ABC Interview Guide

                                                   ABC  Interview Guide

 

Open/Background

 

·       Objectives of interview: 1) Deeper understanding of Market(s), segmentation priorities (High, Moderate, Opportunistic) and geographic focus. 2) Deeper understanding of business /products/services/pricing/bundling, rainmakers/partners. 3) Demand analysis 4) Competitive/substitution understanding(current and probable competitors and likely courses of action. 5) Economic/Cost and financial understanding. 6) An understanding of how ABC operates or could operate better (How functions and jobs contribute and where strong/weak or fully or not fully utilized. 7) Appreciation for profile of top-tier clients and profile of "decision makers, influencers, users/sales cycle, with proposal examples. 8) Understanding of How (methodology defined?)  ABC delivers services, along with inherent opportunities and challenges 9) common understanding of mission, goals, strategy and measures/metrics (MGSM).  10) Competitive/differential advantages 11) Barriers to entry 12) Critical issues/concerns/unmet needs/opportunities.

·       What is your role in the business? How would you change it to be more effective? How long have you been with ABC? In what capacities?  What is your previous experience, background, personal, other etc.?  How did you get to ABC? What attracted you here? Is it what you expected or different and how so if different? Who do you interact with on a daily basis?

·       What have been ABC's biggest successes/flops? Who/what hindered/helped? What weren't you or others able to overcome?

·       What works best here?

·       Where do you see the company 3 and/or 5 years from now? How big? What types of businesses?

·       What's the end game/exit strategy? Sale to strategic buyer; build on SYX portfolio.

 

Business/Market/Product-Service Offerings

·       How would you describe your business and the business you're in? Want to be in? Which are your current and potential markets to be served?  Size, segmentation, growth etc.?

·       How would you describe your product/service offerings? Which are most important, and why-strategic, profitability, reference/leverage etc?

·       What is your typical order size/price-point?

·       Who are the decision makers, influencers and users?

·       What are the motivators that cause them to buy?

·       How many clients do you have and how many are referenceable? Why aren't some able to be used as references and how do you win them over?

·       What is the selling cycle for software and/or outsourcing services?

·       Typical revenue flow and timing?

·       What problems or unmet needs does ABC satisfy? What pain points have been uncovered? Are there trends/patterns?

·       Which are the most favorable market segments and why (selling cycle, strategic, profitability, leverage etc.)  Where they are geographically concentrated?

·       How should the most favorable segments and prospects/suspects be reached?

·       How should products and services be bundled, delivered and priced? Describe pricing?

·       What percentage of ABC's business is software, maintenance, consulting or outsourcing? ASP versus self-hosted if done? What is your revenue recognition policies/practices?

·       What percentage of your 2006 business is recurring or projected as new?

·       What is your unique selling proposition (USP)? What are your sustainable competitive differential advantages?

·       What are your businesses, market, product/service critical issues?

·       Is the technology sound and scalable?

·       What have you been built in? What is your architecture? SOA?SAAS?

·       If significant business were sold tomorrow, could ABC excel at flawless implementation?

 

What are the Competitive Dynamics, Trends and Comparisons of ABC?

·       Who are the top competitors and how does ABC compare?

·       Is ABC priced to a premium, discount or comparable to others?

·       What is ABC's competitive positioning?

·       What/who substitutes for ABC product/service offerings?

·       What are the barriers to changing suppliers?

·       Is co-opetition possible? What business combinations might there be?

·       Who are your strategic marketing and/or sales partners or prospects?

 

What is the Mission of ABC? What are the top goals?

·       What is the mission of ABC? Do others know it throughout the organization?

·       What are the top goals and are they known and shared by staff?

·       Revenue/EBITDA/#of software and ASP clients/Market share etc. in 2007/8/9?

·       Do you anticipate a burn for 2007? Projected cash flow to profitability? Realistic, aggressive, conservative or stretch?

·       Is there cross-functional cooperation or silos?

·       How is progress tracked and measured?

·       Is this a sales driven and customer-satisfaction driven culture?

·       What's the driving force of ABC?

·       How would you describe the culture here?

·       What do you think are the critical success factors/threats-risks?

·       Have priorities been set?

·       What interferes with getting the job done? Are there potential problems/obstacles in succeeding?

 

How Does ABC operate? How is it Structured?

·       How do functions and jobs contribute to ABC's mission/goals?

·       How many employees or FTEs and/or consultants?

·       Is there a defined organizational chart with defined accountabilities, and shared?

·       Are budgets set and effective/realistic?

·       How is ABC currently/typically/geographically organized to achieve its goals?

·       Are groups organized in the best way to achieve your goals?

·       Does the way they're organized help or hinder getting things done?

·       Are tasks shared? By whom? Have cross-functional teams occurred? How are they assigned?

·       Can and do functions communicate easily with one another?

·       How are your prospects and customers being reached? Is this effective?

·       How do you deliver your services, along with opportunities and difficulties in doing so?

·       Where does the customer satisfaction/service function sit? Are size, number, trends and patterns of problems tracked and time to fix or adapt?

·       Is software and outsourcing documentation current? Is training effective and well received by clients? Is training a profit center and source of leads?

·       Is there a defined methodology for development, implementation and outsourcing?

·       Are customer satisfaction surveys done and issues addressed?

 

Culture.

·       What are the things that make you or others here want, or not want, to achieve your goals? Pay, equity, benefits, vacation, climate, work, team-work etc.

·       What kinds of decision making exist? Is input sought from staff and appreciated? Does staff have sufficient authority to do their jobs?

·       How are problems solved?

·       How are conflicts managed?

·       Is the entire company dedicated to exceeding customer expectations?

·       How often are team meetings held? Effective?

·       Do staff and you typically get the skills, knowledge and tools needed to do their/your jobs? If not, what do you or others need training to do?

·       Has ABC  been training the right people to do the right things?

·       Has your training been sufficient? Was the training received helpful, effective, and realistic?

·       Is there sufficient communication on the direction and progress of the company?

·       What are the norms of behavior here?

·       Have many people left? Why have they left?

·       Why have people joined ABC? What attracted them here?

 

What types of Processes are used to manage your business?

·       Are sales and delivery functions being supported to acquire and retain customers and flawlessly deliver your service offerings?

·       Are systems and methodologies defined/written for each functional area?

·       Which reports do you and others do? Are they shared or summarized for others?

·       Do you get information needed to make decisions and manage your business?

·       Do you have sufficient decision making and authority to provide exceptional service for clients?

·       Is the forecast for the balance of the year and projected next year known and/or believable?

·       What impediments exist to excel at ABC?

·       Do staffs have the tools/resources they need to succeed?

·       What needs to be communicated to you/staff?

 

Do the functions of ABC have the right People for ABC to Excel?

·       Are the functions of ABC staffed with the right people?

·       Do they have the knowledge, skills and resources to do their jobs?

·       Are development needs known, supported and planned for all staff members?

·       Is this a team-oriented and cooperative environment?

·       Do all functions cooperate to win?

·       Does ABC celebrate successes and recognize achievers?

 

Sales & Marketing Plan(s).

·       Have highest potential accounts in priority segments been defined?

·       Are sales and marketing resources being well utilized, and are they sufficient?

·       Are territories defined with equal selling potential?

·       What percent of the business revenues falls in each segment? How many accounts fall within each segment?

·       What markets or modules are your breadwinners?

·       How often is your offering sold as a core system or platform? Which modules are sold separately and why?

·       What are the top 10 accounts and where are they?

·       How much business is represented by state or region?

·       Do you do any business with the government? Is there a government market? Is ABC GSA approved?

·       What percentage of business is 1) software 2) maintenance 3)consulting 4) outsourcing 5) other.

·       What are the mean, modes, median average combined software and implementation consulting size of your accounts and outsourced clients?

·       Are sales and business development compensation plans motivational and understood.

·       How are RFPs/RFIs handled and how many do you receive monthly?

·       Is there sufficient Industry, market, product, applications, competitive and operations knowledge?

·       Do sales and business development folks have good selling skills and account strategies.

·       Can ABC's products and services be sold through resellers?

·       Are there impediments or resources lacking to the sales process? Proposals, presentation tools, literature, web-site effective, assigned lists of prospects, territory and account information, blackberries, laptops etc.?

·       Is marketing effective or are opportunities being missed? Uniform advertising, PR, direct marketing or trade show image and messaging?

·       Are activity measures set, tracked and reported? Face-to-face calls per week, demos, proposals, account coverage and penetration, presentations, new accounts, dormant reactivations etc.

·       Are sales, telesales and business development functions supported with sufficient time spent selling?

·       Is pricing consistent and competitive? Can different pricing schemes be more effective?

 

Critical Issues/Concerns? What unmet needs could ABC deliver or what opportunities might they capitalize on? What should I have asked that I haven't?

·       How could you or the company be more effective?

·       Where does ABC need to improve?

·       Anything else?