The Call:

When the CEO of a medium sized service provider called us, her complaint was her sales force couldn’t sell. Sales were flat and sometimes even decreasing!

The Diagnosis:

After meeting with her, the sales team, management team and conducting an analysis of the compensation plan it was found that:

• In many cases, the wrong people were involved in selling this service
• The comp. plan was sending the wrong message to the sales force
• The sales force was poorly trained

The Solution:

• A revamp of the comp. plan to meet organizational goals.
• A skills analysis of the sales team
• An ongoing training plan including group meetings and one-on-one field training

The Result:

More sales, more profitability and a saner CEO!

The Call:

The people at this advertising firm were simply working too hard. Everyone was harried, miserable and therefore unproductive.

The Diagnosis:

Once our team entered it was easy to see that there was no real marketing strategy for this firm. The marketing people used a “shotgun” approach and sales people were chasing whatever deals they felt they could get.

The Solution:

• A three day “lock down” with the management team to hammer out and define an actionable strategy
• The adoption of the corporate motto: “The money we make is in the deals we don’t do”
• Marketing and sales activities divided into targeted vertical markets
• Ongoing subject matter training in the various vertical markets

The Result:

The old cliché “working smarter, not harder”

The Call:

“We’re broke!”

The Diagnosis:

After understanding the company’s books, we learned that the CEO didn’t understand his own financials

• Money was being spent on the wrong items
• Proper cash flow wasn’t budgeted
• Many large expenses were producing no return
• Vendors were taking advantage of the firm with high prices and high interest rates

The Solution:

• An interim bookkeeper and CFO who could take all mystery out of the numbers
• Finally, the cost of sale was defined
• ROI demanded (and timetables created) for every large capital expenditure
• Budgets created
• Money found by renegotiating all vendor contracts and finding new vendors when necessary

The Result:

Less work for the CEO, management accounting installed, and increased margins

The Call:

When the owner of this media firm called us, he said: “we’ve been on the market for 2 years and no one is interested”

The Diagnosis:

• Company relinquished marketing efforts to third parties
• Company did not create and protect a strong brand
• Financials did not tell the correct story

The Solution:

• Company began a strong marketing and branding campaign
• Competitors began to take notice
• Financial modeling used to tell the true story of growth
• Financing terms put in place to make the sale “easy”
• An incentive system developed so that key employees could be retained by the new owners

The Result:

“Sold!”