by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 20, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy
All executives understand the significance, for their company and for their career, of creating and implementing strategy. Because of the significance of strategy, and because strategy forces executives to confront the future, many find it scary.
Savvy executives understand that not all business challenges can be resolved from inside their organization. Savvy executives rely on external experts or strategic advisors to know their internal business, know the external marketplace, and have the domain expertise to combine this knowledge into strategies that will work for today and the long term.
If you have ever thought about getting some help from the “outside” but weren’t sure of the value it would create for you and your organization?
Here are 5 reasons why you should use a strategic advisor:
1. Strategic Advisors fill the “holes” in an organization that exist in a particular discipline, experience level, or accumulated knowledge base. As a result, they can speed decision making, time to market, or cost reductions with proven solutions and without the pain of trial and error.
2. Strategic Advisors offer a viewpoint based on facts and real experiences; not on politics or prejudice. The advice they can offer is “agenda free”. Yes, the truth sometimes hurts, but savvy leaders know that the intellectual honesty that a strategic advisor brings drives innovation and growth.
3. Strategic Advisors know when to stretch the targets. Whether cost reduction, sales growth or both. They have the experience to know when to step on the gas and when to apply the brakes…without driving you off the road. Their external expertise can put you and your team in a position to be successful for the short and long term.
4. Strategic Advisors are always “up to speed”. They have a niche, know it well, and spend time and resources keeping abreast of the trends and the companies driving those trends. This “multiplier-effect” cannot be duplicated internally without a significant addition to headcount and expense.
5. Strategic Advisors are extremely cost effective. They allow you to buy the highest level of experience, personal network and know-how, applied to your toughest challenges, for just the right amount of time.
Combining the best from inside your organization with the brightest from the outside is a winning formula. Smart business leaders solve this equation time and time again and reap the benefits listed above.
Fronetics Strategic Advisors is a leading management consulting firm. Our firm works with companies to identify and execute strategies for growth and value creation.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 19, 2015 | Blog, Data/Analytics, Strategy
Understanding your financial metrics at a granular level is important in that it allows for a true understanding of what is happening, and what is not. It enables you to drill down and appreciate, for example, similarities, differences, and outliers. Being informed at a granular level enables better decision-making when it comes to determining how to increase profits. How often does one need to look at these metrics and how does one evaluate and react to numbers?
The frequency with which to look metrics depends upon the area of business. For example, inventory flows and manufacturing output should be looked at on a daily basis. Your sales pipeline, on the other hand, should be looked at on a weekly basis, and your financials should be looked at monthly.
Once a schedule has been established, the question is what to do with the data – how should the data be evaluated and when is it time to act? The reality is that there is no hard and fast answer to this question. When to act is dependent upon the type of business, its typical cycle, and the company itself. It is therefore important to develop a database that captures your metrics. This database should be updated with the same frequency that the data is collected (see above for suggested frequency). A historical database will enable you to quickly identify a data point that is deviating, positive or negative, from the historical. When this happens, it is time to act.
Fronetics Strategic Advisors is a leading management consulting firm. Our firm works with companies to identify and execute strategies for growth and value creation.
Whether it is a wholesale food distributor seeking guidance on how to define and execute corporate strategy; a telematics firm needing high quality content on a consistent basis; a real estate firm looking for a marketing partner; or a supply chain firm in need of interim management, our clients rely on Fronetics to help them navigate through critical junctures, meet their toughest challenges, and take advantage of opportunities. We deliver high-impact results.
We advise and work with companies on their most critical issues and opportunities: strategy, marketing, organization, talent acquisition, performance management, and M&A support.
We have deep expertise and a proven track record in a broad range of industries including: supply chain, real estate, software, and logistics.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 18, 2015 | Blog, Leadership, Marketing, Social Media
In one of the most infamous social media gaffes, the insurance giant Aflac fired its widely-recognized spokesman Gilbert Godfrey after he tweeted insensitive comments about the Japanese tsunami in 2011. The rapid growth of social media has created a gray area for employers and employees alike in the space where personal and professional meet, to be certain. But, social media has also presented some of the greatest opportunities for marketing growth since the introduction of the internet. Even so, companies have been slow to relinquish control and absolute authority of their brands on social media. Those that have embraced employees as brand ambassadors, though, have seen mighty returns on their efforts.
A few years ago when Sodexo set out to transform the way it uses social media, no one could have foreseen how successful the initiative would eventually become. Through a series of intentional moves, the company empowered its employees to use social media to extend its brand. In short, Sodexo shifted its social media efforts from strictly marketing to the education and empowerment of employees. Its expanded marketing efforts engaged and mobilized its entire workforce as brand ambassadors. As an example, to find and attract top talent using existing employee connections, Sodexo crafted a targeted social strategy. The company identified employees who were frequent social media users with many connections and tasked them with social job sharing – in other words, employees were asked to use their personal social media accounts to advertise job openings to their collective social connections. In just three years, Sodexo grew their average job opening pageviews per month by over 1,100%.
So how can your company foster a similar online community of connected and engaged employees? To begin, listen and observe. Monitoring the activity of both your company’s social profiles and that of your employees will help you to understand how employees are currently using social media to interact with your brand. From there, you’ll be able to identify employees that are heavy users of social media and which employees are online community influencers. Note what topics and social networks drive the most engagement. Use this initial research to set benchmarks and goals for progress. After you’ve completed the review of your company’s social landscape, you’ll have a clear picture of where the greatest areas of opportunity lie and who to tap for help.
Successfully reframing your employees as brand ambassadors through an intentional social strategy requires creating a culture that empowers and incentivizes employee participation. It’s important to clearly articulate your company’s overall social strategy, but much more important to link its goals and objectives to employee job functions. Employees are much more likely to participate if what you’re asking them to do is seen as complementary, not supplementary to their workload. To encourage informed participation, provide training for your social media brand ambassadors. For example, you could invite a local college professor to present at an internal workshop outlining how to write content specifically for social media. Or, mine existing internal resources by tapping your communications department to lead an introductory corporate digital communications webinar for social brand ambassadors. Creating an informative and sustaining dialogue with your employees will be key in determining whether or not your efforts will be successful.
Once you’ve empowered your employees with the appropriate resources and knowledge, motivate them to participate online. Ask brand ambassadors to follow your company pages, promote company events or initiatives, and share company-posted content. Assign them as group moderators of online communities. Request their contribution as subject matter experts for blog posts. Whatever it is you decide to ask of them, it’s critically important that you regularly engage them. Companies that consistently treat employees as partners in social media by marrying the personal and professional growth of employees stand to gain significant benefits.
Back at Sodexo, a quick glance at the company’s social media profiles reveals a thriving online community driven by employee participation. The Sodexo Facebook page shows a wealth of employee comments and posts, links to employee blogs, and corporate posts highlighting employees. The company’s Twitter account is populated by dedicated hashtags for employees and tweets about employee participation in one of the company’s social initiatives. It’s clear Sodexo’s employees are enjoying the perks that come along with engaging online with their employer. Meanwhile, Sodexo itself is expanding brand awareness, enjoying improved internal communication, increasing sales, and attracting top talent – simply by empowering its own employees to become ambassadors of the brand.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 17, 2015 | Blog, Leadership, Strategy
Although our economy has rebounded since the 2008 downturn we have come to realize that the days of abundant resources are gone. Our current and future economic reality consists of scarce resources and a shrinking opportunity base. Managers face the challenge of expanding their business and reducing their spending, while still making meaningful progress now and into the future.
Whether you are a small, mid-market, or Fortune 500 company, you will recognize the challenge of reconciling your management needs in the face of budget reductions. Doing things the same old way is not effective. You need a way to quickly turbo charge your business without breaking the bank. The question remains — how? Leading companies have used a secret weapon against these challenges for years: interim management services strategy.
Here are 4 questions to ask yourself to determine if interim management services are right for you:
- In your current or last budget cycle have you been asked to raise your profit targets with flat or reduced expenses?
- Do you have a customer or market segment that is a good fit for your company, but you don’t have the resources or time to explore, define and win that business?
- Do you need management expertise in a specific area, but don’t want to make a full time hire or can’t afford to make one?
- Do you have a window of opportunity to make a meaningful business move but can’t afford the ramp up time or learning curve to make the most of it?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, an interim management services strategy is a weapon you should think about using too. Think of it as “management as a service”. A model designed to provide specific executive, management, sales or operational expertise when and where you need it, for exactly as long as you need it, at a fraction of the time and cost expense of hiring, assimilating and assigning a full-time professional.
Interim management services allow you to make meaningful progress in your strategic initiatives without incurring a large upfront investment in time, people, or budget. It allows you to easily navigate unique challenges, fill leadership voids during transitions, or obtain expertise on special projects and initiatives. It’s effective and efficient talent, when you need it, for how long your needs exist.
Add an interim management strategy to your strategic arsenal and watch your business grow.
Fronetics Strategic Advisors is a leading management consulting firm. Our firm works with companies to identify and execute strategies for growth and value creation.
Whether it is a wholesale food distributor seeking guidance on how to define and execute corporate strategy; a telematics firm needing high quality content on a consistent basis; a real estate firm looking for a marketing partner; or a supply chain firm in need of interim management, our clients rely on Fronetics to help them navigate through critical junctures, meet their toughest challenges, and take advantage of opportunities. We deliver high-impact results.
We advise and work with companies on their most critical issues and opportunities: strategy, marketing, organization, talent acquisition, performance management, and M&A support.
We have deep expertise and a proven track record in a broad range of industries including: supply chain, real estate, software, and logistics.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 13, 2015 | Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
With LinkedIn this month reporting a 33% year-over-year growth of revenue and a 21% increase in membership, it remains solid in its role as the primary social network for business. Data from outside the company confirm its dominance. A University of Massachusetts study published earlier this year examined social media use by the fastest-growing corporations in the U.S. and found that LinkedIn is the platform of choice (94%) for America’s top companies. There’s little doubt that the 380 million member social media giant has transformed the relationship between companies, its customers, and its employees. But with so many potential connections and opportunities for engagement, how can your company squeeze the most out of its efforts to connect with audiences on LinkedIn? Look to your employees.
Consider this case study in “smart ownership”. Aiming to increase the popularity of its Instagram account, the dedicated social media team at National Public Radio (NPR) did something unheard of – they turned ownership of its Instagram account over to its multimedia team. The team reasoned that aligning the organization’s visual strategy with a digital medium that’s innately visual could be the key to deriving the most value from the social network. In short, NPR recognized the value of extending ownership of its social media efforts to its employees.
Here’s why your business should leverage the popularity of LinkedIn and develop its own smart ownership strategy:
Broadening inclusion of your company’s LinkedIn efforts beyond a sole person or dedicated social media team lets employees share ownership of your brand. A strategy informed, directed, and executed by a single team or person can sometimes be narrow in scope. Encouraging the participation of your employees expands perspective and gives your in-house subject matter experts a digital voice – one that might connect beautifully with your leads and prospects.
Encouraging your employees to engage with your company on LinkedIn helps your brand reach new audiences. Your company benefits in a number of ways when an employee connects with it on LinkedIn. When a new employee adds his new work experience to his profile, your company’s logo is displayed on his profile for each of his connections to see. When an employee likes, shares, or comments on the content published by your business, a notification is generated and seen by his connections. These seemingly routine updates or tasks, like personal LinkedIn profile updates, can turn into real opportunities to reach an expansive audience.
Engaging employees on LinkedIn creates trust and substantiates professional relationships. Several years ago, faced with the rapid emergence of social media, many employers chose to ban social media sites from company networks thinking that if they could prohibit the use of these sites during work hours, employees would be more attentive to their work and thus more productive. What we know now, is that these types of strategies stymy growth and propagate missed opportunities. The author of a 2013 study examining the link between social media and worker productivity has this to say: “… the ubiquitous digital connectivity altered workers’ sense of ‘presence’ and helped rather than hindered the effective completion of collective tasks.” The message here is two-fold: encouraging employee use of LinkedIn builds trust and increases productivity.
Promoting LinkedIn as a company-endorsed channel of distribution builds positive branding and marketing opportunities. Quite simply, who better to promote the work of your company than the employees who carry out the day-to-day responsibilities? And because people are far more likely to interact with individuals over brands, your company’s promotion by your employees is likely to drive more engagement.
Communicating with employees via LinkedIn can take your social efforts beyond marketing. While it’s true that most businesses use social media to ultimately affect their bottom line, not all social media efforts need to be strictly marketing. A robust LinkedIn community of employees can serve to both improve employer-employee communications and enhance the distribution of public information. Need to get your messaging out quickly? Use your employee base on LinkedIn to help distribute timely messaging or to clarify your company’s position on an emerging matter.
Building a successful smart ownership strategy isn’t about giving away ownership, but about building inclusion and better aligning existing resources. Businesses that encourage employee engagement on LinkedIn are well-positioned to build brand ambassadors out of those who know their business most intimately.
Fronetics Strategic Advisors is a leading management consulting firm. Our firm works with companies to identify and execute strategies for growth and value creation.
Whether it is a wholesale food distributor seeking guidance on how to define and execute corporate strategy; a telematics firm needing high quality content on a consistent basis; a real estate firm looking for a marketing partner; or a supply chain firm in need of interim management, our clients rely on Fronetics to help them navigate through critical junctures, meet their toughest challenges, and take advantage of opportunities. We deliver high-impact results.
We advise and work with companies on their most critical issues and opportunities: strategy, marketing, organization, talent acquisition, performance management, and M&A support.
We have deep expertise and a proven track record in a broad range of industries including: supply chain, real estate, software, and logistics.
