There is a cure for the common cold call. Don’t do it. It’s not that it can’t work but rather that it is a very inefficient method (produces minimum results for maximum effort) that should be used only as a last resort.

Here are some ideas about how to approach an important decision-maker in a manner that has a much better probability of getting a meeting:

• Do research on them to learn about their business and personal goals, interests and experience. The more you know before you contact them, the greater the potential outcome of your interaction.
• Reach out to them through a common connection. This may be through the staff on an Association they belong to, one of their colleagues whom you know or somebody who knows them personally. If you don’t have a common connection, create one.
• Start the relationship in “learn” mode, not “sell” mode. If they want to buy from you, that can be determined after communication begins so don’t assume it. If it turns out that they are not a candidate to purchase from you but they like you (partially because you didn’t try to sell them), they may make a valuable introduction to somebody else.
• Develop a keen understanding of their concerns, which are often shaped by conditions in their industry so that you can speak intelligently with them about their perceived needs
• Email blast short messages with very appealing titles that indicate strong subject matter understanding of their industry, market and needs. If the title is right, the percentage of recipients who read it is dramatically higher.
• Create a new email blast campaign every Quarter and follow up every single email sent with a series of 5 phone calls that span the Quarter: 1 a week later, 2 & 3 spaced a week apart and 4 and 5 spaced a month apart.
• Be active in Associations where your target prospects congregate. Help bring in Members, with Events and make friends with the staff and with Board Members. They know the members and can open doors after you’ve contributed.

Achieveeeeeee!

I woke up showing the after effects of a long hard day. FLAT. The desire wanes, the ambition subsides and the creativity just won’t kick in.  Flat, that’s how it feels. BLAH, sort of numb, you get the picture. Yes, I’m in just such a mood as I look out the window of my small comfortable home office on this DREARY morning (dreary, of course, is not a fact but what I project onto what I see).  And my first reaction to this is to think that it’s a bad thing. “Come on man, get going & create something,” I say to myself. So, I fire up the computer, open up Word and stare at the blank screen. And listen….. and wait…. and smile, because….

I remember that these flat periods are an important part of the creative and productive process. You can’t stay “up” all the time. PAUSE is a good thing. Let your system recover a little. Let your mind not create…. for just a little bit anyway.

RELIEVED of the pressure to produce right at this minute, a feeling of well- being moves in. I know that I’m recovering from the intense exhilaration of yesterday when a series of meetings had better-than-normal outcomes.

As I RECOVER my energy, the zip returns. An old idea that’s been tapping on my shoulder for a while asks permission to have a discussion. A new, really wacky idea occurs to me at which I shake my head and say to myself “won’t work but it would be fun to try.”

After you’ve read this post, check out our new business success calculator to understand your company’s probability of success in the market.  

Checklist Questions

Copy and paste the following questions onto a document and take a few minutes to answer each one as objectively and thoroughly as you can.

• How beneficial are your products/services to targeted users?
• Is your target market niche a specialty that makes it a competitive advantage for you?
• Do you have a marketing calendar and budget that is just the right combination of the 5 P’s for your target market?
• Are you currently profitable and do you have a history of strong earnings?

The 7 Most Important Aspects Of A Business

After having worked closely with 100s of small-to-medium sized businesses, JACOBY has developed a framework of the characteristics of the most successful companies. In our experience, when a company is strong in all 7 of these aspects, they grow, thrive, and generate significant wealth for their shareholders.

Look over the following bullet-points, then take this assessment test to see where your company’s strengths lie and where you need to improve.

Quality of Your Team and Culture – Is your team functioning at their highest potential? Do you have the right people on board? Strong culture lets individual members take advantage of their strengths and function TOGETHER to achieve common goals. By reevaluating your team and culture you can produce better results, better processes and a better work environment.

Quality of Your Products and Services – Your products and services are the front line in the customer’s eyes. This is what will keep your customers coming back for more. Taking the time to make sure your products and services are as good as they can be can make a huge difference in maintaining customer loyalty.

Quality of Your Target Market Niche – Is your company targeting the right audience? By making sure you are reaching your niche market you are promoting your visibility effectively, saving money, and it may even be a barrier to competition.

Quality of your Marketing Capabilities and Performance – Having a strong marketing team means that your product or service is getting the attention it deserves. Without effective marketing there is no way for your customers to really gain knowledge of your company. 

Quality of Your Sales Capabilities and Performance – Even with the right marketing, you need a great sales department that can move relationships forward and "close the deal". By making sure you are optimizing your sales department you are ensuring better customer satisfaction and business growth.

Quality of Your Operations – Taking a look at how efficiently and effectively your business produces work and manages customer relationships is key in maintaining positive business growth. By reevaluating your business operations you can help increase business income and increase your businesses value.

Quality of Your Financial Capabilities and Performance – At the end of the day, the key measure of business success All businesses boil down to numbers. If you do not have highly functioning financial capabilities, your business could be losing money.

Where The Rubber Meets The Road

When you make the decision to assess your business practices and technology, hire a business growth consultant with the expertise to uncover the valuable insights that will inform positive change in your business.

JACOBY has all the tools you need for a full company assessment and decades of combined experience in guiding medium-sized and small businesses through the growth process from assessment to strategy formulation to implementation..

To learn more about what JACOBY can do for you, contact us at via this form on our website or call 410-740-3900 for a free consultation.

Other Things You May Be Interested In:

Take our Business Success Quiz.

Creating Training Programs for Salespeople

Should You Hire A Sales Training Consultant?

3 Effective Small Business Marketing Strategies

Get A Free SWOT Analysis

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General Coaches
Human Resources Management Coaches
Business Strategy Coaches

What do you want from a Coach?

The title “Coach” is used by individuals with a very broad array of talents and experiences. It’s best to determine what your needs are before searching for a Coach that fits the needs of your firm. Take the time to list not only what’s pressing on your mind at the moment but also, the types of issues that you confront on an ongoing basis where a skilled other person might add value.

Here are some questions that you might ask yourself to determine what you need:

• What skills or experience are essential in this person in order to get what my business or I want?
• Do you want someone with subject matter expertise?
• Do you want an outside perspective from a bright person who can shed new light on something that needs to change but you or your team don’t know how?
• What personality traits are the best fit for your company culture so that they have the highest probability of success?

Failure to do this preparation will inevitably lead to disappointment. One of my newest clients mentioned a coach who has not helped her at all despite paying high fees and I’ve heard numerous complaints about many general coaches not really adding value.

What’s Available in the Market?

Many “Coaches” are good at encouragement and picking up your spirits. This is a valuable contribution, especially in these difficult times, so long as it is priced appropriately. If you sense that they don’t really listen deeply and/or grasp what you are saying – it’s them not you that’s the problem – walk away!

A Human Resources Management Coach will be a step up. He/she should be a good listener, have an understanding of organizational dynamics and culture and have the skill to facilitate you thinking through at least some of your issues. But be careful that you don’t ask them for advice that they are not qualified to give. I remember shuddering once in a meeting where an accountant was insisting on a marketing decision that was dead wrong. Hopefully your professional advisors will stick to their knitting and you don’t want to add fuel to the fire by asking them things they don’t know.

The highest level of advisor in the market has subject matter expertise, strategic savvy and good coaching skills. They bring out the best in your team by leveraging your company’s internal strengths, mitigating weaknesses and bringing best practice strategies and tactics to the conversation. You will pay more for a business strategy coach because you get more so you’ll need to determine if the benefit is there for your firm.

I was recently invited to facilitate a strategy retreat and the company had no expectation that I would contribute to the strategy discussion, but rather just facilitate their own internal thinking. We agreed that they could arrange for less expensive assistance to meet their needs.

Many times, the Human Resources Management Coach is just the right choice for your company’s needs. For those times when new strategies and tactics are required, consider a strategic business coach as well.

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What type of help does your company need most?

Perhaps the most important question to answer from the outset, whether you’re looking for small business consultants in Baltimore, Washington DC, Northern Virginia (or pretty much anywhere in the world, come to think of it) is what type of help you need.

The categories of help are numerous: technology, human resources, sales, planning, expansion, clerical, etc.

A very fruitful activity is to sit down with the leadership team of your company and decide which of these areas you’re weakest in; which need the most help. *Hint: Usually the answer will emerge pretty quickly if you’re asking the right questions to the right team of people.

If you’re having trouble with this exercise, I am here to help.

But what if we need help in a lot of categories?

If your company is like most here in Baltimore, you will need help in numerous categories. Do not let this discourage you. It can very much be a blessing in disguise, as you bring excellent resources into your world.

The rest of this post talks about specific small business consultants in Baltimore and consulting companies in the area.

They are segmented into categories based on the respective firms’ specialization. Realize that this is not an exhaustive list by any means and my inclusion of specific companies in this list does not represent a recommendation necessarily, but rather encouragement for you to continue your research. If you would like recommendations specific to your company, contact me for a brief consultation.

Technology Consultants in Baltimore

• Hartman Business Technology, www.hartmanconsulting.net. HBT fills the role of your strategic technology advisor. Their experienced team helps you determine how to use technology to meet your business needs. Then, they recommend technology vendors and software so that you don’t have to guess and hope.
• Foundations Technology, www.foundationstech.com. keeps your computer networks running smoothly and, when they don’t, provide the best customer service available. Ideal for the small business operation.
• SET Consulting, www.setconsulting.com. Does your team spend a lot of team in the Microsoft Office environment? SET Consulting can make every employee more productive by automating replicable processes and teaching shortcuts that will surprise you. Great service too.

Marketing Consultants in Baltimore

• Devaney & Associates, www.devaney.net. Devaney is one of Baltimore’s most established advertising and PR firms. They know how to work with small companies and have obtained a lot of attention for many over the years.
• WebMechanix, www.web-mechanix.com. To market effectively online, you need to build traffic. That’s where WebMechanix comes in. These guys are experts in “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO for short), which is basically the art and science of getting on the first page of Google. They can get you lots of traffic and they won’t cost you a fortune (not yet).
• SawMill Marketing, www.sawmillmarketing.com. Industry veterans with lots to offer the small business. They are online savvy as well.

Human Resource Consultants in Baltimore

• impactHR, Baltimore’s down-to-earth, experienced advisors to small business. Make sure your business meets all compliance requirements and get great advice on people issues.
• Jennifer Stillings, www.worldawake.net. This fearless retired military pilot provides executive coaching to help you raise your leadership game. Combat your weaknesses with a veteran.
• Ovations, www.experiencepeakperformance.com. Does your team need a wake-up call? Kim Goad’s company helps build stronger teams through experiential programs. They are fun and very effective.

Financial Consultants in Baltimore

• Mosaic Business Solutions, www.mosaicbusiness.net. Amy Bradbury’s company provides affordable bookkeeping and accounting plus Quickbooks training. Perfect solution for small companies.
• Bottom Line Growth Strategies, www.bottomline-growth.com provides CFO services to small companies. They can help you understand the numbers better so that you’ll make better decisions for the future.
• Synergy Financial Group, www.synergyfinancialgrp.com. As you build equity in your business, it’s a good idea to have someone addressing your personal wealth. SFG is a quality resource for the small business to plan for your future and retirement.

Work with the right small business consultants in Baltimore to get the results you deserve. Baltimore is ready for business!

Looking for more personalized recommendations? Contact me and let’s have a talk about your business

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We can implement strategic plans for non-profit organizations. For strategic planning we should follow some strategic planning steps. Strategic planning process / Strategy can be implemented in long run as well as short run. For Strategic planning one should deploy clear strategic planning techniques. The strategic planning goals are based on business objectives, vision, mission, financial and non-financial perspective.

Strategic Consulting concentrates on rejuvenating business and strengthens the fundamentals through strategic planning. Strategic consulting deals with analyzing the business competitor behavior, examining the market trend, determining the business process, creating strategic planning framework, understanding the consumer perception and leveraging the strategic plan with optimal technology. Business strategic plans are not same for all business or organization. It varies from one business systems to other business systems.

Strategic business consulting focuses on understanding the company requirements in relation to companies objective. Strategic consulting provides an in-depth analysis to help your company to redefine its business strategy. Consulting strategic plan to expand business operations. Proper Strategic business planning & consulting helps the corporate to achieve the strategic planning goal.

In strategic consulting process, focusing on strategic plans is the key to success. Strategic consulting should proved innovative and logical business solution to the company. Strategic consulting firm use different business strategy for long term planning and short term planning. Strategic consulting company should understand the consumer expectation, identifying the necessary resources.

Strategic consulting has the capability to deliver business strategic plans for start-up business, developing business strategy and business plan to increase the performance, building the business architecture, reducing operational cost. Strategic consulting and strategic planning is the two vital concepts in strategic management.

Ramki is with Axsellit Technologies. Axsellit Software delivers professional, benefit-enriched business solutions with an unbeatable performance-to-price ratio. Axsellit Technologies provides Strategic Consulting and Balanced Scorecard Software.

-Ramki M

Businesses feel the need for an external consultant for strategic planning at times. This is because an objective third party view is always useful to ensure the success of the plan. An external consultant can create an excellent strategic plan without prejudices of any kind.

When Are External Consultants Needed For Strategic Planning:
Businesses need an external consultant for strategic planning when strategic planning has never been done before, when a previous plan failed to have an impact, lack of adequately skilled personnel to draft the plan, when members lack facilitating skills and when there is mistrust about the accuracy of plan drafted by an insider etc.

The external consultant will have to serve as the main guide for the strategic planning process, has to have to ability to do research and analyze the information gathered and plan a course of actions that will guide the business to achieve its goals faster. External consultants add to the productivity and continuity of the planning process.

External consultants for strategic planning process can be hired because the business lacks a qualified person to do the planning or he can be hired to be the expert providing the business knowledge or skills that it lacks or to work in collaboration with the business providing guidance and leaving the rest to be carried out by the qualified staff.

Before hiring an external consultant for strategic planning, decide on the amount you are ready to spend, talk to different consultants, ask them to submit a proposal about the work needed to be done, time frame to do it in and the costs incurred. Be sure to have a list of deliverables, a projected date of completion, forecast of costs to be incurred and means of evaluating the planning and analyzing the results, make clear who the consultant will report to and figure out how the contract can be terminated by either part.

The external strategic consultant should be qualified and should be able to research and analyze the information gathered as well as suggest ways to improve business and fight competitors such that your business will have an edge over them. He should have the ability to convey his plans and steer the business in such a way as to save time and money. Though expensive, the need for hiring external consultants for strategic planning can work out for the benefit of the business.
There are firms that offer their products as well as service to help run a successful business.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com