Podcast Episode 20 – From CIO, to small business owner, to exploring the next phase of life. A discussion with Gwen Walsh.

Today we’re going to be chatting with Gwen Walsh. Gwen’s career includes experiences ranging from being a Vice President at KeyCorp and managing over 500 people to being a solo entrepreneur and executive performance consultant.

As Vice President at KeyCorp, Gwen was focused on increasing speed to market, product quality, employee productivity, and morale, all while she was acknowledged as a high potential leader that earned numerous excellence awards.

As CIO, Senior Vice President and Partner at CT Partners, she led the development & execution of the technology strategy that helped propel CT Partners to one of the top 10 executive search firms in the United States.

CT Partners was the point where Gwen left corporate America and started her own company, TechEdge, where she built a career creating and implementing business and technology solutions that redefined the industry standards for both Fortune 100 corporations and entrepreneurial organizations. Her mission: to help clients stay ahead of the competition, stay in touch with customers, and stay in high demand in a rapidly changing world.

Gwen is also involved with dog rescue and adoption with her husband and has a major addiction to plants and a surprising superpower. You’ll have to listen to the end to learn all about it.

So, let’s jump into it! I hope you enjoy this wide-ranging discussion with a woman that you’ll surely admire as much as I do… Gwen Walsh.

BONUS: THOUGHT-PROVOKERS:

With the permission of Gwen Walsh, we’ve distilled Episode 20’s advice into valuable tips which we then translated into thought-provoking questions that are practical, action-driven and results-oriented. Our thought provokers are designed to help you grow your business and, as such, we hope you invest quality time in exploring these topics at a deeper level.

How well can you speak to who you are?

• What are your and your company’s observable, undeniable strengths?
• What specific niche are you filling that causes you to uniquely stand out from the rest of the products/services providers within your space?
• What is your elevator pitch and is it easy for others to see how your pitch seamlessly translates into the products/services that you’re offering?
• What are your “top 3” major success stories that you can easily speak to as you move your prospective and existing clients/customers to a “yes” buying decision?

How well do you know your prospective and existing clients/customers?

• What are your clients’/customers’ “top 5” challenges – what themes are you seeing that can further help you position your products/services as “must have’s”?
• How do you know that you’re closely listening and responding to your clients’/customers’ needs?
• How do you know that you’re an effective information sharer with your clients/customers – sharing the right bites of information (updates, news) at the right time and via the right digestible delivery mechanism?
• How do your clients/customers perceive you (trustworthiness, flexibility, agility, credibility, capabilities) and how do you objectively know that?
• What are you actively doing to further strengthen your positive perception as seen through the eyes of your clients/customers?
• What are you actively doing to learn as much as you can about your clients’/customers’ likes, dislikes, hot topics, hot buttons, and motivations?
• How do your clients/customers measure their success (what does success look like to them and to their bosses)?
• How do you know, with certainty, that you’re contributing to your clients’/customers’ success?

What are you actively doing to expand your reach plus land and retain more clients/customers?

• What are you actively doing to get to a “yes” buying decision more rapidly and more often?
• What are you actively doing to increase your client/customer retention rate?
• What are you actively doing to analyze your lead generation and sales processes (including upselling, referrals, extended contracts) to see if there are ways to further increase your market share within your niche?
• What are you actively doing to analyze your products/services mix and your target audience to see if there are ways to further increase your market share within your niche?
• How are you utilizing your website and social media to reach your target audience as you attract then guide them through the buying process, create life-long customers and advocates and ultimately grow your business?

How are you delighting your clients/customers?

• What is your new client/customer onboarding approach and how effective is it from their perspective?
• What are you actively doing to establish clear expectations with each client/customer?
• What are you actively doing to know, with certainty, that you’re keeping your commitments plus exceeding your customers’/clients‘ experience and fulfillment expectations?

How far are you looking down the road?

• What are you actively doing to reimagine (redesign), reinvent (prove) and rebrand (advertise) yourself and your company to stay relevant and in high demand in a rapidly changing world?
• What are you actively doing to anticipate your clients’/customers’ future needs?
• What are you actively doing to address scalability so you can more easily adjust to the ebbs and flows of geographic, industry and world dynamics?
• What are your retirement goals?
• What are your retirement plan’s major milestones and are you successfully tracking to those milestones?
• What are you specifically doing now to meet your next retirement plan major milestone?

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