Consulting Services
My associates provide a unique set of management consulting services to improve: using my methodologies, tools and guidelines - referred to below as MWL.
In today's business world, companies are facing new challenges and stiffer competition. It is not only more difficult now to be a winner, it is even harder to stay a winner. The companies that continue to win will be those that take the time to formulate sound strategies and invest in proven management processes and tools ‑‑ the kind of processes and tools that we provide.
What Clients Need and Deserve from Consultants
Any consulting firm worth its salt provides good people, people who are expert in the applicable disciplines and have relevant executive experience.
But clients NEED and DESERVE more.
Clients NEED to be left with management processes, best practices, that perpetuate the improvements gained from the consulting engagement ... processes that provide direct connections between top level goals and daily action and that close the loop with effective performance monitoring.
Clients DESERVE consultants who structure the assignment so well that there is no wasted effort. Unless the work is well organized and supported by technology, the quality tends to be less reliable than it might be, the work takes more client and consultant hours than it should, and customer satisfaction is lower than it need be.
What's Different About Our Consulting Services
We have simplified complex management processes by reducing them to well‑defined tasks, supported by software, guidebooks, forms, checklists and other tools. We refer to this collection of support items as "structure", and label our approaches to the issues that we address as "structured", ‑‑ e.g. structured strategic management, the structured sales cycle, the structured product launch. These structures are tailored to the clients' own products, organization and culture, and continue to provide value long after we have completed the engagement.
And we apply this organized approach ‑‑ methodology, if you will ‑‑ to the consulting engagement itself. Because we bring methodology to each assignment, it is clear to clients precisely what will be done, by whom, following what approach. Through use of our expertise and tools, clients do not waste time, suffer from inertia or experience the frustration which often accompanies effectiveness improvement efforts.
Our Marketing/Sales/Strategy Offerings
SALES EFFECTIVENESS STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
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Sales Effectiveness Improvement Planning Process Installation Product Launch support
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Sales Cycle Development Strategic Plan Development Product Strategy Development
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Sales SkillsTraining Time-Shared Executive Support Product Selling System __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sales & Marketing Planning Strategic Management Training
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We provide general counseling, consulting, training, evaluations, skill‑building and part‑ time management.
These services are supported by tools ‑‑ i.e. structures, methodologies, forms and checklists and PC‑based software that provide efficiency in the delivery of the services, effectiveness of the results and permanence of the solutions.
The services fall into three general areas:
Strategic management
- Sales effectiveness improvement
- Product management.
Strategic Management Offerings
Our Strategic Management Tools
The MWL Strategic Management Process ‑‑ a comprehensive annotated outline that guides planners in building strategies and plans, on‑line, at every organizational level.
The Structured Strategic Management Manual ‑‑ a reference manual and tutorial which provides more detailed planning guidance and a wealth of examples, forms, checklists and matrices.
Our Spreadsheet Templates ‑‑ which provide a model of the business suitable for reality testing.
The Strategic Business Management Services
Structured strategic management implementation ‑‑ We install the MWL Strategic Management Process specifically tailored to the client's products, markets and culture. From that point on the process is exercised on a regular cycle dictated by the process.
Strategic plan development ‑‑ for those companies that have an immediate need only for a finished plan and not the on‑going capability described above.
Time‑Shared Executive Support ‑‑ For companies that are not of sufficient size to employ a person full time in the role, we direct the strategic management function ‑‑ on a part‑time basis.
Strategic Management Training ‑‑ We conduct one to three day strategic management seminars.
Benefits
The MWL structured strategic management approach:
- promotes participation in planning by those who will actually be implementing the plans.
- yields more logical and defensible strategies, a clearer understanding of the risks involved, and business and action plans that are completely consistent with the strategy.
- achieves these results over a shorter span of time and with less executive and clerical effort.
- evolves into an on‑going strategic management process which leads to a improvement in business performance, year after year.
Sales Effectiveness Improvement Offerings
The MWL Sales Effectiveness Improvement Tools
The MWL Structured Sales Cycle ‑‑ organizes selling into a sequence of well‑defined steps, supported by MWL‑designed sales tools.
The MASTER Method of Selling ‑‑ consists of basic sales principles, techniques and tools, and concentrates on the events that occur in selling, how to prepare for them, how to create the events you want and react to them.
The MWL Sales/Marketing Plan Outline ‑‑ a detailed, annotated and comprehensive outline of all the topics that should be included in such plans, complete with examples.
The MWL Sales Effectiveness Improvement Services
Sales Effectiveness Evaluation ‑‑ We evaluate 18 areas of the business that have an effect on sales and make recommendations.
Selling Cycle Implementation ‑‑ uses the MWL Structured Sales Cycle to define the specific sequence of sales steps to sell the specific product/service to specific target markets.
Sales and Marketing Plan Development ‑‑ uses the MWL Sales/Marketing Plan Outline to develop realistic and achievable plans for the sales and marketing functions.
Sales Training ‑‑ customized sales training workshops that reflect the client's specific products, selling process and culture. Student reference materials and copies of MWL sales publications are provided to enhance learning and fortify retention.
Territory Management ‑‑ covers the planning and execution for such territory management issues as quotas, territories, compensation, reporting, monitoring, and account management.
Benefits
Clients of these sales effectiveness improvement service can expect: - leading to more sales, at higher revenue per sale,
- with shorter sales cycles and
- very little wasted effort.
Product Marketing Management Offerings
The MWL Product Marketing Management Tools
The MWL Product Launch Readiness Checklist ‑‑ organizes all of the deliverables and events that must come together on time for a launch to be successful.
The MWL Product Launch Methodology ‑‑ guidance for specifying the tasks, schedules and resources for a successful launch and provides a measurement and control function to keep the launch on track.
The MWL Strategic Planner and The MWL Structured Strategic Management Manual ‑‑ (See Strategic Management Tools earlier.)
The MWL Product Marketing Management Service
Product Marketing Strategy Development ‑‑ uncovers the reasons why a product's performance has become lethargic and formulates a new product strategy and action plan.
Product Launch Audit ‑‑ evaluates the readiness for a successful launch. Concludes with a report detailing, for each item on the MWL Product Launch Checklist, our observations, evaluation and recommendations.
Product Launch Planning ‑‑ develops a complete product launch plan, including a project control plan to help manage the launch to its successful conclusion.
Product Launch Management ‑‑ where we take the role as Launch Manager on a part time basis until the launch is complete.
Product Selling System Development ‑‑ produces a manual containing all information that sales people need to be successful in selling the product.
Benefits
Clients of MWL's Product Management service:
The Way We Work With Clients
FIRST.....
... we work with you to define your specific needs and to formulate a plan for the engagement.
THEN.....
... we work on a monthly retainer at a level of effort based on the mutually agreeable scope of work.
OCCASIONALLY...
.. .we work on a time and expense basis to complete specific short term assignments or where the scope of work is unclear at the start.
Client Experience
Our management processes have been effective for a wide range of companies including software and hardware vendors, value adder resellers (VARs), distributors, training companies, dealers, and professional service firms.
Among these clients have been Siemens, ABB, AT&T, Xerox, NYNEX, 3D Systems, EAC Data (Copenhagen), Automated Training Systems, Data Design (now Peoplesoft), GTE Spacenet, A. T. Kearney, and the American Banking Association.