Learn about the differences I have made for clients
Built for Growth: a case of collapsing market share
The situation. A branded food business was declining sharply after more than a decade of rapid growth. Morale was at rock-bottom. None of their new products had succeeded; indeed they were only diluting margins. Meanwhile private-label products were taking share. Everyone was overworked but nothing they did made any real impression in the marketplace.
The exploration. They appointed a new MD and I worked with him and his top team on the very first Built for Growth programme. We started with a list of questions in plain English: what’s working, what’s not, what is our core, who are our competitors and where are they strong… and so on.
The work. Over a period of three months we dug the foundations for future prosperity: the brand, the financial model, the culture and values of the organisation and more.
We then reviewed our options for growing the company and settled on a plan. We won widespread support for it, and worked on detailed sales, marketing and NPD activities. At every stage, I ensured that there were clear action plans in place, and held the team’s feet to the fire as they implemented.
The result. Market share recovered from 45% to 59%, and profitability (EBITDA%) almost doubled to over 15%.
To find out more about the Built for Growth programme, click here.
Outsmarting competitors: a dangerous adversary
The situation. For one of my clients, a particular competitor was a real worry. The competitor was new to the market, but was successfully building share.
The work. We gathered a group of sales, marketing and finance people together for a two day Outsmarting Competitors workshops. Part of the exercise was to figure out what they would do if they were working for that competitor. They had fun plotting their own employer’s downfall! But the exercise also gave them plenty of insights into the likely priorities of the competitor, and together we figured out how we were going to beat them.
The result. By coincidence, two months later… the competitor published a trade ad which set out its four top priorities. What they didn’t know was that we had successfully predicted each one, and had already put in place a sales and marketing plan to pre-empt them.
If you want to find an edge over YOUR competitors, and you think this approach may work for you, please contact me.
Teambuilding: a morale problem
The situation. The morale of 60-strong research business was low. Understandably – they had been subjected to constant major reorganisations by their owners over several years.
The work. I organised a relaunch event dedicated to training in research techniques, much of it given by other people in the team. We also created ongoing special interest groups which focused on specific leading-edge techniques.
All team members volunteered for Myers-Briggs profiling and we reviewed the results in subteams – learning how different people preferred different ways of communicating, planning and taking decisions.
Finally I facilitated regular reviews of client projects. We focused on why some clients made better use of the research than others, and on how to improve the impact of research in future.
The result. By working together better, they’ve boosted their morale, they’ve improved their client service and they’ve transformed their clients’ use of research.
If your team have lost momentum and you’d like to help them find an edge, please contact me.
Facilitation: time to re-brand
The situation. An information-products company got in touch with me to help with a re-branding exercise. Over the previous five years, they had been very successful, and had introduced lots of new products and services. But the company had become too complex to explain easily.
The work. I ran two workshops with employees, and polled a selection of their clients past and present. In particular we discussed the current positioning and an ideal future positioning for the brand. I also collected anecdotes which captured the spirit of the company at its best. I designed a brand framework, capturing the key elements of personality, values and benefits which the company wanted to project.
The board approved all the new marketing materials based on the repositioning. I ran an exercise in which we prioritised the various products and assigned portfolio roles to them. We created a very simple but powerful way of sub-branding the products and explaining the specific benefits of each one – not what it was, but what it achieved for the user.
The result. The website alone bears testimony to the greater clarity of their brand. Compare old with new. And if you’d like more of an edge from your product/service portfolio or your brand, please contact me.
Simplifying complex decisions: the right incentive
The situation. A UK-based technology business was sold to a global company, and many of the top team were offered incentives to stay. Because of the nature of the industry, the earnout formula was very complex.
Although the earnout was intended to motivate the team, in practice the large numbers of variables made the formula impenetrable. The team didn’t know whether to focus on sales, margins, overheads or innovation.
The work. I developed an interactive model which processed actual results and allowed the team to explore various future scenarios – the levers which would lead to the best mutual outcome.
The result. From this it became clear what the right courses of action were – specifically, focus on core business and innovating for existing (not new) customers.
Sometimes business decisions are very complicated, and it helps to have someone to pick a way through the maze. If you think you’d like some help from someone who can take a fresh perspective, please contact me.