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Recent Posts
When the Founder Is the Rainmaker: How to Scale Without Losing the Spark
In many founder-led businesses, the founder isn’t just the leader—they’re also the best (and often only) rainmaker. They land the big deals. They have the trusted relationships. They know the pitch inside and out because they are the pitch.
It works—until it doesn’t.
As the business grows, this model creates a bottleneck. Every new opportunity depends on one and only person. And it’s the same person every time. But there’s a downside. When that person is also responsible for running the business, mentoring the team, and shaping the vision, something eventually gives.
The Role of Processes in Digital Growth for Small- and Mid-Sized Businesses (SMBs)
Mon, May 14, 2018 — This is the second in a series of articles on helping executives in small- and mid-sized businesses utilize digital technologies effectively to assist in accelerating revenues and profits. The previous article 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. It also included a 10-question survey to help you set an internal benchmark for your digital programs. In this article, I’ll provide practical guidance on where to start a journey for those businesses with a minimal digital growth path today.
A CEO’s Guide to Marketing ROI
Wed, May 2, 2018 — The old John Wanamaker quote from 100 years ago still rings true today for many CEOs: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t which half.” While we have made amazing advancements in marketing, in some circles, accountability is not among them. Are you happy with the financial documentation being provided to you on marketing effort ROI? If the answer is “no,” you share a common pain point that many CEOs we work with share with us when we first sit down with them. The good news? This is a pain point that can be addressed in a relatively quick manner -- in many instances, within 90 days. If you haven’t been given one before, a “marketing-return-on investment-roadmap” is a great way to visually gauge what you’d like to see changed within your marketing structure.
How Your Executive Team Can Sustain Your Business Growth through Best Practices
Tue, May 1, 2018 — If you don’t believe that consistent, profitable business growth is a need of virtually every small- and mid-sized business, and especially for yours, you probably won’t get value from this article. The real challenges aren’t understanding the value of growth to your business--they are about determining where your best growth opportunities are, prioritizing across multiple potential growth opportunities, integrating both shorter- and longer-term growth opportunities into your management processes, and organizing for success and building an ability to tap into new revenue streams consistently and over multiple years.
How Does a Fractional Multi-CMO Approach Accelerate Business Growth?
Wed, Apr 25, 2018 — Think about the last time you recruited for a key marketing position. The candidates you interviewed were impressive and experienced, but the perfect hire would have required you to take one applicant’s extensive industry background and combine it with the digital savvy and laser-focused strategic mindset of another. While we all strive to identify the ideal expert, securing the perfect combination of knowledge, personality, and skills seems about as likely as capturing a griffin or chimera.
The Digital Growth Imperative for Small- and Mid-Sized Businesses (SMBs)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018 — There are many ways to think about growth, and many models to help stimulate your thinking. One of the more traditional, best known, and still effective models, is this one:
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.
How to Create a Stronger Market Position in a Post-Merger Atmosphere
Tue, Apr 3, 2018 — In healthcare there are few environments that are more competitive and emotionally charged than those that are created when teams are forced to coexist in a post-merger scenario. With the ink freshly dried on the healthcare acquisition, you now have twice as many employees in key functional roles – most likely, two chief counsels, two vice presidents of human resources, and, of course, two senior-level marketing people and teams they manage.
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.