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The Contrarian Brand Play: Why Right Now Is the Best Time to Invest in Brand
Part 4 of our four-part series on the evolving AI search landscape and what B2B leaders need to know to stay competitive.
An Equitable View: Four Questions to Ask in Gauging Your Company’s Market Potential
Tue, Apr 17, 2018 — Private Equity investors, as a rule, have a propensity for looking before they leap. Known for their discipline and attention to detail, PE investors rarely reach for a dime without conducting a fair amount of due diligence. Most potential PE investment activity has within its foundation a document known as the investment thesis – essentially, the private investors’ “white paper,” outlining in detail how value will be created and a return made on the investment within the target exit timing. Often the primary drivers of this thesis are restructuring costs – fixed overhead, asset deployment and operating expense. Another driver relates to the sales force – in particular, whether an addition of headcount or selling tools would drive more sales, and increase effectiveness.
The New "Growth Kid" on the Block: Introducing Horizon (Zero)
Wed, Apr 11, 2018 — Since the introduction of Horizon Growth planning in the late 1990’s, businesses which have successfully understood and adopted this multi-year approach to generation of new revenue and profit streams have realized the benefits of forward planning. Horizon Growth planning was introduced in 1999 in a book titled The Alchemy of Growth: Practical Insights for Building the Enduring Enterprise by several McKinsey associates (Baghai, Coley, White). If you want to read a Cliff Notes version of Horizon Growth planning from the author, you can read excerpts here.
Is Your Org Chart Aligned with Your Growth Strategy? Four Questions to Ask Today
Tue, Mar 27, 2018 — Growth strategy conversations have accelerated in boardrooms of mid-market organizations across America. There’s a growing recognition among CEOs that the people around the table may, in fact, may not be suited for the changes that have roiled today’s marketplace. As technology has assaulted brick-and-mortar businesses; a savvy public has flipped the consideration funnel on its head. As competitive advantages between like companies have grown razor thin, the gap between corporate strategy and the traditional org chart has become ever wider.
Insights in Action: How to Turn Market Data into a Competitive Springboard
Mon, Mar 26, 2018 — If you are one of the many CEOs who spent the last few months reflecting upon your company’s current growth strategies, it is time to push forward. By gathering insights about your competition, brand, and customers, you can create a powerful advantage. In fact, the right information can be a springboard for innovation and growth, as well as an effective way to successfully drive differentiation and brand equity.
How CEOs can Leverage Multiple Best Practices: Integrating Horizon Growth Planning with EOS/Traction
Fri, Mar 16, 2018 — What happens when you combine two best practices? Do you get best practices on steroids? Are two best practices always better than one? Is there a chance that they conflict with each other? Can they be used in a complementary manner to accelerate your business’ growth and performance?
Marketing (As You Know It) Is Toast
Tue, Feb 27, 2018 — The old style of marketing is toast. Quite literally, the entire phase shift that has changed the way the public considers and consumes products and services, can be distilled down to a single, perfectly-browned-on-both-sides slice of artisan bread.
![5 Ways Customer Experience can Influence Sales Growth [Infographic]](https://www.chiefoutsiders.com/hs-fs/hubfs/customer-experience-influence-sales-growth.jpg?width=320&name=customer-experience-influence-sales-growth.jpg)
5 Ways Customer Experience can Influence Sales Growth [Infographic]
Fri, Feb 23, 2018 — According to Accenture, the business costs of poor customer experiences can be as much as $1.6 Trillion from U.S. consumers who switch their service to a different brand or service provider. However, CEOs and companies who demonstrate a continuous pursuit of excellence in customer experience reap not only long-term customer loyalty, but also positively impact revenue growth. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, enjoys sharing the story in his bestselling book [Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose] about a client of his who wanted pizza late at night even though hotel room service was closed. Hsieh challenged his client to call Zappos customer service for his order even though it’s a fashion retailer – and, thanks to his customer service staff, pizza was delivered at 2AM.
Random Acts of Sales and Marketing: Questions for Unity
Thu, Feb 22, 2018 — A random act of kindness is defined as a non-premeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world. Things like buying the stranger in line behind you a cup of coffee, or shoveling snow off of someone’s driveway. While these types of random acts of kindness are a wonderful way to give back, it doesn’t work quite so well in the realm of sales and marketing. In fact, they can ruin a company’s reputation and ability to grow. You would think CEOs would all shy away from letting this happen. But it’s happening all the time in businesses of all types and sizes.
“Less is More”: Four Steps to Aligning Your Project Queue and Goals Today
Fri, Feb 16, 2018 — There was a time in our lives when “busywork” might have been a good idea. Back in school, it was the way many of us created that semblance of subterfuge when we had expeditiously completed the assigned work, and were now just interested in writing a note to the girl two seats over.