HCG Hills Consulting Group, Inc.

Opportunity 1. Conscious Customer Focus.

The Problem. In some companies, a majority of employees feel the product or its production is the key to market success. They believe it’s the job of the salesforce and/or the distribution channel to move product. No detailed, written, philosophy of operations exists regarding how the firm expects employees and partners to treat customers. While customer satisfaction may be measured, customers are not the primary focus.

The Opportunity. Cultivating a greater awareness of and focus on customer needs can improve market success. A new hierarchy of values must be crafted, and organizational systems must evolve to support new values. Potential methods to generate an evolution in customer consciousness include leadership communication, new role definitions, different objectives and financial incentives, and ongoing training. Efforts to satisfy customers should be replaced by a passion to delight them instead.

Opportunity 2. Precise Market Segmentation.

The Problem. An organization has failed to segment its markets or has done so using variables such as customer or organizational demographics that do not clearly indicate purchase motivations. Market segments are not prioritized, and segment managers do not exist. As a result, the company cannot be forcefully positioned in each segment.

The Opportunity. Marketing performance can be substantially improved when companies employ advanced segmentation techniques. Better understanding of segments enables specialization of selling technique and sales message. The effectiveness of marketing messages is sharply improved.

Opportunity 3. Intimate Understanding of Target Customers.

The Problem. Revenue and market share are stable or dropping, and traditional customers do not seem to be buying like they used to. Meanwhile, a competitor’s share is expanding and customer complaints are on the rise. All are signs the firm doesn’t understand its target markets or the core of the markets has shifted. Market research may be non-existent or outdated, with the last consumer research conducted more than two years ago.

The Opportunity. A stronger understanding of target customers improves growth and market share. Consider sophisticated consumer research using advanced analytical techniques to chart customers' needs, wants, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors and thereby deepen understanding. Establishing customer and dealer panels, performing ‘best practices’ analyses, employing customer relationship management computer applications, and data-mining available company and customer databases may be good options.

Opportunity 4. Proactive Competitive Intelligence.

The Problem. Problems arise when firms focus exclusively on near or direct competitors and overlook the strategy and actions of distant competitors or emergence of disruptive technologies. Problems are compounded when collection of competitive intelligence is spotty, and there are no formal systems for communicating the most valuable knowledge to decision-makers.

The Opportunity. Firms should strive to learn and quantify competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, capabilities, and distinctive competencies and to benchmark against the best. Competitive options include hiring the best employees, tracking and forecasting the pace of technological development, or closely imitating competitors’ offers until true innovation is possible.

Opportunity 5. Positive Stakeholder Relationships.

The Problem. Relationships with channel partners, suppliers, employees, and investors are contentious. Stakeholders are unhappy with the firm and its performance. Distributors and dealers haggle over ever penny, employees file numerous grievances, good suppliers are unwilling to work with the company, and capital is difficult to obtain.

The Opportunity. Shift the firm’s philosophy away from zero-sum thinking. Strive instead to create mutually beneficial arrangements with all stakeholders.

Opportunity 6. Value Proposition Innovation.

The Problem. An organization is not proficient at discovering new opportunities for improving product, service, personnel, and/or brand quality. The firm has not innovated to lower the time, effort, monetary, and psychic costs customers must expend in dealing with the firm. New value proposition innovations have failed to be developed or have failed after introduction. As a consequence, market share has languished or declined.

The Opportunity. The company must conceive and implement a system for generating numerous new opportunities, rank new ideas, and choose the right ones to invest in to improve market preference for its value proposition.

Opportunity 7. Robust Marketing Planning.

The Problem. The marketing planning process does not reliably produce effective marketing plans and actions. The right elements for effective marketing are not created, and it is not possible to accurately estimate the return on investment of alternative ways to approach the market. Contingency plans in response to unforeseen marketing events are made up on the fly as circumstances dictate.

The Opportunity. Marketing and market performance can be markedly improved with effective marketing planning. A reliable marketing planning process yields insightful short, mid, and long-term plans. A formal process should be developed by executive marketing management that includes situational analyses; strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat analyses; identification of major issues; and formulation of objectives, strategy, tactics, budgets, and controls. The plans should be evaluated using sensitivity analyses and an annual competition held, with financial incentives awarded to the top performing plans.

Opportunity 8. Product or Service Rationalization.

The Problem. The core value proposition, consisting of products and/or services, is not properly rationalized for the market segments targeted by a firm. There are too many product variants or products with excessive feature content. Profits on many are shrinking or negative.

The Opportunity. Costs can be reduced and profits improved by dropping marginal product variants and rationalizing the feature content of other products. Advanced market research methodologies can identify product features that cost more than the perceived value they add to the value proposition. Core services can be reduced to a smaller number of levels and matched to the most desirable segments in the market.

Opportunity 9. Revenue from Secondary Services.

The Problem. The organization is giving away too many services, leading to increased operating costs. Opportunities to better and more profitably serve customers over the entire customer relationship life cycle are being missed.

The Opportunity. Increase revenues and profits by monetizing secondary or support services provided by the firm. For example, offer ongoing technical support as a secondary service component of the firm’s value proposition.

Opportunity 10. Strong Brand Building and Brand Management.

The Problem. The market is unfamiliar with the company, and its bases of competitive differentiation are not clear. The firm’s brand management and marketing communication capabilities are weak. Year-over-year marketing plans and budgets remain relatively constant with no change in proportion among the various marketing techniques employed. No rigorous promotional cost-effectiveness analyses are performed.

The Opportunity. Marketing performance can be markedly improved by better managing brand equity building strategies and regularly measuring of the results of promotional investments. Budgets can be allocated to the most effective marketing tools. Market managers can be required to justify budget requests by providing estimates of the ROI impact of each expenditure.

Opportunity 11. Effective Marketing Organization.

The Problem. The current organization does not possess contemporary marketing skills. Sales and marketing are frequently at odds with other departments. Sales and marketing act alone in their own best interests and are not well coordinated with other company functions. The firm is not well organized to perform marketing activities quickly and cost effectively.

The Opportunity. Reorganizing sales and marketing can yield faster, better and cheaper marketing actions. Clearly identify and rethink core marketing processes across the company and channels to help surface the best organization structure. As the structure is clarified, relationships improve, and initiatives to enhance marketing skills can be successfully employed. A new marketing leader can be appointed to further develop team spirit.

Opportunity 12. Optimal Use of Technology.

The Problem. The firm is not Internet-savvy and underutilizes information technology and telecommunications. There is little use of the Internet except for perhaps e-mail. No sales or marketing automation systems are in place. The organization does not use marketing decision-support modeling. Marketing data is spread widely through the organization with no centralized source for facilitating marketing decision-making. Marketing data that is collected is not presented in a way that facilitates understanding and interpretation, such as use of marketing dashboards.

The Opportunity. The quality and speed of marketing decision-making can be dramatically improved, and the costs of marketing can be significantly reduced, with the optimal application of information technology and telecommunications. These technologies are applicable to small, medium, and large organizations and include sales force automation, marketing relationship management customer service and support, appointment scheduling, and marketing analytics.