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Holm & Schmidt

Unrealistic goal: To create organic growth and become an attractive and equal merger partner

Outcome: Leading party in the 2009 merger with the law firm Nordia Advokater

Solution: Performance Management Program


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Qeep helped us change our behavior from just waiting for the next case to proactively building client relations, which landed us new clients and full-service agreements with several of our existing clients. Qeep challenged our view of what it takes to run a law firm and the attitudes that traditionally characterize our sector. All lawyers can learn something here
— Michael Vesthardt, Senior Partner, Holm & Schmidt, Nordia – now MAQS

The Challenge

The partners at Holm & Schmidt had come to the realisation that the future couldn’t be built on the firm’s founding business principles. The group of partners had been joined by two young, ambitious attorneys without their own clients. The future was clear – they would eventually have to specialise as a niche law firm or consolidate via a merger.

The Process

Based on a Possibilities Meeting of the partners, it was decided that a merger was the way forward. But in order to succeed, Holm & Schmidt needed to bolster its position and ability to achieve organic growth. Otherwise, they would not be an interesting merger partner. 

The process involved most of the firm’s 30 employees, who ultimately made a commitment to set goals for new sales, additional sales and efficiency. During the process it became clear – with help from Qeep – that a number of results groups and units could be formed, each headed by one of the partners.

All partners received intensive coaching in results management.

Old Habits

Holm & Schmidt were very reactive in their sales efforts.

The partners did not actively contact clients, because they believed that clients did not perceive any value in their calls. The attitude was: “They know that I’m here and they’ll call if they need me.”

They also only focused on selling their own individual specialisations – not those of the other partners. The attorneys were all concerned that a colleague could ruin their business if given access to a good and loyal client.

The sales efforts primarily took the form of attending conferences and dinners the partners were invited to.

New Behaviour

The partners divided themselves among groups of employees and embarked on a process of professional management via concrete results plans and regular follow-ups.

The two young partners began working professionally with their own networks – and actively seeking out prospective clients.

The most important change, however, was in the partners’ behaviour towards existing clients. They began to contact existing clients in an effort to expand Holm & Schmidt’s share of wallet. These efforts were surprisingly well-received and the firm achieved growth in business. Clients proved interested in proactive dialogue and continuous sparring. And they were willing to pay for it.

The Results

  • 25% organic growth in fees
  • 12% growth in earnings
  • Successful merger with a larger firm, Nordia, with Holm & Schmidt’s partners leading the negotiations  

The Hero

Attorney Niels Jensen took it upon himself to develop and launch an environmental evaluation solution for Danish local governments. The solution was launched with huge success and increased revenue by 29%, making him a genuine Results Hero. 

The Unrealistic Goal

Holm & Schmidt set the goal of playing a leading role in a merger with a bigger law firm.

The Organisation

The law firm of Holm & Schmidt was established in 1994 with five partners and a total of 30 employees. The firm is strong within charities/NGOs, life science and corporate law in general. 

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Updates

Demystifying the Customer Journey

The fact that monitoring and improving customer experience is essential for boosting loyalty and customer lifetime value does not come as a surprise to many companies. Unfortunately, many companies take an approach that is too simplistic, thinking that regular satisfaction surveys will do the trick. In reality CEM programs are most successful when built around the entire customer experience across every facet of the organisation. In this article below, Satmetrix explains how companies can get the most out of their CEM programs and maximise their customer satisfaction by taking a customer centric approach. The article shows that understanding the Customer Journey plays an essential role as it helps companies think like their customers and identify critical touchpoints. The article recommends creating a customer journey blueprint and to align functional areas to journey stages in order to create the most optimal customer experience.

At Qeep we have worked intensively with Customer Journey mapping and Customer Loyalty with major clients such as Hardi and Nets. In both cases, customer satisfaction boosted rapidly, proving the fact that CEM programs are most successful when a customer centric approach is taken. We believe that the people that are in contact with your company always should be your number one priority. If you don’t have happy and engaged colleagues, they will work inefficiently and turn theirs backs at you and so will you customers. The next generation of business leaderes should put their people first!

If you want to be part of a new and more fulfilling way of running a company, then lets break with the old habits of doing business. We can help you implement a technological platform that lets you measure both customer and employee satisfaction in real time. We can help you analyse and leverage this data and drive change in your company. The method is a proven tool that has been used for more than 10 years by companies such as Apple and Lego.

If this sounds interesting contact us.

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Updates

Are you really listening to what your customers are saying?

In the last decade, customer-experience metrics have proliferated, but many companies struggle with acting on feedback and experience that the metrics doesn’t always seem to explain big swings in customer satisfaction. In this article, McKinsey argues for a journey-centric, customer-experience measurement system and states that traditional top-line metrics are leaving companies deaf to what their customers really are saying. Customer feedback is essential for the development of a business. Companies needs to implement an effective and complete system that measures the experience of the customer journey and implement a mindset across the entire organisation that focuses on quickly closing the root problems. This  allows a company to reap the true rewards of customer feedback!

In Qeep we collaborate with RelationWise, a technological platform that allows companies to measure customer and employee satisfaction in real time. Our experience shows that many companies struggle to measure and react on what the people they interact with really are thinking about them. They measure satisfaction once maybe twice a year and they don’t react quick enough. We encourage and support leaders that moves towards “Real-time Management” through better employee and customer engagement.

Measuring relationships in real time is a new concept. It requires a shift in the mindset among leaders and changes to our existing systems. However, employees and customers are ready because they already live in real time on social media. They get feedback from their Facebook friends five minutes after posting their exam results or when posting a holiday picture. In Qeep we can help you implement a platform that allows you to measure, analyse and react swiftly on what the people around you are saying about your company. This will give you the true rewards of customer feedback!

 

 

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Updates

Leaders of today need to focus on engagement

Most leaders I know operate using ‘Management by Objectives’ (MBO), setting smart goals for their managers and employees as a means of guiding the business. Many are even developing an organisational culture in which employees are encouraged to set their own goals.

However, MBO doesn’t quite have the effect that it used to have, especially among our newer, younger colleagues. I don’t think this is due to the wrong measures being set or the wrong people being measured. It is more about engaging employees and customers to motivate them to develop their relationship with the company. They will then be likely to keep giving feedback on a regular and frequent basis so that leaders can monitor the state of their business in real time. The current problem is encapsulated by the irritation we feel when our telephone operator or car workshop wants to measure our satisfaction after every visit or contact when we only have a transactional relationship with them. Personally, I rarely press the smiley buttons in stores or airports any more so how useful can the data be if many people ignore them?

The issue for leaders, therefore, is that we need a new perspective to engage employees and customers to give critical feedback in real time if we are to deliver the business performance needed.

The time is right for this change to happen. The development of the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ (Industry 4.0) means that the technology to communicate with individual employees and customers, and to manage the constant flow of data is now possible. New technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning enable not only direct feedback from the individual to the organisation but also peer-to-peer feedback in real time.

But technology is only the enabler to doing things differently; we also need to rethink our leadership. How many leaders today are ready to monitor customer and employee feedback on a daily, or near to daily, basis? Most organisations I visit only review results on a monthly basis. Furthermore, these results tend to be the company’s financial and transactional performance such as the orders received, revenue, operational profit, absence due to sickness, employee turnover and so on. Customer complaints may be monitored every month but customer and employee satisfaction every year or two.

Measuring relationships in real time is a new concept. It requires a shift in mindset among leaders and changes to our systems. However, our employees are ready because they live on social media in real time. They get feedback from their Facebook friends five minutes after posting their exam results or where they are on holiday. More pertinently, work colleagues often share their feelings about the company and how things are going at work on unofficial Facebook groups that are not facilitated by the company. Not only are your employees ready, they are already participating.

At People 4.0 we encourage and support leaders in their efforts to move to ‘real time management’ through better employee and customer engagement. We have helped companies such as Estee Lauder, Alcon, H+H, Noa Noa and others to kick start their engagement programmes through the use of enabling technology, on-boarding and relationship development, management of data and real time performance management. The impact is clear; the employees and customers are happy to participate and the results keep getting better.

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Commercial Excellence Updates

Qeep initiates collaboration with Otometrics

Otometrics is one of the leading companies within the hearing device industry and  operates in more than 80 countries worldwide.

Due to its size and wide market span, the company wants to develop a clearer best practice approach to sales in order to increase the company’s global transparency, predictability and the internal collaboration. In cooperation with Qeep, Otometrics is working on creating an identical and focused commercial excellence approach across the entire sales organisation with the purpose of establishing an identical culture and ultimately improve the company’s margins and operational profits.

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Commercial Excellence

Nets chooses Qeep as supplier of Customer Journey program

The digital payment business is in rapid development and users are looking for unique solutions that matches their business best. In this regard, Nets is collaborating with Qeep to establish a strong commercial excellence plan in order to target customers in the most optimal way. This will contribute to improving the commercial and sales execution program to ensure that Nets continues as a leading company within its field.

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Commercial Excellence Updates

Konica Minolta chooses Qeep to help improve their sales execution program

Konica Minolta is a publicly traded company, world leader within the business of industrial picture products such as copiers, laser printers and multifunctional peripherals. The company has costumers worldwide and offices in 49 different countries.

Konica Minolta is currently launching several new IT products and services targeted to new and existing customers. Konica Minolta is collaborating with Qeep in order to improve its sales execution program and the operational strategy that goes with it. This is done in order to ensure the maximal amount of cross and up-selling to existing customers and to attract the highest number of new customers.

Categories
Commercial Excellence Updates

Qeep initiates collaboration with Hardi

Hardi is a world leading Danish company within the agriculture spraying business. Hardi operates in 120 countries and employs more than a 1000 people worldwide.

Hardi International wants to establish a better understanding of the customers decision-making process including the thoughts and considerations that goes into the process. In this regard, Hardi and Qeep has engaged in a collaboration to lift the customer loyalty through a better understanding of the end-user. Through these initiatives, Hardi wishes to reach the maximum value in the sales and marketing activity across the organisation.

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Updates

Qeep is Gazelle 2015

In Qeep, we like to celebrate success and it lies deep within us to acknowledge positive results and the energy that it brings.

Once more, we at Qeep can place a statue on our shelf. This time it is Børsens Gazelle prize 2015, which is awarded to organizations that have experienced continuous, growth in revenue and/or gross profit.

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We are proud to receive this reward, especially because it comes on our 13th business year, which shows that it is always possible to improve. This prize does not stand alone; it reflects the will in Danish companies to succeed in what they set out for
— Lasse Hansen CEO, Qeep

To acknowledge positive results and the energy it brings lies deep within us. We consider it a fundamental part of our process to reach ambitious goals, and to stop and reflect on what we have succeeded with. For us it is a healthy motivation. That’s why we name a” result hero” every year, in order to acknowledge those in our company that has succeeded particularly in reaching the goals they set out to.

With ambition, courage and stamina, we will turn our eye towards a 2016 full of new existing tasks and goals to be accomplished.

Qeep has previously won the DI consultant prize 2004, 2009 and 2011.

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Updates

You have to challenge your surroundings to get results!

If you want to get results, you have to create good relations with the people around you. Our experience shows that a certain amount of tension is beneficial to drive execution processes forward quicker. You get better results if you challenge each other and make imperative demands.

In the years after the financial crisis, the consultants Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson asked themselves the question:
”Why did some sellers create top results while other couldn’t sell anything?”

The answer surprised them.

Relations lose

They conducted a research of more than 6.000 sellers from different countries and industries and discovered that sellers can be categorised in five different types:

  1. The lone wolf, the cowboy without respect for rules and with an astounding confidence
  2. The hard working seller, that constantly tries to conduct more calls and visit more customers
  3. The relation creator that tries to build strong, professional relations ahead of the sale
  4. The reactive problem solver, whose focus is on the after sale. He keeps himself updated on the customer and whether he/she got what he/she wanted

The challenger, that uses his/her knowledge about the industry and solutions to challenge the customers’ mindset – Even when the customer finds it somewhat controversial

The survey produced a very clear winner and loser.
40% of the sellers who created extraordinary results were challengers and they were also the ones who did best in the overall scores by far. The worst sellers were the relations builders which surprised the consultants, because for many years, the focus has been on teaching sellers to build good relations.

The Problem is tension

At Qeep we aren’t surprised about the result. The same things go for our work in business execution. It’s about getting people to decide to change the status quo. 
That’s why we weren’t surprised that the challenger accomplishes better results than the relation builder. For a person to work goal oriented on creating results, there has to be a certain amount of anxiety and uncertainty. It’s scary to do something new and to tread on deep waters, but if you’re constantly operating within your comfort zone, you will never do things differently.
On behalf of input from over 100 firms, we have developed 9 principals for good business execution leadership. Here are a few of them explained.
First and foremost, you have to have an ambitious approach to business and leadership. This means that you have to set yourself goals out of your comfort zone. This is where relation builders often fail because he/she will focus on doing things in a way that feels familiar and safe. 

Furthermore, you have to be courageous and ready for change. If you wish to achieve high goals, you often have to break out of your current ways of thinking. Here, the challenger is great as he is always using his insight to challenge the existing paradigms and status quo.

The challenger

To sum up, the challenger focuses on pushing the costumer out of his/her comfort zone. It makes sense, because there is no need to buy a product if everything is perfect. Why do you need it then?

The challenger does this in three ways that the author calls:

  1. Teach
  2. Taylor
  3. Take Control

First and foremost, the challenger uses his insight knowledge to teach and challenge the customer. For many years, sellers have focused on covering the customers need, but what if the customer doesn’t know what he/she needs? Dixon and Adamson argues that this is often the case. Therefore, the challenger focuses on getting the customer to realise and learn about a problem or opportunity they didn’t know beforehand. He doesn’t merely focus on covering the customers known needs.
At the same time, he is able to tailor his message to many different types of people. Most selling processes are more complex today than earlier. Therefore, many different decision makers are often involved. For example, The IT-man, the CFO, and the Sales Director all have to acknowledge the idea if you want to sell a new CRM-system to a corporation. The challenger is able to create consensus all the way around.
Lastly, the challenger takes control of the sales process. He is persistent and drives the process forward. It’s about making a sale and not just about having a good meeting. The challenger knows that he has challenged the customer’s paradigm and therefore he also knows that the particular solution will create value. This means that the challenger is not afraid to talk about money and therefore is constantly pushing to make the sale.

The Challenger is a good execution leader.
The challenger has the values and mindset that creates good execution leaders- in other areas than sale as well. He is able to create the necessary uncertainty and tension necessary to work goal oriented.

At Qeep we celebrate this type of humans. It is central that corporations reach their goals.