Vision:
Become the “go to” transition consultant brand that enables fast, effective and profitable results for Oregon companies that want to win and are moving to new leadership or a new reality.
That subtle marketing shift to companies that want to win allowed him to continue his well-honed skills at business transition while making it more about the organization continuing rather than being sold or acquired.
A conversation with Jim reveals his passion in a matter of moments. It is in how he refers to clients and how he says they ought to be served.
Core Values
Jim points to these as key components to how he operates now and will into the future:
Effective at aligning leadership structure, people and processes to accelerate progress.
Results that delight – both Jim and his client and continue to meet the goals set well after the contract ends.
Honesty in all relationships
Efficiency in delivery and as a result of training and coaching in the client organization.
Active listening that reveals the problems rather than just the symptoms, that is based on what people do not what they say.
Skilled at defining goals and strategies as well as the implementation necessary to reach them
Open to other ways of seeing and doing
Dedicated to ongoing learning and finding solutions tailored to organization, culture, values and resources
Mission:
Jim says that if he could wave a magic wand, people would know that he,
“Helps people and companies do things they didn’t believe they could do, faster than they expect.”
In his own words
"I'm the defogger and accelerator.
I help people and companies do things they didn't believe they could ...
faster than they expect."
Jim Grew
the Grew Brand, key elements
Customer Viewpoint:
Clients describe Jim as “like a windshield defogger,” “good at strategically managing people to an end,” “able to get people clear about the goal.” They say in testimonials that he is “Focused,” as well as “has a strategic perspective,” able to mend the fighting, forge consistency, clear goals and measures and get departments working together effectively.”
Position:
That’s why our initial positioning statement for Jim was:
Business Transition Defogger
The new positioning was put into the masthead. Jim began blogging. We let clients speak to his capabilities in the sidebars with a different client on each page. each step along the way we reinforced his brand and made sure that people could find their way to him. At the top of every sidebar it said: Talk to Jim 503 504-8857.
Most importantly the home page of the web site included a short video based on 30-Second MarketingTM which gave site visitors a chance to get to know Jim a little better. The latest version is above.
Niche:
Businesses with sales of $5 to 50 million that need to transition to new leadership or a new reality to win in the current market. They know they need someone to help them and want a local, proven talent with a track record for tailoring solutions by culture, values, resources and industry.
That niche description easily meets the criteria of a group that is focused, outside the mainstream, growing fast enough and not of interest to larger, competitive firms.
Persona:
We weren’t about to change the name of the company. Jim was already using a value-based pricing approach and was well versed in methods to get the results desired. His expertise was well known in parts of the business community but not as broadly as it might have been.
The strategy was to begin building his brand via speaking and writing. Over time using marketing with simple devicing he built a more professional perception for his consultant brand.
The website has been the driving force for the brand. As we find information or approaches that resonate with clients and prospects they are adapted for all the marketing efforts, particularly the website.
A speaking page was added to the web site. (shown immediately above)
Then, as video testimonials were being gathered, the frequency of mention of the speed that Jim helped companies get things done kept coming up. That’s why the later incarnations of his positioning and graphics include the speed visual.
At each step of the way we have carefully listened to what prospects and clients telling us and adjusted the approach to assure we are connecting. This consultant brand morphs but stays on target.