Author Archive - Rick McPartlin

As the co-founder and president of The Revenue Game, my mission is to help companies focus their organizations around the critical function of "revenue generation." I regularly present to CEO groups and executive forums and was honored to be named the 2008 TEC Canada "Best US Speaker of the Year." I've spent the last 20 years focused on revenue generation as a science and have spearheaded major product launches, been a national sales manager in the industry leading CAD/CAM engineering company, formed a national consulting company in launch management called Impact Sales, and developed several trademarked sales tools and systems models. I welcome your questions and comments, whether you prefer to comment on my posts or to talk privately via phone or email. I also invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn.

Email: rick.mcpartlin@therevenuegame.com

Phone: 800-757-8377

Your business model, strategy, organization & execution: A year of CEO Challenges!

It seems like only yesterday that we were throwing around ideas for what would become the CEO Challenge. It’s been a year now, and we’re so pleased with the feedback we’ve received from clients, colleagues and collaborators. Seems we’ve struck a few chords, and that’s great to hear, especially because our messages aren’t always pleasant. “Your business model is Best of the Worst! Your organization is in chaos! You need to think like a Chief Revenue Officer!”

This month, Jane and I decided to revisit the twelve posts we’ve published to date. For those of you who have been reading a while … how many of these Challenges have you accepted? Have you implemented the action plans?

Thought Leadership is a Business Strategy

Thought leadership is often bandied about as if it’s a marketing campaign. But thought leadership is a business strategy. A thought leader must LEAD!

How To Fix A BOTW Business Model

It’s strategic planning and budgeting season. The end of a difficult 2009 and possibly a new beginning for your business. What are you thinking about doing differently next year? Are you setting more ambitious revenue goals, or are you trying to slash costs as much as humanly possible? Are you launching a new product or service, or are you contracting your offerings? Will you fix small nagging problems, or will you reinvent your business model?

In this post, I’ll address your business model and how you can change it this next year to evolve from Best of the Worst (“BOTW”) to Best of the Best (“BOTB”).

Are You a “Best of the Worst” Company?

Lately I’ve been talking with a lot of CEOs about a concept I call “Best of the Worst” (BOTW). The term is harsh, but many executives quickly realize that yes, their organizations have a lot in common with BOTW companies like, say, GM.

In boom times, BOTW companies are enormously confident in and proud of their performance. They’re meeting Wall Street’s projections and their internal short-term metrics. They think they’re invaluable to their customers and are immune to the whims of the market. In other words, they think they’re doing everything right.

But then the environment changes. The market sours, the economy tanks, new competitors show up, legislation kicks in, or some other external variable shifts. Sales and profits plummet.

What do BOTW companies do? They blame these uncontrollable external variables for their woes. Then they just try to survive until the boom times return.