Crescendus™ | ACTION LISTS FOR BUSINESSES

© Crescendus™ 2012-2013. All Rights Reserved.1

Crescendus™ACTION LISTS


2013What can companies expect in 2013?

| SLOW / NO GROWTH| RISING COSTS

| High Customer Delinquencies| Intense Competition| Longer deal/contract closing times| Race towards Commoditization| Price Wars & Lower Profits| Price will dominate Value Discussions| Low Operating Efficiencies| More Regulations| Decision Paralysis & Second Guessing| Non-revenue Generating Initiatives

taking the Back Seat (incl. Strategic R&D)| Employee Burn-out & Layoff Stress

Crescendus™ Smart Solutions canhelp you stay on top of the abovechallenges.

To learn more, check:www.crescendus.com

Rising Risks of Economic Slowdown &Potential Global RecessionSource: IMF Report, Oct 2012

© Crescendus™ 2012-2013. All Rights Reserved.


Management has to quickly address the following concerns of various internal & externalstakeholders:1. Protect the Core Business & Stop Bleeding (Prevent Market Share Losses of Key Segments)2. Identify Cost Control Opportunities across All Business Functions3. Strategically reinforce key Growth Initiatives to support the Future of the Business4. Build Employee Morale and Develop a Vision of a Better FutureNOTE: For a detailed overview of specific smart solutions pertaining to the above 4 areas,please check: http://www.crescendus.com/#!__hot-topics/vstc27=2013

2013 KEY ISSUES


PROTECT THE CORE : SALES & MARKETING ACTION LISTS

NOTE: For a detailed overview of Crescendus™ specific smart solutions pertaining to the above topic, please check:http://www.crescendus.com/#!__hot-topics/vstc27=2013

1. Conduct key accounts customer diagnostics and understand what is ailing their performance. If necessary, setaside a dedicated team to work full time at your key customer sites.2. Stratify customer accounts by revenue, profit and growth, and gather 360 degree customer intelligence, theirstrategic plans & pain points.3. Target the top accounts that contribute between 60-70% of revenue and profit.4. Increase competitor intelligence and also extensive monitoring of your competitor's customers.5. Do not extend contract negotiations for top accounts, since your competitors know that you are vulnerable.Close contracts quickly by creating a situation room of key decision makers, and act decisively.6. Reduce complexity for customers by having streamlined pricing.7. Free up your top performers from administrative tasks so that they can focus on closing deals.8. Develop sales intelligence monitoring tools and advanced analytics capabilities.9. Re-do market segmentation and invite key customers for input on strategic roadmaps and initiatives10. Develop internal sales contests with priority given to profit.11. Prepare to release customers that at the bottom 20% of your profit curve, and let your competitors servicethem.12. Target the top 10 customers of your competitors and develop a strategic roadmap for wooing them in13. Make extensive site visits to key customers and communicate effectively to all customers regarding your actionplan for 2013.14. Re-organize your sales force so that the bottom 25% of your sales force targets low profit accounts.15. Strengthen regulatory and industry intelligence monitoring activities.16. Invest in customer relationship management efforts to boost customer experience scores.


COST OPTIMIZATION : ACTION LISTS


1. Critically analyze the 2013 growth state of your business and re-balance resource allocation levels across yourportfolio. Example, if sales are down by 10-15%, then adjust the resource level down accordingly to support thenew business landscape, and re-direct some of them to growth initiatives (refer to Growth Initiatives ActionLists slide, next page).2. Examine all aspects of your current product and services portfolio, and retire declining products or exploredivestiture options.3. Re-negotiate supply chain contracts and try to work with your suppliers to adjust prior committed purchasingtargets.4. Work quickly to settle accounts receivable delinquencies and try to recover as much as possible, or strike shortterm contracts at full price (eliminating prior discounts) with these accounts.5. Freeze all hiring decisions and look for outsourcing options until the business stabilizes.6. Re-evaluate prior allocated investments for R&D, Innovation and Product Development under the new 2013growth scenarios, and re-do the business plans, expected returns and cost estimations.7. Focus on efficiency improvements within operations under a wide range of scenarios.8. Explore business, technology, product, R&D, engineering and IT outsourcing options that reduce your capitalrisks.9. Develop clear system wide IT tools to conduct cost analytics.10. Communicate the cost optimization plans with key decision makers on a weekly basis.11. Organize a system wide contest for cost reduction initiatives and offer incentives to the top 5 solutions (financeteams should be excluded since cost reduction and optimization is expected to be part of their normalresponsibilities).


GROWTH INITIATIVES : ACTION LISTS


1. Conduct strategy review and extensive war gaming to develop a new strategy to navigate the difficulteconomic environment (since the conditions are expected to last beyond 2013).2. Critically assess "build-buy-partner" approaches before investing in growth initiatives such as productdevelopment, R&D and engineering.3. Use business development resources aggressively to license new capabilities, forge strategic alliancesand partnerships, and if the opportunity arises, make acquisitions in either growth or adjacent markets.4. Invest in extensive external intelligence data gathering and analytics (e.g. market intelligence, customerintelligence, competitive intelligence, etc.).5. Develop 3-4 internal entrepreneurial growth initiatives and allocate multi-functional teams to buildnew ventures targeting high growth opportunities, and focus on rapid results.6. Explore growth in new markets and geographies either via direct or indirect channels.7. Build or re-direct sales force towards strategic growth markets, with initial role focused onconsultative/strategic alliance type of assignments with key opinion leaders and high value customerprospects.


EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION : ACTION LISTS


1. Develop a clear strategy to communicate with your employees when key accounts are won, renewed orlost. This is important to prevent fear and unproductive gossip.2. Senior management needs to develop a clear roadmap with milestones stating how the company willnavigate the near term troubled waters and successfully grow in the future.3. Listen to employee concerns regarding burnout and outsource functions to increase the productivityand morale of your teams.4. Re-shuffle rank and move high performers to growth initiatives and have a retention plan thatencourages them to stay with the company for the next 2-3 years.5. Prepare for increase in employee attrition by requiring every business unit and department todocument critical functions into clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) that can be replicated byreplacements in the future.6. Re-evaluate performance incentives in light of new business realities, and develop realistic targets foryour teams. Unrealistic targets will lead to a sense of dejection, and people will give up since they haveno chance of achieving the targets even if they did their very best.7. In the event of a divestiture or M&A, develop a clear plan to address the concerns of affected employeesand their new roles.


For a detailed overview of Crescendus™ Solutions , please check:http://www.crescendus.com

Industry Expertise

1. Basic Materials2. Healthcare3. Technology &

Media4. Energy & Utilities5. Mining & Metals6. Consumer Goods7. Industrials8. Environment

Business Services1. Strategy2. Sales3. Marketing4. Operations5. Business Development6. Product Development7. Emerging Markets8. Intellectual Property9. Startups & New

Ventures10. Human Capital11. Market Place12. Project Management

Technology Services1. Process Technology/EPC2. Advanced Materials3. Sensors & Instruments4. Business Intelligence &

Analytics5. Application Software6. Nanotechnology7. Medical Devices &

Diagnostics8. Oil & Gas E&P9. Drug Discovery &

Development10. Energy Storage11. Food & Agriculture12. Mining13. Water14. Coal & Power Utilities15. Renewables

Crescendus™ Services


A comprehensive list of our services can be found at our website: http://www.crescendus.com

If your company is currently facing some of the challenges mentioned in this presentation, weencourage you to contact us.

Telephone:1-(865)-332-0942

Email:[email protected]

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