The challenge to organizations in managing growth is to put the “ready-aim” in “ready-aim-fire.”  Growth can be an incremental organic process, or it can be dramatic via new products, markets, or even M&As. 

Whatever it is, though, research & planning provides the foundation for leading and managing growth, particularly with regard to efficient and effective deployment of scarce resources of money, people, time, focus, energy, moral authority and opportunity.

As an organization grows, whether publicly-traded corporations, closely-held business, not-for-profits or public sector agencies, its universe of stakeholders grows, and the demands on the organization grow as a result.  Many counselors try to elevate the mystique of strategic planning, as though it’s a cult exercise.  Sam Waltz & Associates Counsel strips out the mystique, moving it to its core elements, asking and answering the three great questions of business – and life…

• Where are we?

• Where do we want to be?

• How do we get there? 

Strategic Senior Level Services of our team include… 

• Strategic Business Planning.
   
• Strategic Marketing Planning.
   
• Objective Quantitative Research & Analysis:
  Surveys, Intercept Interviews & BenchMarking
   
• Subjective Qualitative Research & Analysis:
  Focus Groups, Interviews, Literature Reviews & Case Histories, with Data Integration, Synthesis & Analysis.
   
• Financial Analysis:
  Cost-Benefit Analysis & Customer Valuation Modeling
   
• Culture Change Management:
  Strategic Visioning, Mission & Principles, & Organizational Development.
   
• Syntonics Relationship Management®:
  Win-Win Consensus-Design, Stakeholder Attitude Sensing, Public Involvement & Process Management.
   
• Problem-Solving Counsel to Management.

Research & Strategic Planning – in our firm’s view – is like putting the “Ready-Aim” in “Ready-Aim-Fire.”

Without it, the organization risks…

• Squandering precious resources;
• Squandering finite opportunities;
•  Diminishing capability of the organization to achieve its mission and objectives.

In research, we offer both a quantitative objective data-based approach as well a qualitative subjective attitudinal- and behavior-based approach.  In some ways, it’s like a doctor -- who in assessing her patient’s condition -- takes the temperature, pulse, weight and other objective measurements, as well as asking a series of subjective diagnostic questions.

In Strategic Planning, we work collaboratively to develop custom-solutions for unique organizational issues.  Deliverables often include…

• Facilitation of Strategic Planning, for a board or management team;
• Development of a Written Plan, for business or marketing;
• Presentation of the Plan to VIP Stakeholders.

Some recent examples include...

• Regulated Publicly-Traded Utility that suffered Reputation Issues as a result of naturally-occurring events faced heightened media, regulatory and public scrutiny. To the extent that regulation results from public interest and pressure, we conducted about 40 VIP opinion-leader stakeholder interviews at the highest and most relevant levels of the community, engaged the VIPs leaders in strategic problem-solving, developed diagnostic insights, and worked collaboratively with corporate management to develop strategies that subsequently were implemented in a way that eased the scrutiny and improved Reputation Management.
   
• Proposed Charter High School needed survey research to determine that it could identify and develop a prospective market niche for its offering, in order to approach regulatory and chartering authorities with a persuasive completed application. In a compressed time frame of just 3 weeks, SW&A developed a research instrument that met the clients needs, designed a survey research program with a 15-minute questionnaire, executed it with a random survey that reach 400 families with school-aged children, and delivered survey research data and narrative that the HS organizer’s chartering consultants described as the best-ever research they had seen.
   
• Fine Arts Not-For-Profit Organization that suffered significant interruptions to its offering faced a variety of issues, from marketing to programming to Board development, in order to take the organization forward under a new Executive Director. Sam Waltz & Associates conducted national-scale peer group research, both via interviews and web research, as well as local research interviews among its VIP Opinion-Leader Stakeholders, developed insights into programming and marketing, brought the material forward in a way we facilitated the Board’s annual strategic planning retreat, developing the written work plan and marketing plan from that, and engaged in Board development, including strategic recruitment of new Board members.
   
• Growing Family-Owned Small B2B Business has plateaued within the past year, since its founding 15 years earlier. Research leads to collaborative creation of a strategic business and marketing plan for going after expanded and new business segments, as well as a plan for awareness-building Integrated Marketing Communication, which is immediately implemented leading to new business leads and new business.