Growth Insights for CEOs

Winning the Fraud and Cybersecurity Race: A Go-to-Market Blueprint for Competitive Edge
Fraud and cybercrime have become a systemic, trillion-dollar drag on the global economy—but the fight to turn the curve is more than a market opportunity.
Over the past few years, I have worked alongside cybersecurity and fraud-management teams in government, banking, and payments, and nothing is more satisfying than seeing a new solution stop a romance scam or prevent a pensioner from losing their life savings.
Recent Posts

A Practical Guide to Using Account-Based Marketing: What Small- and Mid-Sized Business CEOs Need to Know
Thu, Feb 28, 2019 — Mark Coronna, Partner & CMO--Chief Outsiders with Tom Judge, VP Strategy--Direct Marketing Partners Account-Based Marketing, or ABM, has increasingly captured the attention of marketers in the past several years. If the concept is new to you, don’t worry, you are not too far behind the adoption curve. Small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are the focus of this article for three important reasons: ABM is often misunderstood as a shiny new wonder-tech or a label for strategic selling or outbound tele-prospecting programs. We want to clear any misunderstandings up. The newest technology and best practices related to high-performing ABM programs are still trickling down to SMBs from much larger businesses which have adopted this approach. But the fundamentals of ABM are at the fingertips of most small/medium firms without expensive technology. ABM programs can be scaled to SMBs in a way that makes them both effective and affordable, and can be an integral part of your combined go-to-market and sales program.

A Practical Guide to Growth Using Contract Marketing and Finance Executive Resources
Mon, Feb 11, 2019 — Mark Coronna, Partner & CMO--Chief Outsiders with John Morris, Partner, and Ken Saddler, CFO, B2B CFO® The use of contract executives (also referred to as fractional, on-demand, or outsourced executives) is relatively new in leadership and organizational staffing models. The oldest and largest contract executive company, B2B CFO®, was founded in 1987. The largest contract executive company providing CMO-level talent, Chief Outsiders, is only 10 years old. There are three key takeaway points in this article: Contract execs are a relatively new option for small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) Small- and mid-sized businesses are in a great position to secure significant value from this leadership staffing model While contract Marketing executives are a “newer” concept than using contract execs for functions like finance, contract Marketing and Finance execs both can provide critical strategic expertise and timely support to SMBs, with growth challenges or those interested in more rapidly accelerating growth. Let’s explore what a healthy interaction looks like.

Growing Your Business Through Fractional EOS® and Fractional Marketing Resources
Fri, Feb 1, 2019 — “Two Experts Can be Better Than One” Mark Coronna, Partner & CMO--Chief Outsiders with Mark Francis, Fractional Integrator for companies running on EOS® --Visionary Integrator Solutions Introduction to Fractional Resources You may be familiar with the book Traction® and Entrepreneurial Operating System®, which is a proven business operating system for small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Within this system, the author details a tool called the Accountability Chart, an elevated version of the traditional organizational chart. An important point of this tool is that it takes two types of people to move a business along, the Visionary and the Integrator. The Visionary is typically the founder, while the Integrator may go by the traditional titles such as CEO, COO or GM. The roles of the Integrator include translating the vision for the company into action and results and also leading, managing, and holding accountable the major functions of the company. While usually considered a full-time position, you may not know that Fractional Integrators for companies running on EOS® have been effectively working with Visionaries and helping free those who have become trapped in the day-to-day.
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A Practical Guide to Using Fractional Marketing and Sales Execs: What Small- and Mid-Sized Business CEOs Need to Know
Tue, Jan 22, 2019 — Written by: Mark Coronna, Partner & CMO--Chief Outsiders with Jeff Parris and Daniel Steyn, Fractional Sales Executives--Sales Xceleration The use of fractional executives (also referred to as interim, part-time, on-demand, or outsourced executives) has traditionally been related to business functions such as finance, human resources, or technology. The use of the word “traditionally” deserves to be put into perspective. The oldest and largest fractional executive company, B2B CFOs, was founded in 1987. This article will drive three major points: Fractional execs are a relatively new option for small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) Small- and mid-sized businesses are in a great position to secure significant value from this leadership staffing model While fractional Marketing and Sales executives are a “newer” concept than using fractional execs for back-office functions, fractional Marketing and Sales execs can provide critical expertise and timely support for SMBs with growth challenges or those interested in more rapidly accelerating growth! We are going to use the terminology “go-to-market executives” to refer to both fractional Marketing and Sales execs. These roles are not the same but are compatible and collaborative when helping set and execute a business’ growth agenda.

The Role of People and Organizational Structure in Digital Growth for Small- and Mid-Sized Businesses (SMBs)
Thu, Jun 21, 2018 — This is the third in a series of articles focused on helping executives in small- and mid-sized businesses utilize digital technologies effectively to assist in accelerating revenues and profits. If you missed the first two articles, you can find the first one here and the second one here. The previous articles included an introduction to four major ways digital technologies can help your business, described a spectrum of technologies and a possible implementation roadmap, and associated digital proficiency with enhanced business performance. The second article also took a deep look at how business process needs and priorities should help guide your digital paths. In that article, I also introduced the “USA” model for digital transformation.