Ten statements and questions to get a "stunned silence" and convince a buyer to listen to you:
- I've worked with quite a few clients who are top-flight like you in order to create stretch growth goals since there was no competition forcing them to be better, and they were concerned about complacency.
- What percentage of your staff's time is spend on innovation as compared to problem solving? Most executives don't know, yet this is one of the keys to productivity and growth.
- If you're spending even an hour a week playing "referee" among warring camps and interests, you have a significant productivity drain throughout the organization.
- You're doing a lot of team building, I'm guessing, yet you have far more committees than you do teams. What are you doing for them?
- When was the last time you personally talked privately to front-line employees and learned something new?
- Do you have a formal backup, who has met the client, for every key client contact in the event that key personnel abruptly depart?
- How often do you personally read customer complaints or feedback that is not filtered by subordinates and people who think they're doing you a favor?
- What percentage of your employees-or even your key personnel-could readily and accurately state the mission statement of the organization?
- To what degree are you holding key people responsible for multi-year plans and strategy?
- How are career development and succession planning "married" here so that you have development consistent with your strategic needs?