Larned S Whitney, Business Development

We specialize in helping owners, managers and team leaders to define and successfully implement action plans to achieve their personal and business strategic goals.

These services center on the statements that:

Businesses that do not know where they are going will probably never get anywhere; and with apologies to Professor George Odiorne “What you can measure, you can manage.”

We use a suite of innovative financial and non financial measures to determine the speed and direction of our achievement.

Specialized services include:

Planning Sessions - You and I start with identification and articulation of your Vision and Mission for your business. Until we can clearly describe management's picture of the business when it is running the way you want, we will not know the what and the how of business operations. Until we define the mission of your business, we do not know where we are going or why. Any action plan will get you somewhere. In fact, no action plan will still leave you somewhere. We just don't know where. Therefore, the first step must be to define the goal.

With you we will formulate the Strategic Objectives which you choose as the future of the business.

Next we go through a process of identifying the Improvement Opportunities which exist for the business. The opportunity may be to improve, expand and/or add value to the products and customer service you offer now. The opportunity may be to go places and offer things you do not offer your customers today or to reduce your customer base to the customers you really want to deal with.

With that picture of the future in our minds we are ready to look at the situation today. We are ready to define the direction and order of the work to be done.

We develop the management actions plans that will lead to your goals and to your success. We also develop an initial measurement plan which gives us the criteria and time lines to manage the implementation of your action plan.

Implementation of Action Programs - You can only sharpen the saw for so long, then it is time to start getting results. This part of the phase is the getting on with it. Failure to Implement is a management disease common to managers who were previously technicians

Design and Implement Customer Feedback Systems - Customer “satisfaction” is now the minimal performance that the marketplace will allow a business to provide and still be allowed to survive. Feedback systems allow you to identify how far above that minimum level your business is operating. Feedback can take any form of communication used by your customer. We help you develop systems which foster meaningful feedback and distill the data into information which can be effectively used by managers and other decision makers.

Conduct Team Member and Client Advisory Boards - In order for owners, managers and other decision makers to take the best alternative they must have the insight of fellow team members and the customers they wish to serve. We help develop this insight by facilitating advisory boards of internal and external customers of the business’ goods and services.

Identify Critical Success Factors - under construction

Develop and Implement Key Performance Indicator Measurement and Monitoring Systems - Most business decisions are based on financial measurements measurements which are frequently historical. We have shown that in many situations non financial quantitative and qualitative measurements are better predictors of the results of operations and decisions. We help management develop and implement systems to routinely accumulate, analyze and report highly relevant information in easily used and understood formats. These systems allow managers to quickly evaluate the results without the delay of complex accounting and reporting systems.

Development of Team Performance Standards for Service and Administrative Teams - Through intensive training and facilitated work groups we assist team members at all levels of your business identify what your customers can expect when dealing with you.

Both customers and team members have expectations. If you exceed those expectations, they are positively impressed. If you do less, they are dissatisfied and may look elsewhere for service next time. By formalizing those expectations, you prepare both your valued customer and the team members for a positive experience. Once you have defined the standard, you can develop the systems for achieving it every time and monitoring the process. The customer receives consistent service and comes to expect that quality every time you serve them.

Benchmarking of Financial and Customer Related Processes- Benchmarks are the processes and results that represent the best practices and performance for similar activities. Benchmarks may be inside your business, your association, your industry, or with any business using similar activities to produce similar results. We help you improve your performance by comparing and modifying your current processes and results against the best we can find.

Development and Implementation of Balanced Scorecard and Alternative Management Control and Reporting Systems - We help you develop a multidimensional framework for describing, implementing, and managing your business strategy. Your objectives, initiatives, and financial measures are linked to your organization's strategy.

This process provides you with an enterprise level view of your business's overall performance. It integrates financial measures with other the other key performance indicators - customer perspectives, internal business processes, and organizational growth, and learning and innovation.

It is no longer enough to look only at the bottom line. You must also keep track of your success at customer satisfaction, internal processes and the processes that contribute to learning and growth. This comprehensive view is provided by your Balanced Scorecard.

Helping People Achieve Success in Business

Business Development