Function: CEOs

Org Chart Planning: Aligning with Growth Strategy

April 24, 2023 Brad Gerick

Are you a business leader looking to take your organization to the next level? Are you struggling to find the right structure to support your growth? If so, you’re not alone.

Many companies struggle with org chart planning, but it’s a critical step in any successful growth strategy.

Let’s explore the benefits of org chart planning and how a senior advisor or consultant can help you create a structure that supports your growth goals.

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What is Org Chart Planning?

Org chart planning is the process of designing an organizational structure that aligns with your business goals. This includes determining the roles and responsibilities of each employee, as well as the reporting relationships between them. A well-designed org chart can help you streamline your operations, improve communication, and increase efficiency.

The Benefits of Org Chart Planning

  • Improved clarity and accountability: By clearly defining roles and responsibilities, a well-designed org chart can improve clarity and accountability. This prevents confusion and overlap, while ensuring that everyone knows their job.
  • Better communication and collaboration: The right org chart can improve communication and collaboration by breaking down silos and displaying how different teams and departments interact.
  • Increased efficiency and productivity: Streamlining procedures and processes can increase efficiency and productivity, saving both time and resources while improving work quality.
  • Greater adaptability to changing business needs: Flexibility is key in today’s rapidly changing business environment. The right structure design can help your company adapt to changing needs.
  • Increased employee satisfaction: Org chart planning also gives employees a clear understanding of their role and provides them with the necessary resources to succeed. This can cause greater motivation and productivity.
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How a Senior Advisor Can Help

Creating an effective org chart requires experience and expertise in organizational design. This is where a senior advisor or consultant can be invaluable. A senior advisor with COO/management experience can help you:

  • Improve your current org chart and identify areas for improvement: An experienced consultant can thoroughly analyze your structure, ensure that it is efficient and align it with business goals. They can also detect any overlapping roles or confusion to eliminate redundancy.
  • Design a new org chart that aligns with your growth goals: A management pro can identify key areas of focus and design a structure that supports them, creating a flexible org chart that accommodates future growth.

READ MORE: Employee Management Softwares: 13 Reasons To Use Them

  • Ensure your org chart supports your company culture and values: An expert in organizational design can analyze your current structure and identifying discrepancies with your mission, vision and values. They can then make sure your updated org chart accurately reflects those priorities.
  • Guide you on implementing the new org chart and managing change: A skilled advisor can help you communicate the new org chart to your employees and manage the transition process, including addressing any concerns or resistance. Strong communication and the ability to address employee questions and concerns is key.
  • Manage the transition process: An experienced change management professional identify potential challenges and develop a plan to address them. They can also track the progress of the transition and make any necessary adjustments.
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The Importance of Strategy

Effective org chart planning requires a strategic approach.

  • Having a clear understanding of your growth goals: Before you begin designing your org chart, you need to have a clear understanding of your growth goals. What do you want to achieve in the next year, three years, five years? Once you know your goals, you can begin to design a structure that will help you achieve them.
  • Identifying key areas of focus: Once you know your growth goals, you need to identify your business’s key areas of focus. These are the areas where you will need to allocate the most resources in order to achieve your goals. For example, if you are planning to expand into a new market, you will need to allocate resources to marketing and sales.
  • Allocating resources to support your key areas of focus: Once you have identified your key areas of focus, you need to allocate resources to support them. This means hiring the right people, providing them with the training they need, and giving them the tools and resources they need to be successful.

Creating a Structure for Growth

Your org chart should be designed to support your growth strategy.

  • Create a scalable structure: Your org chart should be designed in a way that allows you to add new employees and departments as your business grows. This may mean creating a flatter structure with fewer levels of management, or it may mean creating a more decentralized structure with more autonomy for individual teams. There is not, however, a magic bullet for this step.
  • Build in flexibility: It should also be flexible enough to adapt to changing business needs. This may mean creating cross-functional teams that can work together on projects that cut across traditional departmental boundaries. It may also mean reorganizing to better align with your growth strategy.

READ MORE: Post-Merger Integration: Framework, Keys to Success

  • Regularly review your org chart: Don’t set it in stone. It is important to regularly review your org chart to make sure that it is still aligned with your top KPIs and while remaining flexible enough to adapt to changing needs.

Org chart planning is a critical step in any successful growth strategy. By creating a structure that aligns with your business goals, you can improve communication, increase efficiency and build a foundation for future growth.

Private equity firms often seek outside help to reorganize their portfolio companies, but private and public organizations can also reap the benefits of a niche-specific senior advisor.

Our research and operations team knows the exact resource you need before you ever contact us, and they’re ready to connect you in less than 24 hours. Reach out now to tap into the invite-only Business Builders’ Network that’s already helped thousands or companies like yours with growth strategy.

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Q1 2023 BluWave Insights: HR, Tech Take Center Stage

April 20, 2023 Brad Gerick

Every quarter our team analyzes the projects we work on with our 500+ PE firm clients to get a bird’s eye view of the market. We recently compiled our Q1 2023 findings into our BluWave Insights Report. You can request your copy and our client coverage team will be in touch.

Key findings from Q1 ’23 include:

  • Value creation activity is at an all-time high, matching Q1 2022.
  • Human capital remains PE’s primary area of focus at 45% of all Q1 activity, also matching an all-time high.
  • Technology remains a priority at 11% of all Q1 PE activity.

Learn more about the insights we gleaned from Q1:

We can support your value creation needs, human capital needs, technology needs, sales & marketing needs and more.

Employee Management Softwares: 13 Reasons To Use Them

April 13, 2023 Brad Gerick

Employee management softwares – or human capital management systems – are a suite of applications that helps businesses automate and streamline their HR processes, from recruitment to payroll.

Here are some reasons why you should use them.

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READ MORE: Hire an Interim CHRO

HCM Systems Benefits

  1. Streamlined automation. Embrace efficiency with modern employee management software that automates labor-intensive tasks such as payroll processing, benefits administration and performance reviews, saving time and resources while improving accuracy.
  2. Seamless communication. Foster collaboration and engagement with robust communication channels offered by employee management software, including instant messaging, email and video conferencing, enabling smooth communication between employees and managers.
  3. Efficient performance tracking. Stay on top of employee performance with comprehensive tracking features, including goal setting, performance reviews and feedback mechanisms, allowing managers to objectively evaluate performance and provide targeted support.
  4. Effortless time-off management. Simplify time-off management with user-friendly features such as leave requests, approvals and tracking, ensuring employees take the necessary time off while preventing staffing issues.
  5. Streamlined onboarding. Expedite the onboarding process with employee management software that provides tools such as employee profiles, training materials and onboarding checklists, helping new hires quickly adapt to their roles.
  6. Effective benefits administration. Simplify benefits administration with features such as benefit enrollment, eligibility tracking and claims processing, ensuring employees have access to the benefits they need without administrative hassle.
  7. Regulatory compliance made easy. Ensure compliance with labor laws and regulations with employee management software that offers features such as time tracking, payroll processing and leave management, minimizing the risk of fines and penalties.
  8. Data-driven decision making. Empower informed decision making with employee management software that provides reporting, analytics and forecasting tools, enabling data-driven insights for optimizing operations.
  9. Improved employee satisfaction. Boost employee satisfaction and engagement with features such as surveys, feedback and recognition offered by employee management software, resulting in a more motivated and productive workforce.
  10. Enhanced talent management. Attract and retain top talent with user-friendly interfaces, mobile apps and social media integration offered by employee management software, ensuring a skilled and engaged workforce.
  11. Efficient time tracking. Effectively manage employee hours, attendance, and overtime with accurate time tracking features, improving workforce management and payroll accuracy.
  12. Streamlined employee relations. Foster a positive work environment with employee management software that offers features for tracking and managing employee relations, such as conflict resolution, performance improvement plans and employee feedback.
  13. Reduced litigation risk. Mitigate litigation risks with employee management software that ensures compliance with labor laws, manages employee records and documentation and provides a clear audit trail of employee interactions, reducing legal exposure and protecting the business from potential lawsuits.

READ MORE: Due Diligence: What is Technical Debt?

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Choosing Employee Management Softwares

  • Features: The first step is to identify the features that are important to your company. Do you need a software that can handle payroll, benefits, recruiting and performance management? Or do you need a more specialized solution?
  • Scalability: As your company grows, you will need a software that can scale with you. Make sure to choose a program that can accommodate your future needs.
  • Ease of use: Employee management software can be complex, so it is important to choose a software that is easy to use. Look for one with a user-friendly interface and that is customizable to your company’s needs.
  • Security: Employee management software can contain sensitive data, so it is important to choose a system that is secure. Make sure to choose a software that has been certified by a reputable security organization.
  • Cost: Employee management software can be expensive, so it is important have your budget in mind. Make sure to compare prices and features before making a decision.
  • Situational Capabilities: You may need a software than can cater to your specific situation. For example, perhaps they need experience with unionized businesses. Be up front about that as you send out your RFPs and make your evaluations.

READ MORE: The Interim CHRO Interview

Best HCM Systems

The “best” option is going to depend on your company, industry and exact situation. While we can’t choose one “best”  software for you, here are some of the more popular cloud-based HCM systems (in no particular order) and a brief overview of each:

  • Workday is a human capital management software suite that provides a variety of features for managing employees, including payroll, benefits, recruiting and performance management.
  • SAP SuccessFactors is another HCM system suite that offers a wide range of features for managing employees, including recruiting, onboarding, performance management and compensation.
  • Oracle HCM Cloud is a suite that provides a variety of features for managing employees, including payroll, benefits, recruiting and performance management.
  • PeopleFluent is a software that offers a wide range of features for managing employees, including recruiting, onboarding, performance management and compensation.
  • Ultimate Software is a cloud-based HCM that provides a variety of features for managing employees, including payroll, benefits, recruiting and performance management.
  • Monday.com is a little different than the others in that its more commonly used for project management than tracking employee data. (Though you can use it for that, too.) It has a user-friendly interface and can be customized to your company’s needs. It’s also a cost-effective solution for businesses that need a cloud-based HCM system.

Are you ready to upgrade your HCM system, or perhaps implement one for the first time?

Private and public companies as well as private equity firms and their portfolio companies can all reap the benefits of choosing the right employee management softwares.

Fortunately, you’re not in this alone. The Business Builders’ Network is full of experts who have helped companies like yours with industry specific-decisions about their human capital management software.

If you’re ready to take the next step and want an exact-fit third party to accompany you through the process, from start to finish, contact our research and operations team.

We already know the best possible partners for your niche-specific needs, and we’ll connect you in less than 24 hours after our initial scoping call.

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How To Analyze Sales Data: Tools, Examples, KPIs

April 11, 2023 Brad Gerick

What is Sales Data?

Knowing how to analyze sales data is a valuable skill that can be used to improve sales results. By tracking and analyzing sales data – concrete information about how your products or services are selling – you can identify trends, patterns and opportunities that can help you close more deals and increase revenue.

For example, you might see that your sales cycle is longer for certain types of customers. This could be because you need to do more research on them or because they are more difficult to close. Once you know this, you can take steps to improve your process for these types of customers.

Having this information is a great way to increase sales effectiveness and training. The more actionable data your team has, the better set up for success they’ll be.

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An experienced third party that specializes in sales effectiveness and training within your specific industry can be a great resource for these situations.

To help you get a better understanding of your situation, let’s talk about the importance of analyzing sales data, how to do it and what steps you can take to improve your business’s process. Whether you’re at a private equity firm, a portfolio company, or a private or public company, you’ll benefit from being equipped with this overview.

READ MORE: Sales Process Workflow: Stages, Examples for Businesses

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Types of Sales Data

There are many different types of sales data that you can track. Here some of the most common statistics:

  • Leads: Potential customers who have shown interest in your product or service.
  • Opportunities: Sales prospects that have progressed beyond the lead stage and are being actively pursued.
  • Deals: Closed sales that have been won.
  • Revenue: Total amount of money generated from sales.
  • Customer satisfaction: Degree to which customers are satisfied with your product or service.
  • Sales cycle length: Amount of time it takes from the first contact with a lead to closing the sale.
  • Average deal size: Average dollar amount of each sale.
  • Sales team productivity: Efficiency and effectiveness of the sales team in generating revenue.
  • Sales team turnover: Rate at which sales team members leave the organization and need to be replaced.

READ MORE: Why Hire an Interim CFO?

How to Track Sales Data

Two common ways to track sales data are Customer Relationship Management systems and spreadsheet. The most important thing is to choose a method that works for you and your team.

As your company grows – or aspires to grow – a powerful CRM such as Salesforce or Hubspot will be a must. If you’re reading this article, you probably already have a CRM in place.

These platforms provide comprehensive tools for managing sales data, including tracking leads, opportunities, deals and customer interactions. You can easily input, store and retrieve data in a centralized location, making it convenient to extract meaningful insights.

A spreadsheet is probably only a good option for companies that are just starting out and have small sales teams. Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets offer basic functionality for organizing and analyzing sales data.

They allow you to create custom columns and rows to input sales data, and you can use formulas and formatting options to calculate totals, averages and other key metrics. While spreadsheets may lack the advanced features of a CRM, they can be a cost-effective solution for businesses with limited resources.

Regardless of the method you choose, it’s essential to establish a consistent and structured approach. This includes defining clear data entry processes, setting up regular data updates and implementing data quality checks.

It’s also important to define and track relevant sales metrics that align with your business goals, such as those mentioned in the previous section.

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How to Analyze Sales Data

Analyzing sales data is a crucial step in understanding the performance of your business and identifying areas for improvement. One effective approach is to utilize various visualization tools such as charts, graphs and tables to represent your data in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand manner.

For instance, you could create a line chart to track the monthly trend of leads generated, allowing you to quickly identify patterns. If you notice a decline in the number of leads over time, you can take proactive measures to address the issue. For instance, you could revamp your marketing strategies, optimize your website for better lead capture or invest in targeted advertising campaigns to boost lead generation.

In addition to visualizing data, statistical analysis can provide valuable insights into sales performance. For example, you could conduct regression analysis to identify the key drivers of sales, such as the impact of pricing, discounts or promotions on sales volume.

By analyzing the statistical significance of these factors, you can make data-driven decisions.

It’s also important to compare sales data across different time periods, geographical regions or customer segments to identify any variations or patterns. Sales may be down from Q4 to Q1, for example, but up year-over-year.

If Q4 is traditionally your strongest quarter, there may be no need for concern. In fact, it’s probably worth celebrating the increase from the same period in the previous year.

Getting more granular, if you notice that sales tend to dip during certain months, you can strategize accordingly, such as by offering special promotions during those periods.

This information and more can help you tailor your sales strategies to better meet the needs and preferences of different customer segments or regions.

READ MORE: Sales Pipeline Funnel: Methodology, Process for Businesses

How to Use Sales Data to Make Decisions

Once you’ve analyzed your sales data, you can use it to make decisions about your strategy. For instance, if you observe that a specific product or service is underperforming, you may consider discontinuing it or revising your marketing approach.

On the other hand, if you identify a product or service that is performing exceptionally well, you may want to allocate more resources towards its promotion or expansion.

You can also use sales data to make decisions about your sales team. By analyzing individual sales performance data, you may identify trends or patterns that highlight areas for improvement.

For example, if a particular salesperson consistently struggles with closing deals, you may consider providing them with additional training or coaching to enhance their skills. Alternatively, you may identify high-performing sales team members and recognize their achievements to motivate the rest of the team.

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How to Share Sales Data with Your Team

Sales data is not just for you. It’s also important to share your data with your sales team so that they can use it to improve their performance.

There are various ways to do this. For instance, you can create a shared spreadsheet or database that is accessible to all team members, allowing them to view and analyze data in real-time. This promotes transparency and fosters collaboration, as team members can collectively track progress, identify opportunities and take appropriate actions.

Another option is to send out regular reports that summarize key sales metrics and performance indicators (KPIs, or OKRs) to your team. These reports can be delivered via email, shared on a team communication platform or posted on a shared drive for easy access.

In addition, holding regular sales meetings or performance reviews where sales data is discussed and analyzed can provide opportunities for team members to provide input, share insights and collectively brainstorm improvement strategies.

It’s essential that the sales data shared with your team is presented in a clear and understandable manner, with relevant context and insights provided. This can help team members interpret the data correctly and use it to make informed decisions, set realistic goals and take actions that can positively impact performance.

READ MORE: How To Raise Prices Strategically with Sales Team Buy-In

Using sales data to improve your results is a continuous process. Perhaps this level of detail is new to your business, or maybe you’re unsure how to scale your existing strategy.

You might even be trying all these things and still not seeing the progress you expect.

It might be time to bring in an expertly vetted service provider that knows your industry inside-out and can equip your sales team and its leaders to reach the next level.

Whether you’re selling physical products, software, services or anything else that’s core to your business, the BluWave-grade sales effectiveness firms and consultants are on standby to help.

We maintain a close relationship with each and everyone one of the resources that make up our invite-only network, which means we know the best match for you before you ever contact our research and operations team.

Contact us today to lay out the challenges you’re facing to properly leverage sales data and we’ll connect you to two of three niche-specific matches in less than 24 hours.

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Tech Stacks of Companies: How To Choose

March 29, 2023 Brad Gerick

What is a Tech Stack?

A tech stack is a set of software tools and programming languages that serves as the foundation of any technology project, including websites, desktop software and apps.

It’s also the backbone of a project and can determine its performance, scalability and maintenance in the long run. Selecting the right one can help developers streamline their work, speed up the development process and provide a better user experience.

Get Help with Your Tech Stack

CASE STUDY: Transforming Big Data into Actionable Insights for Legal Services

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Tech Stacks of Companies: Examples

  1. The LAMP Stack is a widely used open-source web development stack that is suitable for creating dynamic websites. It comprises Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, where Linux is the operating system, Apache is the web server software, MySQL is the database management system and PHP is the programming language used to create dynamic web pages.
  2. MEAN Stack is a comprehensive JavaScript framework that is widely used to create dynamic web applications. It comprises MongoDB, Express.js, Angular and Node.js. MongoDB serves as the NoSQL database management system, Express.js is a web application framework used with Node.js, Angular is the front-end JavaScript framework that enables the creation of dynamic web pages and Node.js provides the back-end JavaScript runtime environment.
  3. Another JavaScript framework that is commonly used for creating web applications that support real-time updates is the MERN Stack. It comprises MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js. MongoDB serves as the NoSQL database management system, Express.js is a web application framework used with Node.js, React is the front-end JavaScript library used for building user interfaces and Node.js provides the back-end JavaScript runtime environment.
  4. Ruby on Rails is a well-known web development framework that utilizes the Ruby programming language. It is a preferred choice for startups because of its user-friendly interface and straightforwardness. Ruby on Rails follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern and emphasizes convention over configuration.
  5. The .NET Stack is a Microsoft technology stack that includes tools such as C#, ASP.NET, and Microsoft SQL Server. It is widely used for creating enterprise-level web applications. C# is an object-oriented programming language that helps develop Windows desktop applications and ASP.NET is a web application framework used for creating dynamic web pages.
  6. Django Stack is a Python web development framework that is widely used for creating scalable and secure web applications. Django follows the Model-View-Template (MVT) architectural pattern and incorporates an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) layer that enables developers to interact with databases using Python code.
  7. The iOS Stack is a comprehensive stack of tools that includes Xcode, Swift, and Objective-C and is widely used for creating iOS mobile applications. Xcode is an integrated development environment (IDE) used to develop iOS apps, Swift is a programming language developed by Apple specifically for iOS app development and Objective-C was previously used to develop iOS apps before Swift was introduced.
  8. The Android Stack is another comprehensive stack of tools that includes Android Studio, Java, and Kotlin and is widely used for developing Android mobile applications. Android Studio is an IDE used to develop Android apps, Java is an object-oriented programming language that is used for building Android apps and Kotlin was introduced by Google as an alternative to Java for Android app development.
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How To Choose the Right Tech Stack

Choosing the right tech stack is a critical decision for private equity firms. The right PE technology stack should be a cohesive system that enables fund managers to source deals, manage relationships with limited partners and portfolio companies, and close more deals.

A firm with the right technology solutions in place can work smarter and faster, deliver higher-margin services and ultimately increase profitability. For private equity firms, the technology stack should be viewed as an investment and a way to stay ahead of the competition.

READ MORE: The Power of AI, Data Analytics in IT Due Diligence

There are many factors that go into choosing the technology stack, but here are some of the more important ones:

  1. Out-of-the-box solutions: These are pre-built software solutions that can be used to solve common problems. They can save time and money by reducing the need for custom development. Examples include WordPress, Shopify and Salesforce.
  2. Integration with third-party solutions: This refers to the ability of a tech stack to work with other software solutions. It’s important to choose a tech stack that can easily integrate with other tools you may need in the future. Examples include Zapier, Segment and Twilio.
  3. Developer availability: This refers to the availability of developers who are skilled in a particular tech stack. It’s important to choose a tech stack that has a large pool of developers available so that you can find the right talent for your project.
  4. Documentation: This refers to the quality and quantity of documentation available for a particular tech stack. Good documentation can help developers get up to speed quickly and reduce the time needed for troubleshooting. Examples include React documentation and Django documentation.
  5. Easy to test: This refers to how easy it is to test code written in a particular tech stack. A good tech stack should have testing tools built-in or have easy-to-use testing frameworks available. Examples include Jest for React and Pytest for Python.

READ MORE: Data Warehouse Types: How To Choose the Right One

IT & Software Strategy Resources

If any of this sounds like unfamiliar territory (and even if it doesn’t), it may be a good reason to look for expert help.

There are experienced, proven service providers out there who know industry-specific tech stack requirements inside-out and can help your business make the best decisions every step of the way.

READ MORE: How To Extract Data from ERP Systems

Fortunately, you don’t have to waste time searching for them. Hundreds of PE firms and private and public companies tap into the Business Builders’ Network for this exact reason.

Not only will you be connected in less than one business day, but we’ll only provide the exact-fit resources that are experienced in your particular industry.

Contact out research and operations team to get started with your firm’s or company’s tech stack.

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Centralized Data Management: Business Intelligence & Analytics

March 17, 2023 Brad Gerick

What is Centralized Data in Business?

Centralized data in business analytics involves consolidating information from across an organization into a single system for easier analysis.

“This aspect of business intelligence and analytics is important because it gives companies visibility into KPIs at a high level,” says Brandon John, BluWave’s Service Provider Relationship Manager.

The consolidation usually happens in something called a data warehouse.

Read More:What Are the Different Data Warehouse Types?

Business intelligence practices like centralization are becoming more and more important to businesses, whether that mean private equity, portcos or private and public companies.

According to our most recent quarterly report, we saw “broad-scale adoption of data quality and visualization endeavors and emergent efforts in higher level analytics and AI.”

Let’s take a closer look at what data centralization can do for your business.

Read More: What is Business Intelligence Automation?

Benefits of Data Centralization

Increased Visibility and Transparency

Centralized data provides a single source of truth so leadership can make faster, more accurate business decisions.

Early Detection of Issues

Centralized data allows businesses to identify problems sooner before they become bigger issues.

More Consistency

Different departments often have the same definitions and metrics for things like active users and sales. By centralizing data, you can eliminate confusion at the leadership level.

Holistic View of Customer Journey

Centralized data from marketing, sales and customer service systems provide a complete picture of the customer experience.

Advanced Capabilities

It is easier to analyze data and find insights when all of the relevant data is in one place. Businesses can more easily see correlations across different data sets.

Increased Efficiency

Employees don’t have to spend time aggregating data from different systems. Everything is available in a single source.

Improved Trust

There is confidence that the data and reports are accurate and consistent since there is only one version of the truth.

Continue reading “Centralized Data Management: Business Intelligence & Analytics”

In the Know: Essential, Accessible Digital Transformation

March 16, 2023 Brad Gerick

Digital transformation is no longer something only the biggest, wealthiest companies can afford.

Not only are these services within reach for businesses of all sizes – from enterprise organizations to lower middle market companies – but they’re also essential.

Get Connected to Digital Transformation Third Parties

Learn about common improvement areas all businesses can implement to accelerate digital transformation efforts.

  • Business leaders, including operations partners at private equity firms, C-level executives and functional leads are evaluating the digital capabilities and infrastructure in their companies to identify areas for improvement
  • Simple improvements to workflows or procedures can significantly trim manual tasks and optimize human capital during economic uncertainty
  • “No-regret” moves such as the following can accelerate change in a targeted, cost-effective way:
    • Adopting cloud and SaaS solutions
    • Improving cybersecurity
    • Enhancing website capabilities with tools like chatbots
    • Automating order processing and inventory management
Continue reading “In the Know: Essential, Accessible Digital Transformation”

Pricing Consultants: Hire an Expert

March 14, 2023 Brad Gerick

What Do Pricing Consultants Do?

Pricing consultants help businesses maximize profits based on researching trends, competitors, customer behavior and more. The goal is to maintain high demand and revenue generation without sacrificing quality, loyalty or perception.

Meet Your Pricing Consultant

Setting the right price for a product or service is a key factor in maximizing profit margin. It can unlock substantial additional revenue when done correctly.

In fact, demand for pricing strategy resources continues to increase in this high-inflation economy. It’s often among the most-sought resources in the BluWave network.

If you want to hire a pricing expert, here’s what you should look for during your evaluation.

READ MORE: How To Raise Prices Strategically with Sales Team Buy-In

Set Price

How consultants set prices depends on many factors, such as the type of product or service, market conditions, customer segments and business goals. That’s why it’s so important to hire someone who will take the time to intimately understand your organization and its competitors.

By choosing the “right price,” these consultants help maximize a business’s ROI by protecting profit margins while maximizing revenue and demand.

Pricing consultants may use a number of different high-level strategies: cost-plus pricing; value-based pricing; dynamic pricing; promotional pricing; penetration pricing; skimming pricing.

Pricing, however, is not a one-time exercise. They must be constantly assessed and adjusted based on performance. Consultants work closely with their clients to understand their objectives and constraints and develop a pricing strategy that supports them.

They help businesses choose the “right price” that aligns with the overall business strategy, marketing plan and sales goals to achieve maximum ROI.

PE-Grade Pricing Resources

Pricing Market Research

When choosing a pricing consultant, finding someone who thoroughly researches the market before making recommendations is essential. Pricing consultants use various methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, experiments, data analysis, and more to gain customer and market insights. This establishes a solid foundation for an effective strategy.

In addition to customer and market insights, pricing consultants also consider production, distribution and other operational costs to develop a strategy that ensures profitability.

Pricing consultants also analyze competitors’ strategies to identify opportunities and potential threats. This analysis includes not only their product or service prices, but also their promotions, discounts and other tactics.

To measure price sensitivity, consultants may use techniques such as conjoint analysis or price elasticity testing. This helps them determine how price changes may affect customer demand. They also use digital tools such as web analytics, social listening and sentiment analysis to gain insights into customer behavior and preferences.

All this market research can help validate a new product or service, identify customer value drivers, measure price sensitivity, segment customers by willingness to pay, benchmark competitors’ prices and more.

Start Your Pricing Project

Target Pricing Strategy

After conducting market research and analyzing customer insights, pricing consultants typically use a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis to create a pricing strategy that meets their clients’ goals. This includes:

  • Segmenting customers: Based on their willingness to pay, customer segments are created to help determine the optimal pricing strategy. This involves identifying the different types of customers, their preferences and their willingness to pay for a particular product or service.
  • Identifying value drivers: Consultants work with their clients to identify the key value drivers for their products or services. This involves understanding what features or benefits are most important to customers and how they affect their willingness to pay.
  • Developing pricing structures: After identifying customer segments and value drivers, consultants develop pricing structures that align with their clients’ business goals. This may involve creating different pricing tiers or packages that offer different levels of benefits or features.
  • Conducting sensitivity analysis: For an optimal pricing strategy, consultants conduct sensitivity analysis to understand how changes in pricing may affect demand and revenue.
  • Developing measurement tools: Pricing consultants also develop measurement tools to monitor the performance of the pricing strategy over time. This includes setting up metrics and analytics to track sales, revenue, profit margins and customer satisfaction.

By using a combination of market research, quantitative analysis, and pricing strategies, pricing consultants help businesses maximize ROI and growth.

READ MORE: Industrial Pricing: Strategies for Manufacturing Businesses

Customer Analysis

To better understand customer behavior and preferences, pricing consultants use a range of techniques to gather insights:

  • Key decision factors: One of the first steps in understanding a customer base is defining what motivates them. This involves identifying the main drivers of customer behavior, such as price, quality, brand reputation or convenience.
    Research techniques such as surveys, focus groups and data analysis can all be used to understand what influences purchasing decisions.
  • Willingness to pay: This concept helps businesses determine the optimal price point for their products or services.
    Essentially, willingness to pay is a measure of how much customers are willing to spend on a particular product or service based on factors such as perceived value, quality and market competition.
  • Preferences: Customer needs vary from market to market. For example, pricing consultants may work to reduce churn for a SaaS organization by understanding customers’ needs, what they value and how they make choices. Success is measured by an increase in adoption and revenue.
  • Offer options: Offering choices with good-better-best options and bundles that meet varying needs, use cases and budgets can reveal a lot about a customer. KPIs here include customer adoption and employing Give-Gets to protect price/value alignment.
  • Perception of discounts: It’s also important to understand how customers perceive discounts and how they influence purchasing decisions. This information is also used to inform pricing strategies that maximize revenue while maintaining loyalty.

A pricing expert will know when and how to use each of these tactics to develop the deepest understanding of the customer base for your particular industry.

READ MORE: Hire an Interim CFO

Some businesses never realize the potential of their products or services because they’re not charging the right price.

By blindly setting prices without conducting proper diligence, you’re leaving money on the table. Depending on the size of your business, this could mean millions of dollars.

Fortunately, there’s a roster of expertly vetted price consultants ready for you to hire from within the BluWave Business Builders’ Network.

We have thoroughly evaluated each and every pricing resource that’s been invited into our network so that you can move forward with confidence. These niche-specific resources have invaluable experience helping companies like yours optimize prices.

Whether you’re a PE firm working with a portco, or a private or public company that wants to accelerate revenue growth, we already have the right service provider for you.

Contact our research and operations team to get connected with two or three best-fit options in less than one business day.

Start Your Pricing Project

WHAT IS A VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER SURVEY?

March 13, 2023 Brad Gerick

Companies conduct voice of customer (VoC) studies to better understand how people interact with their product or service.

While there are many techniques to gather this information, the objective is largely the same: Ensure the customer is being heard and served as best as possible.

READ MORE: What Makes a Commercial Due Diligence Firm ‘Specialized’?

Private equity firms, portfolio companies, and private and public companies can all benefit from a strong voice of customer framework.

“Voice of the customer is extremely important to businesses because it allows companies to have visibility into where they are performing highly and where they are not,” says Brandon John, BluWave’s service provider relationship manager. “By hearing exactly how their customers feel about their brand, they can allocate the appropriate resources to improve some identified areas.”

Connect with VoC Experts

Let’s talk about some of the advantages organizations can gain with the information gathered in VoC research.

MSP

Benefits of VoC

There are several advantages to conducting a voice-of-customer survey. It come as no surprise, then, that it’s been top-of-mind for our clients for years.

“VoC projects are always going to be something PE firms prioritize with their portcos,” John says. “We receive steady demand in this space and have since BluWave was founded.”

READ MORE: Voice of Customer Process: Methodologies for Better Service

Deeper Customer Understanding

Rather than merely gathering feedback, VoC research helps companies reimagine their products and services to surpass customers’ needs by gaining an intricate understanding of who they are and what they want.

This includes how and when they use the product, as well as why they’re more (or less) likely to choose it over a competitor.

Commercial Due Diligence Resources

Improved Loyalty and Retention

Listening to customers and resolving their concerns establishes trust and loyalty, decreasing attrition and boosting customer lifetime value.

A client is more likely to stick with a brand that it feels has its best interests in mind.

Better Business Decisions

Actionable insights gleaned from customer input can steer key business choices around product roadmaps, marketing campaigns, pricing strategies and service models.

Increased Bottom Line

An unparalleled customer experience not only spurs growth, but also a competitive edge. One study showed that companies with strong VoC programs boast 10X more annual revenue growth.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

Catering to customers’ needs and wants forges lasting connections. It not only enhances the existing customer experience, but makes it more likely to acquire new ones as you get a better grasp on your target market.

This can have a compound effect as a happy customer is also more likely to recommend your brand or service to friends, families, colleagues and industry peers.

Employee Retention

This might come as a surprise, but your own employees can also benefit from VoC studies. That’s because it gives them a stronger connection to the customer by putting themselves in their shoes. The more aligned the employees are with the clients, the more satisfied they tend to be, thus limiting turnover.

Connect with VoC Experts

Voice of the Customer Best Practices

Use Multiple Channels

To comprehensively capture the opinions of your customers, you should employ multiple avenues for feedback, including surveys, social media, reviews, emails and phone calls.

By using a variety of channels to gather input, companies can gain a multifaceted understanding of client needs and desires that fuels business decisions, improved experiences and financial gains.

Choose Timing Wisely

The timing of requests for customer feedback can significantly impact the quality and amount of responses. Businesses should choose a moment that is relevant, convenient and respectful for clients, such as after a purchase, service interaction or milestone.

Businesses that are considerate in their requests for input are more likely to receive thoughtful, actionable responses that can drive key business decisions and improved outcomes.

READ MORE: What is Commercial Due Diligence?

Act Quickly

The best moment to act on feedback received is as soon as possible. While you want to be diligent about understanding and applying what customers tell you, times is of the essence.

This is especially important when it comes to fixing problems, resolving negative feedback and staying ahead of competitors.

Segmentation

To gain business insights, companies should analyze customer feedback and group clients by factors like demographics or habits. Tailoring actions to different groups helps build loyalty and boost revenue.

It also establishes trust, decreases attrition and increases lifetime value by making each experience as tailored as possible.

READ MORE: 5 Steps to an Effective Voice of Customer (VoC) Strategy

Ask Clear Questions

The quality of your feedback depends largely on the quality of your questions. You should ask clear, concise and specific questions that are easy to understand and answer. You should also avoid leading, biased or ambiguous questions that can skew your results.

The value of customer input hinges greatly on the quality of the questions posed. Aim for clear, crisp and targeted inquiries that are easy to comprehend and respond to. Avoid being suggestive, biased or obscure lines of questioning that can skew results.

Your goal is to learn what customers think about your business, not try to convince them of something.

Acknowledge Feedback

One of the most important VoC best practices is to acknowledge your customers’ feedback and show them that you appreciate their time and opinions. There’s never been more competition for our time, so the fact that someone is willing to participate in your study means they probably have strong feelings.

Follow up with a thank-you message, sharing how their feedback will be used or even offering a reward (see below).

Share Findings Internally

To turn feedback into action, you need to share your findings with the relevant stakeholders in your organization. You should communicate the key insights, recommendations and action plans to your employees, managers and leaders. You should also encourage collaboration and accountability across different teams and departments.

Benchmark Against Your Industry

To measure your performance and progress against your competitors and industry standards, you should benchmark your VoC metrics against external data sources. You can use industry reports, surveys or benchmarks to compare your customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy levels with others in your field.

Test and Optimize

VoC best practices are dynamic, not static. You should constantly refine your program to ensure that it is effective, efficient and aligned with your overall business goals.

This can be done with A/B testing, analytics or feedback loops to evaluate and improve your VoC methods, tools and strategies.

Involve Key Stakeholders

To ensure that your VoC program has the support and resources it needs to succeed, you should involve key stakeholders from the start.

Identify decision-makers, influencers and beneficiaries of your program and engage them in defining the goals, scope and outcomes of your efforts.

Offer Participation Incentives

To increase your response rates and motivate your customers to share their feedback , you can offer participation incentives such as discounts, coupons, freebies or loyalty points.

Choose incentives that are relevant, attractive and proportional to the effort required from your customers.

READ MORE: Understanding Voice of Customer: Metrics, KPIs, Analytics

The expert service providers in the BluWave network know the importance of understanding your customers.

We constantly vet and re-vet the best third-party resources for this exact need, no matter what your customer type or industry.

“We have a solid bench of VoC providers in the BluWave network,” says John, who interacts with these third-party resources on a daily basis. “However, it is important to have the right group, for the right need, at the right time.”

Contact our research and operations team and walk us through your VoC needs. In less than one business day, we’ll introduce you to two or three exact-match options.

“Like all service toolboxes in the BluWave network, the VoC toolbox is always rapidly expanding,” John adds.

Once you make a selection, we’ll hold the service provider accountable from start to finish as they bring their voice of customer expertise to your specific situation.

Start Your VoC Project