Strategic Growth and Migration Planning
Improved reporting solutions
Strategic and Tactical Employee Retention and Development Programs
Strategic and Tactical Customer Retention Planning and Deployment Services
Performance Management and Workflow Diagnostics
RFP and Technology Selection
TeleSales Performance Improvement Services
Customer Perception Analysis
Balanced Scorecard Services

Strategic Growth and Migration Planning

As organizations transform into organizations of the new century, they find themselves to be in a constant battle with the overall vision, resources and rate of growth for their organizations. Resources are tight so every decision must be a good decision. There is no time or resource to waste. Executives ask themselves, “Where is the best place for me to invest resources?”, “How can I grow revenue without adding the corresponding support costs?”. The key to understanding growth challenges and developing a migration plan for the future is in defining a focused view of operations and using that focus to build a tactical and strategic plan for the next 18, 24, and 36 months.

The Comb Group has achieved 100% reference ability because our clients see marked performance improvement within weeks, not months and they are able to take the jointly developed growth strategy, migration plans, and simulation tools and continue the transformation without our help. Balanced Scorecards form the foundation for all growth planning. We provide the tools to help the organization continue to achieve results even when we are not there. It takes time to transform performance within an organization, months and even years. No one can wait months or years to see improvement and once the improvements occur, they must be sustainable. Quick fixes are just that, quick. They provide instant improvements but those improvements cannot be sustained. To ensure sustainability, The Comb group prefers to deliver services in a phased approach allowing your organization to ensure maximum benefit is received along the way.

Improved reporting solutions

For most organizations and their individual departments, there is more data available than one could ever weed through. The problem is that the data is not in a centralized, single source. Thus, pulling together information to depict employee performance, department performance, or team performance including non statistical information such as human behaviors, quality monitoring scores, etc becomes a massively time intensive function.

The Comb Group has worked with multiple organizations to design, develop, or acquire the necessary tools and applications to centralize data into one single source. The Comb Group has tools that your organization can start with and then customize so that your organization does not start at ground zero. In addition, The Comb Group has completed a multitude of RFP creation and management engagements in which our organization has worked alongside our customers to find the appropriate tools in a cost effective manner.

Strategic and Tactical Employee Retention and Development Programs

‘Employee retention' has assumed mythological status in recent years - a problem seemingly so large that just understanding the issues involved seems intimidating. Our client’s state that we helped them suddenly see the potential lying right within their organization, in short, we created an Epiphany.

More often than not we find that incentive plans, training programs, and departmental cultures are not aligned with the strategic goals of the organization. Thus, people are not performing as expected; Staff members are frustrated, management is frustrated and retention problems arise.

Our belief is that people stay where they feel at home. To feel at home one must feel:

• They are important to the overall cause at hand and understand where their roles aligns
• They must feel that there opinions matter
• They must feel that compensation programs reward low, average, high, and exceptional staff appropriately
• They must believe that the organization cares as much about them as they do about their job.

Organizations work with us to design and implement employee development programs that express who you are as an organization and ones that consistently align program to strategic operational goals, even as they change. We will first work to identify the organizational goals and then we will work to align those goals through all aspects of Employee Development including Mentoring and Coaching, Employer Branding, Retention Strategies, Recruiting & Orientation, Compensation Programs, & Training.

Strategic and Tactical Customer Retention Planning and Deployment Services

Your customers are leaving and they are taking their money with them!

The Comb Group is in the business of helping our clients improve business performance. Many times, helping to improve the customer experience drives significant revenue improvement. We have developed a service that introduces a customized approach to help our clients meet and exceed sales and retention goals.

For a minimum customer fee per month, we can help drive 25-50% improvement in your retention base. We contact your customers verbally and in writing to provide you with leads, service issues, and sales data to help you retain and grow your customer base more consistently.

Everyone thinks they have time to stay in touch themselves. But, just look at the last 3 months, how many times has your current customer base heard from you just to say hello and see if they have any questions. Let us help you manage your existing customers while you acquire new ones.

Performance Management and Workflow Diagnostics

The Comb Groups patent-pending 180 Degrees Difference™ is a unique methodology. Not only is it a proven process for identifying and optimizing untapped potential, it ensures these outcomes are aligned with corporate strategy through departmental initiatives—an often overlooked piece to the business optimization puzzle. The real difference though is that our patent-pending methodology allows us to do in 4-6 weeks what takes others 6-8 months. That's the real difference.

The 180 Degrees Difference™ delivers actionable recommendations—the majority of which companies can implement on their own, without outside assistance, to save even more money over time. By providing not only a report but a management tool, The 180 Degree Shift Tool™, companies can make significant progress on their own once the initial findings have been outlined in our report analysis.

RFP and Technology Selection

Planning to purchase new hardware or software is nothing short of a vast effort. Agencies find that once they begin talking with vendors, all of the “bells and whistles” start to confuse decision makers who started with a list of required functionality needed. Most organizations want to consider: The investment already placed in the application/hardware in use today, if the current application/hardware is a package application, the customized components of the application/hardware need to be reviewed and their specifications need to be documented, any known future upgrades that interface currently or will interface in the future, The 80-20 Rule for application/hardware replacement projects: When building specifications for a system, consider what 80% of the functionality needs to be. Don’t spend 80% of the analysis time on 20% of the functionality, the number of internal technical resources available to train and support the new system on an ongoing basis, the annual and monthly maintenance fees, and the availability of technical support aside from the manufacturer.

The Comb Group has lead many organizations through a thorough Functional Requirements and Request for Proposal process. In most cases, The Comb Group designs and develops the specific RFP used to govern the selection process. The Comb Group provides each vendor with a confidential questionnaire that is filled out on short notice to ensure that true and objective answers are provided. This process alone acts as an “insurance policy” for our customers. The Comb Group works alongside our customer in their selection efforts until the best solution has been identified. Many times, The Comb Group continues forward with the client by acting as project manager over the entire project, managing the efforts of internal and external vendor resources.

TeleSales Performance Improvement Services

You have a strong marketing presence. Your marketing programs are “making the phones ring” in the telesales 043266. Yet, conversion ratios are lower than expected. To maximize penetration of new and existing markets your Telesales staff need much more than selling skills. They need consulting skills. They need problem-solving skills. They need negotiating skills. They need relationship-building skills. Skills that help them convert more of what prospects are saying in general conversation into key selling information, listen more and hear less, understand how marketing campaigns and sales performance work in tandem to generate revenue, rise above the competition, reduce the cost of sale while maintaining relationships. The Comb Group has worked with several organizations through our Sales Performance Optimization (SPOÔ)service services. This service provides a method to improve and sustain high sales performance over time. Driving revenue increases in the next quarter of business after improvements is a must.

Customer Perception Analysis

In today’s market, with tight resources, organizations must make sure they are reacting to their public citizens (customers) effectively, in the manner that the customer respects. However, most organizations don’t understand their customers well enough to drive service in this manner.

When organizations understand their customers, they find that no matter what business process is put into place, consistent service doesn’t occur. Customers receive inconsistent answers when they talk to multiple people. Shipping clerks continue to error in quality and shipping fees.

The Comb Group addresses these issues with our Customer Perception Analysis™. Through this program, The Comb Group will:

• Utilize your service 043266s as if we were customers to determine how your customers perceive your service
• Listen to live calls and watch other types of customer transactions as they occur
• Interview your service personnel

Results will be delivered using Value Stream Analysis techniques. These techniques allow you to focus on real, not perceived problems.

Balanced Scorecard Services

By first working to solidify an organizations Mission, Core Values, Vision, & Strategic Objectives, the leadership team begins to better equip their staff, at all levels, with extremely potent performance improvement potential. With the development of a Scorecard, optimization and alignment occur against a common set of criteria resulting in the delivery of a migration and change management plan that has received the “approval” of all staff, the staff that will be required to create sustained performance improvement.

A Balanced Scorecard defines what management means by "performance" and measures whether management is achieving desired results. The Balanced Scorecard translates Mission and Vision Statements into a comprehensive set of objectives and performance measures that can be quantified and appraised. These measures typically include the following categories of performance:

• Financial performance (revenues, earnings, return on capital, cash flow);
• Customer value performance (market share, customer satisfaction measures, customer loyalty);
• Internal business process performance (productivity rates, quality measures, timeliness);
• Innovation performance (percent of revenue from new products, employee suggestions, rate of improvement index);
• Employee performance (morale, knowledge, turnover, use of best demonstrated practices).