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I’ve seen it before–a company’s sales department blaming the marketing department for ineffective marketing and the marketing department blaming sales for not properly incubating leads and getting potential customers to convert.
Tue, May 11, 2021 — Source: ITR Economic Trends Report, March 2021 According to the latest trend forecast from ITR Economics, the US economy is demonstrating its resilience, markets are recovering and, even though supply disruption and many hiccups will likely continue, companies in most industries can now become more focused on growing vs simply surviving. CEOs have a range of choices depending on industry growth rate, cash flow and ability to ramp up the commercial engine:
Wed, Oct 18, 2017 — Part 4 of Creating Sustainability for the Business “How could she not see this coming?” Look in the mirror. Armed with a strategic plan built on the foundation of purpose and stocked with customer insight, it’s now time to look closely at the competition. Learning how your competitors plan to defeat your strategy will fortify your plan to achieve long-term success.
Mon, Aug 14, 2017 — Part 3 of Creating Sustainability for the Business A Sea of Sameness “So, what do you think of our website?” This was a new client—at my first on-site meeting with the CEO. “You have great product merchandising, well-written features and benefits. Could use some work on the ecommerce side,” I replied. “What I’m not clear on, though, is this, ‘Who is your customer, and how do you help them?’”
Thu, May 25, 2017 — Part 2 of Creating Sustainability for the Business I often work with CEOs who have created an idea and started a business. They grew sales and needed to hire more people along the way, even managers. Most loved the creative journey of getting the business off the ground. They started out thriving as an expert in a business function or leading the development of a product or service. Over time, they grappled with the increasing demands of managing a business with many other function or process leaders. Some have grown the business to the point where they decided to bring in a President to do much of the leading and managing of the business for them. This is the time when answering the question, “What do you stand for?” becomes critical.
Wed, Oct 19, 2016 — No matter how many shiny new products and services emerge every year in an industry, there will always be a few established brand giants waiting at the top of the Mountain of Customer Loyalty, waiting to force the weaker ones into submission.
Thu, Oct 6, 2016 — I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a Tesla. Sleek, fast, future-forward – and electric to boot – the unique combination of “smart” and sustainability features on the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 make the car company’s offerings so irresistible to buyers, that Elon Musk and his team have struggled to keep up with demand.
Thu, Sep 22, 2016 — In this VLOG, Deborah takes a perspective from Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain who understood that a middle of the road or half a position was no position at all. As a CEO, being clear on what you stand for, what your position is on important matters and the direction your company should be heading in, is critical to avoiding the kind of decision paralysis that can limit the potential of your business and your team. Check it out!
Wed, Sep 7, 2016 — A jargon-free discussion Did you know that, mathematically, if you improve revenue by 2% per month, you will more than double your business in 3 years? The value of a strategic plan then, is to create the “how to” strategies, initiatives and resourcing to get there. Whoa…so how do you get this done?
Mon, Aug 8, 2016 — No Middle Ground Strategic planning seems to have no middle ground: it’s either an exercise that teams often dread, or an indispensable guide for inspiration, direction and accountability. Margaret Thatcher gives her view of “the middle” in her famous quote “standing in the middle of the road is dangerous, it gets you knocked down on both sides.” As polarizing of a figure she was, and as heated the debate over her legacy is, history will give the “iron lady” credit for making decisions and ensuring actions.