Frequently asked questions about our services
The answers to the following list of frequently asked questions provides some insight into the 4 key services which ConnOptix offers, and a summary of the benefits which clients can experience.
If you have other, more detailed questions about what we do, don't hesitate to contact us directly.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is a Market Strategy? | A market strategy is an extension of an organisation's business strategy. Whereas the function of a business strategy is to define, from the perspective of a number of stakeholder groups, the goals of the organisation and then broadly outline the route which will be taken to achieve those goals, a market strategy describes in greater detail those markets which ought to be targeted in order to increase the likelihood of achieving the organisation's strategic goals. It considers the organisation's capacity for achieving its stated goals, and determines which skills, tools, talents and capabilities will be required to be called upon at a given point in the future to support the achievement of the business strategy. |
| What is the Market Strategy Framework? | The Market Strategy Framework is a structured approach to gathering and assimilating a large number of directly &/or indirectly related sources of internal and external information, enabling the organisation to make marketing investment and skills development decisions which reflect the long-term goals of the business. |
| Who created the Market Strategy Framework? | The Market Strategy Framework was developed by Russell Thomson, the founder of ConnOptix. |
| What will a Market Strategy review do for my business? | At grass roots level, a Market Strategy review ensures that the entire organisation becomes focused on achieving its key strategic goals by developing the skills, talents and market messaging necessary to influence the market towards the organisation's service proposition. It creates a strong team culture by focusing all resources on achieving specific, market-oriented goals. |
| Is Market Strategy just a marketing plan? | No. This question lies at the heart of our Business Regeneration service. Too often organisations, large and small, appear to be in a headlong rush to take new products and services to market without having done the essential groundwork. Typically, they move directly from agreeing the business strategy to planning operational marketing activities and rolling out a series of marketing actions without fully considering how these activities reflect the longer-term goals of the organisation. The fact of the matter is that such operational marketing activities quickly become disconnected from the business strategy, the business loses focus on its stated goals and costs are incurred for marketing activities which are likely to be ineffective, irrelevant or even counter-productive. |
| What does the Market Strategy review deliver? | A Market Strategy review is one component of the wider Business Regeneration Process. The review applies 300 criteria to rate the strength of an organisation's ability to successfully define and address its markets, and sets aspirational goals designed to address weaknesses in the organisation's market proposition. This is reported to the client by way of a management report &/or presentation. |
| How long does a typical review take? | A typical Market Strategy review takes 15 - 20 working days which, depending on the availability of people and information, can be spread over a 2 or 3 calendar month period. |
| Do you just do the review then walk away? | The Market Strategy review is just one component of a much wider organisational development process known as the Business Regeneration Process. Its modular nature means each component of the process may be delivered standalone. In reality, the Market Strategy review is the precursor to a wide-ranging re-think on how an organisation develops its competences and targets its markets. |
| What types of organisation have used the Framework? | The Market Strategy Framework is the structured model which sets the boundaries within which the strategic review is performed. The Framework has been applied to a wide range of service-led businesses in markets such as energy, technology, commercial property, commercial law, tax, engineering, business services and facilities management. All organisations can benefit from developing a stronger link between business strategy and Go-to-Market planning, before spending anything on operational marketing. Whether the work is done in-house or by using the services of an independent consultant is a matter of choice for the organisation. However we recommend that organisations embrace the benefits of the Market Strategy Framework BEFORE reaching the point where they perceive their marketing expenditure to be failing to deliver results. |
| What is Business Regeneration? | Business Regeneration is a root & branch re-assessment of how a business sets its strategic goals, plans it activities and implements those activities to achieve greater success in the marketplace. The Business Regeneration Process addresses 3 organisational imperatives: Strategy, Planning and Operations. It can be applied across an entire Company, or may be deployed at Division or Business Unit level. |
| Is the Market Strategy Framework part of Business Regeneration? | Yes, it is. The Market Strategy Framework provides the structure for the initial(Phase I) process of strategic assessment and rating, as one component of the end-to-end Business Regeneration Process. |
| What will Business Regeneration do for my business? | The Business Regeneration Process will provide your organisation with the confidence to set challenging goals, invest in competence development, listen to the marketplace, communicate better and innovate at the operational level to achieve specific goals embedded as part of the operating culture of the business. The process will ensure that your business becomes more self-aware, considering in greater depth how cross-organisational skills, talents and experiences may be better fused together and exploited in the marketplace to achieve defendable uniqueness. |
| What are the main components of the Business Regeneration process? | Business Regeneration is a 3 stage process comprising:
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| What is 'Professionalisation'? | Professionalisation is the process through which a service-providing organisation evolves its operating culture to the extent that its people and its processes achieve the optimal mix of pioneering spirit and administrative control, whilst in pursuit of a unique service proposition which best enables the organisation to achieve its strategic goals. |
| Why is Service Professionalisation important to service providers? | It has long been recognised that the marketing challenges faced by service providers differ substantially from those of the product marketer. Chief amongst these is the differentiation challenge. Whereas product innovation and uniqueness can be more readily protected, the 'productisation' of a service does not easily lend itself to similar forms of protection. Services are inherently difficult to differentiate and protect. Thus, the goal of Service Professionalisation is to apply a range of techniques such that a business can create defendable uniqueness around its service portfolio and attract a receptive market to that service capability. |
| What does the Professionalisation service deliver? | Most organisations find navigating a route towards greater professionalism something of a challenge. This is not unreasonable given the often highly intangible nature of people-based services. Until relatively recently, there has been little need for a structured approach to the communication of service competence as traditional marketing techniques have been sufficient. However, as the UK's services sector becomes increasingly crowded and the competence of service providers is increasingly called into question, those businesses able to substantiate clear differentiation of service attributes have a greater chance of standing out from the crowd. Our professionalisation services apply a variety of competence development platforms and articulation models to help the client build defendable service uniqueness and ensure clarity of marketing communication. |
| What is the Services Marketing Advisory? | Whereas other components of our services focus on specific projects and deliverables, the Services Marketing Advisory offers clients bespoke access to the whole range of ConnOptix research, strategic marketing and organisational development services under a retained 'trusted adviser' relationship. |
| How will my business benefit from the involvement of ConnOptix? | The ConnOptix approach to services marketing goes beyond mere website development, brochure creation and other such operational activities - we instil an ethos of services marketing across the organisation so your business speaks to the market with one voice.
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