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The Chief Outsider
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Recent Posts
Does Your Contracting Pipeline Live in the Owner’s Head?
Relationships matter in construction, and most subcontractors have good ones. The owner or president carries the key customer relationships, and the project managers carry everything else. That arrangement can work well. It is also fragile. In our last post, we asked whether you know by name who owns each strategic account. This one looks at what happens when the answer is the owner.
Most Leaders are Made Not Born—And They Need to be Developed
Sat, Sep 14, 2013 — Born leader or made leader—do they both exist? There is a world of difference between knowing about leadership and becoming an effective leader. I may be wrong about this, but from my reading and conversations with colleagues and clients, I get the impression that relatively few supervisors and managers and even fewer C-level executives, entrepreneurs and board members actively pursue disciplined professional leadership development. They read books, articles and blogs about leadership, and they attend workshops and seminars—so they know about leadership. But were they born leaders or are they made leaders?
Start Using Market Research Strategies to Drive Your Company’s Growth
Sat, Aug 24, 2013 — Market Research Strategies: Getting to Your Company to The Next Level Quite often these days, especially evident in mid-market businesses, I come across CEOs, who have been very successful at building their company’s revenues but are now are challenged with reaching the next level. Sales may have slowed down; the low hanging fruit picked; or competitors are upping their game. They may also have been successful in using their technology and expertise in one market, but totally misread another. Whatever the issues are; in order to flourish, every company should consider integrating market research strategies into their growth plan to keep a pulse on their market and its dynamics and to capitalize on market opportunities. Growing through market research strategies can include new products and services, new pricing plans, new positioning, new market segments, changes in business models, or new channels of distribution. Each of these should be evaluated, researched and integrated into your growth strategy and ultimately into your business, product development, and tactical go-to-market plans.
Leading Out Loud!
Thu, Aug 22, 2013 — By now, anyone who reads this blog knows that we read a lot. And a book I recently read is Leading Out Loud: Inspiring Change Through Authentic Communications, New and Revised by Terry Pearce (February 2013). The main point of the book is that a leader must speak in an authentic voice to build loyalty, commitment and enthusiasm in his or her organization. Pearce doesn’t just write this. He provides a step-by-step process to help leaders find their authentic voice. It is not an easy journey, but it's one that is worthwhile. “People make commitments to causes they value and people they respect and trust.”
6 Steps to Understanding and Adapting to the Contours of Change
Wed, Aug 14, 2013 — Markets, like the companies and people who participate in them, are constantly evolving. Many an organization has seen its growth derailed or even faced its demise for failing to pick up or act on a key evolution in their market. The news about the sale of the Washington Post to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos brought that point back to center stage.
The CFO says cut costs, Sales says cut prices. What’s a Leader to do?
Sun, Aug 11, 2013 — The following post is written by guest blogger Per Ohstrom In the business cycle, there comes a time that looks something like this: Sales are down across segments and products. Certain product lines perform worse than others, but there is some softness across the board. Budgets have been revised and Board expectations reset, but the business still does not meet targets.
Great CEOs “Eat a Frog First Thing Every Day”
Wed, Aug 7, 2013 — “If you eat a frog first thing in the morning that will probably be the worst thing you do all day.” – Mark Twain. Mark Twain truly had a way with words. Most of us have read at least one of his 28 books. Much has been written about his famous “eat the frog first” quotation including articles that question whether he actually said or wrote this. Regardless of the truth, the analogy is intended to help great leaders tackle more difficult, dreaded and distasteful actions first everyday. There are some business coaches that don’t agree with doing the most unpleasant work first, but they all agree that successful business leaders are great at prioritizing their activities every day.
Marketing Budget: How much should a CEO spend?
Wed, Jul 17, 2013 — How much sould a CEO spend on a marketing budget? Whether or not it is the first question asked, it is usually one of the first questions a CEO thinks about when discussing his or her marketing efforts: how much should I spend on a marketing budget? Well, the average company spent 10.4% of its revenue on marketing in 2012. And according to Gartner, that marketing budget is scheduled to go up by 6% in 2013. Now this includes salaries of the marketing people, but it doesn’t include things like software licenses or servers for the data. And this spend widely varies for the types of companies from IT at 3.5% to over 12% for media companies.
Seven Considerations in Evaluating your Marketing and Sales Process
Sun, Jun 23, 2013 — I just finished reading several books that come at the changes in the marketing and sales process from different perspectives. Launch by Michael Stelzner, discusses how to use social media to grow your brand and your business. It includes some very pragmatic tools and examples for the marketing crowd. I highly recommend it as a primer for anyone interested in how to optimize their social media efforts. Sales Shift by Frank Belzer presents how the buying process has changed and how it will continue to evolve. Of particular interest is Belzer’s discussion of why sales skills that have worked in the past will no longer be effective going forward. When considering the combination of these two perspectives, the transformation of the commercialization process is significant.
5 Ways to Maximize Business Value for Selling a Business
Wed, Jun 19, 2013 — Today's blog is by guest blogger, Curt Cyliax. How can you boost your company’s short-term earnings while maximizing long-term value? After managing the purchase and sale of a number of companies, we’ve identified five primary drivers to maximize business value. If you’re a business owner who plans on selling a business or transfering your company in the future, you’ll want to know how you can maximize the value of your business, make it more attractive to potential buyers, and get top dollar for your business.