Other Functional Leads Archives - Page 3 of 6

Sales Process Workflow: Stages, Examples for Businesses

April 18, 2023 Brad Gerick

What is a Sales Process Workflow?

A sales process workflow is a systematic and visual representation of the stages and activities involved in the sales process. It outlines the sequence of steps from identifying leads to closing deals and post-sale follow-up.

The primary goal of a sales process workflow is to provide a clear roadmap for the sales team to follow, improve their performance, reduce errors and be more efficient.

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It can also help identify bottlenecks or areas where the process can be improved. A well-designed sales process workflow ensures that every opportunity is properly managed, tracked and nurtured to maximize potential.

Let’s discuss the different components of a sales process workflow and provide guidance on how to develop and optimize a sales process that works for your business.

Overview of Sales Process Workflow

A sales process workflow is a structured approach to selling that outlines the steps involved in closing a sale. It typically includes four key stages: research, prospecting, sales call and close, and relationship-building. By having a well-defined sales process, sales reps can spend more time on activities that drive revenue and less time on non-productive tasks.

LISTEN: Top 5 Private Equity Podcasts

Developing a Sales Process Workflow

The first step in developing a sales process workflow is to gather input from your sales reps and stakeholders. This can include feedback on the current sales process, as well as suggestions for improvements.

Once you have this input, you can begin mapping out the workflow. This involves identifying the key stages of the process and determining the criteria for moving prospects through the pipeline.

Mapping Your Sales Process Workflow

When mapping out your sales process workflow, it’s important to consider the different stages of the buyer’s journey. This can include the research stage, where the prospect is gathering information about your product or service, the prospecting stage, where the sales rep is reaching out to the prospect, and the sales call and close stage, where the sales rep is working to close the deal.

Each stage should have clear criteria for moving the prospect through the pipeline, such as a certain level of engagement or likelihood to convert.

Lead Categorization

Lead categorization is the process of organizing your leads based on their level of engagement and likelihood to convert. This can include categorizing leads as hot, warm, or cold, based on their level of interest in your product or service.

This step allows you to prioritize your sales efforts and focus on the leads that are most likely to convert.

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Pipeline Methodology

There are different pipeline methodologies that you can use to structure your sales process workflow. The traditional sales funnel is a popular approach, where prospects move through the funnel from awareness to consideration to decision.

The more modern flywheel approach focuses on creating a continuous cycle of attracting, engaging and delighting customers. Each approach has its benefits and drawbacks, and it’s important to choose the approach that works best for your business.

Working with an experienced third party that’s familiar with your industry can be a great way to build the most efficient pipeline for your particular business.

READ MORE: What is Commercial Due Diligence?

Metrics and Analytics

Tracking metrics is an important part of optimizing your sales process workflow. Key metrics that should be tracked include conversion rates, time-to-close and customer lifetime value.

By analyzing these metrics, you can identify areas for improvement and optimize your sales process for maximum effectiveness.

Process Redesign

If your sales process workflow is not working effectively, it may be time for a redesign. This involves identifying bottlenecks and areas for improvement, testing new processes and iterating until the process is optimized.

It’s important to involve your sales reps and stakeholders in this process to ensure that the new process is effective and sustainable.

The BluWave-grade service providers in the Business Builders’ Network are equipped to help businesses with this exact process, whether you work in healthcare, manufacturing, technology or other sectors.

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Training and Coaching

Training and coaching are important aspects of implementing a sales process workflow. Sales reps should be provided with the tools and resources they need to be successful, including training on the sales process, product knowledge and objection handling.

Ongoing coaching and feedback can help to improve performance and ensure that the sales process is being followed effectively.

Depending on your situation, an interim CFO may be just the person you need to get set the tone internally and chart a strong path forward for your sales team.

READ MORE: Interim CFO for a Financial Crisis

Technology and Sales Process Workflow

Technology can play an important role in optimizing your sales process workflow. This can include tools for lead generation, sales enablement and CRM software. It’s important to choose the right technology for your business and to integrate different technologies for optimal results.

Evaluating and optimizing your sales process workflow is critical to getting the most out of your business. Whether you’re a private or public company, or a private equity firm working with a portfolio company, getting expert third-party guidance can be a fast track to success.

You don’t have to be a private equity firm to use PE-grade resources. Every service provider in the Business Builders’ Network has been vetted and approved by multiple PE firms.

When you contact our research and operations team, you’ll get connected to a tailor-made service provider from the invite-only network in less than one business day.

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What is Product Positioning? Framework, Strategy for Marketing

April 17, 2023 Brad Gerick

Product Positioning Framework

Product positioning refers to the strategic process of establishing a distinct and favorable perception of a product in the minds of consumers relative to its competitors. It involves creating a unique and compelling position in the market that differentiates the product from others and resonates with the target customers.

It is also a strategic marketing process that of identifying and communicating a product’s or service’s key attributes, differentiators and positioning statements to target customers.

To effectively position a new product, it is important to have a deep understanding of the factors that influence its adoption within a specific market segment. This involves gathering and analyzing facts, as well as formulating hypotheses and incorporating them into a dynamic model.

The goal of product positioning is to create a favorable perception of the product in the minds of consumers, giving it a competitive advantage in the market and driving customer preference and loyalty.

Let’s dig deeper into the importance of product positioning and what it entails.

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Positioning Framework Strategy

The right strategy will help private equity firms and their portfolio companies, as well as public or private companies, to position their products and services as favorably as possible.

This can be done by conducting voice of the customer interviews, as well as other market research. By speaking with existing customers, organizations can better understand why people use their product or service.

Speaking to non-customers, however, can be just as important as it sheds light on why people are not using your product or service.

This information can then be used to determine current perceptions, and assess growth opportunities and requirements for deeper market penetration.

Customers – existing and potential – can also be segmented in a way that allows the company to understand which group would be most valuable. Future strategies could then be geared toward those segments.

Many companies seek outside expertise for their particular industry in these situations. Whether healthcare, manufacturing, industrial, technology or more, there are niche-specific third-party service providers that do this on a regular basis.

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Indications

Indications are important considerations in product positioning as they help define the target market and communicate the value proposition of a product. They provide information about the specific problems, needs or desires that a product is designed to address or fulfill. They can be based on various factors, such as the product’s functional attributes, performance characteristics, intended user demographics or usage scenarios.

For example, in the healthcare industry, product positioning for a pharmaceutical drug may involve indicating the specific medical conditions or diseases for which the drug is approved, the recommended dosage, patient age groups or other relevant factors.

In the consumer goods industry, product positioning for a household cleaning product may include indicating the types of surfaces or stains the product is effective on, the recommended usage instructions, or the target market segment, such as families with young children or pet owners.

Indications help guide consumers in understanding how a product can fulfill their needs or solve their problems, and they can also help differentiate a product from competitors by highlighting its specific use cases or advantages.

Clear and accurate indications are crucial in marketing and branding strategies to ensure that the product is positioned effectively in the market and resonates with the needs and preferences of the target customers.

Product Features and Benefits

Effectively marketing your product’s features and benefits is crucial to a product positioning strategy. Here are some of the more important elements:

Differentiation: Positioning a product as unique or superior based on its features and benefits can create a competitive advantage and set it apart from similar offerings.
Value Proposition: A well-crafted value prop highlights the unique features and benefits of a product to customers, justifies its price and creates a compelling reason to choose it over competitive alternatives.
Target Market Alignment: Understanding the target market’s requirements and desires and aligning the product’s features and benefits accordingly can help position the product as relevant and appealing.
Communication: Clear and effective communication of what the product offers through marketing messages, packaging, branding and other promotional materials can create awareness, generate interest and influence perception of the product.
Customer Needs Fulfillment: Ultimately, the purpose of a positioning strategy is to fulfill customer needs or solve customer problems. By aligning the product’s features and benefits with customer needs, the positioning strategy can establish the product as a viable solution that addresses pain points and provides value, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

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Price Analysis in Positioning Strategy

A price analysis is conducted to assess and determine the optimal strategy for a product or service based on its intended market positioning.

Pricing is a critical element of a positioning strategy as it affects how a product or service is perceived by consumers in terms of its value proposition and competitive positioning. It can affect the perceived value of a product, influence customer perception of quality, impact customer willingness to pay and affect overall market positioning.

For example, if a product is priced too low, it may be perceived as of low quality or lacking premium features. On the other hand, if a product is priced too high, it may be perceived as overpriced and not providing adequate value.

Here are three examples of pricing strategies:

Cost-Based Pricing: This strategy involves setting prices based on the production costs, such as materials, labor and overheads, with a desired profit margin. Cost-based pricing can position a product as affordable and budget-friendly, but may not necessarily convey premium quality or unique value.
Value-Based Pricing: This strategy involves setting prices based on the perceived value that a product offers to customers. It takes into account the benefits, features and unique value proposition of the product, as well as the target market’s willingness to pay. Value-based pricing can position a product as premium, high-quality and worth the investment.
Competitive-Based (Market-Based) Pricing: This strategy involves setting prices based on the prices of competitors’ products. It can be used to position a product as competitive and comparable to other products in the market. It may not, however, necessarily differentiate the product or highlight its unique value proposition.

Competitive Analysis in Positioning Strategy

Competitive analysis is a critical component of positioning strategy as it provides insights into the competitive landscape, helps identify market opportunities and threats, and guides the development of an effective positioning strategy.

Some key aspects include:

Understanding Competitors: This understanding enables a company to identify the competitive advantages it can leverage and the potential vulnerabilities it needs to address in its positioning strategy.
Identifying Market Opportunities: By understanding the unmet needs of customers or the gaps in the offerings of competitors, a company can position its product or service to address those gaps and capture market share.
Assessing Competitive Threats: This may include competitors launching new products, changing their pricing strategies or implementing aggressive marketing campaigns. By understanding the competitive landscape, a company can anticipate and respond proactively while adapting its positioning strategy accordingly.
Differentiation: Competitive analysis helps in identifying the unique selling propositions (USPs) of competitors and their positioning strategies. By offering unique features, benefits, or pricing strategies that are distinct from competitors, a company can create a competitive edge and attract customers who are seeking something different or better.
Refining Positioning Strategy: By monitoring competitors’ actions, customer feedback and market dynamics, a company can make informed decisions about adjusting its positioning strategy to stay relevant and effective.

Proven marketing strategy firms know exactly how to position products and services like yours in a competitive market. As margins become tighter and the economy more uncertain, getting the best value for what your business offers is paramount.

The invite-only BluWave-grade network of service providers are expertly vetted for these exact situations. We only connect you to those with a proven track record and who also have multiple recommendations by the world’s leading PE firms.

No matter what your business’s need, we’ll connect you with tailor-made resources in less than 24 hours.

When you’re ready to launch or refine your positioning framework template, contact our research and operations team to start your project.

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Platform Modernization: App, Software Upgrade – IT Strategy

April 13, 2023 Brad Gerick

Platform modernization is the process of updating the infrastructure, architecture and features of existing platforms to bring them up to current standards. This makes the platform more efficient, secure and valuable.

Outdated platforms can be a major business liability, leading to performance issues, security vulnerabilities and compliance problems. Fixing this can help save money on operating costs and improve customer experience.

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App modernization can be a complex and time-consuming process, but it is essential for businesses that want to remain competitive. There are a number of different approaches, all depending on your specific needs and your business’s industry.

If you are evaluating your application modernization strategy, it is important to carefully consider your needs and goals. These should be formulated with time, costs and the impact it will have on your business in mind.

An experienced outside resource may be just what you need do make sure your applications modernization is done right, and we already know the perfect fit for your business. In the meantime, here’s a little more about the benefits of the process, and the steps that go into it.

The Need for Modernization

Platform modernization is essential to improving the customer experience. As expectations continue to rise, a modern platform allows for customization and a better overall experience. Here are some of data platform modernization trends and benefits.

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Platform Modernization Benefits

This crucial IT strategy step provides many benefits:

Enhanced Scalability and Sustainability: Modern platforms are designed with scalability and sustainability in mind, enabling them to handle increased user base and data load without incurring exorbitant maintenance costs. This feature makes them appealing to potential acquirers seeking platforms that can support their plans to grow.
Enhanced Security: Cybersecurity is especially important to companies these days because it protects against potentially catastrophic disruptions caused by cyberattacks. Modern platforms are more secure compared to older platforms. State-of-the-art security technologies and best practices are employed to safeguard against unauthorized access, data theft and destruction.
Cost Optimization: Known for their cost-effectiveness, modern platforms are designed to operate efficiently and utilize resources judiciously. This translates into reduced operating costs, which can be a significant advantage for potential buyers.
Enhanced User Experience: Prioritizing UX, modern platforms leverage cutting-edge technologies and user-centric designs to offer a superior experience compared to older platforms.
Innovation Potential: Modern platforms are synonymous with innovation, leveraging open standards and technologies to facilitate seamless integration of new features and functionalities.

READ MORE: IT Due Diligence for M&As

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Software Modernization Process

Assess your current platform. The first step is to assess your current platform and identify its strengths and weaknesses. This will help you to determine where improvements should be made as well as to prioritize them.
Develop a modernization plan. Once you have a good understanding of your current platform, you can develop a modernization plan. This should include goals, the steps you need to take and the resources you’ll need.
Migrate your data and applications. The next step is to migrate your data and applications to the new platform. This can be complex and time-consuming, so it is important to plan and execute carefully.
Test and deploy the new platform. As you get closer to a larger rollout, you need to test the new platform to make sure everything functions as expected. Deploying to production is a safe way to do this while monitoring performance.
Train employees on the new platform. Before clients or customers get their hands on the modernized platform, make sure your employees know it inside-out, upside-down. Not only do you want to make sure they can use it effectively, but they should also be able to help the end user with any issues. Training can be done through classroom instruction, online training or in an on-the-job setting. Whichever route you go, make sure it’s hands-on.
Even for apps or software that are for internal use only, you want to make sure key leaders understand how it functions before performing a wider rollout.
Support and maintain the new platform. Once the new platform is live, you need to maintain it. This includes providing support to users, fixing bugs and making security updates. True platform modernization is a never-ending process in today’s business environment.

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When going through this process, consider starting small. Don’t try to modernize your entire platform all at once. This will help you to build momentum and learn from your mistakes.

Related to that, you should also use a phased approach to reduce the risk of disruption and make the process more manageable.

Lastly, get buy-in from stakeholders before you begin to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Whatever your approach, be prepared for change and be willing to adapt.

Download the ‘AI Journey’ White Paper

READ MORE: What is a Product Vision Roadmap?

Whether you’re a private or public company ready to upgrade an existing system, or a private equity firm looking to boost a portfolio company’s value, we’re here to help.

The BluWave-grade service providers in the Business Builders’ Network have extensive experience with platform modernization, no matter what your industry.

They understand the importance of upgrading not only with speed, but also quality, with the end user in mind all the time.

Our research and operations team will connect you with two or three best-fit options for your exact situation within a single business day. Reach out today to get your platform modernization project started ASAP with an experienced team of experts to guide you.

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HR, Tech Take Center Stage in Q1: Private Equity Industry Update

Fast-Growing Company Needs Help Managing Transactions

Service Area: System Selection & Implementation

Client Type: Portfolio Company

Service Provider Type: Supply Chain Technology Firm

Industry: Waste Management

Need

System Selection & Implementation in Waste Management

A rapidly expanding outsourced waste management company had outgrown its accounts payable automation tool. With a modest-sized IT team, they needed expert help with greater depth and engineering to better handle their growth requirements.

Challenge

Tech service provider to ingrate their CRM with their AP tool

With an IT team of less than 10 people, the VP of Tech asked BluWave for help finding a service provider that could better integrate their CRM with their AP tool. As business continued to boom, they weren’t able to keep up with the transactions and needed guidance on not only getting the most out of the tools in place, but finding something more powerful for the future.

How BluWave Helped

The Business Builders’ Network

The very next day, we connected them with four experienced service providers that have done excellent work for other independent and portfolio companies, respectively. They landed on their top choice – a proven system architecture firm that understands their industry – and we continued to support the company by monitoring the service provider until the project was finished, and beyond.

Result

Connected with a best-in-class IT firm

The IT firm helped the portco reorganize its systems internally, better equipping them to select and implement a new AP automation tool. They were able to better integrate with their ERP and manage ever-increasing transactions more efficiently.

The work product we have seen is very good, both for documentation and quality of expected outputs.

They stayed involved from the discovery phase on through implementation.

The changes all look very good and were completed faster than expected. Additional input on changes were well received and follow up has occurred quickly.
-Vice President of Technology at the Company

Tech Stacks of Companies: How To Choose

March 29, 2023 Brad Gerick

What is a Tech Stack?

A tech stack is a set of software tools and programming languages that serves as the foundation of any technology project, including websites, desktop software and apps.

It’s also the backbone of a project and can determine its performance, scalability and maintenance in the long run. Selecting the right one can help developers streamline their work, speed up the development process and provide a better user experience.

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CASE STUDY: Transforming Big Data into Actionable Insights for Legal Services

Tech Stacks of Companies: Examples

The LAMP Stack is a widely used open-source web development stack that is suitable for creating dynamic websites. It comprises Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, where Linux is the operating system, Apache is the web server software, MySQL is the database management system and PHP is the programming language used to create dynamic web pages.
MEAN Stack is a comprehensive JavaScript framework that is widely used to create dynamic web applications. It comprises MongoDB, Express.js, Angular and Node.js. MongoDB serves as the NoSQL database management system, Express.js is a web application framework used with Node.js, Angular is the front-end JavaScript framework that enables the creation of dynamic web pages and Node.js provides the back-end JavaScript runtime environment.
Another JavaScript framework that is commonly used for creating web applications that support real-time updates is the MERN Stack. It comprises MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js. MongoDB serves as the NoSQL database management system, Express.js is a web application framework used with Node.js, React is the front-end JavaScript library used for building user interfaces and Node.js provides the back-end JavaScript runtime environment.
Ruby on Rails is a well-known web development framework that utilizes the Ruby programming language. It is a preferred choice for startups because of its user-friendly interface and straightforwardness. Ruby on Rails follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern and emphasizes convention over configuration.
The .NET Stack is a Microsoft technology stack that includes tools such as C#, ASP.NET, and Microsoft SQL Server. It is widely used for creating enterprise-level web applications. C# is an object-oriented programming language that helps develop Windows desktop applications and ASP.NET is a web application framework used for creating dynamic web pages.
Django Stack is a Python web development framework that is widely used for creating scalable and secure web applications. Django follows the Model-View-Template (MVT) architectural pattern and incorporates an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) layer that enables developers to interact with databases using Python code.
The iOS Stack is a comprehensive stack of tools that includes Xcode, Swift, and Objective-C and is widely used for creating iOS mobile applications. Xcode is an integrated development environment (IDE) used to develop iOS apps, Swift is a programming language developed by Apple specifically for iOS app development and Objective-C was previously used to develop iOS apps before Swift was introduced.
The Android Stack is another comprehensive stack of tools that includes Android Studio, Java, and Kotlin and is widely used for developing Android mobile applications. Android Studio is an IDE used to develop Android apps, Java is an object-oriented programming language that is used for building Android apps and Kotlin was introduced by Google as an alternative to Java for Android app development.

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How To Choose the Right Tech Stack

Choosing the right tech stack is a critical decision for private equity firms. The right PE technology stack should be a cohesive system that enables fund managers to source deals, manage relationships with limited partners and portfolio companies, and close more deals.

A firm with the right technology solutions in place can work smarter and faster, deliver higher-margin services and ultimately increase profitability. For private equity firms, the technology stack should be viewed as an investment and a way to stay ahead of the competition.

There are many factors that go into choosing the technology stack, but here are some of the more important ones:

Out-of-the-box solutions: These are pre-built software solutions that can be used to solve common problems. They can save time and money by reducing the need for custom development. Examples include WordPress, Shopify and Salesforce.
Integration with third-party solutions: This refers to the ability of a tech stack to work with other software solutions. It’s important to choose a tech stack that can easily integrate with other tools you may need in the future. Examples include Zapier, Segment and Twilio.
Developer availability: This refers to the availability of developers who are skilled in a particular tech stack. It’s important to choose a tech stack that has a large pool of developers available so that you can find the right talent for your project.
Documentation: This refers to the quality and quantity of documentation available for a particular tech stack. Good documentation can help developers get up to speed quickly and reduce the time needed for troubleshooting. Examples include React documentation and Django documentation.
Easy to test: This refers to how easy it is to test code written in a particular tech stack. A good tech stack should have testing tools built-in or have easy-to-use testing frameworks available. Examples include Jest for React and Pytest for Python.

IT & Software Strategy Resources

If any of this sounds like unfamiliar territory (and even if it doesn’t), it may be a good reason to look for expert help.

There are experienced, proven service providers out there who know industry-specific tech stack requirements inside-out and can help your business make the best decisions every step of the way.

Fortunately, you don’t have to waste time searching for them. Hundreds of PE firms and private and public companies tap into the Business Builders’ Network for this exact reason.

Not only will you be connected in less than one business day, but we’ll only provide the exact-fit resources that are experienced in your particular industry.

Contact out research and operations team to get started with your firm’s or company’s tech stack.

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Centralized Data Management: Business Intelligence & Analytics

March 17, 2023 Brad Gerick

What is Centralized Data in Business?

Centralized data in business analytics involves consolidating information from across an organization into a single system for easier analysis.

“This aspect of business intelligence and analytics is important because it gives companies visibility into KPIs at a high level,” says Brandon John, BluWave’s Service Provider Relationship Manager.

The consolidation usually happens in something called a data warehouse.

Business intelligence practices like centralization are becoming more and more important to businesses, whether that mean private equity, portcos or private and public companies.

According to our most recent quarterly report, we saw “broad-scale adoption of data quality and visualization endeavors and emergent efforts in higher level analytics and AI.”

Let’s take a closer look at what data centralization can do for your business.

Benefits of Data Centralization

Increased Visibility and Transparency

Centralized data provides a single source of truth so leadership can make faster, more accurate business decisions.

Early Detection of Issues

Centralized data allows businesses to identify problems sooner before they become bigger issues.

More Consistency

Different departments often have the same definitions and metrics for things like active users and sales. By centralizing data, you can eliminate confusion at the leadership level.

Holistic View of Customer Journey

Centralized data from marketing, sales and customer service systems provide a complete picture of the customer experience.

Advanced Capabilities

It is easier to analyze data and find insights when all of the relevant data is in one place. Businesses can more easily see correlations across different data sets.

Increased Efficiency

Employees don’t have to spend time aggregating data from different systems. Everything is available in a single source.

Improved Trust

There is confidence that the data and reports are accurate and consistent since there is only one version of the truth.

In the Know: Essential, Accessible Digital Transformation

March 16, 2023 Brad Gerick

Digital transformation is no longer something only the biggest, wealthiest companies can afford.

Not only are these services within reach for businesses of all sizes – from enterprise organizations to lower middle market companies – but they’re also essential.

Get Connected to Digital Transformation Third Parties

Learn about common improvement areas all businesses can implement to accelerate digital transformation efforts.

Business leaders, including operations partners at private equity firms, C-level executives and functional leads are evaluating the digital capabilities and infrastructure in their companies to identify areas for improvement
Simple improvements to workflows or procedures can significantly trim manual tasks and optimize human capital during economic uncertainty
“No-regret” moves such as the following can accelerate change in a targeted, cost-effective way:
- Adopting cloud and SaaS solutions
- Improving cybersecurity
- Enhancing website capabilities with tools like chatbots
- Automating order processing and inventory management

WHAT IS A VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER SURVEY?

March 13, 2023 Brad Gerick

Companies conduct voice of customer (VoC) studies to better understand how people interact with their product or service.

While there are many techniques to gather this information, the objective is largely the same: Ensure the customer is being heard and served as best as possible.

Private equity firms, portfolio companies, and private and public companies can all benefit from a strong voice of customer framework.

“Voice of the customer is extremely important to businesses because it allows companies to have visibility into where they are performing highly and where they are not,” says Brandon John, BluWave’s service provider relationship manager. “By hearing exactly how their customers feel about their brand, they can allocate the appropriate resources to improve some identified areas.”

Connect with VoC Experts

Let’s talk about some of the advantages organizations can gain with the information gathered in VoC research.

Benefits of VoC

There are several advantages to conducting a voice-of-customer survey. It come as no surprise, then, that it’s been top-of-mind for our clients for years.

“VoC projects are always going to be something PE firms prioritize with their portcos,” John says. “We receive steady demand in this space and have since BluWave was founded.”

Deeper Customer Understanding

Rather than merely gathering feedback, VoC research helps companies reimagine their products and services to surpass customers’ needs by gaining an intricate understanding of who they are and what they want.

This includes how and when they use the product, as well as why they’re more (or less) likely to choose it over a competitor.

Commercial Due Diligence Resources

Improved Loyalty and Retention

Listening to customers and resolving their concerns establishes trust and loyalty, decreasing attrition and boosting customer lifetime value.

A client is more likely to stick with a brand that it feels has its best interests in mind.

Better Business Decisions

Actionable insights gleaned from customer input can steer key business choices around product roadmaps, marketing campaigns, pricing strategies and service models.

Increased Bottom Line

An unparalleled customer experience not only spurs growth, but also a competitive edge. One study showed that companies with strong VoC programs boast 10X more annual revenue growth.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

Catering to customers’ needs and wants forges lasting connections. It not only enhances the existing customer experience, but makes it more likely to acquire new ones as you get a better grasp on your target market.

This can have a compound effect as a happy customer is also more likely to recommend your brand or service to friends, families, colleagues and industry peers.

Employee Retention

This might come as a surprise, but your own employees can also benefit from VoC studies. That’s because it gives them a stronger connection to the customer by putting themselves in their shoes. The more aligned the employees are with the clients, the more satisfied they tend to be, thus limiting turnover.

Connect with VoC Experts

Voice of the Customer Best Practices

Use Multiple Channels

To comprehensively capture the opinions of your customers, you should employ multiple avenues for feedback, including surveys, social media, reviews, emails and phone calls.

By using a variety of channels to gather input, companies can gain a multifaceted understanding of client needs and desires that fuels business decisions, improved experiences and financial gains.

Choose Timing Wisely

The timing of requests for customer feedback can significantly impact the quality and amount of responses. Businesses should choose a moment that is relevant, convenient and respectful for clients, such as after a purchase, service interaction or milestone.

Businesses that are considerate in their requests for input are more likely to receive thoughtful, actionable responses that can drive key business decisions and improved outcomes.

READ MORE: What is Commercial Due Diligence?

Act Quickly

The best moment to act on feedback received is as soon as possible. While you want to be diligent about understanding and applying what customers tell you, times is of the essence.

This is especially important when it comes to fixing problems, resolving negative feedback and staying ahead of competitors.

Segmentation

To gain business insights, companies should analyze customer feedback and group clients by factors like demographics or habits. Tailoring actions to different groups helps build loyalty and boost revenue.

It also establishes trust, decreases attrition and increases lifetime value by making each experience as tailored as possible.

Ask Clear Questions

The quality of your feedback depends largely on the quality of your questions. You should ask clear, concise and specific questions that are easy to understand and answer. You should also avoid leading, biased or ambiguous questions that can skew your results.

The value of customer input hinges greatly on the quality of the questions posed. Aim for clear, crisp and targeted inquiries that are easy to comprehend and respond to. Avoid being suggestive, biased or obscure lines of questioning that can skew results.

Your goal is to learn what customers think about your business, not try to convince them of something.

Acknowledge Feedback

One of the most important VoC best practices is to acknowledge your customers’ feedback and show them that you appreciate their time and opinions. There’s never been more competition for our time, so the fact that someone is willing to participate in your study means they probably have strong feelings.

Follow up with a thank-you message, sharing how their feedback will be used or even offering a reward (see below).

Share Findings Internally

To turn feedback into action, you need to share your findings with the relevant stakeholders in your organization. You should communicate the key insights, recommendations and action plans to your employees, managers and leaders. You should also encourage collaboration and accountability across different teams and departments.

Benchmark Against Your Industry

To measure your performance and progress against your competitors and industry standards, you should benchmark your VoC metrics against external data sources. You can use industry reports, surveys or benchmarks to compare your customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy levels with others in your field.

Test and Optimize

VoC best practices are dynamic, not static. You should constantly refine your program to ensure that it is effective, efficient and aligned with your overall business goals.

This can be done with A/B testing, analytics or feedback loops to evaluate and improve your VoC methods, tools and strategies.

Involve Key Stakeholders

To ensure that your VoC program has the support and resources it needs to succeed, you should involve key stakeholders from the start.

Identify decision-makers, influencers and beneficiaries of your program and engage them in defining the goals, scope and outcomes of your efforts.

Offer Participation Incentives

To increase your response rates and motivate your customers to share their feedback , you can offer participation incentives such as discounts, coupons, freebies or loyalty points.

Choose incentives that are relevant, attractive and proportional to the effort required from your customers.

The expert service providers in the BluWave network know the importance of understanding your customers.

We constantly vet and re-vet the best third-party resources for this exact need, no matter what your customer type or industry.

“We have a solid bench of VoC providers in the BluWave network,” says John, who interacts with these third-party resources on a daily basis. “However, it is important to have the right group, for the right need, at the right time.”

Contact our research and operations team and walk us through your VoC needs. In less than one business day, we’ll introduce you to two or three exact-match options.

“Like all service toolboxes in the BluWave network, the VoC toolbox is always rapidly expanding,” John adds.

Once you make a selection, we’ll hold the service provider accountable from start to finish as they bring their voice of customer expertise to your specific situation.

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VP Priorities: Add-On Acquisitions, Portfolio Value Creation

March 10, 2023 Brad Gerick

How are private equity firms confronting slower deal flow in 2023? And why is portfolio value creation activity so high?

These were among the hot topics in the latest BluWave-hosted VP forum March 7.

Patrick Murray of Compass Group Equity Partners, Sam Yang of Gauge Capital and Larry Flanagan of Great Range Capital joined our own Rena Frackt Zimmerman for the virtual event.

Interested in attending a future forum event? Email events@bluwave.com

Here are some highlights of what was discussed.

Business Intelligence Automation: What is it?

March 10, 2023 Brad Gerick

Business intelligence continues to be among the most high-demand services in the Business Builders’ Network.

One aspect of BI&A that’s popular is automation.

The founding partner of one of our BluWave service providers says BI automation is essential to modernizing data analysis.

“A lot of times the process involves people pulling data into spreadsheets manually, analyzing, cleaning, doing stuff with the data and then giving it to their bosses or whoever downstream needs them,” says the partner, Mike Datus*. “That’s usually a very error-prone process because it’s done by humans.”

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BI automation can change all that, and make life much easier for both the analysts as well as those downstream superiors.

Let’s talk in more detail about BI automation tools, their benefits as well as potential drawbacks.

What is Business Intelligence Automation?

Business intelligence automation is the process of consolidating and streamlining your company’s data into a single warehouse that can be accessed in real-time.

Automation provides instantaneous insights that forgo manual input and data manipulation to give team members actionable, consistent information to drive their day-to-day decisions.

Put another way, it helps you automate business processes.

Companies that are older, or perhaps resource-challenged, can benefit greatly from automating their data collection and analysis.

Another data firm’s founding partner, who we’ll call Steve Holms*, puts it this way:

“Holding larger data sets and integrating more data sources to do analysis across several different places makes it a lot easier to analyze.”

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Business Process Automation Benefits

It’s no surprise that business intelligence tools are in such high demand. We have seen countless PE firms and other companies streamline processes and improve real-time decision-making because of them.

Here are just a few of the reasons why you should consider implementing or upgrading your automation efforts.

Save Time

Not only will you complete key tasks sooner, but you’ll be able to make important decisions faster, too.

“You’re talking about orders of seconds instead of hours or days, right? And then that’s huge,” Datus says. “With one of our clients, we built a platform, so instead of waiting a week, the CFO now had a live dashboard in board meetings. So when he was asked a question, he didn’t have to say, ‘I’ll get back to you next week.’ He literally just popped up his dashboard, did a quick filter, and had the answer.”

Our service providers often see situations where top executives need different versions of the same report depending on who they’re working with or what meeting they’re in at a given moment.

This often meant one-off iterations of the same data sets that take might not be available the same day, or even week.

“If the analyst has to go back, they have to go back and pull the data again, do the analysis, run it through, right? That’s another runtime,” says Holms, who noted that those iterations add up.

Another time-saving scenario is if an analyst leaves the company, is on vacation or has an emergency. Data analysis doesn’t stop as soon as that key player becomes unavailable.

“You only have to program it once, and you’re done,” Holms says. “It’s all in the database, and they don’t have to email anybody in case they didn’t get the report.”

Scalability

Have you ever tried to access a report so robust that you thought your computer might break down? You’re not alone.

Another benefit of business intelligence automation is the ability to scale.

“Sometimes your data’s so large, it’s hard for Excel to even open, right?” Holms says. “How does sales correlate with product performance, correlate with manufacturing, correlate with this? —putting it in one place makes things a lot easier to expand.”

Save Money

There are multiple ways BI automation can save your company money:

You may be able to reduce headcount on your analytics team and reinvest those savings elsewhere
The time you do save – as mentioned earlier – is time for which you’re no longer paying
The data itself could unveil inefficiencies in your business that are ripe for improvement
Manual intervention is expensive. By cutting out intermediaries, and empowering decision-makers more quickly, they can use expertise that no program can account for to make impactful decisions

Consistency

Humans are much more error-prone than machines. Especially well-designed and well-programmed machines.

While you wouldn’t want to automate a process so heavily that it’s no longer monitored, the correct calibration can set your team much more at ease.

“You’re building good processes to make sure it’s consistent. It’s done by computers, so once you do it once it’s pretty robust, unless the data itself changes or the business changes,” Holms says. “Sometimes you just get errors that are difficult to detect. And if you want to go back to see what were my numbers last week or two weeks ago or three months ago, you have to go into your email inbox and search for the report.”

With BI automation, you can leave the inbox behind and find everything you need in your dashboard.

“It’s all in the database,” Holms says, “and they don’t have to email anybody in case they didn’t get the report.”

Dynamic Reports

As we already hinted at above, automated dashboards and visualizations are essentially living, breathing databases.

Instead of plugging new information into a spreadsheet every time you want to update a report, it’s available instantaneously. Not only that. Since it’s connected to the source, you don’t have to input the data at all.

“Once you have it all there getting updated predictably, you can create these really rich charts and graphs, because with these tools you can get these visuals that aren’t static,” Datus says. “The real-time dashboards update as the data comes into the system. So if you want to see one chart or the set of 20 charts for last week just for finance, you can click a few things, and you can get that report.”

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Risks of Automation

While automation can be valuable to a business, it doesn’t come without some potential downside. With the right help, though, we believe all of these can be overcome.

Job Loss

Automation may replace human workers and lead to job losses – at least in the short term.

A benefit of this, though, is that it frees those some people up to learn and use new skills that are equally valuable to the business. Money saved on one area of human capital can be reinvested in your talent.

System Failures

Automated systems can experience technical issues, thereby disrupting business operations. You would hope that this is the exception and not the norm, but even so, manual intervention may be required to fix the issues.

Expert service providers, however, are familiar with the most common vulnerabilities, and will know how to not only fix them, but also proactively prevent them.

Lack of Flexibility

Automated systems are designed to handle repetitive, routine tasks in a predetermined manner. They may lack the flexibility to adapt to unexpected situations or changes.

This is quickly changing, though, with the implementation of more and more AI tools that can often course-correct much faster than humans.

This perceived “risk” is quickly becoming a moot point in many senses.

Cost

Implementing and maintaining automated systems can be expensive. This is most likely to be an issue for very small businesses that have less to automate and can handle all their data by traditional means.

Large companies with more robust budgets will probably find that the investment is well worth it in the long run. This includes private equity firms, their portcos, and private and public companies of all shapes and sizes.

While automation involves these and other risks, it’s an increasingly valuable and in-demand facet of business intelligence. Based on the feedback we receive from our clients and expert service providers, we wouldn’t shy away from exploring how your business can benefit from automation.

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BI Automation Tools

Now that you have considered the pros and cons of BI Automation, it’s time to look at the tools at your disposal. While all of these can have a significant impact on your business, you want to make sure you’re using the right ones.

Let’s get familiar with a few of the high-level categories, as well as some specific business automation technologies within them. That way, when our research and operations team connects you to a tailor-made, niche-specific firm to set up your BI automation, you’ll have an idea of what you’re looking for.

Dashboards

BI automation dashboards display key performance indicators, data points and other important metrics in an easy-to-understand format. They provide a 360-degree view of performance using charts, graphs and other visuals.

They offer a quick-glance overview of your organization’s most important metrics, allowing users to quickly identify areas of strong or weak performance, spot emerging trends and gain data-driven insights. Some examples include Power BI, Tableau and Qlik Sense.

Common metrics used to evaluate business performance are cash flow, customer satisfaction and website traffic. Others include sales revenue and customer loyalty.

When you work with an experienced data analytics firm, they’ll be able to match your business needs to the right tools.

Visualizations

BI automation visualizations enable end users to execute automated workflows based on insights within a report. The workflows can be data-contextual, meaning they can change based on filters.

They are often used to connect multiple data sources, create interactive dashboards and charts, provide real-time visualizations and alerts and utilize natural language processing.

Power Automate visual, DataBox, Datapine, Domo and IBM Cognos Analytics are a few of these tools. They can be used to connect to Excel spreadsheets, SQL databases, social media platforms and more.

Predictive Analytics

This type of BI automation tool leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically generate and apply predictive models based on data insights. Predictive models are employed to forecast what may occur in the future dependent on historical and current data.

These are often used to predict things like customer churn, sales revenue and product demand. They’re especially utilized in the healthcare, finance and marketing industries.

Some of the more popular tools include RapidMiner, Alteryx, SAS Visual Analytics, KNIME, and SAP Analytics Cloud.

Data Mining

Data mining techniques to extract valuable insights from large data sets for making more informed decisions. It’s a branch of data science that searches for patterns, anomalies and correlations in using statistics, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

It’s often used to solve customer segmentation, fraud detection and market basket analysis. Many of the tools listed in the sections above can also be used for these tasks.

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If a lot of this sounds new to you and your team, that’s OK. In fact, Holms says that even a well-composed manual report can be a great launching point for BI automation.

“I would say even if you have an Excel report and it’s a good Excel report, you’re already ahead of the game,” he says.

If you don’t know where to start, set up a scoping call with our research and operations team. We’ll connect you to world-class firms like Datus’s, Holms’, or other PE-grade service providers that can serve your exact needs for your particular industry.

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*Privacy is important to us. While the source and company name have been changed, these are real quotations from a real service provider in the BluWave Business Builders’ Network.

SEO Recruitment: Hiring Organic Search Experts

March 2, 2023 Brad Gerick

Are you looking to recruit an SEO expert?

A strong organic search presence is a great way to attract new readers, users or clients. As you rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), you can usually expect more traffic, conversions and revenue. But it’s important to have the right person in place to lead these efforts.

What is SEO? Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process or strategy behind improving a website’s content so that it organically ranks well on search engines like Google or Bing. This is different from paid search ads which fall under SEM, or search engine marketing.

Hire an SEO Expert

A search engine optimization guru (though they probably don’t call themselves that) will know that more organic traffic to your website means more potential customers.

They will know how to improve your site’s user experience and position content in a way that boosts conversions. This is especially important if people can make purchases or book business directly on your site.

While SEM requires ongoing investments, the right organic search strategy can yield long-term results that require less maintenance. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, though. A good search strategy could take months to bear fruit, depending on how competitive your market is.

That’s why SEO recruitment continues to be a hot topic for private equity firms, portfolio companies, and independent and public companies.

“SEO is an foundational component of any modern business’s digital marketing strategy,” BluWave’s Senior Content Marketing Manager Brad Gerick says. “With so much information available, it’s becoming more and more difficult to find a true expert, which is why it can be helpful to work with a specialized recruiting firm to hire the right candidate.”

Let’s dive in to what you should look for in an SEO, and how to hire someone whose talent matches your needs.

Closeup photo of female hands with a laptop. Female freelancer c

What Skills and Tools Do You Need for SEO

On-Page Skills

On-page SEO skills include optimizing your website content and technical elements to improve your rankings in search engines. Some of the more important ones include:

Conducting keyword research to determine the best keywords and phrases to target for your site and content. Choose keywords that your audience is searching for and that you can rank for.
Optimizing your page titles, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt attributes and content for your target keywords. Include keywords prominently and naturally to signal their relevance to search engines.
Improving your internal linking structure by connecting related content and categories across your site. Link to high-quality, relevant content to guide users and search engines to your most important pages.
Optimizing your URL structure with descriptive, keyword-rich page names. Well-structured URLs make your pages easier to read, navigate and rank in search engines.
Providing valuable, high-quality content that matches for what your audience is searching. (The latter part is also known as keyword intent.) For more information about this, check out Google’s E-E-A-T documentation.

Off-Page Skills

Off-page SEO skills include building relationships with other websites and influencers to earn high-quality backlinks and increase your site’s authority. Key off-page SEO skills include:

Conducting outreach to other websites and influencers for backlink opportunities like guest posts, interviews, mentions and citations. Build relationships with other industry leaders to earn high-quality backlinks over time.
Be careful, though. Buying backlinks or engaging in shady link-exchange tactics can get you in trouble with the algorithms. Avoid these schemes at all costs (no pun intended).
Leveraging social media platforms to increase exposure for your content and brand. Share your blog posts, news, events and other updates on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to reach new potential customers and backlink partners.
Engaging with your audience and influencers through email marketing campaigns. Send a regular newsletter, promote new content, share industry news and build rapport with subscribers to earn more links and social shares.
Participating in relevant online communities and forums to establish yourself as a thought leader. Answer questions on sites like Quora, Reddit and industry-specific forums. Provide value to others while linking back to your website. (Do this with caution, though. Reddit moderators don’t like it when users hijack their subreddits simply to get more traffic.)

Technical SEO Skills

Hire an Organic Search Expert

Technical SEO skills refer to the technical knowledge and abilities required to optimize a website for search engines like Google. Some key technical SEO skills include:

Optimizing page-load speed. Some tactics for this include reducing file sizes, minimizing redirects, optimizing images, caching content and compressing code.
Fast page load speeds improve the user experience and search engine rankings. A well-structured site with logical navigation and internal links helps search engines understand your content. Google’s Core Web Vitals are a great starting point to learn more about this topic.
Ensuring your content is mobile-friendly and responsive, with a clear focus and user experience for all device types. The majority of web traffic now comes from mobile devices, so a mobile-optimized site is essential.
In fact, Google uses mobile-first indexing to crawl sites.
Troubleshooting any technical SEO issues like duplicate content, broken links, crawl errors or penalties to resolve problems and avoid negative impacts on search visibility.

Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant content to attract and retain customers. It is closely tied to SEO, as high-quality content helps to improve search rankings, increase traffic, build brand authority and boost lead generation. Key content marketing skills for SEO specialists include:

Conducting keyword research to identify topics and questions that your target audience is searching for. Then, create content that answers those questions and optimizes for relevant keywords.
Writing informative and engaging blog posts, articles, case studies, whitepapers and other content assets. Content should be valuable, well-researched, and optimized for both search engines and readers.
Promoting content on social media platforms to increase traffic and engagement. Share updates on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and LinkedIn to reach new readers and earn more links and social shares.
Analyzing the performance of your content using tools like Google Analytics, Search Console and Buzzsumo. Track traffic, rankings, engagement and conversions to determine what’s working and what needs improvement.

Strategy and Planning

SEO strategy and planning refer to the high-level thinking and goal setting required to optimize a website for search. Some key SEO strategy and planning skills include:

Conducting a comprehensive SEO audit to analyze your website and marketing performance. Review on-page and off-page factors like technical issues, content gaps, link profiles and keyword rankings to determine your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.
Developing a data-driven SEO plan that outlines your goals, key objectives, actions, timelines, resources and expected outcomes. Set specific, measurable goals for traffic, rankings, conversions and revenue that align with your business objectives. Determine the strategies and tactics you will use to achieve those goals.
Implementing and monitoring your SEO plan to ensure you stay on track. Use project management tools and best practices to organize workflows, assign responsibilities, track progress and make adjustments as needed. Regularly evaluate your results and key metrics to determine what’s working and what needs improvement.
Adjusting your plan based on feedback, insights and changes in the search landscape. Search engines frequently update their algorithms and best practices, and the needs of your audience may evolve over time as well. Review your plan regularly and make data-driven changes to optimize your efforts and results.

Commonly Used SEO Tools

Here are some of the higher level categories of search-related tools, as well as some specific recommendations within each one:

Keyword research: Software such as Ahrefs Keyword Generator, Moz Keyword Explorer and Semrush Keyword Magic Tool help identify the most relevant keywords and phrases to target on your website. They provide data on search volume and competition to help optimize your content.
Technical SEO: Screaming Frog, Google Search Console and Ahrefs Site Audit help assess technical issues that could affect your search rankings. They crawl your site to identify errors like broken links, slow page load times, duplicate content and more. They also provide metrics on site speed, mobile-friendliness and XML sitemaps to help optimize technical SEO.
Content optimization: Content optimization tools like Yoast SEO, Grammarly and Hemingway Editor help create blog posts, articles and other content that ranks well in search engines. They analyze content for keyword usage, readability, grammar and plagiarism to ensure it is high-quality, informative and optimized for your target audience.
Link building: Tools such as Ahrefs Backlink Checker, Moz Link Explorer and BuzzSumo help build high-quality backlinks to improve your site’s authority and search rankings. They provide data on your existing link profile as well as opportunities for new links and influencers who may be interested in linking to or sharing your content.
Analytics: Analytics tools like Google Analytics 4, Looker Studio and Google Tag Manager help track the performance of your SEO and content marketing efforts. They provide insights into metrics such as traffic, rankings, engagements, conversions and revenue to determine what’s working and what needs improvement.
Artificial Intelligence: With the wide release of ChatGPT, as well as the creation of myriad other AI tools, this is quickly becoming an essential part of the content-creation process. Just make sure the SEO you hire uses these tools to complement their job, and not do all the work for them. AI can be great, but it shouldn’t be applied to an SEO strategy without thorough human refinement and vigilance.

Search Console Discover report now includes Chrome data | Google Search Central Blog | Google Developers — *If your SEO candidate can’t talk to you about Google Search Console in detail, don’t hire them.*

Assess a Candidate’s Knowledge and Experience

This role requires a combination of both technical knowledge and strategic thinking to analyze data, identify opportunities and develop high-impact solutions.

Here are some ways to make sure they fit the bill:

Online tests: Services like Imocha, TestGorilla and Vervoe offer skills assessment tests tailored for SEO specialists. These measure a candidate’s knowledge of on-page and off-page optimization, content strategy, link building, analytics and more.
Portfolio reviews: Ask the candidate to share examples of previous SEO projects, case studies or their own website to evaluate their work. Look for clear goals, data-driven insights and measurable results and impact. They may have to anonymize some parts of the report for client confidentiality, and that’s OK. The main think you want to see is that they have experience executing successful projects.
Case studies and scenarios: Present the candidate with an SEO challenge or problem and ask them to walk through how they would approach and solve it. This helps assess their strategic thinking, decision making and problem-solving abilities. Don’t be afraid to do it live during the interview. If they don’t know some of these things off the top of their head, they’re probably too green to lead in this area.
References and testimonials: Speaking with a candidate’s past clients or employers is one of the best ways to evaluate their skills, work quality and professionalism. Look for references that can speak to their SEO experience, key accomplishments and strengths. This will also be a sign that they’re pleasant to work with if others are willing to help them.

When you use a resource from the BluWave-vetted network, they have already been vetted multiple times before we ever consider connecting you. They must also have multiple high-quality references from private equity firms and other top businesses.

Even then, we won’t just send you a list of all the candidates available. We will select from the best resources on standby to give you two or three best-fit options for your specific situation. Within one business day, you’ll have two or three SEO options that are tailored to your niche.

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Top SEO Terms

There are many key terms used in SEO that are important to understand. They describe concepts, strategies and metrics that specialists reference on a regular basis. Some of the top words and phrases to know include:

Basic terms:

Search engine: A website that allows users to search for information on the internet, such as Google, Bing or Baidu.
Crawler: A program that searches the web to build an index of websites and content for a search engine.. This could also be referred to as a “bot” or “spider.”
Index: A search engine’s database of websites, pages and content that have been crawled and indexed.
Query: The search terms entered by a user into a search engine. This is more commonly referred to as a “keyword” in many cases.
SERP: Search engine results page, or the page of results returned for a user’s search query. It’s pronounced just as it’s spelled.
Organic vs paid results: Organic results are earned, while paid results are advertising spots purchased by businesses. Make sure you’re not hiring an SEM expert to do SEO work. While related, these are completely different skills.

*This is a search engine results page (SERP).*

Technical terms:

URL: Uniform Resource Locator, or the full address of a page on the web. And a URL slug is everything that comes after .com or .net, for example. This page’s URL is https://bluwave.net/seo-recruitment/, but the slug is simply /seo-recruitment/.
Domain name: The main part of a URL, like “bluwave.net“.
HTTP status code: A number that indicates the status of a request to a web server, such as 200 for success or 404 for not found.
Robots.txt: A text file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of a website to index or avoid. If a candidate doesn’t know how to find your robots.txt file in 10 seconds or less, don’t hire them.
(Hint: All they have to do is go to yoursite.com/robots.txt)
Sitemap: An XML file that lists the pages on a website to help search engines discover and crawl content.

On-page terms:

Keyword: A word or phrase that users may search for to find content on a specific topic.
Title tag: HTML element that contains the main headline for a page and is displayed in search results. In the code, this would be <title>Page Title Here</title>. This is one of the most important elements of ranking on SERPs.
Meta description: A concise summary of a page’s content that is displayed in search results. This is important, but it does not have an affect on a page’s ranking.
Heading tag: HTML elements like <h1> to <h6> that indicate the importance and structure of content on a page. A page’s headline is usually within an <h1> tag. It’s best to have only one <h1> tag per page.
Alt text: Description of an image that is displayed if the image cannot be seen by a user. This is especially important to making your site accessible for people with disabilities.

Why do you have more than one H1?

— johnmu is not a chatbot yet 🐀 (@JohnMu) June 15, 2017

Off-page terms:

Link: A hyperlink that connects one page to another.
Anchor text: The clickable text of a link.
Backlink: An incoming link to a page from another website. This is a significant factor in ranking well on Google.
Link building: The process of acquiring high-quality backlinks to improve a website’s authority and search rankings. This is best done naturally and not through paid schemes or shady exchanges.
Domain authority: A score that indicates the strength and influence of a website based on the quality and quantity of links pointing to it. Search engines like Google do not recognize domain authority. It’s a score used by platforms like Ahrefs and Semrush. Think of it as a barometer and not a thermostat.

Top KPIs in SEO

To track the success of your SEO efforts, you need to choose the right KPIs. Some of the top ones to consider are:

Business outcomes: Focus on conversions, customer lifetime value, cost per acquisition and return on investment. These show the direct impact of SEO on your business.
Traffic quality: Monitor organic visibility, organic sessions, branded vs non-branded traffic and bounce rate. This helps ensure you’re getting high-quality traffic. Google Analytics 4 is a great way to do so.
Keyword performance: Track your keyword rankings, keyword difficulty and keyword opportunity. See how you can improve your rankings and find new keywords to target.
Link profile: Evaluate your backlinks, referring domains, domain authority and link velocity. Build high-quality links to boost your rankings.

These KPIs provide actionable insights into your SEO progress and help guide your strategy. Track them regularly to maximize your search visibility and drive more traffic and conversions.

Interview Questions for an SEO Candidate

Interview questions help evaluate if a candidate has the necessary skills and experience for an SEO role. They reveal how well they understand SEO concepts, strategies and best practices.

Here are some sample questions you can use:

General questions:

What is your approach to SEO and how do you stay up-to-date with trends?
What are your top priorities for SEO and how do you determine key performance indicators (KPIs)?
How would you integrate SEO with our overall digital marketing strategy?

Technical questions:

How would you evaluate our website’s technical SEO health? What issues should we fix?
How can we improve site speed and mobile-friendliness? What tools would you use?
How would you handle a manual penalty from Google? What steps would you take to resolve it?

On-page questions:

How would you analyze our competitors’ keyword strategies to find new opportunities?
What on-page optimizations would you recommend for our content? How can we improve rankings?
How do you optimize title tags, meta descriptions, headings and image alt text for SEO?

Off-page questions:

What link building strategies have you used and found most effective?
How would you build high-quality links to improve our domain authority and search rankings?
How can we earn more authoritative backlinks while avoiding link schemes and other unethical practices?

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SEO Work Experience

Here are some of the things you would want to see from a candidate’s past work. While no one will have expertise in all these areas, having at least some of them is essential.

SEO Projects:

Types of projects, such as technical audits, content optimization, link building.
Scope and complexity of projects, including the number of web pages, amount of content, types of keywords.
The candidate’s level of responsibility and involvement e.g. executing tasks, managing projects, leading SEO teams.

SEO Results:

Improvements in search rankings, organic traffic, conversions.
Growth in key metrics like impressions, clicks, dwell time.
Awards, case studies or other recognition of their results and impact

SEO Tools:

SEO software, analytics platforms, rank tracking tools, etc. that the candidate has expertise in using.
Technical skills with HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript. Even if the candidate isn’t a “coder” or programmer, they should have knowledge of some of these languages.

SEO Skills:

Strong research, analysis, problem-solving and critical thinking.
The ability to optimize content for both search engines and users.
Proficiency in link building, outreach, content promotion and other SEO strategies.
Excellent communication skills for educating clients and coworkers about SEO.

Keep Up with SEO Trends and Best Practices

There are many great resources these days to keep up with the latest SEO trends and best practices. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to tell which are legitimate. Here are a few recommendations both for your benefit, as well as what you might like to hear from how a candidate stays informed:

Blogs: Follow reputable SEO blogs like Moz, Ahrefs, Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Journal. They frequently publish articles on the latest trends, updates from search engines and expert opinions.
Podcasts: Listen to SEO podcasts such as Search Off the Record (Google’s official show) and Search Engine Journal Show. Experts are often interviewed to discuss trending topics, share their insights and debate controversial issues.
Webinars: Attend webinars from platforms like Ahrefs, Clearscope and BrightEdge. They frequently host live sessions with SEO professionals talking about trending strategies, new opportunities and ways to overcome challenges. The Q&A portions of these webinars also provide useful discussions on recent changes in search rankings and algorithms.
Online courses: Take online courses on SEO and related topics from Udemy, Thinkific, Kajabi and LinkedIn Learning. These courses teach the latest techniques and best practices from industry experts. While some cover SEO fundamentals, many focus on trending areas like technical SEO, content optimization, link building and keyword research. Though often paid, the courses help gain a deeper understanding of current SEO methods.
Conferences: Join online or in-person SEO conferences to hear from industry leaders, learn from case studies and network with other professionals. Major conferences like SearchLove, Friends of Search Fest, Brighton SEO, MozCon and Mn Search Summit feature keynote speeches, panel discussions, and presentations on the newest trends, innovations, and issues in SEO. Attending these conferences is a great way to stay ahead of competitors and meet like-minded SEO practitioners.

MozCon is one of the more popular and well-known search-based conferences.

Do you need a digital content maven to give your website(s) a deep audit? Or perhaps this is something you never considered and don’t know where to start. A proven SEO expert is just what you want.

The BluWave network of highly vetted service providers has search engine optimization resources on standby, no matter your organization, website size or industry.

When you get on a scoping call with our research and operations team, they’ll perform a quick but detailed evaluation of your situation and provide two to three best-fit SEO resources within a single business day.

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With so much opportunity in organic search, you don’t want to waste another day with a website that isn’t optimized for growing your business. Contact us today to get started.