Midmarket Vision and Strategy

CEO Connection, an organization whose membership is reserved exclusively for midmarket CEOs, wrapped up their annual conference in Philadelphia this week. George Bradt contributed a terrific summary (see one segment of it at http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2015/10/20/learning-from-the-ceo-connection-mid-market-convention-day-i/) for Forbes on his takeaways. Bradt captured the importance of leadership in the forms of understanding the need to craft and communicate vision, making sure the organization is aligned, and taking ownership of talent management.

If you're an entrepreneur with plans on growing from a small to mid-sized business quickly, it's imperative to get your vision right and communicate it throughout the organization to ensure everyone is aligned with you. Taking that a step further, midmarket CEOs not only need to own the vision, but they need to build out the right strategies to support it. For a couple of tips on strategy for the entrepreneurial CEO, check out this article from Stever Robbins (https://hbr.org/2010/06/advanced-entrepreneurship-the-1).

What Do I Do Once I Sell My Business?

Since the latter half of 2007, M&A activity simmered as companies stockpiled cash. This year has seen that turned on its head, however, as indicators point to 2015 being a record year for M&A, with global activity poised to exceed $4.5 billion. While many midmarket firms are taking advantage of somewhat easier access to capital and investing in strategic acquisitions to grow their businesses, it begs the question for those midmarket CEO's who choose to sell, "What do I do next?"

Addressing the question on a more existential basis is this article from Harvard Business Review (https://hbr.org/2015/09/dealing-with-the-emotional-fallout-of-selling-your-business). Entrepreneur and executive coach (and author of the article) Jeff Giesea offers a number of tips on how to fill the chasm left post-sale, from accepting the process of reinvention to avoiding making too many changes at once. The void felt upon exiting an organization that one worked so hard to build can be challenging; Giesea recommends taking the first six months to formulate a game plan before rushing into too much change, too soon.

Midmarket Leader: Balancing the Resources of Time and Money

Last year, HBR published this Robert Sher article -- https://hbr.org/2014/03/midsize-companies-must-prioritize-ruthlessly -- in which he suggests that midmarket leaders need to understand the value of time as the more important resource than money for midsize companies, and he offers three sound project management principles leaders can take to avoid business failure.

In my work with midmarket leaders over the past decade, this prioritization of time over money is one that I've seen time-and-again at leading, growth-fueled midsize businesses, and the best organizations apply that lens not only in terms of project management, but in strategic decision-making, as well. It's not to say that cash isn't important, rather, it's the idea that the entrepreneurial spirit spurring growth can lead to an accumulation of diverse projects that -- if all are pursued without strict prioritization -- can derail a company. As Chris Zook pointed out in his 2001 book Profit from the Core, the majority of companies that sustain growth over a decade or more focus much more on their core than on diversifying. Leaders who combine Sher's ruthless prioritization techniques with Zook's focus on the core can lead to a period of sustained success for their midmarket business.

Productivity Hacks Drive athenahealth's Agility

Recently, as part of LinkedIn's "#ProductivityHacks" series, athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush wrote a post about his (and his company's) relentless pursuit of productivity (LinkedIn members, you can read it here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/productivity-hacks-our-healthcare-system-did-think-time-jonathan-bush?trk=prof-post). Bush gives the example of how athenahealth took the implementation time on their electronic health record system for small practices from 12 weeks to 6 weeks, and then more recently to 5 days, with a goal to tune down to "instant-on, self-service implementation".

Every organization can benefit from increased agility. According to a 2012 study from the Project Management Institute (PMI), the majority of organizations that reported successfully rolling out new initiatives rated themselves as having high organizational agility. That agility pays off, with the PMI report quoting an M.I.T. study that agile firms grew revenue 37% faster and profits 30% higher than non-agile companies (read the PMI report at https://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Research/Organizational-Agility-In-Depth-Report.ashx). It's no surprise, then, that with athenahealth modeling this behavior -- and starting from top leadership in doing so -- the midmarket technology juggernaut reported last Friday a quarterly revenue increase of nearly 21% year-over-year.

5 Steps for Getting Past the "Yellow Lights" in Midmarket Sales Forecasts

The National Center for the Middle Market recently published a smart piece from Chuck Leddy on 4 ways to shorten your sales cycle: http://www.middlemarketcenter.org/expert-perspectives/4-ways-to-shorten-your-sales-cycle. Effective midmarket leaders understand the value of talent development for their sales teams. If you find the velocity of deals in your forecast slowing down or opportunities stalling, share Leddy's article with your team, and then try this exercise:

1. At your next sales meeting, ask your team to brainstorm the top reasons deals stall. Your list likely will include issues such as changes in key personnel, the prospect's procurement process, and budget changes, among others.

2. Record those issues on flip charts or a dry erase board (or if you have a virtual team and use online conference software, try using the online white-board).

3. Have your team vote on which are causing the greatest delays most frequently.

4. Divide your team into working groups and assign each a different top vote-getter. Instruct those working groups to discuss and capture ideas on A) Actions within their control that they can start taking right now to overcome those issues, and B) Actions other internal stakeholders can take to help them.

5. Reunite the team and discuss the working group results, and agree on which steps you can implement right away, which will need further discussion, and which the team leader will take up with internal stakeholders.

Accountability is key in making the results of this exercise succeed in the long term. As a leader, keep your team informed of the small wins you're seeing, as well as of the progress you're making with stakeholders, and be sure that your team members are holding one-another accountable. This simple session can yield quick results to moving past those yellow lights in the sales process on your way to faster closes and more accurate forecasts.