As the CEO of a technology firm, you’re undoubtedly bombarded with of advice. Everyone from your CFO to your accountant seems to have an idea to help you grow sales, achieve revenue targets and provide job security.
Whose idea is best?
Which are a waste of time and money?
Where do I start?
What is the priority of each?
But with plenty of ideas comes confusion. So in this holiday season, dear reader, I wish to take a very different approach — I hope you like it.
The question at hand is this: “If I was appointed CEO tomorrow, what would I do?” My goal is to develop a checklist of five action items you can save, print and check off as you complete them. In each one, I’ll provide one or more links where you can find help, technology, etc.
Sound good? Let’s dive in. It’s the morning of Day One for me.
“Hey, team. It’s great to be here. I’m really looking forward to working with each and every one of you.
Unfortunately, the last few quarters have not been good, so the board elected to bring me in. I certainly can’t do it by myself, so I hope you’ll join me and we’ll do it as a team.”
“Ok, team, here are the five things we’re going to do immediately.”
- We’ll recraft and strengthen our Value Proposition.
Today our marketing content and website are too product-specific. We’ll refocus on the measurable, compelling business results executives get from the use of our offering — particularly how we help them solve problems, achieve a goal or satisfy a need.
(For help in crafting your value proposition, please contact expert Jill Konrath.) - We’ll implement a world-class demand generation process.
The only way we are going to consistently deliver results is by engaging our target customers in a way that makes us a trusted advisor over time. Only by keeping sales funnels filled with high quality leads can we consistently sell. This is so important, I’m putting a major focus on this — either promoting one of you to lead this and training you or hiring someone from the outside.
(For help and advice on your demand generation process, please talk to Eloqua.) - We’ll turn our website into our best salesperson.
We’ll fill it with thought leadership: White Papers, Case Studies, Podcasts, Recorded Webinars and Customer Quotes and videos. Then we’ll greet visitors as if they were coming into a physical store.
(For help and tools, talk to Jill and Genius.) - We’ll re-map our selling process — aligned with how customers actually buy.
We’ll bring in our best sales reps and create a spreadsheet with two columns. The left column will be our selling process — step by step with measurable actions. The corresponding right column will show the customer’s buying process — step by step with the actions they take. Then we’ll use technology to track velocity through and shape of the funnel.
(For technology and advice, please visit Landslide and CSO Insights.) - We’ll Network.
Last but not least, guys — I’m going on the road. Face it — there is no substitute for face to face discussions: I’ll talk to Customers, Thought leaders and Experts. I need a close and trusting relationship with my Board of Directors. And we need publicity, so I’d talk to the Press. I’m personally going to meet and have a quality conversation with each of them. This is purely up to me.
“I believe we can accomplish the first 4 items in our first 90 days — but it will be very hard work and take real dedication. But with your help, we’ll turn this company around and make it a fun and profitable place to work for years to come.”
