I have a US-based company that is launching a product into china into the city transporation space. How would this marketing effort differ from a similar marketing effort in the US?

What are the most important qualities for senior executives to possess to be effective managers? The Harvard Business Review surveyed executive search consultants to find out what their clients most commonly looked for in a good executive management candidate.

What Companies Look for in Sr. Execs
43% of executive search consultants surveyed in 2008 reported that their client companies considered the number of years of relevant work experience to be one of the top reasons for hiring a particular candidate, whereas only 24% gave similar weight to the ability to collaborate in teams — and an alarmingly small 11% factored in a candidate’s readiness to learn new things.

Source: Harvard Business Review, May 2009

According to Harvard’s study, companies did not think that ability to grow revenue, innovative thinking, or past accomplishments was the most important factor, but rather years of relevant experience.

Another survey by Harvard Business Review found that most candidates for executive positions were not very well vetted by the hiring company.

How Well Vetted Is Your Senior Management?
In 32% of 500 companies surveyed in 2008, candidates for senior executive positions went through only 1 to 5 interviews, while 12% of firms subjected candidates to 21 or more. Shockingly, only half of those recruited for the top three tiers of management were interviewed by anyone in the C-suite. And fully half the companies relied primarily on the hiring manager’s gut feel, selecting a candidate believed to have “what it took” to be successful in any job.

Source: Harvard Business Review, May 2009

One of the advantages of hiring an interim executive manager, is that you don’t have to rush to hire an executive and your company can spend the time to carefully select the best candidate for an important executive position.

Do you think experience should be the primary factor that companies look for when hiring an executive manager? Are companies not performing due diligence when hiring for important executive management positions? What should be the number one quality companies look for in executives?

by Scott Philips, Interim Management Executive, OneAccord

We frequently hear the statement ‘what was successful last year isn’t working anymore, so what can we do to find the magic again?’ There really is no easy answer, but there is a process that will enable you to find success with your marketing initiatives.

1. Analyze the market

The better you know your industry, your customers, your competitors and yourself, the better you will make good decisions that give you leverage in your marketplace.

Some of the basics include knowing your S.W.O.T. – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal to your organization and Opportunities and Threats are external to your organization. Find places and ways to leverage strengths and to minimize weaknesses.

Another key is understanding where you earn your the greatest profits, as a percentage and in total dollars.

2.Target the best prospects

You have hundreds if not thousands of different target options for finding new prospects. The most important step in finding the right prospects is to ask the question ‘Which prospects are easy to acquire, difficult to steal, provide significant margins, in sufficient quantities and that will be loyal to you over the long run?’ These are your best prospects. And, they really do exist.

Identify them by industry segment, size, commodity, geographic region and any other means to clarify where you will spend your sales time and effort. For example, one of our transportation clients targets the shipping of eggs throughout the mid-west. They have found a market where they can be highly targeted, very profitable and in a space where they can be ‘the best’. And, their results are exceptional.

3. Focus your strategies for best leverage

The three key strategies commonly identified are a) market focus, b) pricing and c) differentiation. Unless you are the very biggest of companies where economies allow you to dramatically lower your operating costs, we recommend focusing on specific markets (market focus) or differentiation as your primary strategy.

Make your company strategy to be your defining mark and match your special capabilities to those prospective companies most needing those capabilities. Maybe you are ‘experts’ at designing special engineered solutions for your customers, concentrate on making that be the focus of your business.

4.Match the marketing elements to your strategy

Most everyone has heard of the four P’s of Marketing – Product/Service, Price, Place and Promotion. We don’t have space to go into detail here, but suffice it to say that these four marketing elements need to be consistent with your overall marketing strategy. If you are following a differentiation strategy then your marketing elements must match that strategy.

5.Develop a Unique Selling Proposition

This fifth step is simply developing a more refined definition of your primary strategy. The Unique Selling Proposition is the identification of one or two key things that make your company stand out in your customers’ minds. What makes you ‘unique’ to your targeted prospects? Examples of these include things like exceptional communications, simplified ordering process, ability to deliver products more quickly, or any number of other ‘special’ or ‘unique’ capabilities.

One key thing to note, your Unique Selling Proposition must be something your prospects really want from you. If not, they will look right past you to someone else.

Once identified, make sure that everything you do supports your unique selling proposition and let everyone you serve know what it is.

6.Create actions to deliver results

The next step is to list key initiatives and actions you need to take to make your marketing initiatives work for you. For example, maybe you need to review your pricing to see if your ‘extra services’ justify a price increase. The key to successful marketing is clearly identifying those actions that enhance your impact with customers.

7. Execute your plans relentlessly

The saying ‘a mediocre plan executed relentlessly will always outperform a perfect plan imperfectly implemented’ is absolutely true. More times than not, we find one of the key differences between a good company and a great company lies in their ability to execute on their plans.

8. Evaluate results

If you have executed your plans well, it is time to measure your progress. Evaluation of results is imperative if you are to improve. And, don’t just look at the numbers, also look at qualitative results. Talk to customers, vendors, prospects and even employees to see how well your plans are working with them. They will tell you.

9.Make adjustments to your plans

Finally, don’t just sit on your successes. Continue to refine and adjust your plans and actions in a continuous effort of improvement. The marketplace is in constant flux which means that today’s solutions won’t necessarily work tomorrow. Keeping a constant vigilance on your customer reactions and your competitor adjustments will help you win in the face of competition.

Nine simple steps will make all the difference in being an exceptional marketing organization with a consistent flow of new customers.

Interim management executive, Scott Philips, is a C-level executive based in Portland with over 30 years of diversified experience in enterprise wide leadership. He is recognized as an action-oriented leader with strengths in strategic management, business assessments, global brand building, business development and enterprise selling. Scott’s experience in analyzing market data, developing solutions and effectively executing plans have resulted in significant revenue growth in a number of companies in a wide variety of industries. He can be reached at 503.913.2705 or scott.philips(at)oneaccordpartners.com

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What are common objections from clients to Interim Management and how do you overcome these objections?

Objection: I have to hire someone after you leave which means we’ll be starting over from scratch.

Response: OneAccord provides a ‘front-end’ Revenue Review that is completed by 2 or 3 CEO-pedigreed Principals with proven revenue growth history. This work, coupled with their subsequent Rapid Revenue Plan will ensure the initiatives they implement produce results. And, OneAccord will not ‘leave’ an engagement until the transition to new, capable leadership is complete.

Scott Philips
Interim Management Executive, OneAccord
scott.philips@oneaccordpartners.com
(503) 913-2705

Objection: AS CEO I’m concerned about the impact of OA on our culture…

Response: OneAccord is there to deliver impact on transforming the revenue culture of a company for a finite period… typically 6 to 9 months. It’s important for the CEO and his management team to acknowledge that CHANGE is needed and to commit w OA leadership to defined roles to affect the necessary change.

Cultural change is always challenging. BUT the breakthrough is realizing there’s opportunity and seeing results.

The purpose of OneAccord’s principals is to help a company’s organization get through the change cycle of their business and transition the benefits of our experience, talent and skills to the company’s stakeholders. Our seasoning has brought us much hard earned wisdom in evaluating difficult changes and the effect on people’s lives in and out of the business. We strive to bring that perspective to the relationships and work we create with our client companies.

Peter Klinge
Interim Management Executive, OneAccord
peter.klinge@oneaccordpartners.com
801.755.6820

Objection: We could never have an interim overseeing our overall game plan, because they’d leave with our entire customer list!

Response: As mentioned in Leadership on Demand (www.Leadership-On-Demand.com) which I co-authored with Charles Besondy, interims are professionals, just like your accountant and your lawyer. Just as you’d not expect them to keep your confidence among competitors, good interims provide that same discretion. An interim CMO or CRO is working at the strategy and process level, not on any particular account. In fact, you incur greater risk any time you face disgruntled/outgoing account executives who not only take their (electronic) black book but also muddy the water with their comments to the rest of the staff!

Objection: It costs too much.

Response: It’s true – our work this is not inexpensive. But because our work is interim meaning short–term and the fact that we are focused on lasting trans-formation at the top and bottom lines, the returns we provide through our mutual effort during and after the engagement far out way the investment over time.

The advantage to you is a low risk controlled change that registers as sustained profits in a number of levels;
1. Leadership excellence
2. Process improvement
3. Sustained growth
4. Revenue acceleration & profits

The real advantage is the long-term growth and profit your company will gain due to our short-term engagement.

Objection: We’ve tried consultants before.

Response: Our real difference is we not only assess and develop a plan, but come align side, roll up our sleeves and work with you until sustainable change is owned by the leadership and employees across the company.

The advantage of this for you is; we are able to walk away and you receive the full benefit of lasting change.

Because the organization is 100% involved with the change process (top down) it (the company) now has the ability, through modeling, to produce ongoing needed change while continuing to grow and drive profit

Objection: Our company is different.

Response: We draw on our 40 plus stable of tenured leadership and C-level principals. Our first goal is to match your culture and needs to those of our OneAccord principals. This ensures the very best experience, needed tools and cultural fit for your engagement.

The advantage to this means we mesh quickly to your culture and business needs which allows us to move to solutions much quicker.

The real benefit of this is of course savings of time and money – at the very front end – which is exactly why we make sure the culture, experience and engagement fit is spot on.

Objection: I don’t have the leadership in place to support this.

Response: We believe people are your most valuable resource. We are always surprised at the talent we find inside the individuals on staff. One of our best values is to help you identify and grow.

Allowing the right people to rise as leaders sends a clear message through the organization – new energy is released, new ideas are born and leadership transformation begins.

To have a united, focused and energized leadership team takes the pressure off you! You in many ways will be freed to do strategic, visionary and key guidance activities.

Objection: These kind of initiatives never last.

Response: Our overall transformation goal (or specific project goal) is to build and install processes which have identified owners who carry authority, responsibility and show the desire to maintain and even improve the processes over time.

Top-down / bottom-up Ownership is key to the success of all of our engagements. The advantage of sustained change is that you can now shift your attention as a key leader to future growth and profits and rely on “employee ownership” to sustain your processes.

Letting go of the daily tactical challenges fees you to tap and release the leadership value which is called for from your position.

Lasting change is about buying-in from top to bottom. Our processes provides buy-in from leaders to teams and individuals. – There is nothing more powerful than a volunteer army! Can you imagine the success we’d have if this was true in your company today?

Eric Fry
Interim Management Executive, OneAccord
eric.fry@oneaccordpartners.com

by Michael Pearce, Interim Management Executive

There are a host of pains organizations inflict on themselves that present clear and present dangers to their very viability. Among those we often see are:

• Goals and objectives that are out of sync with job descriptions and employee expectations

• Compensation plans that don’t reflect the will of the organizations executive leadership

• Management who believes it is their prerogative to manipulate sales compensation plans, changing quotas, territories and commission schedules mid-stream

• Sales automation/CRM systems that are installed to provide management reporting with sales productivity as a by product

• Few understand the complicated nature of channels, how to avoid conflict, and how to motivate organizations they don’t own, yet many businesses just can’t grow organically fast enough. Effective committed channels are a necessity.

So what can companies do?

• They must learn to hire for a season. Recognize that a significant percentage of employees will move on within a few years. Call it out confront it and embrace by designing the job description accordingly, and eliminate confusion and contention. Hire the very best for the tasks at hand. It’ll require a bit more thought and planning, but it’ll be worth it.

• Dedicate themselves to serving their employees and to making them successful; not managing them for compliance, rather leading them for significance; leading them rather than directing them

• Embrace technology. Many managers are digital immigrants leading digital natives. They resist it and demean it with comments like “I’ll never text”. We must immerse ourselves in it, admit our fears and frustrations, and join the ranks of the next generation who takes all this technology as a matter of fact and can’t understand why their management doesn’t.

• When we employ systems we must think first of the impact on the employee. Implement a CRM to make the sales people more productive, and have management reports as a byproduct. It’s the only way they will embrace it and the data will be accurate and timely.

• Hire scientifically. Success at a previous company is no guarantee of success with the next. It can no longer be acceptable to give an employee 9 months or longer to see if they will succeed. Thai’s as much as 1/3 of their tenure. They must be positioned to contribute much quicker.

• Build support tools like the company web site that personalize the web experience, allowing the inquirer to truly understand how your products and services can met his unique needs, and build it a way that leaves a thumb print behind so more and more can be turned into customers. It’s not the number of web hits that counts, it’s the number of customers that are generated.

• Have a mission statement that is meaningful, measure ideas against it, reward innovation, and create the opportunities that demand transformation versus incremental improvement.

• A soft economy can be the best time to gain market share. It’ll take a non-traditional approach, but embracing a win/win mentality, a servants heart for employees success, an acceptance that each employee really wants to make the best decisions possible, combined with an ability to accept effort and failure will help turn a business, even where the economy is having a negative impact, into a consistent winner.

Michael Pearce is an experienced interim management executive and has worked with several leading companies such as Citicorp, Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, Singer and EMC. His expertise is in building high performance sales teams and generating revenue and margins with repeatable, dependable, and predictable results. You can contact Mr. Pearce at michael.pearce@oneaccordpartners.com or at 425.830.4156. He also blogs at http://michael-pearce.blogspot.com/.

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Will the recession lead to a lasting change in buyer behavior (in B2C) or will consumers revert back to old buying habits when the recession ends?


I think it will be all over the map. If you are an individual who prefers to buy a Pontiac, you will not have the choice of returning to your old buying habit. But this really isn’t the answer to the question, it only serves to demonstrate a point. The recession will change what options may be available and will certainly impact individuals perception of risk. Buzzwords such as value and frugality are currently in vogue. High end shoppers have most recently preferred that their newly purchased items be packaged in generic, no name bags. Along with an economic crisis there is a big spotlight on the condition of the environment. Living with less is being paralleled with a commitment of making less of an impact on the environment. There appears to be so much chaos occurring in the financial markets that a focus on individual financial fiscal management appears to be a focus for “not only” the more prudent/educated and knowledgeable types, but there appears to be a concerted effort on the part of the various government agencies to protect the less informed and uneducated populace. The surge of activity related to finding economically viable alternative energy will yield many new options for transportation and basic energy grid requirements. I don’t believe that we’ll go back to vehicles of the past just because we get pockets of reprieve from OPEC.

Bottom Line – Don’t rely on consumers to revert back to their old buying habits because by the time the option exist, they’ll probably forget what those “old” buying habits were. Will people start buying houses again, certainly. Will new house designs and sales strategies be different from where they were 18 months ago. You bet. Will consumers in conjunction with government watch dogs take a more conservative approach to credit card debt? I think so.

Max Clough
Interim Management Executive
seattle@oneaccordpartners.com

From an investment perspective… I hear deal makers speak as though the recession is episodic and therefore that we’ll revert to previous approaches to buying/selling companies.

The fundamentals got distorted the last 10 years and the norm going forward for consumers to business leaders alike will be to create and consume goods and services of value that produce tangible benefits.

Peter Klinge
Interim Management Executive
peter.klinge@oneaccordpartners.com
801.755.6820

Our basic economic order is built on a Keynsian Economic model – basically a “debt mentality”. As long as our economy has access to capital…it will spend. Yet, given the radical financial changes, a conservative approach will likely influence consumers, and more importantly businesses, for years to come. Ultimately – debt, yes, same old habits…not for a long time.

Jeff Rogers
Interim Management Executive
jeff.rogers@oneaccordpartners.com

This economic downturn is termed a “recession” but there are structural changes that make the “recession” different. There are some fundamental & dramatic shifts in banking practices (% equity to credit) that will change real estate and purchasing requiring loans. Also credit card companies are actually losing money due to non-payment so expect a tightening on credit applications, more discipline on payment dates & higher interest rates to offset non-payment losses. So bottom line as people go back to work & their disposable income recovers they will go back to previous low dollar consumer habits, but on higher dollar purchases requiring credit there are structural shifts in the credit providers that will ultimately restrict demand on goods and services permanently changing their habits. What we will not know for awhile is the degree of negative affect this structural shift will have.

Dale Hintz
Interim Management Executive
dale.hintz@oneaccordpartners.com
972-824-6923

Consumers have changed. They’ve been shocked by the reality of their situation – trees don’t grow through the sky…everything has a topping out and consumers now see that they are broke!

Consumption will be less conspicuous and savings will continue to grow as a percentage of GDP.

Jackson Weaver
Interim Management Executive
seattle@oneaccordpartners.com

There are specific situations that arise in organizations in which hiring interim management is most valuable to the organization. The book Leadership on Demand by OneAccord Principls describes 7 scenarios when an interim manager can make a significant impact on the bottom line.

1. Significant revenue or marketing event is in jeopardy

A significant revenue event could include an upcoming valuation, fiscal year-end, or a pending merger. Bringing in an experienced interim executive can give the organization a “shot in the arm” to help meet revenue goals when they carry additional significance.

2. Totally new strategies or programs must be implemented or tested

According to David Altounian, CEO of iTaggit.com, “I’ve learned that interim leaders in marketing are particulary useful when we’re implementing a type of marketing strategy or tactic that is completely new to us”. When an organization is implementing a new marketing or sales strategy but lack expertise, hiring an interim manager with specific experience in this area can help successful implementation of the new strategy.

3. A gap exists in a key position

When a sales or marketing executive leaves your company, an interim executive can fill the position and maintain momentum until a permanent replacement is found. Since there can be great opportunity cost to leaving the position vacant for months, hiring an interim executive can be an ideal solution to fill the gap.

4. A specific skill set is needed, but not permanently

If you recognize that your organization needs a particular skill set, but the skill does not exist within the organization, an interim manager can be a great source for that skill.

5. Additional bandwidth needed, but not permanently

If your company faces a temporary need for additional bandwidth at the executive level, such as during a product launch or formulation of a new strategy, tapping an interim executive can be a successful method for temporarily increasing bandwidth.

6. Objectivity in a leadership position would be beneficial, especially during strategic planning

An objective and outside perspective can help an organization make decisions that are less affected by internal pressures, politics, and myopic thinking.

7. Hands-on coaching and training is required to elevate skill and process knowledge of existing staff

Bringing in an experienced interim executive can provide existing staff with beneficial executive coaching and training. Interim executives often have 20+ years of experience, and they can transfer their knowledge and advice to current executives.

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What are is your areas of expertise in sales and marketing as an interim manager?

My expertise is in sales and the business development side of the house. My gifts center around recognizing, pursuing, and closing revenue opportunities, and determining where revenue is sticking and unsticking that and assessing and building world class sales and business development teams. I help launch new products, I help launch new markets, and I help build declining or collapsed revenue growth into profitable growth for companies.

-Casey Leaman, Interim Management Executive
casey.leaman@oneaccordpartners.com

Although my marketing track record has both breath and depth, my primary focus has been on developing products and brands effectively and profitably. Most of my direct experience has been in the retail and restaurant area where I believe in creating, as a team, the total customer experience.

-Jim Fisher, Interim Management Executive
boston@oneaccordpartners.com

I focus on solving complex sales and marketing problems as they are associated with sales and marketing program development, product strategies and channel partner development strategies. My experience has been broadly in business to business and in business to consumer scenarios both in direct selling and in channel sales. My skills in the marketplace are focused primary in two vertical areas: manufacturing and financial services. I’m comfortable serving as an interim VP of sales and marketing or in standing by the leadership of your company and helping develop the sales programs that will deliver growth and top line revenue.

-Dan Garrison, Interim Management Executive
saltlake@oneaccordpartners.com

How does interim management work?
Interim management is the temporary hiring of an executive to provide management resources for an organization, often during times of transition or change. One scenario where interim management would be very valuable to an organization is when a marketing or sales executive leaves a company. Instead of leaving the position vacant while a permanent replacement is found, which could take months, they can hire an interim manager to maintain or grow marketing or sales productivity. There are several other useful applications of interim management such as bringing in an experienced executive to develop a strategy to overcome flat revenues and get the company growing again, or to provide the specific expertise to tackle a specific problem in sales or marketing.

How to Find a Interim Management Executive
Experienced marketing and sales executives with a proven track record are difficult to attain, even in a recession. You could tap into your network and find an executive that is currently out of work and who is willing to take on an interim role, pay a headhunter, or post the opportunity on a job board. But the best way to find an interim management executive is probably to contact an interim management company. These companies have a diverse network of experienced professionals with specific skill sets or experience to fit the specific needs of your company. They are also accustomed to working on interim engagements and are not just looking for a paycheck until they land their next job.

How to Set up the Interim Engagement
After you have found the right individual to take on the interim role at your company, you will need to establish the scope, goals, and compensation. Define clearly what the pain or opportunity you want addressed. Describe what a successful outcome of the interim engagement would look like. Discuss specifics such as expectations, limits of authority, and time they will be on site. You should also agree on the details of the compensation, whether it will be based on time or based on results such as sales growth over the next year.

To learn more about interim management, you can visit OneAccord’s website or email us at info(at)oneaccordpartners.com.

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How does a company find the right interim executive to fill a key interim role in sales or marketing?

There are a variety of elements needed in selecting the right candidates for interim sales or marketing roles. Certainly experience in the industry is a plus and having experience in the specific horizontals is valuable, however what stands out in selecting the right person are the characteristics that make up an ‘ideal’ Sales Executive or Marketing Executive.

We have spent several years and invested lots of money in determining the ideal characteristics of these key executives. Dr. Tami Hoogestraat, Psychologist, and I have modeled the characteristics of the top eight key roles (CEO, CFO, CMO, CSO, COO, CTO, Customer Service & HR) in organizations. We surveyed a large number of CEOs, Presidents and owners of businesses in small, medium and large companies and in a variety of industries. Our findings reveal that the characteristics needed for these roles are highly consistent, regardless of geography, industry or size of organization.

The executive in charge of marketing is somewhat different from the characteristics of the executive in charge of sales. But, frequently the senior executive must incorporate both sets of characteristics. Generally speaking the marketing executive must excel at problem solving and decision making, while the sales executive must excel at social and communication skills. In combination, both of these must be present.

So, following are the characteristics (in order of priority) for each of these important roles:

Marketing Executive:

• Customer Focus

• Formal Presentation

• Resourcefulness

• Creativity

• Persuasiveness

• Passion for Company

• Strategic Planning

Sales Executive:

• Customer Focus

• Persuasiveness

• Formal Presentation

• Boldness

• First Impression

• Extroversion

• Passion for Company

Our 3Sixty Leadership Assessment is the best way to determine if your team has the right characteristics to succeed in today’s difficult environment.

Interim management executive, Scott Philips, is a C-level executive based in Portland with over 30 years of diversified experience in enterprise wide leadership. He is recognized as an action-oriented leader with strengths in strategic management, business assessments, global brand building, business development and enterprise selling. Scott’s experience in analyzing market data, developing solutions and effectively executing plans have resulted in significant revenue growth in a number of companies in a wide variety of industries. He can be reached at 503.913.2705 or scott.philips(at)oneaccordpartners.com

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