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Many businesses get confused about Strategy and therefore over complicate it.  Ultimately strategy is a set of choices that positions an organization to win with customers and against competition. To be successful a company must choose to do some things and not others.

Michael Porter first articulated this message in his book Competitive Strategy. He said that to have a competitive advantage, a company can’t attempt to do all things or be all things to all people. It must choose.

Every business likes to keep its options open. But without choices, we’ll never be successful. We can’t provide enough value to customers, give meaning to employees, or generate the ongoing profits that sustain our organization over the long term.

A common trend we’ve seen among our recent clients has been a lack of certainty around what they will and won’t do. This had led a lack of differentiation in the market, a loss of focus on their most profitable client segments or missed opportunities for new product development. They are not easy fixes but with the right discovery process and an external view on those challenges, we’ve been able to assist in achieving some great early results. Below I’ve highlighted a snapshot of some of the recent activity we’ve undertaken with a couple of our clients.

Insurance and Financial Services Provider

Situation:

Following a management buyout the new business owners were looking for the best opportunities for future growth. They lacked certainty on how they needed to prioritise and deploy their resources effectively to meet their longer term financial objectives.

Task:

K3 Consulting were tasked with working with the business owners to identify and then prioritise the opportunities in the market to drive revenue and profit growth. Capability gaps within the business that would inhibit the effective rollout of the new initiatives were identified.

Actions:

A Strategy Development process identified a number of opportunities to grow revenue through selling a wider range of offerings to their well established client base.

Opportunities to expand their offering by entering a new market was also identified. Options around entering this market via acquisition or organic growth were investigated.

A capability review identified issues with the businesses current sales capability that needed to be addressed. A sales development programme was developed
and delivered, focusing on the key skills gaps identified.

Results:

The business exceeded the growth in Funds Under Management that they had targeted within 12 months in only 3 months. Sales to existing clients are currently showing a 9% increase vs PY.  

An acquisition opportunity has been identified to assist this client enter a new market.  This opportunity is currently going through due diligence.

Professional Services

Situation:

One of NZ’s largest recruitment firms had been through a period of change and restructuring to bring it back to profitability. Profitability gains had been driven via cost out initiatives.

The next stage of the businesses growth needed to come via driving revenue growth. Currently the business was not unified on where this growth would come from and associated accountabilities.

Tasks:

Develop a clear plan on where future revenue growth will be targeted and secured.

Identify and clarify the businesses competitive advantage – “How are we different and why clients will use us and not our competitors”.

Identify the capabilities needed to deliver that competitive advantage. If it doesn’t currently exist in the business what are we going to
do to get it?

Produce a plan including accountabilities and responsibilities that can be cascaded down throughout the organisation.

Actions:

K3 Consulting facilitated a strategic planning process involving the senior decision makers within the business.

Key outputs were prioritised with specific accountabilities allocated to teams and individuals.

Results:

Four key areas of focus were identified as being mission critical for the business over the next 12 months. Resources were reallocated accordingly.

For more information on how K3 Consulting can help improve your business, contact one of our Directors, Greg Radford on 021 664 180 or Marcus Morrison on 021 024 36200.