes in marketing processes.
Fractional COOs can also supplement the current CEO’s knowledge. They may be able to pick up in areas where a CEO’s genius might be lacking. So, while a CEO might be more attuned to focusing on high-level vision, a Fractional COO can come in to clean up day-to-day operations.
Another use of a Fractional COO in a growing company is to help build or advance talent and teams. They can help oversee the hiring process and ensure a business is recruiting the right people for the job. With their guidance, a company can build teams that help them reach new levels of dominance in their sector.
Fractional COOs and traditional COOs can have many similarities. But, for some businesses, one may be better than the other based on their specific needs and areas of interest. Here are some specific benefits of hiring a fractional chief operating officer vs. chief operating officer.
Fractional COOs usually work remotely. Even when they do not, they usually do not require a separate executive office, whereas a full-time COO would.
There is no elaborate hiring process when selecting a Fractional COO. Usually, Fractional COOs are already experienced leaders who have worked at an executive level. Often, they will come with proven track records for success.
A traditional COO might require a completely unique hiring process, which could put a strain on an already small Human Resources department.
You do not have to provide a Fractional COO with extensive benefits, bonuses, or perks, as they are hired as contractors. This could save your business thousands.
Hiring a Fractional COO lets you “test run” the COO position. This can help your business decide what you actually want and need from a Chief Operating Officer, without any major commitment.
It is much easier to let a Fractional COO go if things don’t work out. Releasing a full-time COO from a contract might be much more difficult. They can often get tied up in legal stipulations and expensive payout packages that complicate matters.
Since fractional COOs are contractors, letting them go is usually a relatively easy process.
Fractional COOs are there to help you build. This means, they can find the right talent for you, and in some cases, even help you find their full-time replacement.
Fractional COOs usually have years of proven results. This could mean bringing on someone with much more experience than someone new to the Chief Operating Officer position.
Perhaps most importantly, Fractional COOs are flexible. For a growing business, this means they can roll with the often unpredictable punches that come with scaling up a business. Fractional COOs can usually work as much or as little as you need, or as your budget allows.
All of this being said, there are some cases in which hiring a full-time Chief Operating Officer might be the better option. For larger businesses, or those growing at a truly exponential rate, hiring a COO could see greater stability in the long-run. It could also help build a stronger long-term relationship between COO and CEO.
However, for most small to mid-level businesses or start-ups, the Fractional COO might be the best choice. Fractional COOs can help mitigate costs. At the same time, they can help a company to build both day-to-day and more long-term business operations strategies.
In addition, businesses with very specific operations needs or questions would also likely benefit more from the help of a Fractional Chief Operating Officer. Fractional COOs are more likely to come in with specific experience in one area. This can be especially helpful to businesses that need laser-focus in, particularly weak spots.
Once you’ve decided whether a Fractional COO or COO is right for you, it’s important to make sure you find the right person for the job. When doing so, it’s also important that you stay away from these common mistakes when hiring COOs.
Sometimes, companies will hire below a C-suite executive level in order to cut costs.
These people are then expected to operate at the level of an executive but without the benefits or necessary experience. Because of this, they often fall short of what is actually needed by the business.
Again, this is done to cut costs.
Here, we once again have a business that is forced to hire someone at a Director or Vice President level. People without the necessary experience typically cannot function at the executive level.
Occasionally, companies treat the hiring process for Chief Operating Officer as if it were any other position.
COOs have very unique, highly specialized functions. This requires specialized hiring processes and unique labor structures. Without that, the COO is often doomed to fail.
Well, there is usually one of two reasons:
COO can be a complicated position. A fledgling company or new CEO may not have an understanding of how to make the role most effective.
Before making these common hiring mistakes, a company might consider hiring a Fractional COO to see what they actually need from the position. This can also ease the financial burden of hiring an executive until the company is actually able to scale up in terms of profit.
Even so, there are still some important considerations to make when choosing any COO, Fractional, or otherwise.
The most important thing when choosing a Fractional COO or full-time COO is finding someone the CEO can really trust. The CEO and COO should have a natural rapport and the potential to develop a good relationship.
Remember, the CEO and COO will be working very closely together toward a common goal. It is important any potential COO understands what a company wants and needs at the current phase of its development.
This also means that any Fractional COO or COO that is hired should trust that the CEO has the best vision for their company. They must respect the work that has already been put in to get the business to its current level. However, they should also challenge the CEO to expand their thinking.
When bringing on a COO or Fractional COO, the company should be prepared for some major changes. While the COO can and should work within the established business model framework, it is also their job to do a complete operations overhaul.
If the CEO or the rest of the company is not prepared to trust the COO to make the right changes, the partnership will not be successful. In addition, the CEO must trust that the COO only wants what’s best for the company.
According to Harvard Business Review, there are several things a CEO must be prepared to give their COO upon hiring. These include:
Those vying for the COO position typically understand that it is their job to embrace the CEO’s strategy and vision. However, they can only achieve this if the CEO is clear in their communication. CEOs must be direct and unafraid of being honest with their COOs.
It is vital for both the CEO and COO to define which responsibilities will fall to which role. Setting explicit and reasonable lines of demarcation between the CEO and COO can help smooth out the relationship.
Though the lines may sometimes get blurry, and overlap is often required, setting clear lines at the start of the professional relationship can help the COO to feel more valued in their role. Often, these decision-making lines are drawn based on the particular competencies of each party.
When a COO is brought into a company, a new layer of management is added. Executives who were previously able to address the CEO directly must now flow through the intermediary of the COO.
It is the CEO’s job to ensure that line of delegation is followed. This ensures the lines of responsibility are respected. When the lines of responsibility are respected, the CEO and COO are able to build a more trusting relationship.
Many COOs understand that the CEO will be largely in the spotlight. They typically come into the position knowing that it is their job to make the CEO more successful.
However, a CEO should be deliberate in ensuring the COO is given credit where it is due. They should communicate with the company and the public the importance of their COO. This creates a more trusting relationship, as everyone likes to be appreciated.
If the CEO is prepared to make these changes for their COO, they can often build a more trusting, and therefore more successful, relationship. In any case, it is imperative the CEO find the right person whom they can really trust. Only by finding the right person, will they achieve any success in adding the COO role.
Whether they are Fractional or full-time, a COO can be the necessary ingredient for large-scale and long-term business success. They can keep any business from growing stagnant, so it is important to find one that is trusted and respected, both by the CEO and the industry at large.
It’s is imperative a company chooses the right COO, and the right type of COO, to oversee their business operations. Without total trust and effective communication, the growth of a business may stall entirely.
Deciding between Fractional Chief Operating Officer vs. Chief Operating Officer, and then choosing the right person for the job, might be a difficult and complicated process. However, understanding and undergoing this process could help your business reach new heights of success.
The post Fractional Chief Operating Officer vs. Chief Operating Officer first appeared on Kamyar Shah.
Every product started as an idea. The difference between products that outperform in their market and those that fail before taking off isn’t just luck. The best products rely on solid product development strategies to set them up for success.
In this article, we’ll cover:
Product development is a term that describes the steps that turn an idea into a product. Essentially, this is the entire life of your product from start to finish. Using solid product development strategies from the beginning helps you avoid complications down the road. Even more, when you decide upon the approach you will use before even coming up with your idea, you can generate ideas that are already more likely to succeed.
Sometimes, even the best ideas can fail, much like how unlikely candidates succeed. Using a tested approach and understanding your market ensures your product will profit. Thanks to years of trial, error, and meticulous documentation, companies don’t need to experience a failure themselves to find a reliable path to success. This is why we have modern product development.
Product development strategies didn’t start with one company. In fact, they evolved from a natural human process. Humans are idea-generating powerhouses. You could say that product development began with the advent of the wheel, agriculture, or the industrial revolution and be equally correct. Ultimately, the date you choose depends on which part of the process you’re looking at. Everything from the initial idea to the physical product is product development, and the process is as old as we are.
Modern product development has its roots in the early 19th century. Industrialization made it possible to mass-produce goods while constantly making the process more efficient. From the early 1900s to the 1950s, the most significant developments involved breaking the production of physical products into smaller tasks to speed up manufacturing. The assembly line is one example of modern product development methods as we use them today.
After that, the 1950s until the 1980s brought about improvements in mass production. This increased worker safety and reduced waste. Now, it’s understood that the health and happiness of your team directly impact your business’s success. but in the earlier days of product development, this was a relatively new idea. Over time, workers’ conditions improved and gave way to more effective processes within companies.
From the 1980s on, technology took hold of the business world. Technology companies applied the same strategies used in the production of material goods, but they needed changes to bring about the same success. For example, it’s easy to see the effects of changes to an assembly line. If you use a different material, you can see that it’s stronger or more delicate. If you change a line of code in your software, however, you need new testing procedures to see its effects.
Since the 1980s, technology has brought about new product development strategies for organizing teams and creating goods. Now, the internet makes these available to anyone with the will to learn and create.
A good product management strategy benefits your team throughout the whole product lifecycle. Think of it as using a map when visiting a new place. Thanks to those who drew that map, you can get you to where you want to be and avoid trouble along the way. In product development, you’ll rarely run into a situation that’s exactly like yours. However, you can use what was learned in similar situations to plan for your best outcome.
A well-tested product design strategy reduces the “wandering“ that you do during your product development. This shortens the time it takes to create your product and reduces errors. In addition, these strategies get your team working together from the start instead of picking up one task where another left off. For example, your legal team might work with your development team in the early stages to ensure that their ideas for a product have no obvious compliance issues.
If you think back to the assembly line example, you’ll see some significant differences between this approach and those used with software development teams. Unlike people working on an assembly line, your team won’t handle just one very specialized task. Instead, your team members will each perform multiple tasks instead of one specialized part, and they will learn from the other parts of your company during the process. Frequent interactions with other departments help them understand how the rest of the company contributes and help them work together more harmoniously.
You can break down product development into five stages. The Interaction Design Foundation defines these as:
While your team won’t necessarily go through these steps in a linear order, they must include all of them to stay on track. No matter what product development method you choose, they will all cover these steps.
You may be reading this article with an idea for your product already in mind. However, even though you see a need, do enough people experience it to make your product profitable? Market research lets you empathize with your customer and find out what they need to solve the problem at hand.
In this case, it’s best to start by surveying them about a problem that you want to solve. First, identify the people that experience this problem and document their opinions. Some use focus groups, others use surveys, but any kind of feedback from your demographic will show you the best path to solving their problem.
Though some other steps in product development do not happen in a linear order, this step must always come first. Without understanding your product’s users and environment, you can’t guarantee its success. So, in this stage, your team will research the people that you’re trying to target, understand their needs, learn about their outlook on the world, and see the details of their current situation.
Finding a problem to solve is only one part of the equation. Next, you have to find out how driven people are to find a solution. Are they willing to pay for a fix, or is it a mild inconvenience at best? Marketing can help people understand the problem and the benefits your solution brings, but it can’t take the place of starting with a well-thought-out approach. If the people with the problem crave an answer, you will have a much easier time designing a successful product.
The best way to define your potential solution is to outline some possible ideas. Think creatively, and don’t worry too much about the details yet. Think of this as a brainstorming session. Rather than saying no to ideas, get everything you can on the board, either by yourself or with your team.
Much like the empathy stage, the defining stage must occur in a linear order, at least for the first time around. If not, your team risks funneling effort into an impractical solution and misusing their resources. The defining stage is where your team breaks down the information collected during the empathy stage and comes to conclusions based on your data. Here, you can create buyer personas and user stories to align the rest of your efforts. The Interaction Design Foundation recommends creating a narrow problem statement at this stage so you can pinpoint exactly what it is you’re trying to do. A finely targeted effort helps your team pinpoint their efforts and stay on track.
Now that you have a couple of ideas to work with, you can develop them into concepts for your product. Here, you can be more critical of what’s practical and what might not work one applied to your customers’ situation. Do these ideas solve the issue? What would the potential cost look like? Is there another solution like this on the market?
Start with the wider goals and break them into smaller tasks. If you find out your encountering questions that are too broad to address, break them up even further. For example, you could break up the task of reducing manual data errors to creating a system that automatically tracks inventory without requiring extra data input.
This is the stage where you act on the steps you’ve outlined during the ideation stage. Prototyping creates an early version of your product so you can have a tangible understanding of your idea. Now that you have something that performs the essential functions, you can see how the features interact. New ideas may come up that help you find new opportunities to address your customers’ issues.
This phase will come up several times during the product development process. Each time your team identifies a new idea, you will prototype it and then test it in the following stage. Frequent jumps between the prototyping and testing stages ensure that you’ve found the most effective way of helping your customers.
The testing stage is one of the essential steps in product development. Here, you take a prototype you developed in the last step and begin using it in the same scenarios as your customers. Testing involves people both within and outside of your team and will continue even after launching your product. Eventually, when your team is satisfied, and your customers provide positive feedback, you will have your finished product.
Tech is constantly changing, so even your “finished product” may not be the final version. New feature releases, software updates, and bug fixes will be a regular part of your processes, and they will give valuable insights into the market. Your team can harness these and create new products based on these ideas.
Good product development involves your entire team. It may be easy to think of software development as something handled only by your development team, but realistically this isn’t enough. The most successful products involve help from the entire company, starting in the early stages of development.
The method you choose will decide who needs to be on your team. For example, your team will need to bring on a Scrum master if you select the scrum framework. That said, you can find outside experts with skills that complement your team no matter what methodology you choose. Here’s a brief overview of the roles you will find on most product development teams.
You can think of product managers as extensions of your CEO. A project manager combines your business goals with your technology and gets a big picture view of the overall requirements. Your product manager should posse a wide array of skills to help your project reach its fullest potential. Often, these skills include engineering, sales, leadership, and business development. Larger companies will need more project managers to achieve their goals. Each product manager will oversee their product’s lifecycle from beginning to end.
Smaller teams may bring in outside talent for this part of a project. For example, a fractional Chief Operating Officer, or fractional COO, is essentially a part-time COO with experience from multiple companies. They can guide your team and assist with planning while keeping the project within its outlined budget.
Similarly, a fractional Chief Marketing Officer can guide your team from the empathy stage, so your product stays aligned with its customers and turns a profit. A fractional CMO offers the unique angle of a marketer’s point of view, which can help your marketing team understand exactly how to highlight your product’s best features to your customers.
Approaching product development without a plan is like going on a trip without a map. You may get where you need to be, but it’s much faster and safer with reliable guidance. A team with a well-thought-out product development strategy is already on the road to success.
Now, you understand what product development is, how modern product development methods came about, the benefits and components of a good strategy, and who drives your team to success. Now, you can explore the finer details of product development to get the most out of your ideas. These strategies
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Every year, over 30,000 products hit the market. However, according to Clayton Christensen, professor at Harvard Business School, 95% of these products will fail. Beating the odds doesn’t depend on luck. When you understand product development, you learn why so many products fail, and most importantly, how to create one of the 5% of products that succeed.
To recap, successful product development strategies involve non-linear steps that incorporate interaction from your whole team. They need frequent testing and tweaks and ample market research. Now that you know the basic steps, we’ll show you:
If you work in software, you’ve likely heard of product development methods such as scrum or lean. These methods fall under the larger umbrella of agile product development frameworks. All of these methods embody the same principles, but they have different ways of acting on them. The differences in these frameworks let you choose a technique that amplifies your team’s strengths and makes efficient use of your resources.
Here, we will cover the basics of Kanban, Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), Feature Driven Development (FDD), Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Crystal, and Lean.
Kanban is a framework that visually breaks down projects into individual steps. To do this, teams use a chart divided into three columns called a kanban board. The columns, marked to-do, doing, and done, categorize the team’s tasks within the project. Kanban tends to be more fluid and less structured than other methods like scrum, which allows greater flexibility for projects where the requirements frequently change.
Scrum follows a similar method to Kanban, relying on a visual form of tracking tasks. It also uses a grid broken into columns and groups to show the team’s progress. However, one main difference between kanban and scrum is that scrum only focuses on one piece of the project at a time, referred to as a “sprint.” These sprints channel more focus into each part of a task and grant teams more control over their requirements and deadlines.
In addition, scrum teams include two unique roles. These roles are the scrum master, who directs the team’s overall efforts, and a product owner, who maximizes the team’s potential. These two rules help guide scrum teams through each sprint to the eventual completion of the project.
Extreme Programming is a close relative to scrum but includes extra features that help software companies produce higher quality software with more considerations for the wellbeing of their development team. XP uses intervals and sprints like scrum, as well as visual breakdowns found in kanban.
A unique feature of XP is its 12 processes that are specific to software development teams, which make it uniquely advantageous to tech teams. These processes, according to the Agile Alliance, are:
Feature-driven development is another framework specifically made for software design. Every two weeks, the team creates a software model and a plan to develop the features. When you compare FDD with extreme programming, the main difference is FDD’s unique ability to accommodate larger teams and more complex features.
In contrast to extreme programming, FDD breaks down its processing into five groups. First, the team develops the overall idea of the project. After this is done, they outline a feature list. When that’s finished, the team breaks the required features into actionable steps. The team then designs the component and finally builds them.
DSDM is a software development framework that focuses mainly on speed. It shares many similarities with other agile frameworks for software teams but allows for even more frequent reworks. The idea behind this is that reversible steps make it easier to align the project with a later goal than a rigid, complex framework.
Ideally, a flexible team will have a higher probability of success than one that rigidly sticks to its structure. Its principles, according to AgileKRC, are to:
Crystal isn’t one framework so much as a grouping of similar approaches. Crystal frameworks include options such as Crystal Clear, Yellow, Orange, Orange Web. These let teams select a framework that matches their level of urgency, type of project, and team size. Some of the methods, such as Sapphire and Diamond, include delicate steps that suit projects involving safety risks and sensitive information.
Lean is one of the most commonly used project management frameworks. It channels the focus on communicating with all team members throughout the design process and standardizing steps to repeat successful outcomes. Lean takes extra steps to eliminate waste and keep efforts focused on the end goal. Additionally, it considers human nature, so it becomes a benefit to the process rather than a hindrance or afterthought.
If the teams that launched over 28,500 failed products a year knew how to avoid those failures, we can assume they would. This is why it’s essential to understand why your team is creating a product in the first place and who it serves. Ultimately, the goal of any product development project is to provide value to the customer. Most failures can be avoided by learning what your customers are looking for before investing efforts in the development
This is not to say that your team can avoid every possible failure during the development process. However, agile product development methods make it easier to learn from these mistakes and avoid them in the future. If something works, repeating it can save time. If it doesn’t, knowing what led you there will prevent further complications. Good documentation and well-tested project processes reduce the effort needed to create a functional, successful product.
With suitable documentation and reliable leadership, you empower your team to take on new projects and reach for consistently greater heights. Resilient teams persist despite their failures, and these teams are those that succeed over and over again. Instead of focusing on what was done right or wrong, focus on learning every step of the way.
Agile teams work because they think and operate differently. This means that each person on your team will possess traits that help them thrive within this framework. Your group can provide its members with training and resources that encourage them to develop these skills.
Here is are the components your team will need for successful product development:
Your team may not inherently have the expertise to succeed on its first try. This is where you can bring in outside help to guide your team through the development process. A full-time option is not always necessary, especially when the goal is to teach your team how to handle the task independently the next time around. In these cases, a fractional Chief Operating Officer or fractional Chief Marketing Officer provides expert-level guidance to accomplish your goals.
A fractional COO with experience in your chosen framework has participated in many projects like your own. They bring the unique perspective of someone who has witnessed many companies’ successes and failures, translating into expert wisdom for your team. A fractional COO brings together the different members of your team to keep them focused on the end goal of your project.
A fractional CMO, like a fractional COO, also has experience working with multiple different teams. However, they also can involve your marketing and sales team and show them how they can position your product for success during the sales stages. Even the best products have faced difficulties because of a disconnect with their own sales and marketing teams. Overall, the right staff and goals will set you up for a smoother product development process.
When you’re ready to start your goal planning, you will have to break down and organize your goals no matter which method you choose. The most effective way to do this is by each step’s priority level and timeline. These six categories give you a solid working framework.
Needed – Needed features are the basic requirements your product needs to solve the problem at hand. These goals are non-negotiable and form the foundation of your product’s functionality.
Wanted – Wanted features are what help your product stand out. Users will not choose the bare minimum when there’s another better option. Overall, this category affects how well your product will perform in the market.
Wished – Whished features are what make a good idea into an excellent product. This is where your product can shine. If you focus on at least one area where your product performs exceptionally well, your can lock down a unique selling point that increases its likelihood for outstanding sales. High-quality features make it easier for your marketing and sales teams to sell your product.
Short – Short-term goals are goals that span from a few days to weeks. These should be somewhat rigid in their timelines and requirements, especially with needed and wanted tasks. This section can be more flexible with wished goals than the previous two but should still keep a tight timeline.
Medium – Medium-term goals can happen over a few weeks to a few months. Because of the additional allotted time, they have slightly more flexibility than short-term goals. However, as mentioned before, the higher the goal’s priority, the more rigidly your team should stick to their plan.Long – Long-term goals have the most overall flexibility. They can change to suit what you find in the earlier parts of your product development. As these get closer, their level of detail and priority level can change if you find a new way to do what you set out to achieve.
A carefully chosen product development framework backed by a well-equipped team can help your business create one of the 5% of products that succeed every year. Now, you understand the most common product development methodologies, how a good strategy prevents failure, the elements of a functional product development team, and how to set your team’s goals.
Remember that product development is a constant learning process. As long as you set out to improve wherever possible, even your challenges will bear the fruit of future success. For extra tips on improving your product development strategy, see how a strategy consultant can help.
link to basics article
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The Marketing Research Association reports that of all the developed products, only 40% make it to market. Even more shocking is that 40% of those that do make it don’t generate any revenue at all. Careful planning increases the chances that your product will not only make it to market but profit.
First, choose a product development framework to organize your efforts. Next, you will need a practical means of implementing the framework you’ve chosen. This involves training and your team as much as the resources you have at hand. Successful product development depends on using the right technology.
Over time, product development teams found methods that let them repeat their successes faster and with greater consistency. These methods evolved into concepts like flat design, style tiles, and live style guides. By understanding these concepts, you can find more effective ways to keep your team’s work organized and achieve faster results.
Since most agile methodologies use heavily visual breakdowns of the project management steps, companies have identified several ways to organize these graphics. Over time, users recognized that simple, brightly colored graphics are the easiest way to convey ideas. This concept was termed flat design. Flat design, as its name would imply, relies on two-dimensional graphics and simplistic design to quickly communicate ideas. For example, the logos and images featured in Google’s 2013 redesign use this principle.
Another benefit of flat design is that its images appropriately scale to your screen size and load quickly. This stands in sharp contrast to detailed, three-dimensional graphics that require additional rendering. Buttons made with flat design contribute to the overall user experience, being that they’re easy to locate and use.
Technology has also evolved to make it simpler to duplicate design elements. For instance, grouping design elements together in “style tiles” allows your team to keep them together for future projects. These elements could be colors, fonts, and text sizes, and other features. These enable design teams to quickly conceptualize ideas and present them to the rest of the project’s stakeholders.
Another way to keep design elements together is to use a live style guide. A live style guide is a webpage that keeps track of your style elements, letting everybody see what is currently there and what is missing. Matching colors to the site’s current palette and maintaining consistent fonts is faster with a reliable log of what the site uses. Later, these elements can be logged and applied to other apps or web pages to keep the brand’s style consistent.
Much like how designers generalized elements that worked to create a widespread practice, your team can take the methods from its product development and apply them to other areas of your business. The concepts of product development don’t have to stay within your development team. Use the essence of your chosen product development framework to optimize other processes in your business.
For example, consider how agile methodologies involve standardized processes. Unifying the procedures in your marketing department can help the team avoid mistakes and quickly onboard new staff. Similarly, your customer service team can learn how to evaluate customer feedback and communicate potential solutions to different parts of the company.
Another beneficial concept from product development is open communication. Management should welcome and encourage feedback from their teams by opening frequent discussions. Often, product development methodologies fail because even though your team is following the steps, they neglect the method’s core values. If you decide to use lean or agile thinking within your company, make sure that you fully commit to reap the rewards.
Another tip to get more out of your lean and agile methodology is to keep designers within your team. While freelancers are a frequently used option, ultimately, you can save more time with a staff designer. This reduces training and knowledge transfers that would come with each new iteration of your project. What seems more cost-effective in the short term may have more significant financial impacts in the long run.
Another way you can help your business embrace these methodologies is to use a scientific mindset. A scientific approach can encourage your team to think critically about their solutions and the best way to enact them. Analytical perspectives separate teams from their personal attachment to an idea. This often stems from habit instead of function. Overall, inquisitive thinking helps teams approach problems with a creative, curious mindset.
Think about what’s most important in the culture of your team. Does it foster trust? Does it bring out the courage in your team members? Do decisions come from a humble place that welcomes change in learning? If you’re unsure about any of these answers, consider current obstacles that prevent you from reaching your goals. Sometimes, what stands in the way has to do with your team’s overall mindset. Get together and identify what changes can help your team. Then, don’t stop there. Act and make the change.
Over time, your team will eventually encounter hang-ups. This will happen with any project, and preparing yourself from the beginning can help you learn the skills to tackle the problem and succeed after the fact.
Proper planning and documentation are your most valuable assets. Involve team members who value education and learning to steer clear of significant issues. Even in the worst cases, documentation and analysis turn a challenge into a learning opportunity. Here are several situations you can avoid while creating your product.
Good ideas awaken the drive to pursue them. However, trying to pursue too many good ideas creates conflict around which priorities should take precedence. While these ideas may be of similar value, group them by compatibility so your efforts aren’t spread too thin. For example, if you have a list of features you want, break the list down into groups of the most closely related ideas so you can accomplish more with less work.
Remember that while your team thinks that something may be an excellent plan, your market ultimately will ultimately decide. The data you collect on your potential customers will tell you what does and doesn’t work. Good market research can help you narrow down your ideas to the most practical, then guide you to the most effective ways to channel your efforts.
Speed is not the end goal of product design, but that doesn’t negate its importance. Even the best ideas have failed just because someone else released a solution quicker. This setback doesn’t mean that their product is inherently better or that your idea wouldn’t have worked, but it does mean that there’s room to rework your strategy.
If you find yourself beaten to market by a competitor, first, acknowledge yourself for taking time to plan your next steps. It takes strength to be flexible. Make sure you document your current processes and the next steps you take. This will help you replicate them faster and shave time off of reworks. Do your research again and learn from your competitor’s successes and failures. The faster that you learn and apply your knowledge, the faster your products will flourish.
Some teams may jump into a market knowing that there’s a solution much like theirs. Think of Uber and Lyft, for example. What if your competitor already has the product and you want to take advantage of the demand?
Naturally, this seems like a good setup as you can see that there are plenty of customers available. However, this approach sets you up for fierce competition with someone who already holds on the market. While you may find limited success with this, especially if you have a unique selling point, this is not one of the most effective strategies and takes great effort to pull off.
You can use your competitor’s experiences to draw your own path. Start by redoing the initial market research yourself. What problem is this product trying to solve? Do the customers still have unresolved pain points? Are there other ways that your team could address the issue with a different solution? Going back to square one can give you a new, unique perspective and tap into a market that you already know craves change.
Even the best ideas are still subject to your company’s budget. Ultimately, how you use your resources is what determines the fate of your product. You may have a clear picture of what you want and how each feature works together, but you have to articulate each piece’s importance to every part of your team. When the value of your project isn’t clear, the overall product suffers.
To avoid the kind of issues that stem from a tight budget, make sure that you justify each funding request. Remember that you have to understand the purpose yourself and explain it to people who don’t have the same hands-on knowledge. If you can clearly articulate why each milestone needs funding, you can then show them how it increases revenue in the long term.
Another issue that may cause snags in your development is not understanding the independent purpose of each of the project’s requirements. Is there a reason you think that your customers would prefer one feature over another? Do you have statistics or info to back it up? Executing tasks for the sake of completing tasks may give you the illusion of progress but ultimately will not bring you any closer to your goal. If you find your team taking on bits of your project without understanding why ensure that your research provides the details you need to understand the project’s purpose.
On a related note, remember that common knowledge is not always the best approach when developing a product. Even though your team may feel that your users will want a given feature or have a particular problem, remember to use a scientific approach and check. This extra step will confirm that you were on the right path or align with your market before misusing resources.
What do you do when you have great ideas, can justify the budget, but find yourself adding more and more to the final design? The original project may have vastly different funding when looking at the budget numbers than what you currently have. Is it worth it? Some features may not create enough value to justify the work put into them. Reel in your features list and focus on what your customers need. When in doubt, go back to your research. It’s never too late to learn more.
Imagine this, you’re right upon your release date, and your team finds a major issue in your product. How could this have happened? In an environment where your team does not feel encouraged to speak up or maybe even feel free to announce that there is an issue, errors could go unnoticed until it’s too late. To avoid this, test your product frequently and remember to be calm, open, and honest when someone lets you know that something is going on. Remember that this small gesture can save you intense frustrations later on.
If everything seems excellent about your app and your research shows that your users like it, the issue is likely not with your development team. Check-in with your marketing and sales departments to ensure that they understand the product, its overall value, the market that will be using it, and why they can benefit from your software. It’s never a bad idea to have your team demo the app to the rest of the company, as they have an equal part in determining your product success.
Short-staffed teams can call in a consultant to organize training and align their efforts. Two options include:
A fractional CMO has experience working with sales and marketing teams and showing them the best ways to communicate the value of a product. They can organize demos and knowledge transfers with your engineers and gauge their overall understanding. The more experience your fractional CMO has in your industry, the more relevant their input will be.
A fractional COO looks at the processes your company uses and helps organize your team. Look for someone that has worked on projects like yours in the same. Before selecting someone to work with, take time to check their references and evaluate the outcome of their efforts.
Every product design process has its challenges. Understanding what some of these may be and what tools are available to address them will help you organize the right approach. Assembling a team of experts and planning ahead prevent the most severe challenges to your product’s success. So, plan wisely, think ahead, and keep up on new techniques. For more information about different approaches and resources in product development, read through more thoughts from a business consultant.
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Where do you want your business to be five years from now? How about in ten years? If you haven’t thought this far, you’re not alone. In 2018, only 63% of businesses surveyed reported they had planned for more than a year in advance. Though more than half of businesses don’t use it, they’re missing out on an invaluable tool. Businesses that focus on their long-term planning find substantial opportunities for growth and are more resilient than those who only plan for the short-term.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
One common misconception is that these two terms are the same. After all, both of them imply increasing a business’s financial gain. While they do have that in common, their ways of getting it differ. The truth is that your business will need a little of each to thrive. In order to make the wisest choices for your business, it’s essential to understand what each term means for your strategy.
The end goal of growth is to increase a company’s revenue. When most people talk about growth, they think in linear terms. It essentially means that growth would imply a steady increase in how a company uses its resources to increase its revenue. For example, hiring more sales representatives gets more clients and then increases revenue.
One important thing to note is that growth requires an upfront investment. Hiring more sales representatives costs money, bringing a period of brief financial loss before the coming gain. Growth is also not a constant, sustainable process. It wouldn’t make sense to continue hiring more sales representatives and onboarding new clients if there wasn’t an underlying plan.
As your company invests in its plans for growth, keep in mind that there will be alternating periods of investment and payoff, so the myth of a linear growth process will not become a reality. Remember that you must also prepare the other areas of your business to support these changes. Growth is temporary at best unless you have a solid foundation to keep it.
Scaling, like growth, has the end goal of increasing your company’s revenue. However, unlike growth, scaling does not imply linear expansion, nor does it mean a heavy financial investment preceding that return. Scaling focuses on what steps a business can take to increase revenue using its current resources.
Think of an email outreach campaign where the marketing team sends monthly emails to 500 people. Increasing the amount to 1,000 people would not require a significant investment, such as hiring an extra person or creating a new plan. Instead, the team can use the resources and plan that they currently have to generate more revenue with new clients from that campaign.
Now, if that business takes on a significant amount of new clients because of that gain, they will have to grow to accommodate the need. The team may require more account representatives or customer support personnel to handle the new demands. However, the resources will already be there when the team makes the investment. The initial investment needed to start is the most significant difference between growing a business and scaling a business.
Strategy itself is as old as humankind. Before business, strategic planning was used in politics and war, managing other aspects of human interactions. However, following the industrial revolution, manufacturing became a significant part of society. As new businesses popped up, newcomers noted the qualities that successful companies used and applied these to their operations.
The shift to modern strategic planning began in the 1950s with Peter Drucker, who introduced questions that helped businesses identify their role in the market in his 1954 book, The Practice of Management. He proposed that the customers, not the business owners, determined a business’s place and function as they are the driving force behind revenue.
Philip Selznick, a professor of sociology, introduced the concept of “distinctive competence” in 1957, which makes business owners think about what makes their business “distinct” from the competition and how that makes them more “competent” than the other options available to their customers.
This idea would eventually evolve into the SWOT analysis, which is a technique that outlines a business’s strengths and weaknesses in the context of the opportunities and threats they face in their market. Modern business advisors adopted the original concepts from manufacturing to the technology industry to maximize their results. Now, growth and scaling strategies exist to guide businesses in all sectors.
Businesses that think long-term fare better than short-sighted counterparts. A temporary setback has less of an effect on a company that sees its significance in its future goals. A slight loss in revenue from a strategic change may only be a hiccup before a burst of growth. Those who persevere and understand their underlying purpose are bound to reach their goals.
When you invest in growing and scaling your business, you can expect the following benefits:
Financial resources aren’t inherently necessary when scaling a business. Any business that is open and willing to change can find success in growth or scaling. More than tangible resources, like revenue or staff, there are certain principles that a business must have before successful changes take place. Here are the fundamentals of any growth and scaling efforts.
Your market identity does not exist in a vacuum. In fact, without a well-defined market identity that lives in the context of your industry, your business will be vulnerable to the factors affecting its environment.
What does your business do, what does it do differently than its competition, and how does that benefit you? Constantly revising and updating your stance is crucial. Pay close attention to customer behavior, changes amongst your competitors, and the overall financial climate. Like Kodak and Blackberry, many once-giants fell hard and never recovered when they missed signals that change was coming.
Growing for the sake of growth will not bring your company sustainable success. Why do you want to grow? How will that help you serve your customers? When your business does something well and sees increased profits. As a result, it is tempting to repeat it and expect the same satisfaction. However, knowing your end goal will keep you on track for consistent success.
Consider a company that creates smartphone cases. If they have a high-performing model that sells well, they may consider diverting more resources towards producing that case. However, there is only so much demand in this area, and at a point, more expansion will not result in more revenue. However, if the company uses its success with smartphone cases to launch a tablet cover line, it can sustain its growth.
Small businesses and startups live for creativity. Their new ways of approaching old problems give them a competitive edge that many larger companies lack. For this reason, many smaller companies have yet to embrace good process documentation. This may seem like an unnecessary complication to a business that has done seemingly fine without it. However, that misconception holds them back from reaching new heights.
Well-documented processes allow a business to understand how they achieved success as well as failure. How will you repeat successes if you don’t know how you got there? More importantly, how do you prevent your team from making the same mistakes if no one is sure how they got there? A business process review can show you how your processes currently take place. Then, standard operating procedures let you put your flows on autopilot and save your creativity for where it’s really needed.
Strategic growth will require input from your whole team. Though your C-Suite executives will be the guiding force, every employee should understand their role in your business’s development. The final decision of who performs what function in your company depends on which skills they possess. Here are a few examples of who can help with your growth and scaling.
A well-directed investment in your company’s growth helps secure its future. Now, you have a working knowledge of what growth and scaling mean for your business, their history, benefits, and what you need to make it happen. With this information, you can take the following steps to solidify your business’s growth.
Remember, knowledge matters only when coupled with action. Don’t stop here. Keep up with your industry’s news, plan out your next steps, and keep moving forward. For more advice on strategic planning, see what skills consultants bring to the table.
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How many businesses have failed by trying to stay the same? In reality, the only constant is change, and the harder you try to resist it, the more problems your face. Thankfully, a reliable strategy that plans for your growth will save you endless future headaches.
Strategy is what makes or breaks a business. Neither good times nor bad times last forever, and a solid strategy is what will help you get the best out of both. There’s no such thing as staying stagnant, so plan out your areas and timelines for growth. Thoughtful planning sets your business up to overcome its future challenges.
Understanding the standard methods to expand your business can help you choose the most effective approach. You’re not bound to using only one of these methods and combined them when suitable. If you find that you have questions on a particular method in business, you might seek help from:
Before consulting with anyone, however, you should understand the basic approaches and what each method entails. Here’s a quick breakdown of common growth and scaling strategies.
Your team, resources, and goals will guide how you select a growth strategy. Here, we will cover four of the most common approaches. These are:
Market penetration is a strategy used when your product already has competitors within a market. The way you succeed in this scenario is to take up a more significant market share than your competitors. You can measure this by revenue or products sold compared to your competitors.
The strategy can be challenging due to the existing competition. What you are bringing to the market may be close to solutions from your competitors, so you will need a strong product and a coordinated marketing team to showcase it. Even though you know where your product is different, you need to translate that knowledge to your customers.
When using a market penetration strategy, you need to provide something that sets you apart from the existing products. These can be extra features or a lower selling price. If you perform market research early in your development, you can find out what the users of your competitors’ products lack with the current solutions.
Diversification, like market penetration strategy, is one of the more challenging approaches. Diversification involves releasing a new product in a different market, which requires extra investment to succeed.
This approach is one of the more challenging strategies because it requires research into a new market. You have to know the new industry well and understand its competitors. Additionally, you have to understand and communicate how this benefits your company more than other available strategies. Otherwise, you risk launching two disjointed products that spread your efforts too thin.
That said, you will find success in this strategy if you know why you want to break into this market. Maybe it overlaps with your current market or adds something to your existing product. Whatever the reason may be, the outcome of this option depends heavily on your company’s strategy and your understanding of your business.
Product expansion is similar to diversification, but rather than broadening your efforts to target a different market, you add features to your existing product to increase your market share.
The strategy is more straightforward than diversification or market penetration because you can leverage your existing knowledge and clients. For example, you can send a survey to your current clients asking for their input on new features. You already have researched your market and its needs. So, if you choose this method, you can pursue it with fewer resources than the above two methods.
Acquisition combines the fundamentals of diversification and market penetration. However, this method is more reliable than the two taken on separately. The reasoning behind it is that rather than entering an entirely new market, you find and procure a company that already has success in the market, knowledge of how it works, and a solution that their clients use.
You can think of this as penetrating a new market without having to start from scratch completely. The financial investment to acquire another business may be steep, so your strategy needs to include a plan to raise funds for purchasing another company.
A well-thought-out strategy for your business should include elements of both growth and scaling. When is scaling your business, you need to:
When you set realistic goals, the rest of the planning flows naturally. Let’s say, for example, that you plan to expand to another area. What do you need to succeed there? Do you understand the market and the differences from your current space? Have you studied how other businesses have performed with similar tactics?
Make sure you outline and ask any questions you have here, and call in an advisor if you’re unsure about how to proceed. They have the skills and experience to guide you through these transitions.
When you’re thinking about your strategy, take some time to go over what indicators you can use to track success. Metrics like overall customer satisfaction with your service, monthly churn if your company runs on subscriptions, or new clients onboarded and help you understand how close you are to achieving your goals. More so, when you look at these together, you get a clearer picture of how sustainable your growth is.
What resources does your company have available? Think about your team, their skills, your technology, and your processes. Here, you’ll want to get specific data on how you’re performing so you can scale it to support the goals you’re reaching for.
For example, if you took on 100 new clients, could your customer support team handle the tickets? If you want to launch a new product, can your marketing team handle the new leads with their current software?
In this step, you can use the metrics that you identified while planning your approach to test these variables. For example, if you have a 10 to 1 ratio of customer service tickets to representatives per hour, you would need to:
Once you’ve worked out a theoretical model to handle your expected growth, notify the most effective ways to support it. An excellent initial plan prevents complications by anticipating where you’ll need resources and how to get them.
One growth strategy in business is market penetration. A small company uses a market penetration strategy to market existing products within the same space. In this case, growth is measured by the company’s overall market share. Market share is the percent of unit and dollar sales a company holds within a particular market versus all other competitors.
One way to increase market share is by lowering prices. For example, in markets where there is little differentiation among products, a lower price may help a company increase its market share.
Some of these techniques may require low investment, but none of them will require no investment. The plan may include funds for new software or even hiring new employees. In the previous scenario, you’ll find which options will let you handle the new business most efficiently.
Keep in mind that a dollar sign does not always define efficiency. Ultimately, what efficiency boils down to is using your money wisely to invest in solutions that require less maintenance and financial investment over time. For example, paying an employee slightly higher than the going rate and doing what it takes to retain them ultimately cost less than having a higher turnover rate and re-training a new employee from scratch.
When considering funding, look at what other businesses similar to yours are using and investigate new ideas. Investors and grants are two common ways to find financing for your project. You can also enter competitions and look for partnership opportunities. Make sure that you understand the process of applying for these options and what steps they require. That way, you can efficiently use your team’s time and maximize the chances of receiving funding.
Now that you’ve got your plan, resources, and funding lined up, it’s time to take action. At this point, you understand the risks and what to expect. You have identified the guidance you’ll fall back on when you face challenges. Now, Keep looking at your next milestone and revisit your plan often to make sure it’s headed in the right direction.
Frequently revisit your plan to make adjustments rather than waiting for problems to happen. Some scenarios aren’t easily planned for, such as natural disasters or changes to international trade. While you can never plan for everything, you can visualize how you would handle a problem if it came up. This may involve having advisers on hand and knowing where you can slim down if you need to reduce your expenditures.
You can find help from professionals on either a part or full-time basis. Some options include:
Management advisors and business consultants guide you in a specific area of your business. Look for someone with quantifiable results from their past projects. Ask for references, case studies, and other proof of their skills.
Fractional chief operating officers have a higher level of experience and act as a part-time member of your C-suite. Many companies form long-term relationships with these individuals. This option allows for a consistent stream of advice from someone who is invested in your success.
Similarly, the chief marketing officer takes a hands-on role in guiding your company’s decisions. Their specific experience helps them translate your product’s features into selling points and communicate them to your sales and marketing teams. This process reduces any disconnect that could affect your messaging.
Regardless of what’s out there, you’ve got your plan, you’ve got the knowledge, and the only thing missing is action. Any kind of movement is better than none, and mistakes help show you what to avoid, steering you down the path of success.
Good planning is your best defense against the unexpected. By taking the time to understand and create a solid growth strategy, you ensure the future success of your business. Keep your goals clear, your resources managed, and your advances steady. Even when faced with challenges, a well-thought-out approach will make the next steps easy without unnecessary stress.
Remember, there are always resources around to help you. Check up on publications that talk about your industry, strategic planning, and what businesses like yours experience in similar situations. Sometimes, you can use an extra hand to make sure that you were on the right path. Read more here about the specific ways a business advisor can help your company.
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How many times have you missed the perfect opportunity because you waited too long? Don’t miss out on the benefits of growth because of a lack of action. A good plan is only as strong as its implementation. Here, you will find the tools to help you move forward confidently with your business’s growth.
After you’ve settled on the approach you want to take, take the time to outline the methods and resources that will help you reach your goals. You can choose from diverse industry experts, technology, and learning approaches to understand your market.
Here, this article will take you through:
Imagine trying to keep track of inventory with a notebook or logging support tickets with sticky notes. This method might be okay if you only work with five customers, but these options leave no room for growth.
The technology you choose for growth and scaling depends on your business\s needs. If you are selling material goods, consider what technology you need to track inventory in orders. If you work as a software provider, look for a CRM that tracks your clients, which version of your software they have, and their open support tickets. Make a list of which of your processes are not currently scalable, and then find software for that need.
The more your data interacts, the more insights you’ll receive. Consider finding a solution with add-on functionality for uses that you expect you’ll need in the future. Here are some examples of technology that helps you grow and scale your business.
Most businesses have time to plan for changing software needs. However, there are a few signs that can help you prioritize when to replace a current system. If you find that you’re experiencing the following issues, it’s time to take a look at upgrading your software.
It’s time to upgrade your software when:
Once you have divided upon software to improve your operations, ensure no significant barriers prevent its success. Who will be using this software, and what is their technical knowledge? Questions like these will help you avoid unnecessary struggles when implementing new software.
Budgeting restrictions are one the most common challenges that small companies face when adding new software. Ultimately, it comes down to what problem the software solves and how much it costs to live with that problem versus addressing it.
Budget problems often result from communication errors where benefits aren’t conveyed. Thankfully, this problem has a simple fix. Break down the cost of your current situation, including details like acquisition costs, hourly staffing costs, customers lost because of the issue, and how the numbers would change with your new software. You can also present another approach as a comparison and show why this solution is your company‘s best option.
The owner of a company can only do so much to grow and scale the business alone. The company is a team and will work only when it functions like one. Issues rarely come out of their intentions. More often than not, there’s another factor at play, like lack of training or not understanding the purpose of a task. Here are some situations that businesses can experience with growth and scaling.
The best technology available can’t help if your team won’t use it. The first step to finding out why your team isn’t using the software is to talk with them. Make sure to approach the topic in a nonconfrontational way. Otherwise, you will not get honest. Remember that you’re looking for a solution, not for blame.
Ask your employees if they understand how to use this software or if there’s a more efficient approach that they already use. If they know the software and don’t have a more efficient method, they may not understand the purpose behind the change. Be open to answering their questions and involving them in your planning. They hold insights that can help you find a better way of reaching your end goal.
Your team is the most significant determining factor in your company’s success. So what are you do if they don’t want to help? This is a matter of your company‘s culture. Do you have a clear mission statement that lets your employees understand their purpose? If it’s not clear, make sure you know the mission statement and that your words align with your actions.
Ask yourself how your managers handle change. If something deviates from the expected outcome, do they learn or reprimand their team for the failure? If learning and growth are not encouraged with verbal and non-verbal responses, your culture resists growth. A business or management consultant can develop a plan to change cultural barriers to success.
Ultimately, your business exists to provide your customers with something they need. So what happens if they don’t need your “something” anymore? This is where you can look at alternative strategies for growth and find a new way to remain in the market. First, look at why your customers’ needs changed.
Take, for example, a company that matches people for house sharing. In normal times, booming cities with higher rent would depend on services like these. However, during a pandemic, people are much less inclined to live with a stranger. One way of navigating this kind of shift is to see what new needs your market has. Then, you can see how to re-organize your resources and provide them. For instance, you can change your service to match people with food and medicine with those who need it. You can use challenges like these to evaluate your old approach’s strengths and weaknesses and adjust accordingly.
Experiencing failure is part of life. Inevitably, some parts of your plan will not have been exactly as you imagined. First, look at your data. Where does it deviate from expectations? Think creatively to think of reasons why your metrics may have changed. Are your sales dropping? Take a look at the market. See what options customers choose instead, like a competitor who offers a solution at a lower cost. Don’t be afraid to survey your team and your clients to get more information.
Even with our best planning, events happen that change our priorities. For example, natural disasters and changes to industry regulations signal the need to readjust your priorities. In this case, proceed calmly and invest in a plan. Revise your deadlines, take inventory of your resources, and give yourself credit for responding calmly in the face of an unforeseen challenge.
Expert guidance can save you time and resources when you create your growth plan. Most companies no longer rely on a full-time staff member for advice. Instead, they bring in consultants and advisors to advise on a part-time basis.
You can call on the help of a consultant or advisor when:
While there are a few drawbacks to soliciting advice, a basic understanding of problems that similar businesses’ problems can help you avoid complications. A fractional chief operating officer, for example, works with various companies in your field and diagnoses issues before they cause problems. These issues can include processes that lack oversight, underperforming software, or a lack of training for your staff. Results, not ego, should drive your fractional COO. Ask how they measure performance before making your choice.
A fractional chief marketing officer works specifically with your marketing and sales teams to unify your messaging and aggressively drive sales. Suppose your product is ready for market and you want to guarantee its success. In that case, fractional CMOs bring invaluable experience to your team. Look for someone to audit your current process, provide feedback, and design an approach that can grow with your company.
The way that your company uses its resources when planning for growth and scaling ultimately determines its success. Your technology, team, and planning have to work together harmoniously for your business’s success. Flexible business owners that pivot instead of panic will ultimately come out on top. Good planning and guidance will help you get there.
No matter what happens during your growth and scaling process, remember that any progress is a step in the right direction. Many businesses hesitate before taking action, which makes them vulnerable to a host of new dilemmas. So, no matter what comes your way, keep putting one foot in front of the other and learn every step of the way. Remember to check back for resources with more tips that will help you set up your business for success.
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Keeping track of projects is easy with a small team. Many startups do just fine with informal procedures and close communication. However, this setup only works until you start experiencing real growth. The growing pains companies experience when they have no project management office in place can cut growth before it starts. Like most problems in business, prevention is the only cure.
As your business starts expanding, you’ll need a way of communicating your projects, policies, guidelines, and processes. Think about what you do if someone left and you had to train their replacement from scratch when the information lived in your employee’s head. Or, how would you keep a department organized if it were to double within the year? These are all questions that a project management office, or PMO, would address.
In our last article, we reviewed the structure of project management offices, who’s involved, and what systems support their operations. Here, we’ll discuss why you need a PMO, including the benefits you’ll reap and the problems you’ll avoid by having one. Let’s get started with a review of what a PMO is and its purpose within your company.
A company’s project management office provides a backbone to its operations. They closely monitor progress and support teams so they can adhere to deadlines, especially in tech operations. This department designs the best practices that companies will use and ensures that they’re implemented properly. Especially when a team works across different time zones, the extra support keeps things running smoothly.
A PMO serves as the liaison between upper management and staff. They define the milestones and metrics that will measure success and communicate them to the stakeholders on a project. Another aspect of their role is ensuring that your team has the resources, time, and tools to complete their projects. It’s their job to communicate with the team to see that all relevant needs are being addressed.
Once a task is complete, your project management office will archive the materials and use them as a template for future endeavors. They will note what went well, the challenges the team faced, and how you can use this for better direction in your future goals. This is only a brief overview of what your project management office will do. Their day-to-day tasks will include far more and fit specifically with your company and its goals. Next, let’s move on to why you should prepare a project management office for your startup.
Often, startup owners are concerned that documenting their project management will smother the creative energy. In fact, teams function better with structure. Choosing where you need to be firm and where you can allow flexibility directs your energy and more productive ways. If you’ve been doing something well, documenting it and repeating the process locks down your procedure and frees up more mental energy for new developments.
Don’t confuse your startup’s PMO with that of a larger company. There will be significant differences, such as size, resources, and duties. For example, a project management office in a startup will typically be smaller and rely on technology more than those within a larger company. Often, they will look for more efficient ways to do the tasks that keep your company organized. While part of their job will involve reporting, like larger companies, these reports will be more tailored and typically over shorter periods of time as compared to their larger counterparts. Ultimately, the goal is to replicate the strategies used in larger organizations to pave the way for growth.
The reason that successful startups have project management offices is that these organizations plan for the future. Rather than limiting your thinking to the current moment, look to the future to see what your later needs will entail. In few circumstances will a business intend to stay small. Even in this case, having a plan in order allows you to prepare for training new staff and taking on new projects. Remember that part of this is documenting your success so you can later repeat it.
Now that you understand what a project management office is and what it means to your startup, let’s move on to seven reasons why you need to create one within your business.
We’ve gone over the benefits of project management offices. But what do you do when you’re already experiencing issues? Often, these problems will come up without an obvious cause. However, when you look deeper, the root of these problems has to do with a lack of organization and oversight. This issue will not always have an easy fix. However, the sooner you handle it, the sooner your team can move forward. Some instances where you’ll want to implement a PMO in your startup include when:
Let’s look at each of these in more depth to understand how a project management office affects the outcome.
Miss deadlines are not unheard of in the corporate world. However, there’s a difference between occasional missteps and a larger systemic problem. Teams that consistently Miss deadlines often lack structure and organization. A project management office will document their current procedures and the software that they use. Then, they’ll step in if they see that a part of the task is running behind schedule. Their role in this instance is to step in and see what the team needs to keep moving. If it’s more resources or a different approach, they’ll be the ones to organize this and translate the needs to upper management.
Without the proper structure, budget tracking can be one of the more challenging aspects of your operations. If your team is frequently coming in over budget, this signifies that there is a larger problem with resource tracking and allocation. When your project management office analyzes previous tasks, they’ll have a more accurate reference for what similar endeavors cost in the past. Since this will be one of their dedicated rules, they can devote more time to log in, tracking, and predicting expenses for your team. This division of roles prevents your team from becoming overwhelmed with the administrative parts of their job and lets them focus on the specific details of the task at hand.
This problem is most evident when your team is trying to hire a new member. You’ll experience the most growing pains when you’re building off of your core team. You may have done fine with a small group of individuals in the past, but if someone leaves or you need to hire a hand, translating their knowledge can get messy. Often, this will start as soon as the hiring process. Your team may not know exactly what they’re looking for, making it harder to sift through the resumes and find candidates for interviews. Later, during the training process, you’ll find that training sessions involve mostly verbal walkthroughs of what the rule will have to do on any given day. However, they lack structure, printable or downloadable materials, or procedures that they can reference in a common drive.
A project management office will work to document your rules and procedures before it’s time to train someone new. While you can expect your new hire to take notes, it’s important that they have a place to reference back to in case they need extra information. Even though your team may recount the details of their roles as well as they can from memory, there are always parts that get left out. Usually, this is because they’re so routine that they hardly realize they’re doing it. Giving a reliable framework lets the new hire design their approach to each task without missing out on the crucial aspects of the job.
Distributed remote teams are becoming more commonplace, not only for startups but for established companies too. One challenge of this arrangement is organizing your team when they live in different time zones, but it requires more planning than having your team together in one office. Your PMO will keep track of each person’s contributions to a project and communicate needs from one individual to the next. The extra hand helps you avoid delays, especially if one person’s morning is another person’s evening. Think of your PMO as an extension of each department. They’ll lend an extra hand and connect each department’s ideas, making sure that each project is delivered on time.
Often, you won’t realize that there’s a disconnect between management and staff until something boils over. One example of this is when your team needs resources to complete a project but management either doesn’t understand the purpose or doesn’t know what they need. Both sides end up frustrated, deadlines get missed, and often, the project comes in over budget. This can be avoided with structured communication and organization.
Your project management office communicates with your employees and management, making sure that each side has their ideas expressed clearly and finds a way to get their needs met. While there is a responsibility for both parties to communicate and follow up on their requests, your project management office facilitates the process for both sides. This makes communication easier and projects flow smoother overall. An address bonus of this arrangement is that your team will experience lower turnover rates as their interactions with management will be clearer and more productive.
How many times have you gone to take a look at your analytics and not found the results you need? Can you really tell the performance of your campaigns if you can’t see the results? Sometimes, this results from unclear priorities about analytics and reporting. However, it also indicates that your efforts may be focused on the present rather than structured so they acknowledge your successes and failures in the past. If your team is zeroed in on the task at hand and doesn’t have the knowledge gained from the past, they’ll struggle when looking to the future and anticipating their needs.
Your project management office aids team members by planning realistic goals based on what they did in the past. Then, because of the reporting needed to keep them on track, you’ll have more accurate data to pull from when analyzing how effective your campaigns have been. This makes it easier to convey the needs and results of your projects to internal and external stakeholders. Then, you can fine-tune your efforts and perform better than next time.
If your startup is growing at a rapid pace, now’s the Time to get your project management office in order. The extra support will help you find, onboard, and retain talent while pushing further with your operations. Don’t wait until you start experiencing issues to invest in your project management office. The best time to set it up was yesterday. The second best time is now. Even a little bit of effort can save you from major issues that could happen later, so especially if you’re seeing rapid growth in your business, meet with a professional who can help you design your project management approach.
When your business is getting along just fine, it’s harder to see the impacts stemming from underinvestment in your project management. However, with even a little thought towards the future and where you want your company to go, the effects are clear. A project management office provides unmatched support for established companies and startups alike. Read up on your options and when you’re ready to act, consult with a professional who can help you put your plan into action.
You’re not alone when it comes to your project management office. A fractional CMO or fractional COO can help you organize your approach and find the best way to implement it. Each of them has its specialties, and it’s as important to know about your company as it is your choice for fractional c-suite positions. So, do you need a fractional CMO or a fractional COO for your PMO? For more information on who can help, see our article here on improving your process management.
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How important is a clear communication strategy? A study by Watson Wyatt showed that companies that used effective communication were more than 50% more likely to report below-average employee turnover. Companies look at a yearly loss of nearly $27,000 per year for each employee. A communication strategy isn’t just nice to have–it’s a necessity for a successful business.
The logistics of your communication strategy align your culture with your outside presence. Reducing the disconnect between who your company is and who it appears to set reliable expectations for both staff and customers. In this article, we’ll review the benefits of designing a clear, empathetic communication strategy and give you tips to get the most out of your plan.
A good idea is only as good as its implementation. Remember that even with a fool-proof strategy, you need steady, consistent follow-through to achieve your goals. Otherwise, your efforts will only amount to wishful thinking. Consider what you want to accomplish, what resources you have, and who will help implement your plan.
First, decide what you want overall. It could be something like increased compliance with your policies or reduced turnover. Keep these goals in mind and consider your resources. Do you have a budget for the project? Do you have an existing strategy that you can alter? When you’ve finished writing down what you have at hand, then, identify who will help. Many benefit from bringing in a consultant to develop their strategy. These can include a fractional chief operations officer or a business consultant. Keep in mind that even on a limited budget, a consultant can money overall by working faster and more efficiently.
Next, let’s take a look at seven results of a clear and empathetic communication strategy.
Sick leave costs companies billions of dollars a year. Setting clear expectations will let employees choose how they adapt to your company’s culture and plan for their health. According to Mindtools, some of the biggest factors leading to increased sick time are:
How can communication reduce absences? Think about the last time you had a boss who didn’t make their expectations clear. When your employees know what to expect, they can plan realistically and avoid the stress of wondering if they’re meeting expectations. This extra step reduces uncertainty, which in turn helps your team avoid stress-related illnesses.
Make sure that if there are any significant changes in your policy that you keep employees informed. Consistent training keeps the expectations clear and creates a healthier working environment. Remember to include your employees’ voices in the discussion to get feedback on the policies. This gesture gives you an advantage with direct input on new ideas to create a better workplace.
When your employees know what they can expect from your management and culture, they become more engaged at work. When you create a clear communication plan, you set clear expectations for how your team can interact and share ideas. Engagement involves communication from both sides, unlike simply telling a team member your expectations. This dynamic opens a channel for new ideas and improvements to your current strategy.
Ultimately, employees need a result following their engagement. For example, if you talk about adjusting your policies with staff, there must be a follow-up action taken to implement these changes. Following through on your actions builds trust and increases engagement over time. A lack of results erodes trust over time and decreases engagement, in turn lowering morale.
Engaged employees routinely perform better than their disengaged counterparts. This is not to say that employee engagement is easy or simple, but the cost of neglecting engagement undercut nearly all of your other efforts. High turnover rates are stressful on your team and their operations. Acting now to engage your employees saves you from having to fix more problems down the road.
The adage says that people don’t quit jobs; they quit bosses. No one wants to feel fearful of talking to their boss, especially if they’re unsure how they will react. By creating structured ways to channel your internal communications, you provide a framework for positive interactions. This kind of dynamic aligns your internal and external messaging into the cohesive company culture.
Transparency is invaluable in positive working cultures. Especially now, individuals hold their treatment almost equally with pay when accepting jobs. There will always be companies offering the same salary as yours, but your culture is unique. Take advantage of your communication plan and create something truly valuable.
Some people are naturally good communicators. Others are not. When hiring for openings at your company, place a particular focus on individuals who value two-way communication. Remember that members of your staff, especially leadership, should embody the following qualities:
Your leadership will have to inspire the rest of their team to do their best. This is why you want someone who leads by example. Offer regular training so other team members can improve their skills and so others can keep their abilities fresh. Consider using mentorship opportunities to invest in your team’s personal growth.
Receiving feedback from your boss can be tricky. Your communication plan should guide your management and staff through complicated interactions with both parties in mind. Go over your plans with both parties and ask for feedback. This care will ensure that the input is usable and provides valuable information about how effective the method behaves in practice.
Whenever possible, encourage small, regular feedback sessions so communicating becomes second nature to your team. Yearly reviews provide a long-term perspective that can help team members develop, but at the same time, they place unnecessary weight on both parties going in. Encourage extra thought into how a message will be received in interactions, and don’t forget to apply these practices yourself.
Collaborative projects, especially with remote teams, thrive on transparency and organization. When you outline your communication plan, make sure that you identify which project management software you use and how to use it. All conversations regarding specific tasks will be accessible to anyone who needs them. Solid organization techniques help projects move quicker by reducing repeat questions and centralizing knowledge. You can also go back and see what worked for previous tasks, which keeps you from repeating mistakes.
Even if your team misses the mark with a project, use this as a learning opportunity. Sit down with your team and detail the steps and timeline of what happened, being careful to avoid blame, and identify where you could have avoided problems. Following this, sit down and develop a new procedure for smoother progress in the future.
When a project goes well, document it just as much as you would if it hadn’t. Freely give praise to your team for what they did well, encourage input about new ways you can improve, and use this as an opportunity to plan for future success. After this, work these discussions into your broader communication playbook so you can draw on them later.
Word-of-mouth referrals are the most powerful way of gaining new business. This means that prospective customers consider what they hear from your employees, previous customers, and others who interact with your business. Keep clear feedback channels with your staff and clients and make consistent improvements to use this to help you reach new clients. If someone has a good experience with your brand, they will recommend it and become advocates.
Keep listening to your market, and it will return rich insights. Use social listening to see what your customers look at when choosing with whom they do business. Make your company values and mission statement available on your website so potential clients can easily find this information. Your internal communication plan, through your employees, translates directly to the external interactions with your customers.
As your company grows, you may find yourself outlining more of how your procedures flow. To some, this comes during training when you have to explain the details of a position to a new employee. These procedures give structure to your operations and show your team what expectations they need to meet. However, even with the best methods, sometimes they’re not followed as designed.
What do you do in a case like this? The goal is to see why they are not being used. As you can imagine, approaching staff with anger or complaints about them not being followed will make people apprehensive about speaking up. There could be something better than what they’re using or another piece of valuable information that you should include. Refer back to your plan for handling these kinds of conversations and use it to gather information. By the end of this talk, you’ll have a new approach for the project and more backing from your team.
Compliance with internal procedures is one thing. Compliance with legal requirements is another. Both of them have substantial implications for your business’s success, but there is little flexibility with outside regulations. Use your internal compliance as a gauge for your company’s overall behavior when it comes to following the rules. Often, lack of compliance stems from a general lack of understanding. Frequent training, open dialogues, and interest in your team’s input create conversations that lead to change.
Communication has a vast, hidden impact on your team’s delivery. According to a survey by the computing technology industry association, 28% of survey responders selected that poor communication was why they failed to deliver a project within the specified time frame. Even further, a second study by Forrester noted that communication tools could reduce up to half an hour of lost productivity time each day. Sometimes there are valid reasons for changing a deadline, but frequent late deliveries signal a more significant underlying issue.
If your team is not obviously suffering from missed deadlines, the results of a scattered communication plan may be more subtle. Projects make it delivered on time, but the quality may not be as high as it potentially could be. Another possibility is that your team provides high-quality results but could do it in a shorter time frame. This adjustment in communication style would allow you to complete more projects in a shorter time with improved outcomes.
Your communication plan structures who you are as a company. It paints one coherent picture for your internal and external interactions and keeps expectations clear. Every other action you take as an organization relies on communication first, so be firm and consistent when enacting your plan.
Ideally, this work should come at the beginning of your process documentation as a company. The sooner you incorporate this plan into your procedures, the faster you’ll see its benefits. Implementing a communication plan later in the game will take extra time and effort, but it’s easier than continuing without it.
If you find that the programs you’ve been implementing have not seen success, now is the time to look at your current communication plan. Refer back to our article here for more pointers on how to design your plan. Also, don’t forget to consider who can help you create and execute your communication strategies.
Bringing a fractional CMO or fractional COO to your team lets you balance commitment with expertise. A fractional COO can align your team’s strategy and ensure compliance, while a fractional CMO will match it to your external communications. However, make sure to do your homework before deciding on how you can benefit from a fractional CMO or COO. To see what kind of professionals are available to help, read more here and learn about fractional c-suite professionals.
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Rarely do any business strategies involve staying the same instead of trying to grow. So what do you do when your profit and loss sheets indicate little or even negative change? Paying attention to your profit and loss statements can help you find new ways to improve. When you get an idea of where you are, you can identify the most promising opportunities to get ahead.
In our last article, we reviewed where to focus on your financial reports and how to measure your business’s profitability effectively. Now, we will show you how to pick areas for improvement and design approaches to increase your profitability. Your approach doesn’t have to be the same as Walmart or Amazon, but you can use your own strands to carve out a niche in your industry.
You can’t plan a route to your destination before you know where you are. Before looking at ways to improve, collect data on your finances for several months to get a baseline view of your progress. You want to take and look at documents including:
See first if these numbers meet your current key performance indicators and then understand why. For more depth on these numbers, get in touch with the specific departments that determine the results. For example, talk to your sales department if your income for a given quarter was not what you expected.
As mentioned in our previous article, these kinds of reviews should happen weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly to keep your goals on track. Now that you have a context for your operations, start looking at the performance of other businesses within your industry. This will depend on which sector you’re in and your geographical area: the more data you have when comparing your numbers, the better.
According to Vend, profit margins were the highest in beverage manufacturing (65.74%), jewelry (62.53%), and cosmetics (58.14%). The lowest numbers were seen in alcoholic beverages (35.64%), sporting goods stores (41.46%), and electronics (43.29%). Once you have the numbers for your specific industry, plan to outperform them within a reasonable margin. Be careful to measure out small, progressive improvements in favor of larger overhauls.
How can you do this? Take a look at your biggest assets as an organization. You can see more here about the different methods you can use to evaluate your business’s strengths and weaknesses. Once you’ve identified what makes you stand out, bring a strategic adviser to help you understand the most practical ways to use your strengths to increase your overall profitability.
And outside hand can help you ensure that all of your efforts are well placed. However, a good business advisor will help you understand your options and lead you to the right choice. Let’s take a look at ten methods that a business advisor might suggest for helping you improve your profit margin.
Now that you understand your place within your industry, your team and advisor can look at your next steps. These tips will Leverage the resources you already have at hand, such as your website, your branding, or the knowledge within your team. Take some time to think about how each of these strategies would look when applied to your business. With some preliminary reading, you can come to your conversations prepared with new ideas and strategies to discuss.
It’s harder to decide when faced with too many choices. Instead of covering all the possible products you could offer your customer, narrow your selection to a few high-quality choices. This way, your customers can not only make their choice faster but be more satisfied with their decision and return for more business. If you offer several similar products, provide your customers with detailed, easy-to-read information for their choice. One of the ways to avoid confusing your customers what’s similar options is by giving them enough information to understand why they’re different and how this applies to their choice.
You can collect information from your current website users in the form of analytics and surveys to understand what parts of your online shopping experience do and don’t work. For example, you can see which pages your users view last before navigating off your website. Or, you can create a survey to send out by an email with a small incentive to tell you what they think of your current products. Once you have enough data to see the impact that a closely targeted product line would make on your return on investment, you can design your exact plan of action.
Take a close look at the current projects within your company. Which of these add the most value to your business? Every project that your team completes should have a clear dollar value attached to it. This could be a program that helps your employees develop, which increases retention and time lost getting them up to speed. It could also be a website redesign that helps your customers find relevant pages faster and increases searchability. While you don’t necessarily have to give up on a project unless you can’t define any profitability from it, prioritize projects that show a higher return on investment to increase your business’s overall numbers.
Before making your choice, identify and write down your reasoning. Come up with reasons for and against your choice and check it next to alternatives. Sometimes, the overall value of a project may not be immediately obvious, but cutting it mainly into unexpected results. Talk to those working directly with the projects to make sure you’ve got the full picture. Then, discuss the plan and have those in the department help you with the transition. Be sure to inform them how the new approach will redirect their department’s efforts in the impact that they will have.
If your operations are struggling in an area such as customer support or their internal organization, there are technological options that you can help with. Using technology does not mean replacing your company’s human touch. In fact, it’s imperative to make sure you don’t over-rely on technology. First, clearly identify the problem that you’re experiencing with a department. For example, your customer support staff may be overwhelmed with tickets that could be easily answered another way. If you notice that your team gets frequent questions about shipping and return policies, you could explore how an automated chat or easy-to-use help articles could show them the answers instead of being routed to your support cue.
Remember to test before and after you make the change so you can properly measure its results. If the campaign isn’t performing as expected, get more information from your staff and customers to figure out why. Frequent adjustments help you stay in tune with your customers and their expectations.
Your products and tech aren’t all your clients see. The methods you use to convey the values and mission of your brand bear heavy weight on your customers’ choices. Putting extra work into your brand increases the perceived value of products from your company. They want to interact with your products and the part of your mission that speaks to them as an individual. Make sure that you place your mission statement clearly on your website and participate as an active voice in the causes that you represent. Be authentic with your words and follow through on promises.
If this is the first time you’re seriously considering an overhaul for your branding, tie in your marketing and sales teams to design an approach. Since they work closely with your customers and your branding, their insights will come from direct experience. In terms of your upper management, look for speaking opportunities and other means of building authority in your industry. This is a subtle but potent way to build your brand value without directly changing your product.
Your business’s growth depends not only on its outside environment but the framework with which your stunt operates. Clear, coherent processes help your team stay organized and reduce wasted time and resources. First, have your team document the current way that they do things. Have them test these steps by repeating them exactly as designed to see what’s missing. More often than not, steps get forgotten because they’re performed habitually and not thought of each time someone goes about the task. Next, have them document them and put them in a publicly available system.
Once your procedures have been documented, set them up for regular updates and ensure that your team follows them. Your procedures are only half of the equation. The other half is compliance. See more about setting up solid process management within your company in our series of blog articles.
Sometimes, prompts to sell customers items that help them get more out of what they’re already buying can add a significant boost to your profit margin. Take, for example, a shoe retailer who prompts their customers to buy new leases and socks after adding a pair of shoes to their cart. Or, a company could offer a camera bag, lens wipes, and a strap to someone who purchased a new digital camera. These are items that your customers will likely need regardless. If you can encourage them to purchase them in the same place, then you can get an extra sale instead of risking losing them to a competitor.
These kinds of prompts also improve your customers’ overall experience with your brand. When done right, highly relevant prompts like these leave your customer feeling more satisfied and like you added an individual touch to the process.
Discounts encourage customers to spend more because they perceive the savings before the overall value of their purchase. However, offering too many discounts can hurt your bottom line. Instead of offering blanketed discounts such as a 30% off sale on everything in the store, consider who you can target and which departments of your store need increased sales. For example, if you are an electronics retailer, consider what electronics kids will need for school and offer a slight discount on them in late summer and early fall.
When offering discounts, use your marketing and sales teams to spread the word and generate more business in anticipation of the sale. You can also incorporate referral discounts for those that bring new customers and options for feedback on how you’re performing. Take fast-food restaurants that offer a slight discount or free item in exchange for filling out a survey. Take time to write out how you can use discounts to increase sales and overall revenue while also collecting information to tailor your approach.
These are only seven examples of how you can increase your retail business’s profitability. When you sit down with an experienced advisor who can design your plan, you’ll find many extra ways to leverage your business’s best traits. Take time when choosing the individual who will guide your decisions. You may be fortunate enough to have experienced in-house talent, or you might get extra value out of bringing in an external consultant or fractional c-suite professional.
Whoever you choose and whatever path you take, do your homework, be sure in your decision, and most of all, act. The biggest risk to your profit is resistance to change. If you’re willing to take a realistic look at your state of operations and do what it takes to improve, you’ll set yourself up for success despite changing surroundings.
Still curious about who can help design your plan? You’ll have plenty of professionals to choose from who can help you improve your profitability. A fractional CMO or a fractional COO can help you plan a strategic approach from an executive level with more flexibility than an in-house staff member. Fractional CMOs have a special focus on the marketing and sales aspects of your company, while a fractional COO looks internally at your processes first. Take a look at our article about the differences between hiring a fractional COO or an in-house COO.
The post 7 Tips to Improve Your Business’s Profitability for Retailers first appeared on Fractional COO - Fractional CMO - Kamyar Shah.
The concept of project management is simple. Organize your efforts to see improved results. However, the execution of this idea often turns out to be more complex. If you’re struggling with your project management, take a look at the reasons behind your challenger, but avoid falling victim to common project management myths on the way.
In our previous article, we went through the purpose, methods, and results of good project management. This breakdown gives you an idea of what your project managers do and how they’ll do it. Take a look back to give yourself a refresher if you’re still waiting to build your project management team or you’re already experiencing challenges. In this article, we’ll take you through some of the common myths that lead to poor project management and show you how to avoid and fix the underlying issues. First, let’s take a look at what you should and shouldn’t expect from your project management team.
Your project management team is the operational backbone of your organization. So, if it seems like your processes are lacking structure, this is the first place to look. You should expect transparent, frequent communication from your team members and improvements in how your team completes their work. If there are any major hang-ups, your project managers should let you know and clearly explain what’s happening and what they need.
With that said, you shouldn’t expect your project managers to be mind readers. If your team has an issue that they’re not clearly communicating to the PMs, they won’t understand what’s going on or know how to help. Frequent communication does not mean micromanaging. In fact, micromanaging staff negatively affects their productivity and may make them hesitant when approaching new projects. Your project managers should guide without smothering your staff.
If you expected a different outcome from your project managers, first, put yourself in their part of the situation and imagine why you would have approached it that way. If something still doesn’t add up, ask the team for more information. Often, if you’re aware that there’s a better solution and they didn’t choose it, they may not be aware of the better choice. Rarely do people intentionally make bad decisions. So, understand the problem, fix it at its source, and move on before it affects your team’s productivity.
Tips on project management that appear to be common knowledge may not be as simple as they appear. This is why it’s crucial to understand the myths about project management so you can steer clear of the resulting confusion.
Failure is a part of success. If you aim to have a perfect result for every project, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead, learn every chance you get. This is the only true way to protect yourself against the challenges that will inevitably arise. For your staff, this may mean frequent training, webinars, industry talks, or shadowing more experienced professionals. Ensure that you incentivize your employees to learn and that you don’t miss the opportunities to apply their knowledge. Understanding a concept is not enough. You have to be able to put it to work.
External learning resources are not your only option for avoiding trouble. Make a note of your past projects and see how the steps you followed led to the eventual outcome. This method especially helps because your team experienced the situation firsthand. Look at it as a case study. Approaching it from a distance avoids unhelpful criticism and instead fosters growth. Encourage your team to pick apart their experiences to gain further knowledge.
While searching for answers, our brains tend to gravitate towards the simplest solution. However, there are cases in which the simplest solution is not necessarily the correct one. Knowledge is the best defense against these errors and can help you understand the bigger problems at hand.
Rather than giving in to frustration, arm your staff with knowledge and encourage them to learn if you find your team playing into the mix of project management. Here are a couple of the most common myths and tools to tackle the larger problem at hand.
As we discussed in our article on decision making, inaction is also a form of action. Choosing not to act is a decision that bears equal weight on your progress. While changing your current approach gives the illusion of productivity, it may derail well-planned efforts. Approach change with care and make sure that there’s a good reason for it. You can protect yourself from falling into this trap by coming up with reasons why you shouldn’t alter your course of action as well as why you should. This helps you think more critically about your options and choose the most appropriate follow-up.
Like any other employee, project managers will have busier and slower days. This doesn’t mean that they are less productive. Providing they’re getting the right results, a calm day means that they’ve planned well and can resort to a more oversight-based role. Reporting should back up the results and point to a well-structured approach.
Communication is not often as simple as it seems. Even though you may understand what you’re trying to communicate, the message’s recipient will interpret it with their own filter. Make sure that you ask detailed questions to clarify that you’re on the same page. If not, your idea of success and the other persons may be fundamentally out of sync. Make sure that you do this with all stakeholders on a project, so your result is what both you and your client expect. Like many things in life, communication is key.
While you may be able to do some parts of project management without using specialized software, it will be more resource-intensive and demanding than using the appropriate software in the first place. If you spend time researching what software you need and planning out how you’ll use it before purchasing it, you’ll make up for the investment in the time and materials you’ve saved with proper organization. Don’t be afraid to schedule demos and take time making your choice. That said, be sure to make your choice and stick with it. If you need project managers, you need project management software. A expecting a team to work without the means of performing their job is like asking a carpenter to build a house without any tools.
Some individuals might be apprehensive to consider future problems because of a nearly superstitious mindset. Ignoring risks will not make them go away. Instead, carefully analyze your approach and test each element. Discuss the pros and cons of each step with your team and imagine where you might encounter challenges. This way, you’ll know what to look out for and can plan to deal with the issues if they do come up. This step also helps you minimize your risk and choose a balanced approach for the project at hand.
After investing a good deal of time, effort, or resources into a project, it can be hard to admit that something needs to change. This is partly because of the sunk cost fallacy in which we look at our past efforts instead of the current situation when evaluating our plans. If you’ve been trying to make your approach work with no results, stop and consider where you are now. Do you want to keep investing more time and effort into something that doesn’t work or try a new approach that may make the process easier? Consider your previous investment a learning experience. Document it, see how it happened, and use this knowledge to avoid future complications.
Versatile team members are desirable assets within small companies and startups. However, spreading your employees too thin means that they won’t have the opportunity to fully devote their efforts to any one goal. Sit down with your team and plan what they will and won’t work on to make wiser choices with their time and resources. This keeps him focused on the task at hand and minimizes distractions. Then, your results reflect the full capability of your team instead of a mixed effort spread across multiple projects.
Even though many people like to think of themselves as gifted multitaskers, evidence shows that people function better when they focus all of their efforts on one goal. Even if you have a staff of multi-talented employees, encourage them to focus on one area and learn all the skills needed for that particular task. Don’t risk missing an opportunity to develop new competencies in favor of doing what they’re already good at.
Let’s be frank: if your customers knew how to get exactly what they wanted, they’d be doing it themselves. They may have an end goal in mind and may know some of the steps they think will help them arrive at that goal, but ultimately you are the experts in your field. Take your clients’ feedback seriously but do not let them direct the entire plan. Ultimately, if you allow too much interference, both parties will end up frustrated at the lack of results. This disconnect damages your overall relationship. Instead, consider the essence of what they’re asking for and suggest constructive ways that will get them there. Don’t be afraid to break down the reasoning behind why you’re doing what you’re doing and answer their questions. Again, while they may understand what they want, you are their guide to getting there.
Well-documented processes are an important factor in project management. However, they’re only one of the elements that determine your overall success. Problems with your project management are not always problems with your processes. When you see issues with your processes, check that your staff understands the reasoning behind the procedures, how they work, and how to use them successfully. If they understand these factors, see why they lack buy-in and address that issue at its root. Getting their input on the issue will show you how to address it.
Human beings gravitate towards action. However, make sure that you carefully plan before taking your next steps. This helps you calculate your path and consider all of the choices at hand before resorting to impulsive moves. The best way to do this is to write out the reasoning behind your next step in the context of the existing plan and then come up with reasons that both justify and negate your choice. Afterward, you can examine what decisions did and did not get you closer to your goal and the reasoning behind them. Now, add in the new information, review the logs, and use them to get a better outcome with your next task.
While there’s something to be said for the costs of avoiding technology, they’re equal arguments against relying too much on it. Technology can support a good plan but does not fix issues that run deeper than your tools. Before spending unnecessarily on new software, consider what need you’re trying to address and any other approaches that can resolve the situation. It can be challenging to get your team to shift to one new program, let alone several, so make sure that you’re not overwhelming them with too many tools. This extra step makes sure they can use the tools they already have more efficiently.
Project management is a necessary function in the business world. However, while necessary, it’s not always easy. When you find that your project managers are experiencing problems, take the time to sit down and think critically about the challenges they’re facing and the real reasons why they’re happening. You’ll often find that previous assumptions you had about how things work will be proven wrong. Though counterintuitive at first, being proven wrong is a gift that helps you align your thinking closer with reality. When you do this, your planning will direct you closer to the outcome you seek.
If you and your team are struggling to identify the root of your problems, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are a multitude of professionals trained in developing better project management approaches, including small business advisors, fractional CMOs, and fractional COOs. How can you take the first steps? Do the best you can to identify and resolve your problems first, and then bring in an extra hand as soon as it’s needed. Better yet, bring in a professional when designing your approach so you can avoid problems in the first place. A fractional CMO or fractional COO can help you get started and advise you from the start. For more information on who can help and how to see what a small business advisor can do for you.
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