Successful companies do not hesitate to use Strategic Planning consultants to help them build and improve their competitive advantages. These companies understand the importance of making smart strategic decisions and are not afraid to challenge the status quo. Are you one of those companies?
The Marketing Resultants Group can help you figure out where to take your firm, and exactly how to get there. We work directly with company leadership, guiding the firm toward defining and achieving its important business objectives.
We start with a detailed assessment of your firm gained from a thorough and proven process that gives you confidence we know you, your people and the market conditions that you are operating in. Armed with this current assessment, we work with your leadership to craft a rich and compelling plan for the company’s future, including vision, mission, goals, strategies and actions for execution.
Areas of expertise areas include:
- Revenue and profit growth plans
- New market and geographic area expansion plans
- Comprehensive management assessment and operations audits
- Client research and client perception surveys
- Brand development: positioning, unique selling proposition, story and tagline
- Financial and operations benchmarking analysis
- Strategic business plan development and planning meeting facilitation
- Business development training and management systems design
- Executive coaching and leadership development
- Corporate governance and organization structure development
- Market research and analysis
- Client perception surveys and client feedback analysis
Big companies have the managerial resources and expertise to put a Strategic Planning group together that is devoted to developing and implementing smart growth strategies for the company.
However, small companies and small businesses are in quite a different position. They lack the resources and expertise a larger business would have and the management team cannot be solely focused on strategic planning, at the risk of neglecting to take care of the day-to-day aspects of the business.
This does not mean that a small company should not do strategic planning to set a course for the future. On the contrary, especially small companies need to be careful about where and how to deploy their limited resources to get the best ROI. It’s a matter of using their manpower best.
A Strategic Planning consultant can provide the expertise and manpower to a small company, guiding the planning process to be more thorough, objective and rational… and effective.
Strategic Planning Consultants Add Value
Strategic Planning meetings run by the CEO or another member of the executive team usually turn into staff meetings. The right questions are never asked, the status-quo does not get challenged and group-think goes unchecked. Sensitive issues are carefully avoided, past failures get swept under the carpet, and organizational weaknesses do not get discussed, let alone fixed. Different strategic options are not thoroughly explored, preventing the organization from identifying new growth opportunities and reaching its potential.
A Strategic Planning consultant brings experience, knowledge and a fresh, objective perspective – independent from the company’s culture, politics, sensitivities, and group think. The consultant facilitates and drives major strategic initiatives and serves as a sounding board for management from an objective viewpoint.
Business owners may not be comfortable about bringing in an outsider. With that in mind, it’s not unusual for a consultant to be brought in quite late in the game, sometimes too late.
When companies finally decide to seek advice from a consultant it is often because the business has deteriorated significantly or has been stagnant for years. At this point, valuable time has been lost and it’s likely that there are fewer opportunities left to turn the business around.
The Consultant’s Role
Companies that understand how to get the most benefit from working with a consultant want their consultants to be candid, conduct a critical evaluation, make recommendations and help plan and create change. The last thing you want is a consultant who rubber stamps the status-quo.
It is the consultant’s job to work closely with management in obtaining and analyzing information and making smart business decisions. That requires developing a deep understanding of the company’s culture, leadership, market position, strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities.
Here are the key things you should expect from a Strategic Planning consultant:
Provide a Process – The Strategic Planning consultant should provide a proven, effective process to analyze and understand the organization, its competitive position and a method for developing solutions.
Asking Probing, Challenging Questions – The consultant cannot and should not avoid stepping on toes. It is essential to the success of the Strategic Planning process that the key issues are exposed and discussed in a mature, professional, objective and rational manner. There is no room for sacred cows or taboo topics; anything and everything should be open for discussion.
Challenging the Status-Quo – The company’s performance cannot be improved if the status-quo is never challenged and management is not willing and able to discuss, let alone implement, change.
Conducting an Honest, Candid Assessment – Consultants can and should call it as they see it. They must openly discuss organizational, individual or group weaknesses with the executive team.
Keeping What Works – Every business has its strengths as well. A consultant should recognize these strengths and focus on preserving the successful elements of the business.
Identifying and Addressing What Doesn’t Work – The most important thing the consultant must deliver is objective information about the company’s weaknesses and what’s not working and what that means to the options the company has available.
Linking Strategy with Execution – The purpose of Strategic Planning is not to create a big, slick, impressive document that sits on the bookshelf, but to develop a detailed action plan for achieving growth that is ready for execution. Without skillful implementation of the plan the company is no better off than it was before the Strategic Planning effort.
A Strategic Planning consultant can bring a fresh, independent perspective, expertise as well as hands-on manpower to a strategic planning effort. Next time your small company is thinking about developing a strategic plan, consider hiring a Strategic Planning consultant.