The Research Meeting Toolkit

8/7/2019 The Research Meeting Toolkit

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The Research Meeting Toolkit

Impax Sales Process

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The Research Meetin

tools for creating a successful res

lobal Talent Team

Page 1 of 17

MMeeeettiinngg TToooollkkiitt

April 2010

lobal Talent TeamTom Cunningham

Dorman WoodallWillard Scott

Paul Wheaton

Toolkit:

arch meeting


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The Research Meeting Toolkit SkillSoft Global Talent Team

Impax Sales Process Page 2 of 17

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Table of Contents

Using the Research Meeting Worksheet ..............................................................................................3

Research Meeting Work Sheet ............................................................................................................4

Research Questions - Examples..........................................................................................................6

20 Questions to Determine Business Fit ..............................................................................................6

Research Meeting Questions Impax Version.....................................................................................7

Research Element Corporate Profile/Direction ..............................................................................7Research Element Organizational Structure..................................................................................8Research Element Key Players/Profiles ........................................................................................9Research Element Departmental Profile/Direction.......................................................................10

Research Meeting Questions Talent Management Version.............................................................11Profile.............................................................................................................................................11Objectives/Strategies .....................................................................................................................11Issues ............................................................................................................................................12

Research Meeting Questions - Leadership Development Channel....................................................16

Research Meeting Assessment Form ................................................................................................17


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Using the Research Meeting Worksheet

The research meeting worksheet is a form to organize their research meetings. The worksheetconsists of six sections with which you will need to become familiar in order to effectively plan andorganize your research meeting:

1- Logistical informationthis information includes the name of your contact, his/her buyingrole, his/her title, and the name of his/her company. When you assemble your researchfolder, you can use this header information to keep your notes organized.

2- Research meeting floweach research meeting will have a different flow based on theinformation you still need. If you're missing a lot of information, you'll want to cover a lot ofground quickly. If the information you need is nearly completed, you'll be able to cover themissing aspects in-depth.

3- Opening questionsonce you determine what information is missing, you'll know where themeeting needs to go. Opening questions will help take you in that direction. After you greetthe customer and tell him/her why you're there, use opening questions to get to the heart ofthe meeting.

4- Critical questionsthese questions probe a little deeper into the information you need.Usually associated with the later part of your meeting flow, these questions focus specificallyon the areas that need to be completed.

5- Summary and key learningyoull use this part of the work sheet in two ways. Before themeeting, you'll fill in what you want your key learning to be, which will help you create yourgoals. After the meeting, you'll write in what you actually learned from the meeting.

6- Action steps and responsibilityyou won't fill out these sections until after the meetingbecause they're based on information you get in the meeting. Do you have new people tocontact? Do you need to make follow-up phone calls or conduct further research? Who willbe responsible for completing these steps?

You'll want to use the research meeting worksheet in conjunction with what you already knowbecause the information you'll be looking to glean from the research meeting will be based oninformation you're missing.


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Research Meeting Work Sheet

Instructions: Use this worksheet to help plan for successful research meetings.

Logistical Information

Date: Company:

Contact Name:

Title:

Buying Role:

Research Meeting Flow

Opening Questions


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Critical Questions

Summary and Key Learning

Action Steps Responsibility Date


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Research Questions - Examples

20 Questions to Determine Business Fit


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Research Meeting Questions Impax Version

Research Element Corporate Profile/Direction

Profile

1. Can you give me a sense of your corporate mission?

2. What is your recent financial performance (revenues, profits, market share)?

3. To what would you attribute your recent financial performance/trends?

4. How are you perceived by your customers?

5. How would you describe the value you bring to your customers?

6. Why do your best customers buy from you?

Objectives

7. What is your companys vision?

8. What are the first three priorities the CEO is likely to bring up at a staff meeting?

9. What are your companys top business objectives?

10. Where do you see the business in the future, both in the short term and long term?

11. What strategies are in place, or being put in place, to achieve these objectives?

12. What are the companys critical success factors?

13. How does the company measure its success?

Issues

14. What is the biggest issue facing your company today?

15. When the CEO is losing sleep at night, what do you think the top three issues are that keep

him/her awake at night?

Industry/Marketplace

16. What are the major external influences impacting the business today?

17. What are some of the key industry trends your company is facing today?

18. Who are some of your closest competitors?

19. What is your single greatest competitive advantage?

20. What differentiates your business from the competition?


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General

21. How would you describe the philosophy of the organization?

22. What event would you say has had the single greatest impact in the past year?

23. How will the business be different two years from today?

Research Element Organizational Structure

Formal Organization

1. How is your organization structured to achieve your objectives?

2. What are the major business segments or units?

3. How do the different departments or divisions relate or interact?

4. Can you help me draw out this organizational structure?

Informal Organization

5. What is the informal or dotted-line structure?

6. Who does the decision maker turn to for guidance?

7. Who has responsibility for the highest visibility projects in the company?

Competitive Relationships

8. Where are the competitors current relationships today? How would you describe them?9. How are the competitors perceived in the organization?

Decision-Making Process

10. In addition to the decision maker, who else is involved in making key decisions?

11. Who makes the final recommendations?

12. Who has to approve the recommendations?

13. If someone is going to shoot down a decision at the last hour, who would that be?


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Research Element Key Players/Profiles

Professional Background

What is his/her current role and set of responsibilities?

What are his/her major accomplishments in that position?

What is he/she proudest of in her career?

Personal

How does he/she like to spend his personal time?

What are his/her special interests, such as professional associations, service clubs,

community?

What are his/her personal and professional objectives?

Issues/Concerns

What are his/her key concerns?

What is the biggest issue he/shes facing now?

What are the major issues affecting his/her department or organization now?

Objectives/Priorities

What projects is he/she working on today?

What are his/her top priorities?

Where would he like to take his/her department or organization?

Characteristics/Style

What is his/her management style?

Does he/she make decision quickly or slowly?

How does he/she like to be presented to?

Who does he/she rely on most for advice?


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Research Element Departmental Profile/Direction

What are the departments responsibilities?

What is its mission? Who are their customers?

What are frequently used acronyms and buzzwords?

How is the department perceived in the organization?

Objectives/Strategies

What is the department doing to support the companys vision?

Is there a strategic plan for the department?

What is the top priority of the department?

Projects

What are the departments major projects?

What is the priority of these projects?

What factors will influence the success of the projects?

Issues/Concerns

What are the department's major issues, concerns, and challenges?

What are the most critical issues facing the department?

If money/time were no object, what would you fix, change, or invest in today? Why?

Product Fit/Account Qualification

Who is your current supplier? How would you describe the strengths and weaknesses of their

company and solutions?

What would you change about your current situation?

Can you give me an example of an outstanding supplier? What makes them outstanding?

What is the payback if the departments primary objective is achieved?


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Research Meeting Questions Talent Management Version

Profile

1. Can you give me a sense of your corporate mission?

2. What is the depth of Talent Management knowledge across the company?o Is C-level support for Talent Management been established?o Are the executives all on the same page?o What is the status of executive support for talent & Talent Management?

3. What is the Talent Mindset at your organization?o Start at a macro level and drill down by HR/C suite/Line Managers/Employeeso Are they on the same page?

4. How does education work in your company?o Start a discussion around topics such as - Is your education tied to Business strategy?

5. Where are they in the Talent Management strategy?

o Please comment on the maturity level of your Talent Management Strategy.o Please share the Traction for Talent Management Initiatives within your organization.

6. Does your organization believe in corporate education?o Do they currently have a Talent Strategy education plan in place?

7. Do you have a talent strategy management team in place?o Does this team have C-level support?

Objectives/Strategies

1. What is your companys vision?

2. How do Department Business leaders tie into and relate with HR?

3. What is your current technology platform for Applicant Tracking System, Succession Planning, etc. (Somecompanies try to address talent with technology.)

4. What conditions in your environment are driving your talent initiatives? For example: Financial pressures to cut costs Rapid business growth competitive threats expansion into new markets launching new products and services new management mergers and acquisitions global expansion obsolescence of products or services

changes in cost of raw materials

5. How do you establish the metrics and measurements needed to evaluate your Talent initiatives and determineyour ROI today?

6. How do you assess or can you assess the current knowledge and skill of your leaders and their developmentprograms?

7. What are the most critical gaps in talent competency and capability in your organization today?


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Organization1. Do you have a role on the Talent Management team? Tell me about your Talent Management team?

2. Who is directly involved in the Talent Management initiative? Who is in charge of your talent strategyinitiative?

3. Who is involved in the talent practices, etc of the company? Is your hiring strategy aligned to your talent strategy? Is your development strategy aligned to your succession planning?

4. What do leaders in your organization know about human capital and talent management?

5. To what extent can they put their knowledge into action?

6. Are they prepared to become talent leaders and act as change agents? For example, do they understand andput into practice:

The business case for talent management Modeling a talent driven organization Human capital metrics and measurement Integrating talent management practices across departments HR & line management talent partnering Developing a human capital plan Workforce planning Talent management technologies How best to acquire, engage, develop, deploy, lead, and retain the talent most critical to your

organizations success.

Issues

1. What are some of the challenges with your talent initiatives? Where do you need the most help with yourTalent Management plan? Can you share the Priority List of your biggest challenges moving forward?

Talent acquisition On Boarding Development Deployment Identification of High Potentials Retention Talent leadership

2. Talent Challenges Identification: What are the critical challenges facing your organization? For example:

Gaps in leadership pipeline Creating a performance driven culture

Difficulty filling new positions Rapid hiring due to growth Skills gap in critical positions Need to develop new skills due to product and business changes Impending retirement of key workers Retention problems in key positions Employee dissatisfaction or low engagement Rapid hiring due to turnover


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Trends1. How successful is your organization in cascading goals to all levels of the organization?

2. Do individuals have the ability to see their own appraisals and set their own goals?

3. Can they manage their own career objectives?

(The following questions can be formed into additional questions by changing the framing to: who, what, where, why, when)

Overall Talent Maturity

1. Does the organization have the ability to acquire, engage, develop and retain top performers?

2. Is Talent viewed as an asset or a cost?

3. How effective is your organization in attracting talent?

Executive Commitment to Talent

1. Do your Executives have a conviction that superior talent is a vital competitive advantage?

2. Are your Executives role models for a talent-driven approach and culture?

3. Is the supply and demand for skills and talent projected for at least two to three years in a workforceplanning system?

Human Capital Plan

1. Is there is a human capital plan?

2. What role does HR play in terms of Talent Management?

Workforce Plan

1. Is the supply and demand for skills and talent projected for at least two to three years?

2. Have competencies for key positions been identified? Is there a system that manages these competenciesand plans for development and/or deployment opportunities?

3. Is the workforce plan integrated with other talent practices and functions?


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Talent Acquisition

1. How does your organization attract top talent?

2. Do newly hired employees get off to a fast start?

3. Is a systematic program in place to effectively on-board new employees?

4. Do your recruiting practices make a strong strategic contribution to the organization?

5. Are your recruiting practices aligned to any sort of workforce planning system?

Talent Engagement

1. Would you say that the majority of employees are very engaged in their work?

2. Does the organization conduct employee engagement surveys? What do the results tell you?

3. Does the organization provide the proper resources/training for people to do their jobs?

Talent Development

1. Are individual development plans in place for everyone?

2. Are employees provided with ample opportunities and time to further develop their skills?

Performance Management

1. Is feedback provided to people on a frequent basis?

2. Is the link between the employees job and the goals of the organization clear?

3. Is there a priority around Leadership Development?

4. Are Leadership Development Programs challenging and do they address important real-world problems?

5. Are excellent leaders developed internally or brought in from the outside?


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Talent Deployment

1. Are employees given opportunities to do what they do best?

2. Does the organization have the right people in the right job at the right time?

Leadership

1. Do Managers understand that a primary role for them is to develop and coach their employees?

2. Are managers given training and coaching to improve their people development skills?

Talent Retention

1. Can your organization retain top talent?

2. Are the reasons people leave the organization tracked and analyzed?

3. If so, what if anything is done with the information?

Accountabilities

1. Are managers accountable for the development and retention of their employees? Are Business Leaders?

2. Are Human Capital metrics in place to judge the organizations effectiveness in talent management?

3. Is there a tool or a series of tools in place or in development to measure Human Capital Metrics andAlignment?

Innovation

1. Does your culture promote experimentation, risk taking, and new ideas?

2. Does the organization respond to change quickly and effectively?


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Research Meeting Questions - Leadership Development Channel

1. How does your organization segment its executives and managers?

2. How are you developing your leaders and managers currently?

3. What kinds of competency, development and training programs are underway?

4. Does external thinking play a role in your leadership learning strategy

5. What role do executives and managers play in developing their teams ("leaders teaching leaders)

6. Have current programs achieved the cost effectiveness you need?

7. What is your blended learning approach?


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Research Meeting Assessment Form

Date _________________ Name: __________________________________________________

Instructions Please rate each of the following items from 1 to 5 using the scale below.

1= not effective 2= somewhat effective 3=moderately effective 4=effective 5=highly effective

Rate how well the RAE demonstrated skill in the following: Rating

Opened the meeting in a manner that builds rapport and sets expectationsfor the meetings purpose.

Progressed the research meeting by asking high-impact questions to gain information on:

Corporate Profile and Direction

Organizational Structure

Key Players and Roles

Departmental Issues

Concluded the research meeting by:

Showing appreciation

Summarizing and checking

Requesting referrals

Requesting open door

Suggesting action steps and check

Total

Determine average rating by dividing result by 10

The Research Meeting Toolkit

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