Client presented with challenges and issues specifically around sales and marketing. Sales results had been consistently dropping over time resulting in increased stress on the leadership team and a lack of confidence seeping into attitudes and beliefs. This caused a cascade effect on marketing strategies implemented with the leadership team lacking the confidence to test and measure new approaches preferring to stay with tried and true measures that were no longer effective.
The client was seeking input into how to create a shift in thinking at the leadership team level to open the team up identifying and implementing new marketing strategies and approaches in an endeavour to reignite sales.
Client Context
Industry: Professional Services
Turnover: $30M
Team Size: Leadership team of 7
Challenge
Decreased sales and lack of creativity and drive for marketing
Approach
Profiling
One on one Mentoring
Strategic Consultation
Marketing Brainstorming
Outcome
Sales improvement
New growth opportunities identified
Consulting team expanded
New effective marketing campaigns implemented
Data Insights
- Thought Code® Individual Profile
- Thought Code® Team Profile
- Thought Code® Organisation Profile
The rest of the leadership team was predominantly strong in their traditionalistic and absolutistic thinking which is based on a need to keep things the same and familiar and heavily driven by rules and order inhibiting their capability to think creativity, be bold, competitive and take risks.
- Willingness to be assertive and speak up
- Cultivating team dynamics through embracing diversity
- Following proven and workable processes
- Respecting authority
- Establishing habitual work behaviours to drive consistency
- Upholding the status quo
- Playing out if then scenarios to aide planning
- Brainstorming new ideas and areas for improvement
- Willingness to embrace change and adapt/li>
- Embracing collaboration as a leadership approach
- Listening skills to effectively understand others
- Utilising metrics and measurement to drive results
- Establishing criteria for success
- Driving aggressive growth strategies
Approach
Worked with the leaders individually and as a group to build creative and competitive thinking in a safe and respectful way. One on one mentoring was provided to each member of the leadership team to challenge each persons underlying attitudes and beliefs associated with change, adaptability, growth, and improvement. Blockers to creative and competitive thinking were eliminated at both the individual and team level.
Ran strategy sessions to brainstorm together as a group marketing strategies to test in the market. Ideas were proposed, analysed using success criteria and risk measures, to cultivate and embed long term strategies for the team to utilise in the future. Specific measures were identified for each marketing campaign to ascertain effectiveness and enable the team to pinpoint exactly where improvements could be made fostering a cycle of continuous improvement.
Outcome
Monthly sales targets were set at a higher level to drive a sense of urgency and action.
Sales started to increase by month 3 of the program with record sales being realised 9 months later.
Growth options became possible through expansion of their consulting team that could be better serviced and supported by the stronger marketing strategies being implemented.
Campaigns that were being run because “that’s what we’ve always done” were either improved or removed to make way for strategies that delivered outcomes.