.png?width=1500&height=398&name=CO_Corporate%20Logo%202021_4C_HOR_FNL-1%20(1).png)
AI Strategy for Financial Services CEOs: Why “Good Enough” is no Longer Enough
AI in financial services has moved from lofty claims about AI's use to being at the center of the growth conversation, shaping how you compete, run, and stay trusted. Margins are under pressure as customers benchmark you against their best digital experiences, whether they are opening a checking account, redeeming loyalty points, disputing a card charge, or seeking hardship help.
A CEO’s Guide to Growth | Part 2
Tue, Apr 11, 2023 — Part 2: The Go-to-Market Pyramid – Five Steps for Scaling to Success Navigating the complex terrain of modern business can be a difficult path, with roadblocks, detours, and uncharted territory, but with the right guidance, you can reach your destination. As a CEO, you’ve been given an incomplete map for this journey, but often have been told that you have until yesterday (as if you were a time traveler) to reach the destination. It’s little wonder that CEOs like yourself struggle to find a path toward growth.
Four Ways that Fractional Leadership is Transforming a Resource-Starved World
Fri, Mar 24, 2023 — In a world where much is spoken about uncertainties, there still are many things that are as certain as ever. Despite the impact of a shaky global economy and a population still looking to shake off Covid’s impacts, hard work – and ingenuity – still rule the day. Individual efforts of unaffiliated workers comprise more nearly 60 percent of the U.S. workforce today, thanks to modern socio-economic values that embrace such flexibility. This also has given rise to a new trend -- building and leveraging common shared resources, especially at the upper tiers.
A CEO’s Guide to Growth | Part 1
Wed, Mar 22, 2023 — Part 1: Introducing the GROW Blueprint In less than 30 years, the lifespan of an S&P 500 company declined from an average of ~ 32 years in 1996 to a projected 19 years in 2023. By 2030, experts predict companies will last a mere 17 years. The trends will be no different for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Is There Any Role for Traditional Marketing Today?
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 — By Atul Minocha and Paul Sparrow As we try to determine whether old style, hand-to-hand, touch-it-and-feel-it marketing can compete in today’s switched on, always moving world, is it possible that a bird feather holds the key to the question posed in our headline? The answer requires a bit of insight into how we got to this seminal moment which by the way is a precarious place for the newspapers, billboards, mailers, radio and even TV ads comprising what is predominantly known as “traditional marketing.”
How to Achieve Double-Digit Annual Growth
Tue, May 24, 2022 — For CEOs everywhere, the pressure is on. With an overheated economy creating outsized results – and enhanced expectations, “thrive” has replaced “survive” as the mantra in boardrooms across the country. As a result of the “go-go” market conditions, a new benchmark has been established: If your company can't show a minimum Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10 percent, you are putting yourself and your company at risk. As never before, the key to a business's health, high corporate valuations – and CEO job security -- is revenue growth.
Tuning Your Growth Engine: How Insights Power Market Success
Wed, Apr 20, 2022 — “There is nothing quite so useless, as doing with great efficiency, something that should not be done at all.” ― Peter Drucker Why is it that the best run companies often have the hardest time growing? I recently had the pleasure of exploring this issue while speaking at the Intelligence Leadership Forum (ILF), led by Liam Fahey — who literally wrote the book (well, actually, eight books) on the subject of insights. What we realized is this: Operational excellence – no matter how good it is – can never be sufficient to win in the long term.
Driving Revenue, Part 2: Death of the MQL
Tue, Apr 5, 2022 — Thank you for joining me today for the eulogy of the marketing qualified lead, or MQL. Once hailed as the best way to affix a value to a prospective sale in the digital age, we are here to toll the bell to its early demise. What led to the hastened death of the MQL? A series of innocent crimes, perpetrated by humans who have become too smart and savvy – or simply too absent-minded -- to play the MQL game. Since these leads are typically derived from “mechanical” interactions between human and machine, humans have unintentionally thwarted the system – for example, blindly tapping away on the TouchPad, or leaving a finger or cursor atop an open email, can accidentally score you as a hot lead.
Driving Revenue with Marketing: How to Reap the Rewards of a Mutually Beneficial Plan
Wed, Feb 16, 2022 — (Blog 1) Step Zero: The Dark Funnel If your sales funnel is lurking in the shadows, it may be because it’s filled with people who are trying to avoid the spotlight. Sure, if you’re like most companies, you have the digital tools you need to generate marketing-qualified leads, or MQLs, by the scads and buckets – casting a broad net through newsletters, promotional emails, social media mentions, website interactions – you know, the entire digital gamut. They make your metrics charts look happy but your sales teams – not so much.
When to Hire a Fractional CMO, Part 3
Wed, Jul 21, 2021 — Find Your Fit: Five Qualities to Look For Of all the partnerships in our lives, few have the “break-up” potential of the full-time Chief Marketing Officer, and the company they’ve pledged their allegiance to. The most recent stats on the matter bear this out: Last year, the average tenure for a CMO was just 40 months – an 11-year low, according to headhunting firm Spencer Stuart. The survey also noted the lowest-ever median tenure (25.5 months in 2020) – a sign that could point to increasing pressure for quick results for newly-minted CMOs, or, like completing a puzzle, finding that piece that’s the right fit.