The process unfolds in four phases.
First, you contact me on Telegram (@khoukharev) or via email (stepan аt khukharev com). We arrange a time to speak briefly about your situation and whether or not this is a good fit for you.
Second, I send you an agreement (to sign and return), a list of materials to gather, a proposed schedule for the larger topics, an invoice, and a non-disclosure agreement that I have already signed to ensure confidentiality regarding your firm. Once you have formally accepted the engagement, I’ll send a second email asking for a census of all employees, including principals. That would help to plan surveys and interviews required to understand the inner-workings of your company. This period allows you to gather the materials I’ve requested and send them so that I can build a thorough performance benchmarking of your firm. That will be the first thing we cover.
Third, we’ll conduct the bulk of the discovery and insight-sharing. This can be covered in as little as two weeks, but more typically requires 4-6 weeks depending on your schedule. You’ll receive the agenda beforehand, which will cover the benchmarking, your positioning and GTM strategy, the structuring of various roles in the firm, and any processes that you might need to put in place.
For example, if benchmarking reveals that you are consistently under-pricing and/or over-delivering, we’ll fix that through your positioning, people, and processes. I’ll leave you with a clear picture of where your firm is now, where it should be, and how to get there. You are welcome to record our sessions if they are kept confidential and exclusively within the leadership team. Our last session of this section is an outline of our agreed-upon changes, which we will work through to summarize and prioritize.
Fourth, I’ll stand by during implementation. I’ll assist you via phone or email over a period of up to three months or three significant phone calls, whichever is first. They are agenda-driven, which means that you might keep a log of questions and then set up a call when you are ready. These discussions are not like a coach might have with you, in that they are not regularly scheduled and they are not designed to keep you accountable. I don’t count the quick phone calls or short email exchanges against this.
You can also hire me for the implementation, but this would be a separate service under either executive or board member and is charged on a case-by-case basis.
So those are the four stages. In that process I’ll make many recommendations, but the four areas we’ll examine the most closely are these:
- The first is benchmarking. How does your firm compare with other firms like yours? How do you score in all the metrics that might be worth watching, and where specifically are you scoring in the most important ones. These form a line on the wall where you mark your firm’s height as it grows and matures. What happens when you pull this lever? When should we hire someone? How much should I be making? How much money am I leaving on the table?
- The second is positioning, marketing best practices, and lead generation strategies to find clients who need you and would find it difficult to locate a suitable substitute. After I walk through it, you’ll see clearly the if, why, what, when, and how the changes should occur.
- The third is staffing and structuring roles. I’ll explain how much of each function you need, what profiles you might look for in certain positions, and how to avoid the dangerous combinations that might render even great employees ineffective.
- The fourth is systems. For some firms product to customer shift is more important. For other companies, the priority is to move the environment from a deadline-driven one to a profit-driven one. For others still, a proper strategy is required in order to tie up everything they have, focus on what’s important, and let go of distractions.
You will likely begin to see positive change very early in the process. In fact, gathering materials is a learning exercise. Some of the changes can happen quickly, and others may take up to eighteen months. The recommendations are a balance between the eventual positive impact vs. the short term disruption, which I attempt to minimize as much as possible.