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Executive Blueprints
                www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com
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Grow Business Today for Tomorrow

I wanted to share with you some insights I gained this year from having made over 30,000 phone calls, placed nearly triple digit industry professionals in 10 countries worldwide.  What follows are some of the key factors, as shared with me, by some of the very best and brightest people in our domain.
 
1) The importance of Continuous Improvement in the magical People, Process, and Technology triangle
-- Having a true purpose/value proposition with clearly defined and systemic/disciplined/repeatable processes ... combined with talented people and the right technology -- that can manifest itself in a Payoff - ROI (return on investment).
 
2) Ask yourself and your team members
- How is the quality of our relationships, communication, and promises - internally and externally?
- Where is the high value today?
- What does our sales dashboard / funnel look like?
- Do we have the right people in place?
- Do we have sufficient bench strength if we were to lose a couple key players?
- Do we need to process re-engineer at all?
- What are the best practices of our competition?  Do we even know them?
- When we get beat - do we know why?
- When we win - why is it?  Price? Product? Relationship? Service?
- What can we do to increase our bid to win ratio?  Is this tracked?
- Who are we - what do we want to be when we grow up?
- Are we all on the same page?  Collective and shared vision?
- How much risk are we prepared to take?  Risk averse?
 
3) Grow the business - more than just butts in seats ... It's not what is sold that counts ... It's a complete Business Transformation! 
It's caring and sharing in the simplest format - via relationships.  It's the creation of "real time" Business Value through execution of client / customer needs (true executive sponsorship) - often found in consulting methodologies via the deployment of "on the ground / in the trenches" specialty / integration teams that manage to success ... be it offshore, near shore, or the right shore!
 
4) Forward looking / Forward thinking approach is a must
-- always anticipating the GBU (good, bad, ugly), the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and the PPF (past, present, future) -- this brings a holistic and rational viewpoint to both strategic and tactical decisions.  Don't forget about the here and now -- take care of your existing capital, resources, and client base -- or someone else will.
 
5) Needs Analysis
What are the top 5 areas in need of upgrading / top grading?  When you look at your hiring process could you:
- Reduce the days to fill ratio?  Do you track it?
- Reduce the interview to hire ratio?  Do you track it?
- Recruit ahead of vacancies/continuous sourcing (Proactive vs Reactive) -- so you do not miss on tremendous talent because of timing ...
- Backfill (now) one by one - those individuals who are under-performing/poor attitude - or who just wouldn't upset you terribly if he/she handed in their resignation today ...
- Time is money and performance.
 
6) Realization that A Players and A Organizations are comprised of teams and individuals who are:
- Open minded and flexible
- Competent
- Objective
- Visionary
- Honest
- Inspiring
- Intelligent / Business Savvy
- Hard Working
 
7) A heartfelt realization that in the hiring process
-- companies should be screening as much for attitude and values as actual skill set and track record/performance. 
The characteristics of high performers who maintain loyalty are:
- High Sense of Urgency
- Strong Affinity for Details
- Integrity
- Disciplined
- Effective Communicators - 2 way - up and down the chain of command - have the courage to confront/courage to be confronted - be vulnerable, learn, and grow
- Intelligent
- Knowledgeable
 
8) Intention vs Impact
- Always striving to increase revenues
 -Decrease costs
- Absolutely delight the customer ... via fine tuning/tweaks -- polarity management vs. drastic changes ... BUILDING BUSINESS TRUST!
 
9) Never being satisfied
- always looking to increase the ability and capability to leverage the very best in technology & identify/attract/land and retain - then optimize and keep ... the very best in talent/human and intellectual capital ... all of which leads to Winning!
 
10) Identity and Differentiation - Peel back the onion
What do you really stand for as an organization ... if the customer (internal and/or external) were watching you 24/7 - would they be pleased with your level of effort and execution on their behalf?
- What are you doing to continually stoke the fire?
- How do you differentiate yourself? 
 
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Courtesy of:

Butch Hawking
Managing Director
rjh@kbic.com

Butch has consistently ranked in the top 10 in a national network of 4000 recruiters. He is one of the fastest members in Kaye/Bassman history to be named Managing Partner and was promoted to Managing Director in January of 2005. Butch and his team have completed over 400 searches. Pivotal to the team's success and identity is a passion for winning, an intense level of commitment, and the ability to build strong partnerships. These attributes led CEO Jeff Kaye to dub Butch Kaye/Bassman's Chief Conation Officer (a term used to describe an individual who embodies unparalleled unselfishness, loyalty, and persistence).

Prior to joining Kaye/Bassman, Butch was a Division I Assistant Basketball Coach at the United States Air Force Academy, Cal State Northridge, and Kansas State University. Butch played point guard for the Academy and was named Team Captain his junior and senior years. He earned his Bachelor's Degree and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and United States Air Force Officer in 1992. He served five years in the Air Force, achieving the rank of Captain.

Butch earned his Master's Degree from the University of Northern Colorado. He resides in Allen, Texas with his wife, the former Emily Zsitvay of Tucson, AZ, and their four-year old son, Hunter.

 

Global CRM Specialty Practice

Kaye/Bassman is synonymous with Global CRM search.  We have excelled at providing clients and candidates superior services for over seven years.  

The Global CRM Specialty Practice has a documented track record of success for positions in virtually every aspect of Global CRM including BPO, contact center, collections, fulfillment and direct marketing.  We also service sales and business development by landing management and individual contributor-hunter types.  Within client services and account management, we have placed leaders and farmer type professionals.  We have a demonstrated record of success in operations, human resources, training & quality, finance, information technology and workforce management.  We have successfully facilitated a number of multi-million dollar RFP's into contractual wins for our clients.

We partner with both third party outsource as well as in-house providers across a multitude of vertical markets. Our industry knowledge, coupled with our contacts, relationships and alliances breeds success.  Meticulous attention to detail and our relentless work ethic enable us to successfully complete hundreds of searches worldwide.

We understand the intricacies of rate compression, price constraints and off shoring in today's economy, along with increasing client demands specific to innovation, differentiation and diversification. Loyalty and performance are at the core of our business. We build long-standing relationships based on trust and results, enabling our partners to tactically out-execute and strategically out-flank the competition, reaping substantial returns on investment.

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Words of Wisdom

"Good people are in short supply. Whether you're an investor, a company owner, or someone strategically trying to figure out what to do in a business, you need to pay more attention to employee motivation and human relations."
- Esther Dyson, Chairwoman, EDventure Holdings

"The best thing we can do for our competitors is hire poorly. If I hire a bunch of bozos, it will hurt us, because it takes time to get rid of them. They start infiltrating the organization and then they themselves start hiring people of lower quality."
- David Pritchard, Director of Recruiting, Microsoft

"How can you build a pipeline of talent - the only thing that's going to help you over time - if you put out a search only when you have a position to fill?"
- Rusty Rueff, Executive Vice President for Human Resources, Electronic Arts

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You may distribute this article freely, print it, sell it, or include it as part of a package as long as it is intact, unchanged and delivered in the original format with acknowledgement to Executive Blueprints Inc.

About the Author:
John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital. www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com provides resource materials for trainers, sample Case Studies, educational articles and references to local affiliates for consulting and executive coaching. http://www.InstituteforAdvancedLeadership.com provides self-paced tutorials for personal development and tools for trainers. Presentation materials, reference guides and exercises are available for continuous development.

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