A few nights ago, I was having dinner with some friends, who are also business colleagues. A question came up at the table re how one the guys approaches strategic planning. He is the CEO of Financial Institution [a large Credit Union to be specific]. His answer was interesting based…
I was doing some work with two different clients in the past week where the concept of the “Red Team” came up in conversation. Rooted in military history, a Red Team is an inside group that explicitly challenges a company’s strategy, products, and preconceived notions. It frames a problem from…
As we enter the time of year when many companies begin to think about their Strategic Plan, it is a virtual guarantee that growth will be one of the top 2-3 strategic goals. We get to see many organizations from the Fortune 500 to the Fortune 5 Million and they…
When I ask this question of large groups, people know it is a trick question, but still default to common answers. Very naturally, our instinctive response is to think immediately of our specific products or services. The most common answers I get are that we are selling Solutions or Value,…
I am privileged to get to speak and spend time with hundreds of senior executives every year in various forums. There are smart and driven people as a general rule. There are several common themes that I get to see across this group, regardless of the size of company, industry…
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about an emerging opportunity he has within his company. Already a senior executive, he has been asked to take on a role that is totally revenue focused and will logically evolve into this thing called a Chief Revenue Officer.
In the world of complex sales, a reality in many markets is there are now more “no decisions” than Wins and Losses combined. A benefit of the work we do with our partner CEB, we get exposed to the most current research and trends from the world of sales and…
It is January 2nd and for most, the first day of the new business year. As an Executive or a Sales Leader, are you and your teams ready to roll? The implication of the question is that there was a lot of thinking and planning done in Q4 to get…
I saw this headline the other day and I was intrigued by this concept given the work we do with executives and sales leaders in the area of sales strategy and effectiveness. It was heightened by an inquiry we received from a rep from billion dollar plus organization. She was…
We have talked previously that the concept of strategy is all about growth. Virtually every executive that we speak with has organic revenue growth as one of his or her top priorities. As corporate balance sheets have continued to improve, the volume of acquisitions has continued to accelerate and multipliers…