by Ian Smith | Feb 16, 2019 | Leadership
We all admire a leader who can simplify a complex problem into an understandable, simple, explanation of the essential elements. We are motivated by the leader who can set out a clear, concise solution to a complex problem. Ultimately, in the best companies this leads...
by Ian Smith | Jan 21, 2019 | Scaling
Over the last ten years, to assist owners of businesses, I’ve tried to tackle all aspects of scaling a business, whatever your starting point. We’ve addressed positioning, sales processes, marketing playbooks, product launches, executive compensation, saleability...
by Ian Smith | Dec 30, 2018 | Leadership, Management
If you are a private company owner CEO, you face enormous challenges to scale your business. I don’t mean just grow. I mean scale. Building control, predictability, alignment and safety into your growth. Successful scaling sees market share growth, margins...
by Ian Smith | Dec 17, 2018 | Sales Tips
Marketing teams have the skills and knowledge to add great value to their sales teams but often don’t. Whether a sales role is business development, focused on opening up markets, or myopically trained on a few strategic accounts, there is great insight to be...
by Ian Smith | Nov 19, 2018 | Customers
In the world of Business-to-Business (B2B) almost every sales process, business process or strategic plan is built on the premise that we know our customer. Of course it makes sense. The more we understand our customers the better we are placed to serve them. To...
by Ian Smith | Oct 28, 2018 | Leadership, Negotiation
In business and in life in general, the ability to move people to your point of view is a rare skill. I’m talking about setting out a better way forward that you passionately believe in, that cuts through bias with impeccable logic but addresses the emotion on...
by Ian Smith | Sep 3, 2018 | Exiting your business
Robotics, HR services and specialized manufacturing are just three of the recent sectors where our work has supported a premium exit of a private company. Executing operational playbooks across the spectrum of a company’s departments, over a sustained period of...
by Ian Smith | Aug 19, 2018 | budgets
As we rush towards fall and Q4, every business enters budget season. Large and small businesses alike, we dive deep into the annual ritual of agreeing an operating budget. You’ll see a million blog posts on how to create them. So instead I thought I’d...
by Ian Smith | Aug 1, 2018 | Uncategorized
Acquisitions are often a disappointment in the eyes of the acquirer (forget what the seller thinks for a moment). The deal objectives are often not met. The strategic benefits fail to materialize. Acquirers buy what’s up for sale instead of what really fits their...
by Ian Smith | Jul 20, 2018 | Project Management
We all believe we can multitask. We can’t. See this simple test and article explaining why. Link. That’s the first “landscape” point I want to make. The second point to make is that it’s much easier collecting related actions around themes. Let’s take a few examples....
