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Saunders client feedback and recommendation ppt report 3.23
The document provides an assessment and recommendations for Dr. Brown's leadership consulting business. It analyzes Dr. Brown's skills, expertise, target markets, and branding using various frameworks. The findings indicate a need to develop Google ratings, an elevator pitch, and a clearly defined target market. Recommendations include using the M.I.C.R.O. branding framework to improve the business's image, communication, reputation, and online presence in order to build the brand through others' comments rather than self-promotion.
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Saunders client feedback and recommendation ppt report 3.23
- 1. THE YCC INC.™ ASSESSMENTAND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BROWN LEADERSHIP CONSULTING conducted by: Natascha F. Saunders, MBA, MS, CPCC Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership, Student Course Framework: Organizational Consulting Saunders.N@husky.neu.edu
- 2. THE CONTEXT Dr. Brownis an independent consultant who assists clients in improving their leadership skills preparing them to lead followers. Assessing various branding areas using M.I.C.R.O™ Peter Block Flawless Consulting Consultant Expertise Asking Questions
- 3. FINDINGS & FIELDINSIGHT Various skillsets and focus Assessment areas to be developed include: Google Ability Rating (which includes: quotations in articles, publications, media interviews, speeches, etc.) Elevator Pitch Clearly defined target market A specific focus produces the best results for small business The Chronicle of Higher Education sets the tone for academic administrators INC Magazine, “To build a solid foundation for your business, you must first identify your typical customer and tailor your marketing pitch accordingly.” Brown Leadership INTERNAL Industry EXTERNAL
- 4. FINDINGS CONT. Maslow’sHierarchy of Needs a theoretical Framework for Marketing Success Transformational Leadership Theory which describes leadership as a process that changes people and organizations. Interviewing Dr. Brown to learn who she plans to market was the first step in determining how these clients needs can be met. A vision statement document given to Dr. Brown was created and focused around the 3 I’s SCHOLARLY CONCEPTS EVIDENCE
- 5. RECOMMENDATIONS M.I.C.R.O™ BRANDING MATERIALS IMAGE COMMUNICATIONREPUTATION ONLINE “BRANDS AREBUILT ON WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT YOU, NOT WHAT YOU ARE SAYING ABOUT YOURSELF.” ~ GUY KAWASAKI
Editor's Notes
- #3 Script:I. Dr. Brown is the Founderof Brown Leadership Consulting (BLC)which assists clients in improving their leadership skills preparing them to lead followers into known and unknown territories. II. Ifocused on assessing various branding areas of BLC through 1 on 1 meetings (face to face, phone), observation, and online research. III. This was based around Peter Block’s Flawless Consulting. Block states, ‘It is always necessary to talk about control, vulnerability, your wants, and chances of success”. Thus, to maximize success, brought to the table my own area of expertise in branding’ so I could produce quality recommendations Dr. Brown could put into practice. Lastly, asking the right questions of Dr. Brown was done to ensure I provided solutions to her most pressing concerns. The answers can be found in the full presentation report.Moving forward to the findings and field insight…..…end of script______________________________________________________FULL VERSION content for the client: Background: Dr. Brown Founder & CEO of Brown Leadership Consulting founded in 1999 assists clients in improving their leadership skills preparing them to lead followers into known and unknown territories. Her clients are able to discover their leadership styles, how to use ‘best practices’ and will be able to understand their climate and cultural environments. The end results for her clients include a more collaborative environment, team bonding, and creating efficient and effective operations. This is achieved by improving communications and collaborations resulting in team cooperation. Sources:http://www.linkedin.com/in/lindabrownphd http://connectanddisconnect.com/Effort: Focused on assessing various branding areas of Dr. Brown’s Business through 1 on 1 meetings (face to face, phone), observation, and online. Process: The process used to develop insight into Dr. Brown’s business was based around Peter Block’s Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used. Block states, ‘It is always necessary to talk about control, vulnerability, your wants, and chances of success” (p. 57) which set the tone for the process I undertook for Dr. Brown. My area of expertiseFirst I determined my area of expertise, my wants and what could I offer that would yield a good chance of success. It’s with these factors I choose Branding. Asking Questions for Dr. BrownSet the tone to determine what were some of your immediate concerns and how could I after thoroughly listening to her and hearing her concerns be of assistance. Question # 1: Why do you feel your business is not where you would like it to be? Dr. Brown’s answers focused on lack of exposure, lack of connections with decision makers. Solutions for Dr. Brown include: motivational speaking, writing an e-book, blogging, radio interviews, more webinars (which I’m aware BLC (Brown Leadership Consulting has one upcoming). As far as connections – we address that later in the recommendations section. Question #2: What are some of your general concerns? Dr. Brown’s answer focused on the challenge for her to market to various HR offices of businesses and a need to acquire a Minority Business Enterprise Certification so she can qualify for government contracts. Dr. Brown has extensive experience working as a third party for government contracts. As far as solutions – we address that later in the recommendations section.
- #4 Script: Internally, I found wide focus areas: having an impact on diversity, human capital, coaching, team development, strategic planning, curriculum development, assessments, etc. Yet, externally industry says, narrow your areas in order to focus and obtain clients. Forbes suggested in, ‘Why Too Many Choices Will Hurt Your Small Business’, successful small business owners have a niche expertise rather than a “one stop shop” brand. In other areas such as: the need to fine-tune a honed in elevator pitch that clearly speaks to the attributes that make her and the business unique, and there is no clear cut data on tracking & quantifying her key accomplishments are both crucial to BLC’s long term goal of being a contractor for the government as the government conducts past performance evaluations based on these metrics. …end of script______________________________________________________FULL VERSION content for the client: Brown Leadership Internal assessment found various areas of expertise for example: in highly long-term impact on diversity, human capital solutions, progressive coaching, leadership and team development, strategic planning, curriculum development, behavior assessments, relationship building etc. External Industry assessments suggests a narrowing down of expertise to focus and obtain clients. Forbes suggested in an article, ‘Why Too Many Choices Will Hurt Your Small Business’, successful small business owners should develop a niche expertise rather than a “one stop shop” brand. It will give them the reputation for doing one thing extremely well. My research further supports this notion in that having too many irons in the fire for a small business owner doesn’t allow the consumer to focus on what it does best. Trying to be all things to all dilutes a discovery of an area of expertise. Lastly, the more wide the services available the more competitors a small business like Brown Leadership Consulting will have. Ted Talk on choosing: http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_choosing_what_to_choose Assessment areas to be developed: After issuing a personal branding assessment to Dr. Brown I learned she is unsure if she has a finely honed elevator pitch that clearly speaks to the attributes that make her unique, there is not clear cut data on tracking & quantifying her key accomplishments (which is crucial to her long term goal of being a contractor for the government as they conduct a full past performance evaluation to determine approval), and the understanding of a clearly defined target audience for her brand message. For example, when inputting into google Dr. Linda V. Brown – her linked in came up but nothing else. Industry has indicated, ‘There’s a reason that academics–and most everyone else–loves Google: it makes finding what you want just plain easy.’ …..to think of professors as needing to engage in brand management, the need to do so will only increase for the foreseeable future…If you think search committees, promotion and tenure committees, merit committees–or anyone else who might evaluate you–aren’t looking you up on the Google …. the ability to google and find publications (articles, interviews, speeches, etc.) and the understanding of a clearly defined target audience for her brand message. The Chronicle of Higher Education which is one of the many gold standards in higher education sets the tone reiterates these suggestions as how institutions are looking for consultants using these mechanisms. INC. magazine has what is called a productivity play book in which is it widely believed and recommended that, ‘To build a solid foundation for your business, you must first identify your typical customer and tailor your marketing pitch accordingly.’ With the current state of the economy, having a well-defined target market is more important than ever. No one can afford to target everyone. Small businesses can effectively compete with large companies by targeting a niche market.Many businesses say they target "anyone interested in my services." Some may say they target small business owners, homeowners, or stay-at-home moms. All of these targets are too general.Targeting a specific market does not mean that you have to exclude people that do not fit your criteria from buying from you. Rather, target marketing allows you to focus your marketing dollars and brand message on a specific market that is more likely to buy from you than other markets. This is a much more affordable, efficient, and effective way to reach potential clients and generate business. Included are the steps on how this can be done. Source: http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html These are the internal findings & field insight of Brown Leadership and the External Industry evidence based findings that I believe should be the base line for Brown Leadership Consulting.
- #5 Script: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs remains the foundation for many psychological approaches to marketing. In the most basic sense, Maslow's hierarchy identifies five primary areas of needs experienced by most humans such as: basic survival needs, safety & security, love, self-esteem and self-actualization. If BLC applies this to their marketing efforts, the ability to effectively appeal to one of these motivational drivers is a key determinant of their potential success. As part of an assessment tool Dr. Brown created a vision statement which focused on development leadership skills by transforming her vision to lead others. As evidence, Transformational Leadership Theory is best suited for BLC as a theory which describes leadership as a process that changes people and organizations which is what Dr. Brown has declared as her objective. …end of script Maslow's needs hierarchy remains the foundation for many psychological approaches to marketing. With Dr. Brown’s concern with getting her services into the hands of those who need it, this theoretical framework may prove beneficial to test. In the most basic sense, Maslow's hierarchy identifies five primary areas of needs experienced by most humans. Beginning with physiological, or basic life survival, needs, the model progresses in subsequent steps through safety and security, love and belongingness, self-esteem and finally self-actualization. Maslow posited that human behavior and decision-making are motivated by one of the five need levels in his hierarchy. If BLC applies this to marketing theory, the ability to effectively appeal to one of these motivational drivers is a key determinant of the potential success of BLC. Next…once these needs are met and they become clients BLC can move into…. applying a best fit theoretical framework to services clients. I envision based on the vision statement created by Dr. Brown as one of my outcome based assessment tools where she focused on her own personal vision as developing leadership skills by transforming her vision to lead others through the 3 I’s (Internal, Intervention, and Innovation). NOTE: This year Dr. Brown has a speaking engagement focused on DISC Assessments and it’s a great time to create marketing materials around this and market this service for 2014. As we’ve begun to uncover there needs to be a few key focus areas and this could most certainly be one.
- #6 Script:Lastly, we come to the recommendations which are framed around a concept I created called M.I.C.R.O which stands for the moving parts in personal branding: materials, image, communication, reputation, and online presence. Recommendations under M.I.C.R.O.™ Branding include: Materials (Business Card *Needs to be created, Resume *Needs to be created, Cover Letter, References *To be sourced and shared.), Image (Apparel, Hygiene, Hair Style, Hands/Nails *A manicure as a presenter would be beneficial here, Shoes, Professional Pictures – Headshot – use the same one to have cross brand appeal), Communication (Introduction, Elevator Pitch *Needs to be assessed for individuals and business, Etiquette, Email *signature to be created, Phone *voicemail to be scripted), Reputation (Family, Friends, Network, Giver *(You’re a master but I recommend you begin separating your business and your brand from those you are in service to including Dr. Efaye Williams, meaning still be of service but building your brand outside then invite her in to hear you speak for example), etc. you have a great network that could offer referrals but I suggest you reach out to some of the organizations below as a cold-call)Online (Portfolio, Blog, Website *In the process of a revision, LinkedIn *Utilizing your over 500 contacts to send your marketing pitch to and to obtain recommendations that can be used online. In addition, this goes back to Dr. Brown’s #1 question in the beginning of this project – lack of connections with decision makers – BLC may have this already if the time is taken to thoroughly assess this already made LinkedIn network. However, after it is clear you have identified 1-3 specific areas you will focus on such as, #1 Disc Assessment, #2 ?, #3?)There are additional recommendations such as partnerships with associations, books and what is needed for the BLC ultimate goal of obtaining government contracts. Lastly, I’d like to say it was a pleasure conducting this assessment of Brown Leadership Consulting. I hope I have been of service and you will continue to put these suggestions into action. As we’ve discussed there are many more areas to be explored thus, I look forward to our continued relationship building upon future projects. Thank youEnd of script…..Continue details below….Lastly, earlier in the process Dr. Brown addressed her concern of marketing to HR’s Officers and qualifying for the Minority Business Enterprise Certification. It is in my assessment of this firm that the recommendation of working on the MICRO Branding be achieved, then becoming a vendor to a government contractor prior to obtaining such certification. However, if Dr. Brown feels the sense of urgency now perhaps all can be done simultaneously but I feel very confident that these tools should be in place first. In addition, as these will be on the main report which offer further answers to Dr. Brown’s concerns about her business as discussed in the process stage: Partnerships: American Business Women Association (www.abwa.org) BizWomen Mentor (http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/event/106451)Washington, DC Women’s Business Center (www.dcwbc.org) SCORE (washingtondc.score.org)Reading:Books: Silent Language of Leaders, How to Become CEO, The Little Black Book of Connections: Networking Your Way into Rich Relationships, The Girls Guide to Power & Success, Lean In 4 Steps to Landing a Small Business Government Contract (http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5722-small-business-government-contracts.html) How do I get a Government Contract? (https://smallbusiness.house.gov/openmic/governmentcontract.aspx)Registering for Government Contract Work (http://www.sba.gov/content/register-government-contracting#)