Let's be honest, most of us have worked in jobs that met some but not all of our needs and strengths, for the right reasons at the time. How long were you comfortable in that position before you started to look over the fence for the next opportunity? Generally, we know within 90 days (and often a lot sooner) whether we've made a good move, or whether this is just an interim move. If you're an employer, that's incredibly frustrating and expensive. What works much better is to know the best profile fit for the job, culture and team at the beginning. Of course, that's true, and that's what everyone wants, yet, we don't have great ways of getting there, do we? Actually, in 2021, we do...yet most employers are doing it wrong. Does this story sound familiar?

Tried & True Method

Susie saw an ad on a local job board that surprised her. It sounded like her dream job in an organization (*Fabulous company) that had a great reputation in the community. She really liked her current employer and team, but this seemed to be a rare opportunity. She submitted an application.

Fabulous company's human resource specialist, Annette*, reviewed the incoming applications from the job board, and noted that Susan's application fit the keywords in the job description. She downloaded Susan's cover letter and resume, and added it to the growing pile. Annette had a goal to fill this position within 30 days with a qualified candidate, since her organization was tracking time to fill as one of the performance metrics for her department. She began contacting the applicants within 3 days of the position posting. Annette had 150 applicants to screen, and Susan was #39. Susan was at work when she got the call on her cell. She briefly identified a date/time for a screening interview.

When Susan jumped onto the virtual screening interview, Annette was welcoming, and provided a brief overview of the company and the role. She asked Susan why this was of interest, and to expand upon her background and skills for the role. She asked a few more questions, and then said that she would be in touch for the next steps soon. Meanwhile, Annette finished the screening interviews for the qualified candidates. Literally, it took three weeks to complete the screenings, resulting in 25 potential candidates. Annette contacted the hiring manager, Jared*, to share the 25 candidates to have him filter the list to a manageable number to interview - typically 5-10. She provided her notes from the screening interviews, resumes, and cover letters. This position involved leadership of a small work team, so that experience or ability was key to candidate fit.

Jared reviewed the 25 candidates within the next two days, and identified 10 that he thought were a potential fit. He asked Annette to schedule the interviews over the next two weeks. We were now four weeks into the hiring process for this position. Annette worked quickly to schedule the interviews, which happened to include Susan. When she got the call at work, Susan was in a meeting, and called Annette back as soon as possible. Susan's interview was now set at the end of next week, week six in the hiring timeline.

Susan's interview day was here. She was excited to learn more about the company, the reason for this opening, and the specific position expectations. Jared spent about 45 minutes with her, and there was a good discussion about the areas of need and Susan's fit to fulfill the requirements. Susan felt excited. Jared felt that she was a good candidate. He had three other candidates with high potential fit. Jared completed the interviews by the end of the following week, now seven weeks into the open position.

Ultimately, Susan was offered the position, accepted, and began with her new employer in November, ten weeks from the position vacancy. She had some questions about her new team within the first two weeks, but decided that she needed to learn about the organization and the team before she raised her concerns. A month later, her concerns magnified, and she spoke to her supervisor, Jared, about them. He acknowledged some challenges, and indicated that her role was to get her team moving in the right direction. Susan decided two weeks later to return to her former employer, where her old job was open.

A Better Method

Annette was informed by Jared that there was a new position vacancy in one of his departments. Annette asked Jared to complete a position assessment for the role online, which he did within 15 minutes. Annette reviewed it, compared it to similar roles, and created a job profile that aligned the position responsibilities to the behavioral and cognitive profile of a successful candidate. She sent the proposed job assessment profile to Jared, and he said that it was perfect. This was day one of the open position. Annette posted the position on the company's job board, along with a link for prospective candidates to take, to match behavioral profiles to the targeted job profile.

Susan saw the position posting, and was excited to consider this opportunity. Jane also saw the posting, and felt it might be an option of interest. Both submitted applications, cover letters and resumes, and completed the online position assessments. Within three days, Annette identified 150 prospective candidates, and she was able to review their behavioral profiles for a best match within 30 minutes. She identified 20 candidates to submit to Jared for consideration. It was day 4 of the position vacancy.

Jared reviewed the candidates, and their respective behavioral and cognitive match to the role. He decided to pursue 8 candidates that were a best match for interviews. It was day 5 of the position vacancy. Annette set up interviews for the candidates, and Jared was amazed at the caliber of candidates that he received. Each had a striking match to what he was looking for, although some were not a perfect match to the job requirements. He was able to easily align their match to the team, culture and organization in a way that he couldn't before. His final selection was Jane, who was excited to begin within two weeks. He selected her three weeks into the vacancy. 

Jane began in her role, knowing what was required, and how she needed to engage and transform her team. Since this was part of her appeal to the position, she was excited to create a plan, and see progress toward the team's transformation. The team also saw her passion, and was inspired by her leadership and commitment to a better future. Six months later, the transformation was well underway, the team had higher engagement scores, and some of the best talent had been retained, resulting in higher productivity. Jane and Jared planned for their next goals, confident that they would achieve them.

Power of Data

The future of talent optimization is here now, for leading companies who want to position themselves ahead of the pack. Consider the costs of the delays in the current process, and of missed hires. In this example, three to four weeks of a gap in leadership, often with team attrition, and lost productivity. When Susan left, the team wasn't surprised - they saw that she wasn't a fit quickly, and Jared lost credibility in the process. The cycle starts over - a painful and expensive process that is all too common.

It sounds like the process that Annette & Jared used was magic, and in some ways it was - the power of data magic, to drive better decisions. Annette used data analytics tools to select a better candidate to fit the role, while shortening the timeframe of the entire hiring process by more than three weeks. What's the value of three weeks in your organization? Typically thousands in lost revenue or talent. Finding better candidates, faster, improves your organization's talent pipeline, providing a strategic business advantage that leading companies have been leveraging for years. It's time for every business to explore the power of data in the talent pipeline, to save time and money, while improving results. It also generally costs less than the current flawed process!

If you're interested in your next career opportunity, and a prospective employer asks you to take a behavioral or cognitive assessment, have confidence that the employer is focused on creating the best fit in the organization, and absolutely consider them! Leading organizations know that matching the right behavioral match and skill set to a position opportunity is better for the new employee and the existing team, leader and culture. With the right fit, teams can achieve amazing results, and be well-positioned for the future.

If you're an employer, we're happy to give you a sample of the process, and share how it can turn your organization into a high-performing talent engine. With the right talent, your company is unstoppable. With the wrong talent, even the best strategy will fall short. The choice is yours, wherever you are in the U.S. Let's chat soon!

*Names used are aliases for a real company's experience, to protect privacy. 

Dawn Garcia is Principal and Founder of Pursuit of Excellence LLC, an independent business management consulting firm specializing in service-based businesses; delivering leadership, business and talent strategy, and performance execution. Experience the Excellence Driven® System and The Predictive Index® for your business, and achieve the results you need! Every business needs help sometime; great leaders get help early, realizing greater returns.

When you need help, consult the experts. We're here for you and your business! 

Your Success is Our Success

A new year brings new hope, new beginnings, and new plans for success. Is your business ready for a new year? As we talk with hundreds of business leaders throughout the year, we know there are two keys to business success - an effective business model, and the right talent to bring it to life. 2020 placed significant challenges on many business models. Did yours thrive? If so, how will you maximize it for 2021? Where else you can add value and meet your customer's needs? If you're not sure that you did, or if a little checkup would be helpful, then this is the first article you should read for 2021!

GETTING STARTED

John* is a local business owner who's been in business for nearly two years. He started his business as a life coach, as a side business, helping clients to understand and overcome their challenges, and build healthy sustainable habits. He achieved a coaching certification, knew the fit was right for him personally, and was ready to help clients. His coaching course covered a bit of the business model, focused on 45-minute coaching sessions over multiple sessions. Beyond that framework, John didn't know how much he could generate as a life coach, where to find his best clients, or how to develop and modify his business model, to evolve this into a full-time career. Let's explore through John's story how you can develop and build a sustainable business.

CUSTOMERS FIRST

John's first challenge was to identify who were his best prospects, what their pain points were, and where to find them. He began with a conversation with another life coach, to get a sense of what they saw in the market as needed, and what they delivered. This may seem odd, however it is actually a great strategy in the service sector, because everyone has some unique skills and characteristics that fit best with some needs, and not exactly with others. For the ones that don't fit well, simply refer those individuals to a colleague, and they will likely reciprocate. He learned the biggest pain points in his prospects, and it sparked some ideas of how he could differentiate his services from others in the market. He was getting excited! He also decided to ask his first initial clients a few questions at the end of their sessions with him, to learn where he could add more value, and potentially have them return in the future.

GETTING PAID

One of John's next decisions was how to offer his services, and the value respectively. While his coaching program gave him some general ideas, he also reviewed the websites of other coaches in the area, to learn what they were offering in packages and pricing. He wanted to be solidly positioned in the market, and not appear as the 'bargain-basement' option. He knew that he could bring great value to his clients, and he deserved to be compensated fairly for that value. He created three packages for the key services that he believed would be needed by his clients. He projected how many clients he would likely acquire in each category, and the associated revenue. He tiered his projections for growth over the first three years. He wasn't ready to move to this full-time yet, but as he added repeat clients who saw great value, he could see it happening soon. 

UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION

John was thrilled. He knew what he could offer, to whom, and how he would get paid. His dream of being a successful business owner, and doing the work that he loved was coming together. He could hardly believe it was possible!

As he was beginning to develop some marketing for the key services that he knew were needed, he paused to make sure that he could clearly differentiate his services from others in his local market. Then he thought, I'm not limited to the local market. I can deliver services anywhere through technology, and advance my reach and reputation faster and further! He migrated his virtual coach concept into his logo, business name, website, and service graphics. His brand was coming together, and he could see that this would help him be more memorable, and stand out from others. Flexible times, access, and locations were not the norm for others, yet he believed they would be better for client needs. He would integrate this flexibility into his service schedule and pricing.

BUSINESS EXPENSES

In John's business, he was fortunate that there was little overhead cost - largely his time and expertise. He established a marketing budget to build client awareness, a website, some social media campaigns, and participation in a local business network. He identified each of these as overhead expenses in his business model, knowing that they would not generate revenue, yet they were essential parts of his business design. He deducted these costs, both ongoing and fixed, from his projected revenues. He made sure to manage these expenses as a fixed percentage of his projected revenue. 

READY, SET GO!

John now had a great plan, knew what he needed to do, and how he would track his progress. He decided that he would track his progress monthly, and re-evaluate his business model quarterly for intended client volume and revenues. As he began to reach out to prospects, his first five clients materialized. True to his plan, he asked them what they liked most about his services, and what one thing might make it particularly valuable for them. One thing he learned was to show measurable results. When his clients saw measurable results on their goals, they were incentivized to not only continue on the program, but to share John's services with others. He thanked them with a referral incentive. John was on his way to living his dream career, and loving it!

Access a Business Model Canvas to build your 2021 plan here

ARE YOU READY?

John learned how to get his business ready to go as a relatively new business, but what about established businesses that have hit a rut? The same principles work. Start with a clear understanding of your customers needs, pains, and current options. This usually identifies gaps in the market that you can leverage. We often hear from clients who have thrown spaghetti against the wall without a solid plan. Results suffer. Then, they need a resource to restructure their business model, and overcome these mistakes. The good news is that an early fix can be a great learning experience. If you are facing customer demand challenges, pricing, talent or overhead challenges, take the time to have a conversation with a business consultant, and get the right fix now. Wasting time may cost you the business, and your dreams for the future. A conversation may create an even better dream! Here's to your dreams!

Dawn Garcia is Principal and Founder of Pursuit of Excellence LLC, an independent business management consulting firm specializing in service-based businesses; delivering leadership, business and talent strategy, and performance execution. Experience the Excellence Driven® System and The Predictive Index® for your business, and achieve the results you need! Every business needs help sometime; great leaders get help early, realizing greater returns.

When you need help, consult the experts. We're here for you and your business! Click the button below and let's connect.              

Your Success is Our Success

*John is an alias to protect the privacy of the business owner. 

We've been talking to lots of business leaders about life and their business trajectory over the past few months. A few common themes have emerged: early panic, checking in on customers and suppliers, and most recently taking stock of what may be working and what isn't anymore. If you have not revisited your value proposition to target what your customers need most, you may have missed an opportunity. Here's how to do that, for best results.

Know Your Market

First, you must know your customer market quite well. What are they seeking when they come to your business? How do they find you, versus others in the market? New competitors are always entering high growth markets. Existing competitors may be offering new services, or there may be fewer competitors surviving in tight economic markets. Your priority is to understand and update your value proposition to the changing market needs. A few areas to check:

Is your customer demand the same, higher, or lower?

What new issues are facing your customers? Do you offer a solution for those?

Are you still relevant and preferred, or is there a bright, shiny new competitor?

Have you talked with your customers about their biggest challenges, concerns or pain points? How can you best help them before someone else does? 

If your customer's biggest issue is not where you add value, you may be on the path to irrelevance. Take stock, revisit your value proposition, and make some changes. Always keep close communication with your best customers to build agility and value. The hardest part may be to listen and learn, yet smart business leaders listen, learn, and make effective changes as quickly as possible. Get started now, if you're not already in discussions. In fact, you're doing market research, which offers a huge advantage in the long run. Yes, it takes time and skill. If you're not comfortable or confident, hire an expert. 

Revisit Your Business Plan

Once you understand where the market may have shifted, it's time to revisit your business model. Does your business focus on current customer needs, pain and value expectations? If not, changes are needed. Have you reconsidered what you specifically produce that your customers want, and how much demand is present in the market? What is your market share position, and where are there growth opportunities? Take stock of your assets, and consider where you can reduce expenses and add more value. We recommend a review and modification of the business or strategic plan at least annually. 

Innovate & Focus

What can you do to help customers get more done faster, easier, or at a better value, targeted to their biggest problem? When you focus on the most important customer problem with a value-added solution, you've added to your value proposition substantially! Can you solve more problems, solve a more important one than before, raise the solution up a notch to create more desired value, serve more customers with the same problem, or solve the problem better than anyone else? These are your value proposition assets. Here are some examples of ways that you may be able to innovate and expand:

• Create a new solution for a given customer profile (avatar)

• Imagine a new product or service that you've not done before, but have the assets and ability to deliver in the future

• Create a new advantage for a certain customer profile

• Dramatically lower your cost structure to lower your costs substantially

• Build upon your existing capabilities, including patents, infrastructure, skills and user base

• Develop a new value proposition based upon a new partnership

• Develop a new value proposition that your competitors can't copy

• Create value based on a new technology trend, or turn a new regulation to your advantage

• Be first to apply an existing business model from another sector to your sector

Design, Test & Deliver

You've identified what products or services to tweak, change or deliver going forward. Next comes the design and build phases, of exactly what and how to deliver the new value proposition. What is your marketing strategy to reach new prospects? There are at least seven critical questions to assess your model design for value, sustainability and profitability, before you deliver. Take a few minutes to review your business model design assessment, and assess your value proposition when your market changes. We also recommend that you sample any product or service changeswith your target market to find out what works well, and what needs tweaks before you expand. Once you refine your offerings, you're ready to capture a broader market at a better ROI! 

Business Value Proposition Checkup 

If you aren't sure how strong your value proposition is, click on the Business Value Proposition link above, and take our Checkup Survey. If you see many areas of opportunity, we recommend that you follow the outlined process above, or contact us to help navigate the process faster and easier. The strongest businesses see downturns and economic challenges as opportunities to recreate themselves even better. That's our vision for your business...

Dawn Garcia is Principal and Founder of Pursuit of Excellence LLC, an independent business management consulting firm specializing in service-based businesses; delivering leadership, business and talent strategy, and execution expertise. Experience the Excellence Driven® System and The Predictive Index® for your business, and achieve the results you need!  Every business needs help sometime; great leaders get help early, realizing greater returns.

When you need help, consult the experts. We're here for you and your business! 

Your Success is Our Success

Now, more than ever, business leaders must deliver services with streamlined resources, yet still meet customer expectations. Smart systems can get more done with less. Use technology to automate the routine aspects of your business, for better reliability and value! Enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms were designed years ago to meet this very need. Now, they are essential tools for business efficiency. Using an integrated set of software programs helps to minimize tedious steps in the process, by having the software seamlessly sending information to carry out specific functions automatically. Sound terrific? It really is. Automating and integrating back end functions save time, money and headaches, while actually growing your business!

How it Works

What kind of activities can be automated through an ERP? Routine functions where information is passed from one individual or system to another are great ERP uses, either in a message, document, invoice, or other means, triggering an action. Here's an example: managing a sales lead through a sale. 

1 - Prospective customer lands on a facebook post, and is interested in connecting for more information. They click on the link, taking them to the website. 

2 - Once on the website, the prospect is welcomed by a chat box with a bot, who is able to reply and route answers to the top 5 questions from most prospects. The prospect clicks an area of interest, and a lead form opens. The prospect enters a couple pieces of info, and sends. 

3 - An automated email is sent to the prospect, thanking them for their interest, and offering to download the answer to their question. When the form is accepted, the prospect is added to the CRM, and is routed to a sales associate for a follow-up call on the next business day. 

4 - An automated thank you message is sent once the prospect downloads the document. Included in the message is a special offer to receive a 20% discount on a related service, available for a low monthly fee. The prospect is interested, and clicks "learn more."

5 - Selecting the "learn more" option opens a next message that offers the discounted service, at the referenced rate. The prospect only has to select yes, enter payment information, and can begin right away. It's a great offer. The prospect engages, and submits payment.

6 - Completing the payment window triggers the service subscription for the prospect, referencing the information in the CRM. Additional fields or information are populated based upon the payment form completion, and the subscription service is activated. An order confirmation email is sent to the customer.

7 - A monthly recurring invoice is established automatically, with routing of revenues realized to the business bank account. Invoicing is auto-generated, and sent based upon order criteria (monthly on a set date, or other selection). Your sales are seamlessly recorded on your business financials. 

8 - An update to the customer account is now posted for the sales associate with a task for their follow-up call on their daily task list, for the next business day. Your customer is amazed with the efficiency and value of your services and team, and offers a raving testimonial on your site!

Realize, the first payment has been ordered and received without any human contact, with services delivered when and how the customer wanted, with all related documentation retained in the systems involved, for easy report generation. This is how easy it is to provide some services to customers through technology, reliably, and efficiently. Your business operates like a large business, at a fraction of the cost. That's smart business operations!

Getting Started

There are some essential background and setup pieces to make the system work exactly as you need it. First, you need to have systems that are capable of integration across types of functionality. Second, you need to have the specific processes set up within each program, and connected by rules and automation. Third, you need to test each of the processes, and likely build some content in specific messages for prospective customers, to make it all make sense on the customer side. That said, an ERP system typically includes at least: 1) a sales/CRM cluster, 2) financial management & bookkeeping cluster, 3) communication/task/project cluster, and 4) people/human resource cluster. Often software systems can be integrated through APIs, where the systems are programmed to talk to each other. If this sounds amazing, but you're not a tech guru, then you'll need to work with a professional to set this up, or plan on spending months learning how to do it yourself. Either can work, depending on your time, skills, and patience, however your customer will get a better experience when you use experts, and it helps you leverage the benefits a lot faster. 

Systems & Resources 

Like most professionals in this space, we have preferred systems that allow us to set up workflow functionality reliably and efficiently, using systems that are easy to integrate, or are already built for this purpose. If you're interested in finding out how this could work for your business, click the ERP Evaluation form on the link below, and we'll evaluate your business for a software system fit for greater efficiency. There's no cost to check it out...Why not? 

ERP Evaluation - Find Out More

Change can be hard, and yet staying on the same path may be dangerous if the world around us continues to change. In the midst of major work flow and talent disruption, explore how you may be able to maintain high levels of work quality using technology supports. When you use technology supports for the backend work, you free your team from the tedium, and allow them to expand their skills along with business growth. Most businesses find that they can automate as much as 30% of the routine tasks. That's a huge competitive advantage. Let's connect on the link below and explore your next steps! 

Your Success is Our Success

Dawn Garcia is Principal and Founder of Pursuit of Excellence LLC, an independent business management consulting firm specializing in service-based businesses; delivering leadership, business and talent strategy, and execution expertise. Experience the Excellence Driven® System and The Predictive Index® for your business, and achieve the results you need! Every business needs help sometime; great business leaders get help early, realizing greater returns. 

When you need help, consult the experts. We're here for you and your business!