Create a winning plan
Success starts with a winning plan.
“I think we’ve had a better business plan than our competitors,”
Geier says. “It’s like an investment portfolio: You have to diversify
and have a balanced approach — that’s what I’ve learned.”
Geier began offering a portfolio of technology services to clients
long before most of the technology industry realized that margins
on traditional hardware and software products were slipping.
Consulting, programming and integration services not only offered
value to customers, the services provided a way to improve margins and stabilize revenue during down cycles.
“Our goal is to sell multiple solutions to one customer,” Geier says. “I don’t favor jumping on the bandwagon too early because if
the technology doesn’t catch on or becomes obsolete too quickly,
you will alienate your customers. I say that I prefer to be on the
leading edge not the bleeding edge of technology.”
To decide what new products and services the company should
offer to clients and to support his middle-ground business offering
philosophy, Geier regularly devotes time to evaluating emerging
technology. He meets with the company’s practice leaders each
month to review new offerings. One of the outcomes from the
meeting is the development of a list of new products that might
interest customers, while still meeting Geier’s criteria of providing
staying power for the customer’s investment in the ever-changing
technology marketplace.
“I think it’s important to have interplay between all of the team
members when you make your decisions about what you want to
offer customers because as the CEO, you have to get the opinions
of the smart people around you,” Geier says. “You can’t be an
expert on everything so you must rely on others.
“If we reach consensus as a group, then we move forward; if
there’s disagreement, I like to handle those discussions through
one-off conversations with the dissenting practice leader. Having
a lot of conflict out in the open doesn’t do anyone any good
because when people are upset, they can’t focus on work. As the
CEO, you can set that tone by handling issues that arise off the
record.”
Next Geier validates his team’s recommendations via direct customer input. TIG hosts vendor-led seminars for customers
throughout the year that feature emerging technology. Geier uses
seminar enrollment as a gauge of market interest in any new technology. Taking the additional step of validating the company’s
offerings through clients keeps the new technology selections on
target with customer appetites, and it reinforces Geier’s main
value proposition for customers — he won’t recommend an
unproven technology solution.