Use these steps to avoid CRM implementation failure

A strong Client Relationship Management program (CRM) can be a major asset for your organization’s revenue generation engine. But… effective CRM implementation is OFTEN TRICKY and more often than not, it fails. Time and money is lost and frustration and blame leads to misery. There is a right and wrong way to implement CRM. Very…

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Your Firm is Your Wings or Your Drag

Thinking

Training, education, learning, knowledge, skills, or whatever you call it. If you are a marketing coordinator, a senior manager, principal or CEO, you seek more of this. And, you like to spend your time wisely. Most of all, you want something of value out of your learning investment. Yet, time and again, you experience little…

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For best results don’t just learn, learn right

As a staff engineer on the cusp of securing my professional license, my employer gave me opportunities to support new business pursuits. While I happened to be successful on the first few, I don’t give myself the credit. I give the credit to the owners and senior managers of the firm who gave me the…

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To broaden sales participation, the CEO must remove barriers

As a principal in charge of the largest division of a 130 person firm, a first step in implementing a highly efficient sales program was to make sure everyone knew the latest sales methods and spoke a common sales language. Since operations and finance managers were a potential barrier to broaden sales, all senior managers went…

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Creating change is a top-down imperative

Those who control person’s job status, salary and recognition within the firm have ultimate control.  Does this mean a CEO can order change to occur?  My observations are consistent with organizational behavior theory.  The answer is no, at least in the professional environment where I spent over 35 years of my career. What I have…

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Certainty blasts away career limits

You may be a CEO, or you may be a mid-level technical or business professional. Either way, to reach your goal with the certainty that you will be better off and happy, you first need to believe in the outcome of your decisions. Remember that certainty is built on belief. Olympic runner Roger Banister believed he could run a mile…

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Learning is not an “event”

Training, education, learning, knowledge, skills, or whatever you call it. If you are a marketing coordinator, a senior manager, principal or CEO, you seek more of this. And, you’d like to spend your time wisely. Perhaps you seek this to benefit your personal life, not just your professional life. But, often there is a disconnect…

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Prioritizing resources for growth

Small- and medium-sized professional services companies often have a hard time prioritizing resources for investing in their future.  And for those who understand that riding the new economy requires new skills, then the transformation into a learning culture is imperative. Analyzing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your organization’s significant influencers is an adaptation of…

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