“11 steps to energize your business growth” · 2018-11-15 · 11 steps to energize your...

© 2005, 2006, Lisa Nirell. All Rights Reserved. 1

“11 Steps to Energize Your Business Growth”

Field Guide


Copyright © 2005, 2006, Lisa Nirell Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express prior written permission of Lisa Nirell. Contact Lisa Nirell, President, www.energizegrowth.com. (To order additional copies, call 541-593-8787.)

http://www.energizegrowth.com/


Welcome!

You will benefit from this Field Guide if:

• You find yourself and your team spread too thin.

• Your sales or product launch cycles are getting longer.

• Your current strategic or marketing plan is stale or difficult to

implement.

• Your company is already successful—but your future vision is

uninspiring.

• Past efforts to plan for growth have failed.

• You cannot consistently explain what your company offers in 30

seconds or less.

• Your best clients are shopping for better alternatives.

• You are allergic to marketing.

What you will gain from this Guide:

1. Get crystal clear on your company vision.

2. Identify the biggest roadblocks to your growth.

3. Attract more ideal, highly profitable clients.

4. Create 3-5 objectives that will guide you in implementing your plan.

5. Use your values to guide your hiring, marketing, and selling activities.

Let’s get started!

Lisa Nirell, President


Contents

What is EnergizedGrowth? ....................................................................5-6

The 11 Steps........................................................................................ 7

The Building Blocks of Planning ................................................................ 8

Your Leadership Style and Mindset........................................................ 9-10

Understand your Market – 13 Questions.................................................11-15

Your Ideal Client..............................................................................16-18

Your Audio Logo ..............................................................................19-21

Developing Your Vivid Vision.......................................................... ...22-25

Clarify Your Values.......................................................... ................26-31

SMART Objectives ............................................................................32-33

Christmas Tree Plan.............................................................................34

Your Success Wheel™ ...........................................................................35

Success Wheel™ Examples ..................................................................36-37

Guidelines for Testing Your Success Wheel™ ...............................................38

Individual Exercise: Get Your Success Wheel™ Rolling................................. 39

Your Plan to EnergizeGrowth ………………………………………………………….................40-45

Sample EnergizeGrowth Plan…………………………………………………………..................46-49

Resource List to EnergizeGrowth .............................................................50


What is Energized Growth?

Energized Growth is about living the entrepreneurial dream. Do you remember

the dream? When starting your company was a new adventure, and your spirits

soared?

Or is your dream now a distant memory that has taken a nosedive into an active

volcano?

If it did, you’ll be glad to know that all is not yet lost. Dogbert was just

distracting you. (Thank you, Scott Adams).

The DREAM of attracting great clients and allies is alive, and it’s doing well…if

you simply take the time to learn how to plan for it.

Even in these days of the information economy, where our resources are

abundant, few entrepreneurs actually leverage resources they need to plan for

growth.


And even fewer entrepreneurs have a plan for Energized Growth! Here is how

we define it...

EnergizedGrowth emerges when your entire team knows your

vision, focuses on what you do best, and effectively communicates

those strengths to your ideal market.

Now is your chance to build your own plan to EnergizeGrowth in your

organization. Follow these 11 Steps on the next page, and you will be on your

way to realizing the growth you really want.


11 Steps to Energize Your Business Growth

By following this straightforward 11-step plan, you incorporate everything you have learned in this Field Guide and create a business action plan. 1. Your leadership style and mindset

2. The strategic imperatives in your market

3. The consequences of not solving these pressures or missing

opportunities – and who is affected

4. The Ultimate Outcome and Unique Value when this challenge is

resolved

5. The gaps (beliefs or resources) that stop you from delivering on

this value

6. Your Ideal Client and “Audio Logo”

7. Your Vivid Vision

8. Your Company Values

9. Top 3-5 SMART Growth Objectives over the Next 12 Months

10. Stop Doing List

11. Measures of Success


Your Leadership Style and Mindset

It’s important to have a practical growth plan to grow our business. It is EQUALLY important to know what mindsets and behaviors enable that growth—or sabotage it. Many leaders use well-tested, reputable personality surveys to gain insights into our business mindsets. They help you determine your strengths, and what stops you. You have many from which to choose. I have personally recommended PDP, Myers-Briggs, DISC, Predictive Index, and Birkman. On the following page, we have given you the common traits reputable surveys will measure. Use this as a reference before investing significant budget in one brand of a survey program. Well-designed surveys can also help you screen new hires and with building great teams. In addition, it can help you learn more about your own personal decision-making style—and how you approach growth. This data can help you answer these important leadership questions:

1. What are my strengths? 2. What is my timeframe for taking action? (In other words, how often do I

get stuck or fall into “analysis/paralysis” in moving forward with a new idea or plan?)

3. Where does my style – or my limiting beliefs-- delay company growth, cause us to lose customers, and demoralize good employees?

4. How can I create a breakthrough and a new mindset to propel my business forward?

Contact us if you would like to take an online survey and gain insights on your own style of leading growth.

Please turn to the next page...


Four Common Styles of Leaders Trait/Style Common Behaviors Under Stress

Dominance

“Level of control”

High: Results-focused, succinct, competitive

Low: Deferential, patient, low-key, conservative

Highly directive, dislikes indecisiveness, challenges authority, defaults to “compete to win”

Extroversion & Influence

“Social fluency”

High: Outgoing, persuasive, charming, inspiring, sociable

Low: Private, reserved, moody, reflective, and critical

Concern with being “left out” or not appreciated, defensive if challenged on believability; May revert to “accommodate to please”

Patience & Steadiness

“Rate of motion and change tolerance”

High: Persistent, routines, Methodical, procrastinate, dislikes change

Low: Everything is urgent, lots of variety, restless, flexible

Low patience: Quick temper if things do not happen fast; May get easily bored.

Conformity& Compliance

“Structure and detail”

High: Rule maker, formal, checklists, need strong leadership; “accommodate to please”

Low: Rule breaker, little or no procedures, independent

Low conformity: Fiercely independent, “I’ll go it alone”

Will resist change if not well justified

Source: Professional Dynametric Programs, Dynapro Corp.

Which one best describes you?

Which one best describes key members of your team?


Understand Your Market – 13 “Must Ask” Questions

Planning and visioning helps you harvest the most value from your business. It

also helps with an essential quality of an entrepreneurial professional services

leader: Knowing what to STOP doing. The “Stop Doing” list is an essential

element to your EnergizeGrowth plan.

Often we cannot identify what they are best in the world at doing, because we

are too caught up in (and often addicted to) day-to-day firefighting. When we

can’t answer ”what are our strengths?”, our natural tendency is to go back to

doing what we have always done (even if it’s not what we do best!)

This happens with people who join our EnergizeMarketing Action Groups. They

often have a dozen great marketing ideas: Build new seminar material.

Network at 3 different associations this week. Write a BLOG. Build a brochure

(Please don’t!) Invest in SEO.

When this happens, I always invite my client to review their vision and values.

How will those “good ideas” get them there? If they don’t know, I know they

have landed into the trap of the “good idea machine.”

Here is one surefire way to fall out of the ‘doing” trap and identify clues to what

your company really does best...and where to focus your business development

efforts.


1. Whenever possible, hire an independent, objective interviewer or

consultant to help you collect external feedback on what you do best.

Remember—you’re only human, and it’s highly likely you’ll fall prey to

“false consensus” syndrome if you do it yourself. You may put pressure on

others to agree with you (forcing groupthink to set in). Alternatively, you

may experience selective recall—only remembering the facts that

reinforce the assumptions you prefer. Or, you may exhibit confirmation

bias—and seek out only opinions that match yours.

2. Identify 5-10 valued business partners and clients. They will fall into one

of three categories: clients with whom you have a long track record,

clients you recently lost, and some who are almost ready to do business

with you. Feel free to include strategic allies and partners. Be sure all

three categories are included and interviewed.

3. Ask your Founder or CEO (if that isn’t you) to personally call these

contacts and request their candid input. Typically, 30 minutes over the

phone will suffice. Give them the name of the interviewer, and ask them

to schedule a call with the interviewer. Do not conduct online or fax

surveys—you will NOT get the quality of information you need.

4. Tell them it is very important feedback as you discover what you do really

well. You value their input on how THEY think you can expand on that.

Thank them profusely for their time.

5. Remind them this information is 100% confidential, and will not be

attributed back to the source.

6. Send them a personal handwritten note to thank them for their time.

Go to next page for interview questions...


13 Questions Here are some questions your interviewer can use:

1. Tell us who you are and what you do. How did you first meet us?

2. Best experience: Looking at your entire experience with (your company

name). Remember a time when things went especially well. A time when it

seemed that someone went the extra mile to make something happen. Tell

me about that experience.

• Who else was involved? What were they doing?

• What were you doing?

3. How does this compare to most of your experiences with (your company)?

4. What was this situation/problem costing you before you hired (your

company)?

5. Business Results: What do you value the most that this company helps you

do more effectively? (Listen for their values, goals, and dreams).

a. Hard-dollar ROI or business results?

b. Soft-dollar ROI? Value of the relationship to you personally?

6. What can you do now that you could not do before? – Examples?

7. What seemed different about (your company/service) from others?

8. Core Value: What do you think are the top 2-3 core values of (your

company)? In other words, if it did not exist, it would make the company look

completely different than it currently is. Listen for core beliefs, ways of

doing business that are pervasive and non-negotiable.

9. There are lots of companies out there selling the hottest, newest (service).

Did you ever think the (XYZ service) could be another one of those solutions,

or that solving your problem just required “more hard work?”

10. What would make you recommend other companies hire this company?

(Whatever they say ask, “Why is that important?” so we can really did to

their belief systems and values).


11. What advice would you give a company that is considering this type of

service?

12. Looking towards the future: As a professional in the (industry) business,

what do you think is the future of the industry? What changes are we likely

to see in the next 3-5 years? How can a company like (your company) be

positioned to meet those changes and challenges?

13. If you had 3 wishes for your relationship with (your company name), what

would they be?

These powerful questions will give you solid clues to your strengths, values and

highest return opportunities. Be open to what you hear -- and what’s next for

your company.


Notes

Ponder this: What external contacts would you speak to?

Lost clients:

Longstanding clients:

Business partners:


Your Ideal Client

As your company grows, your understanding of the “ideal client” will change.

Many companies follow a traditional view of their ideal client. They look at

market size, company location, demographics, and the level of the decision

maker in the organization. In fact, many firms often pursue the same segment as

their competitors. This often leads to “me too” marketing and price

competition.

Regardless of the segment you define, the number one purpose of segmenting the

market is to establish an addressable set of target clients who share a common

problem that you can help to solve effectively differently and better than any of

your competitors, and in which you will be rewarded handsomely. The segment MUST

be willing to pay you well for what you offer and to solve a big problem or aspiration!

According to Philip Lay, Managing Partner of TCG Advisors (www.tcg-

advisors.com), “It is usually better to adopt a contrarian approach and start from the

opposite direction than the one that is likely to be adopted by most of your

competitors. Therefore, instead of using Dimensions such as physical size, financial

parameter, geography, or vertical segment as your initial guideposts, I strongly

recommend starting with a look at (a) customer organizational deportment (or

behavior), (b) then industry and market dynamics, followed by (c) industry and business

demographics and only at the end, (d) dimensions. Only after you have seen which

criteria lead you most directly to a fertile set of potential customers should you give

weight to attributes in one or other of the first three groups.

http://www.tcg-advisors.com/

http://www.tcg-advisors.com/


You stand a much better chance of discovering a fertile target segment opportunity that

your company can serve effectively if you begin with Deportment and progress through

Dynamics and Demographic before alighting on the more obvious one, Dimensions.

Here are four slices of segmentation to expand your thinking about your ideal client—

and to attract clients your competitors may not even be contacting!

The Four D’s of Segmentation Deportment(Behavior):

Leadership or management style of the target sponsor (prospective customer)

Decision-making processes in the organization

Adoption strategy of key decision makers (visionary, pragmatist or conservative)

Culture of the organization (bureaucratic, decentralized, family-owned, etc.)

In-house resources - existence, professional level and quantity thereof

Dynamics:

Growth rate of the peer group (i.e., the same industry sector or vertical)

Competitive pressures

Expansion, consolidation or shrinkage of the sector

Regulation or deregulation forces (industry-specific and general, such as SOX)

Demographics:

Type of business or function (e.g., wholesale distributor or online retail store)

Volume of transactions (few complex projects vs. many simple transactions)

Complexity of business processes (such as quote to order, or invoice to cash)

Value chain (e.g., wine distributors) or ecosystem (e.g., Toyota automobile

dealers)


Dimensions:

Industry verticals or sectors

Geographic location

Financial parameters (revenues, profits, market valuation, etc.)

Physical size (number of employees, subsidiaries/locations, countries, etc.)

In a real-life market segmentation exercise, you should expect to look at all these

criteria - and perhaps even some that aren’t on the list - on the way toward settling on

anywhere between four and eight criteria in total, just two to three of which are likely

to be the key ones. The more they relate to real, organic issues that smaller businesses

deal with, the better.

One example is generational change of management, from founding parent to a business

school-qualified son or daughter. Another is complexity of the business, independent of

its size. Yet another is reliance on external influences such as outsourced service

providers, anchor customers, or a trade association.

This kind of outcome tends to lower your marketing and sales expenses dramatically,

and increase your profitability.


Audio Logo Examples... Medical Clinic: ”You know how frustrating it is today to find preventative health care services? Well, at ABC Clinic, we help people find the best care available through a multitude of proactive, award-winning heart and disease screening programs.” Real Estate Title Company: “We simplify the overwhelming loan qualification process for homeowners. We eliminate up to 75% of the work most real estate brokers are normally forced to do.”

What’s Your Audio Logo?* An elevator statement or “audio logo” clarifies who you help, and the unique

value you provide. It is the fastest way to grab people’s attention, and helps

them determine whether your services are appropriate for them. It also earns

you the right to have an ongoing conversation. Using your ideal client definition

as a springboard, this can be very effective at initiating a marketing

conversation.

Here is the typical framework: “We work with…(your target audience) Who are frustrated/struggling/tired of/fed up with... PAUSE. Just wait. If they say “TELL ME MORE!,” Tell a story about a client you have helped. Follow these guidelines to build strong elevator statements:

1. Who is your specific target audience? 2. What is the biggest frustration they face? 3. What specific results do you deliver?

* Audio Logo Source: Action Plan Marketing, Copyright Robert Middleton, www.actionplan.com

http://www.actionplan.com/


The Audio Logo What do you say when someone asks you what you do? The formula is: What do you do? We work with _______________ (This Target Market) _________________ Who ________________ (Have this Issue or Challenge) ________________(STOP). How do you do that? We help them get _____________ (Ultimate Outcome) _________________ Tell me more. A good example is ______________ (Success Story) ___________________ Construct your own: What do you do? We work with __________________________________________________ Who _________________________________________________________ How do you do that? We help them get ______________________________________________ Tell me more. A good example is ______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________


How to Develop the Perfect Audio Logo

By Vistage associate Marc Stein

An audio logo, or audio logo, is a concise statement that conveys what someone needs to know about your business -- in the time it takes to ride up in an elevator. In others words, tell me why I should care in 30 seconds or less. In the professional arena, having an easy-to-understand audio logo can accelerate the building of your business by years.

The most effective audio logo and referral development caters to the wants, needs and tastes of the clients or customers you hope to attract. That means looking at what you offer from their point of view.

To put it bluntly: Potential clients or referrers couldn't care less about you and your business (unless you can help meet their agenda). In fact, most of them don't care about your educational background, professional experience or size of your business. They only care about you and your company in direct proportion to your ability to meet their wants, needs and tastes.

Your job is to make it easy for the people you want to attract to truly understand and appreciate your offering. The easiest way to do it is to break your perfect audio logo down into simple-to-understand components defining who, what, how and why:

• Who is your specific target market? • What are the most important aspects of your offering (from their perspective)? • How do you do it differently from everyone else? • What specific reason is there to engage you and your business?

Try this exercise: Pretend that you're explaining what you do for your 11-year old nephew's school project. No jargon or concepts -- just simple talk. Then, increase the age level while keeping the simplicity. (Note: it's much harder than it seems.)

After you develop the best audio logo possible, you should test, test, and test in the marketplace. Once you have formalized your audio logo, you can limit the variables and really tighten it up. When people start responding favorably, continue with the same message. You may grow tired of it, but keep in mind that future prospects and referring professionals are hearing it for the first time. Even with some repetition, your position gets reinforced in their minds. Stay consistent and reap the full harvest.

So…tell me what you do again?

Vistage associate and speaker Marc Stein is president of Everything Communicates, a marketing and business development firm based in Ventura, California. Copyright 2003, Vistage International. All rights reserved.

http://mytec.teconline.com/profile/asp/view_profile.asp?iind=916718

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Your Vivid Vision

It’s the year 2010.

You return home from a busy yet enjoyable day at work.

You receive a phone call from Thomas Friedman, one of the most prominent

journalists from The New York Times. He wants to write a front page article

that will showcase your company.

He has learned that your company has achieved great results in the past few

years, and that you personally have been instrumental in enabling the

organization to improve during that time.

He wants to gain some insights from you about how these successes came about.

You feel very proud and try hard to respond to each question with a quick,

concise answer.

What would you like this “Future Article” to say?

Go to the next page...


Plan:

Take 20-30 minutes to write responses to these questions:

1. Many have heard great remarks about your organization from your employees, your customers, the general public, and even from your vendors.

What happened in the last year? (Remember, you’re looking BACK from 2010)

With your employees?

With your clients?

With your general community?

How did all of this benefit your company and the community it serves?

2. What do you hear your employees saying about your organization and about the changes implemented by the management during the past few years?


3. What are the top 3 goals of your organization for the coming year? (next year, 2011)

How is this different from a few years ago?

4. On what do you focus your time and efforts now?


5. What are the people who report to you focusing their time and energy on now?


6. Where is your boss investing his/her energy now?


How has this changed in the last few years?

7. What were the three greatest hurdles your company had to overcome in the past few years?

8. Based on this interview, what is your VIVID VISION for your business for the next 3 years? (Write this in the present tense, and no more than 3-4 sentences).

When you complete these questions, you will be TRANSPORTED back to the present.


Clarify Your Values

PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL VALUES SURVEY

Professional and business values are those intrinsic principles, beliefs, and practices that attribute to our distinctive character and reputation as a vibrant organization. They also guide our decision- making, influence our communities, and govern our actions. The purpose of the Professional Values exercise is to prioritize your own professional values as well as those of others, and to clearly express those values in your company’s mission and vision. Professional values influence the decisions each member makes every day. By prioritizing these values, you can communicate your values to team members, business allies, and your community with greater ease. Your teams can exemplify your values more readily when they can easily remember them. Some of our clients use this survey to determine if new hires will align with the company culture. Top performing companies only communicate and practice 4-6 core values. Personal values are those deeply held intrinsic principles, beliefs, and feelings that define our distinctive character and govern our actions. They define our natural leadership style. They are our way of operating in the world. Since our personal values are so much of who we are, it is important for organizational leaders to be aware of their own values and the values of each employee. Effectiveness of organizations and leaders can be directly associated with the ability of the leaders to build the corporate foundation on the commonality of organizational member values, and to leverage their differences for creativity and problem solving. The purpose of this exercise is to clarify and recognize your own personal values, and to explicitly express those values to grow the business. We bring our personal values to work with us each day. They influence every decision we make. By completing both exercises, you will benefit several ways: 1. You will see the common threads between your professional and personal values. 2. You will find it easier to communicate your own experience of how you live those

values to your community and your teams.

3. You will be more able to identify behaviors (and people) that honor your company’s core values, and quickly reward people for them. Those success stories become the future legends and fabric of your culture.


BUSINESS/PROFESSIONAL VALUES SURVEY

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Using 50 total points, list and rank your top professional values below. Allocate

more points to those values that are more important to you. (Refer to sample values beginning on page 28 as a reference). List other values that best reflect yours—avoid relying exclusively on this list.

2. Select your lowest 5 ranked values listed and write them down under “Professional Values-Lowest Ranked” on page 31.

3. Select the 5 highest ranked values you listed and add under “Professional Values-Highest Ranked” on page 31.

4. Look for common patterns across your professional and personal values, and share with your team or Advisors.

PROFESSIONAL VALUES

TOTAL POINTS: (maximum 50)


PERSONAL VALUES SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS

1. Review this complete list of values, and select your top 10 from the categories. 2. Using the chart on page 30, assign points (total of 50 points) for these 10 values. 3. Select your highest 5 values from these categories and write them under

“Personal Values—Highest Ranked” on page 32. 4. Select your lowest 5 values from these categories and write them under

“Personal Values—Lowest Ranked” on page 32. Category: Adventure Risk The Unknown Thrill Danger Speculation Dare Gamble Endeavor Quest Experiment Exhilaration Venture Category: Beauty Grace Refinement Elegance Attractiveness Loveliness Radiance Magnificence Gloriousness Taste Category: To Catalyze Impact Move Forward Touch Turn On Free Others Coach Spark Encourage Influence Stimulate Energize Alter Category: To Contribute Serve Improve Augment Assist Endow Strengthen Facilitate Minister to Grant Provide Foster Assist Category: To Create Design Invent Synthesize Imagination Ingenuity Originality Conceive Plan Build Perfect Assemble Inspire Category: To Discover Learn Detect Perceive Locate Realize Uncover Discern Distinguish Observe


Category: To Feel Emote To experience Sense To glow To feel good Energy flow Category: To Lead Guide Inspire Influence Cause Arouse Enlist Reign Govern Be Intentional Persuade Encourage Model Category: Mastery Expert Rule field Adept Dominate field Superiority Primacy Preeminence Integrity Best Outdo Set standards Excellence Category: Pleasure Have fun Be hedonistic Be amused Sensual Bliss Sports Be entertained Play games Category: To Relate Be connected Part of community Family To unite To nurture Be linked Be bonded Be integrated Be with Category: Be Sensitive Tenderness Touch Perceive Be present Empathize Support Show compassion Respond See

Category: Be Spiritual Be aware Be accepting Be awake Relate with God Devoting Holy Honoring Be passionate Religious Category: To Teach Educate Instruct Enlighten Inform Prepare Edify Prime Uplift Explain


Category: To Win Prevail Accomplish Attain Score Acquire Win over Triumph Predominate Attract Using 50 total points, rank your top 10 personal values, allocating more points to those values that are more important to you. Remember; do NOT be constrained by the category titles or sub-titles! Add your own if you do not see one that accurately describes your value.

PERSONAL VALUE POINTS

TOTAL POINTS 50


VALUES SUMMARY SHEET

PROFESSIONAL VALUES (Select from Page 27) HIGHEST RANKED VALUES LOWEST RANKED VALUES (the ones that

matter the LEAST to you)

PERSONAL VALUES (Select from page 30) HIGHEST RANKED VALUES LOWEST RANKED VALUES (ones that

matter the LEAST to you)

VALUES IN COMMON (MERGE Personal and Professional Values that you have in common- ONLY SELECT FROM YOUR TOP 5 HIGHEST RANKED VALUES)

• • • • •

Note: If you do not see any values in common, please write “NONE.” Thank you!


SMART Objectives

• Select 3-5 growth objectives.

• Are those objectives SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ATTAINABLE, REALISTIC, and TIME

BOUND?

• Will you grow organically (internally), through mergers and acquisitions, strategic

partners, or joint events and allies?

• These are high-level methods you want to use to expand, such as speaking strategy,

communications plan to venture capitalists, networking strategy, etc.

• Assign owners to each of these objectives.

• Test the benefits of each objective: Benefit to the owners, benefit to the

customers, financial benefit to company, personal benefit to management.

• What is the impact of NOT doing this? Impact on market, customers, finances, and

management team? Tally up that value and estimated dollar amount.

• What obstacles are you facing? These can be financial, people, geographic, cultural,

or emotional obstacles.

• What are the Solutions to help you overcome those obstacles?

• What are the simple action steps you can take to accomplish this objective? Select a

person who will own that step.

• Divide the “Total Benefit” by the “Total Cost to Implement”. Write down the ROI.

• Identify a milestone or metric you will use to measure success.

• These objectives are NOT ‘optional.” These will be your top priorities for the next

12 months.

Refer to the chart on the next page...


SMART OBJECTIVES

SMART Objective or Strategy

Owner Benefit: Financial, Customer, Management, Growth & Innovation

Consequences of Not Achieving: Financial, Customer, Management, Growth & Innovation

Obstacles Solutions Action Plan: 1. Who 2. By When 3. Resources 4. Total cost to implement 5. ROI (Total Benefit/Cost to Implement)

How we will measure success

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.


“Christmas Tree” Plan If you have a specific marketing strategy that you want to implement quickly, this is a great tool to put you into action!

1. Select one objective/strategy from the previous page. 2. Write that objective at the base of the “tree.” 3. Create branches, or activities, that need to happen to achieve that

objective, with the first activity at the bottom and moving up from there. 4. Write in the success milestone you will use to track your progress at the

top near the star.

* Source: Action Plan Marketing, Copyright Robert Middleton, www.actionplan.com

http://www.actionplan.com/


Your Success Wheel™

This is the general framework for building your company’s Success Wheel™. This view of success and progress tracking provides a balance between “trailing indicators” and “leading indicators.” Many companies place way too much emphasis on measuring revenues and other financial results—only to find that it’s too late to adjust their course or direction later. Some companies only measure activity versus effectiveness. Leading indicators are those behaviors that help you anticipate problems with your business results before they are too costly to repair. You will also find examples from our actual clients on the following pages. Identify measures on both sides of the Wheel (Leading AND Trailing indicators) to attract high performers and enable market breakthroughs. Quadrant 1 = External Behaviors, Quadrant 2 = External Results, Quadrant 3 = Internal Results, Quadrant 4 = Internal Behaviors. Which 3- 5 measures may serve your company in the long term?

Success WheelSuccess Wheel

EXTERNAL

RESULTS

INTERNAL

BEHAVIORS TRA

ILIN

G

LEA

DIN

G

HappinessAchievement

SignificanceLegacy

4 3

21


”

“Antique” Success Examples

EXTERNAL

RESULTS

INTERNAL

BEHAVIORS

Number of inbound resumes for open jobs

Number of client visits

Quality of my interviewskills

Number of signed contracts

Number of new leads or business cards

TRA

ILIN

G

LEA

DIN

G

Growth rate of inbound leads

Variety of available marketing materials or products

Number of proposals generated

How well my presentation is received, “smile sheets”

Number of leads

How much our employees like each other

Employee retention rate


“Modern” Success Examples“Modern” Success ExamplesEXTERNAL

RESULTS

INTERNAL

BEHAVIORS

I can communicate value at the executive level

% of time our clients invite us to assist with new initiatives

Frequently we only hire the right people

Expanded network of “influence partners” (e.g. bankers, analysts)

Frequently we protect our

price margins

I consistently honor my commitment for family time

Level of perceived expertise in my

“perfect market”

TRA

ILIN

G

LEA

DIN

G

Increased growth in quality of inbound leads

Level of message consistency in our marketing materials

Timeliness of completing major projects (reports, proposals, etc.)

Percentage of time spent listening versus speaking

Annual ideal client retention rate

Percentage invested in lead generation

Clearly aligned our selling process is with client buying process

3

1 2

4

“ Success Examples “Modern” Success Examples

EXTERNAL

RESULTS

INTERNAL

BEHAVIORS

I can communicate valueat the executive level

% of time our clients invite us to assist with new initiatives

Frequently we only hire the right people

Expanded network of “influencepartners” (e.g. bankers, analysts)

Frequently we protect our price margins

I consistently honor my commitment for family time

Level of perceived expertise in my “perfect market”

TRA

ILIN

G

LEA

DIN

G

Increased growth in quality of inbound leads

Level of message consistency in our marketing materials Timeliness of completing major projects (reports, proposals, etc.)

Percentage of time spent listening versus speaking

Annualideal client retention rate

Percentage invested in lead generation

Clearly aligned our selling process is with client buyingprocess

3

1 2

4


Guidelines for Testing your Success Wheel™

If you are using the Success Wheel effectively, the “leading indicators” will help you feel more confident about the “trailing indicators” you have promised stakeholders and customers. A well-balanced wheel takes all of the success traits into consideration: Happiness, Achievement, Significance, Legacy, and recognizing “enough.” These powerful questions help you test the overall alignment of your Success Wheel™.

Success Guidelines Success Guidelines

People, innovation, customer needs, and systems for the future?

Does my company offer real value for others?

Do our financial results provethat we createvalue and results for our clients?

Does our culture allowpeople to let down their guard and enjoy themselves?

Legacy Significance Achievement Happiness

Source:Harvard Business Review, Stevenson/Nash, Feb. 2004


Individual Exercise: Get Your Success Wheel™ Rolling

Here is a great brainstorming tool with your team. Using examples from the previous Success Wheel™ pages, ask teams to develop three success statements using the exact framework below. Ask them to build statements for at least one of the “leading indicator” quadrants 1 & 4, and one of the “trailing indicator” quadrants 2& 3. Once you have collectively determined which statements are most reflective of your growth strategy, you can use these statements in many ways. They include announcements of new initiatives, customer wins, alliance partner meetings, and new employee orientation. “We know how successful we’re being by how…” Quadrant

EXTERNAL

RESULTS

INTERNAL

BEHAVIORS

TRA

ILIN

G

LEA

DIN

G

Happiness Achievement

Significance Legacy

4 3

2 1


Your Plan to EnergizeGrowth By following this 11-step plan, you incorporate everything you have learned in this Field Guide. You can now translate your vision into a realistic action plan! 1. The strategic imperative in your market What are the pressures your clients are facing that create opportunity for your company (notes from your client interviews will provide clues): Global pressures Regulatory Raw materials Talent/resources Customer pressures Business partner pressures Space/facility pressures Other pressures 2. Consequences of the client not solving these pressures or missing opportunities Consider the emotional and measurable impact. • Emotional: • Financial: • Other:


3. People and groups affected by not resolving these pressures or pursuing these opportunities Think broadly. What partners, clients, clients’ customers, vendors, and suppliers are affected, and how? 4. The Ultimate Outcome and Value when this challenge is resolved Select the top three benefits to your customers when they can solve this issue or realize new potential they did not previously have. Refer back to your Elevator Statement and Feedback Interviews for clues. These can be both emotional/behavioral benefits and financial results. These are benefits they told you they use as their primary or dominant decision criterion when selecting your products and services. Avoid your opinions!


5. The Gaps that stop us from delivering on this value What are the limiting beliefs, old ‘tapes’ playing in your team’s collective mind? What talent and resource constraints that delay your attainment of your vivid vision? Write all of them down. Do not edit or prioritize. Every one needs to be recognized. Finally, select a plan to address them. They never go away, so find strategies to move forward in spite of them! Re-visit the results of your personality surveys or other exercises you completed for some clues on what stops you from realizing your vision. 6. Your Ideal Client and “Audio Logo” What are the cultural dynamics, growth rate, industry, government pressures they face, geographic location, financial parameters, and leadership styles of your ideal customer? Keep listing their characteristics until you’re tired. Three traits are not enough. Your feedback interviews will help you here.


7. Your three year “Vivid Vision” for your company This should be no more than 3 sentences, written in the present tense. It will describe a future state of your company. If you struggle with this, complete the “Vivid Vision” section of this workbook. 8. Your Company Values What are the non-negotiable beliefs and behaviors that your company and your EnergizeGrowth plan represents? Select the top 5 from your Values Survey. If you are not sure what your values are, re-visit the feedback you received from your client interviews. Avoid using vague words such as “integrity” or “great customer service” unless you are defining them in detail. Without a clear 1-2 sentence description of the behaviors each value represents, these are heavily subject to interpretation.


9. Your Top 3-5 Growth Objectives over the Next 12 Months • Select 3-5 growth objectives. • What objectives will you pursue that are SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ATTAINABLE, TIME

BOUND, REALISTIC, and TIME BOUND? • Will you grow organically (internally), through mergers and acquisitions, strategic

partners, or joint events and allies? • These are high-level methods you want to use to expand, NOT lead generation

strategies such as breakfast seminars. • Assign owners to each of these objectives. • Test the benefits of each objective: Benefit to the owners, benefit to the

customers, financial benefit to company, personal benefit to management. • What is the impact of NOT doing this? Impact on market, customers, finances, and

management team? Tally up that value and estimated dollar amount. • What Obstacles are you facing? These can be financial, people, geographic, cultural,

or emotional obstacles. • What are the Solutions to help you overcome those obstacles? • What are the simple action steps you can take to accomplish this objective? Select a

person who will own that step. • Divide the “Total Benefit” by the “Total Cost to Implement”. Write down the ROI. • Identify a milestone or metric you will use to measure success. • These objectives are NOT ‘optional.” These will be your top priorities for the next

12 months.

Objective or Strategy

Owner Benefit: Financial, Customer, Management, Growth & Innovation

Consequences of Not Achieving: Financial, Customer, Management, Growth & Innovation

Obstacles Solutions Action Plan: 1. Who 2. By When 3. Resources 4. Total cost to implement 5. ROI (Total Benefit/Cost to Implement)

How we will measure success

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.


10. Stop Doing List What are you willing to delegate, discontinue, or delay to achieve your vivid vision? Be aggressive. This will release resources and budgets to focus on your SMART Objectives or your number one “Christmas Tree Plan.”

• • •

11. Your Measures of Success – Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) Use the KPIs you developed with your Success Wheel™. Select no more than four. Make them a combination of BEHAVIORS and MEASURABLE RESULTS. Do the measurements drive customer intimacy, operational excellence, or product leadership behaviors? “We know how successful we are being by how...”


Sample EnergizeGrowth Plan TechNet Consulting Services, LLC

Strategic Imperative in Market? In most organizations, IT departments are still perceived as cost centers—not strategic assets. This affects the morale and huge impact they can have on a company’s competitive edge. Companies struggle to recognize the need to provide technology improvements in a pro-active, strategic manner with full support of the business to improve the success rate of projects and services. Consequences to customer if not solved? CFO Perspective CIO Perspective

Cost to operate/support technology

Potential to be outsourced or laid off continues to rise

No clear value of in-house IT identified

High turn-over in IT

End customer unhappy with IT department

Lack of respect by CFO and business units; marginalized

Hesitant to authorize budget for technology

Difficult to acquire budget for necessary IT expenses

Unwilling to fund new technology to increase market share, decrease costs, or retain customers

Cost of retaining new, high performing IT staff (who want to work on new and strategic assignments)

Value and Ultimate Outcome when problem is solved? CFO Perspective CIO Perspective

Reduction in IT Operating Costs CIO invited to the decision table/Board

of Directors Technology budget process becomes a collaborative process

Easy to involve business team in IT budgeting process

Easy to explain to business managers the cycle time for technology

Reduction in application development time

Tighter alignment between IT and business

Greater focus and investment in new, strategic projects

Budget authorization process is easier and less time-consuming

Higher level of new IT talent to choose from


Three Year Vision - 2010 TechNet is an industry leader in IT Performance Management. Their software to support IT metrics and process improvement are invaluable to any IT organization who desires to serve the business community well and gain the respect of management. I’ve been approached to speak at so many events, I’ve had to be selective and only speak at events that can afford to pay my speaking fee. TechNet has a staff of 10 – on the ITSM side with monthly billings of $400,000. We are active in 2 networking groups whose members are CIOs and decision makers for local corporations. What are the values that drive TechNet? Timeliness Deliver as promised, be on time to meetings and appointments Willingness to Change – Recognize that staying the same will net the same results. When identifying a problem (with company) do not blame time, situations, former employees, current employees, but rather look for solutions and to learn from past performance. Look to fix the problem not to fix blame. Accountability – Accountable to clients for my research, suggestions and guidance. This information needs to be well founded based on experience, research and analysis for each client. Expect the customers to be accountable as well – take responsibility for state of department or project. Learning Environment – Possess a willingness and a drive to continue to grow our knowledge through education and training. Clients should be of same mindset for their staff and for themselves…. You’re never too old to learn. Open Minded – Associated with willingness to change, open to new ideas. This too applies the same to both TechNet and TechNet clients. What competencies or gaps are keeping TechNet from growth?

1. Lead Generators 2. Sales staff 3. Public Awareness 4. Discipline to release companies that do not meet ideal client profile


Ideal Client

1. Recognizes that they could be more effective in technology usage and cost.

2. The growth forecast must be on the rise. Companies who are down-sizing and struggling financially do not typically fund technology projects or improvements.

3. Their management team shares a common vision for technology and are able to make and implement decisions to improve the company.

4. Organizations whose governing bodies, whether internal or external, hold the company accountable for improved profit margins.

5. “C” level management 6. Pressure to prove the value of technology continues to increase as CEOs

are more accountable for the corporation’s bottom line – some external factors are SO/x, Board of Directors, SEC regulations and other regulatory agencies.

7. IT Services must be in-house, ideal size IT shop is 8-100 persons. 8. The company depends on technology to provide a market advantage. 9. Our current client base is located in the Southeast region of the US. 10. Ready to implement change and recognize the impact to the business 11. Access to business managers and “C” level executives 12. Client’s corporate values align with TechNet’s values

Audio Logo

We help repair broken relationships between business and Information technology executives.

SMART Objectives

1. Implement speaking and SEO strategies to grow to a $5mm dollar company by 2011

2. Invest more people to focus on developing the BI business to generate maintain 3-4 billings per month

3. Recruit two business analysts to assist with ITSM by 6/1/08 4. Train team to identify and implement strategies meeting TechNet (Pat)

standards by 4/1/08 5. Develop a hosted software application using HP tools to run IT

performance indicators (Martin and Pat) “Stop Doing” List

1. Holding on to prospects that are not moving forward at an acceptable pace

2. Criticizing myself for not putting in enough hours and focus on OUTPUT


Success Measures We know we are being successful by how…..

1. Frequently we are treated as a trusted advisor and called in for staffing, software, or acquisition changes

2. Consistently our employees assume greater responsibility and feel a sense of pride and ownership in the organization

3. Quickly the lead generation process becomes predictable and pipeline has measurable flow.

4. Predictably our sales cycle time from lead to client status shortens, and is predictable with 80 – 85% of leads.

5. Regularly prospects ask us for IT Assessments and concise recommendations.

6. Predictably I enjoy a monthly speaking schedule


Resource List to EnergizeGrowth Please use this Amazon.com affiliate link to order: http://tinyurl.com/26wx3r Cycles – How We Will Work, Live and Buy, Maddi Dychtwald, 2003. Solid insights on what your teams will care about in the coming decade —and how you can inspire them to be their best. The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki, 2004. Guy knows intimately how passionate entrepreneurs fuel growth and define new markets. Win a prize if you can find my name listed in the book! Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution, Geoffrey A. Moore, 2005. If you find yourself over-investing in ‘non-core’ areas of your business and falling prey to price wars, this book is a must read. The Discipline of Market Leaders, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersma, 1995. A classic. This helps clarify where to invest your limited resources and communicate your areas of focus. Contagious Success, Susan Lucia Annunzio, 2004. Susan and her team completed extensive research that proves passionate teams drive higher profits. Great examples and a list of common habits and behaviors among leading companies. Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, Fawcett Columbine Publishing, 1937. A timeless classic to train your mind to feel prosperous and successful. You will learn from wealth masters and attract strong allies if you read this book several times! Use for implementing Strategy #4. Just Enough: Tools for Creating Success in Your Work and Life, Laura Nash & Howard Stevenson, White Paper, February 20, 2004. Guaranteed to expand your vision of success through these volatile times. Great reference for building your Success Wheel™. Results Based Leadership, Dave Ulrich, Jack Zenger, Norman Smallwood (www.rbl.net). Learn practical models to measure what you care about from the perspective of your customers and other stakeholders. Corporate Canaries: Avoid Business Disasters with a Coal Miner’s Secrets, Gary Sutton, Nelson Business Publishing, 2005. Gary’s time-tested leading indicators will spare you costly planning and marketing mistakes. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, Timothy Ferris, Crown Publishing, 2007. Learn the practical secrets of a new subculture of professionals who have mastered their use of time and mobility to enjoy their lives TODAY. The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life, Lynne Twist, 2003. Well worth the investment to learn the three toxic scarcity myths. It will also help you define your own balance between “earth” and “economics” in your life, and how you bring that balance to organizations you lead.

http://tinyurl.com/26wx3r

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http://www.rbl.net/


About Your “Chief Energy Officer”... Lisa Nirell of EnergizeGrowth LLC is a Certified Action Plan Marketing™ Advisor and is qualified to assist you in developing and implementing your growth plan. All Certified Advisors are trained in a comprehensive program and adhere to the highest ethical standards. Through her research of highly successful business owners, 24 years of experience, and highly interactive learning programs, Lisa helped clients secure $84M in new business within just three years. She is an award winning business columnist for several magazines--including The San Diego Transcript, Vistage (formerly TEC International), AFSMI's SBusiness Journal, Women in Technology, and Renaissance Executive Forums. Call us to learn how you can benefit from the EnergizeGrowth systems, and request your complimentary Marketing Energy Audit (a $350 value).

Post Office Box 3340, Sunriver OR 97707 USA phone 541-593-8787 www.energizegrowth.com

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“11 steps to energize your business growth” · 2018-11-15 · 11 steps to energize your...

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