Go Matty, it's your birthday....

Lovin these strategy blogs...gives the thoughtful observer the room to think in the world of speakers. Thanks for the prompts.

What differentiates us? Is it the experience? Is the results we deliver? Is it both? Are they mutually exclusive? What else is it?
We differentiate ourselves by the experience we can provide and the customization we can offer. Sometimes it feels like anyone who calls in can benefit from a little touch of us. Is this true/right? Should we focus on the groups that we can truly make a lasting impact on? We are a business that needs a bottom line, but as we grow could our differentiator be that we make sure our work maintains momentum in some way? Extreme: A follow up six months later or your money back?

If results, what are they - inspiration? energy? ideas (actionable ideas?) different thinking? new skills? answers to problems?
I think on the culture work there needs to be a check in later on...did it catch on? Did we make feasible recommendations that were appropriate for the current culture and industry to attain?
For strategy, actionable ideas. Did we give them the tools to come up with ideas on their own? Can we give them a process for carrying ideas out (or if we can't, pair them with someone on the back end who can?) We partner with people who compliment us on the front end well, but can we


What/how do we want to be differentiated?
We want to differentiate on the results aspect. I think we do, but we don't close the loop on capturing those results into a tangible, measureable form. WE know that we do good work, but we need to get more quantitative or ROI data to sell to repreat clients and to new ones. How many of our amazing ideas have led to $$$ or new products or even higher retention rates? Something our data driven clients can understand and sell us in on. Let's speak their language, not just ours.

How are we not differentiating ourselves? (Does it matter? If so, why?)
We are not living up to our thought leader reputation. We need to get our thoughts out there! Daily. Now. We have 19 great minds, why don't we put out a red paper every month on current business topics? Or at the very least, set the number of hours we actively spend on content development/market research so we can be transparent to the market and say hey yes, we DO spend time thinking about something other than other clients. We spend 10% of our day learning/LAMSTAIH/talking with CEOs so we are experts on what YOUR INDUSTRY.
Hey, the 10% thing made google famous. Think about it.

Why do organizations pay money and devote scarce resources to us? What do they trade-off to do so?
They pay money because we make a difference. We cause a stir. We change the direction. They call when the need us. They trade off resources allocated for depts like HR, training, sometimes technology, etc but I think it is quite worth it. It would be nice to know from our clients what % of the overall budget is allocated to services like ours.

Why do they "re-hire" us?
They rehire us because we have great people. We are polite, hospitable, accomodating, detail oriented, service driven, smart, and stylish while doing so. I think we (kudos to new biz and those disciplined coaches) do a good job of keeping up with past clients when they are in the hot contacts category and we are working on renewing older relationships.

Why do clients and partners refer us?
They refer us because we take care of something they need. On the CEO's to do list of "innovation", "make a big difference", "increase the bottom line", "manage people better" "lead the company to success"...we can take care of any and all of those in a way. They refer us to friends/acquaintences because they want to recommend a great partner to make themselves look good and help their fellow CEO out with a good partner.

Are these the answers we want to have in 3-5 years? If not, then what should they be and how do we create and lead to make happen?
I think these answers are good and will last. I do think we need to be more purposeful around talking about, researching, developing our thoughts/attitudes/reactions to cuurent business trends. We do have great fodder and learn from on site consulting about what our clients are feeling, but I think we could be more intentional around what Sara called the proactive approach. I think being in the consulting business is naturally reactive, but could we blend the two? How refreshing to hire someone who can cater to your needs and anticipate them also. Maybe we could pitch that as a differenitater and the follow up piece. FIrst we'll take care of your need then we anticipate the next one. (Let's clarify, we already do this but just cut the cake a different way to show this is what benefit they'll get from us).


What are we not asking that we should be asking?
What are our *agreed upon* priorities of differentiation? DO we want to tackle marketing then digital then etc etc? Our brand is the key to new business we want. Let's make our investments through the brand lens...time, money, resources, talent. Let's play.