Problem Solver
Katie Gailes
My strength is an ability to see beyond what is obvious and to think outside the box. This creative and innovative thinking lets me get excited about finding an enticing and executable solution to your problems.
Areas Katie Gailes is Knowledgeable in:
I am particulatly interested in marketing, business development, and strategy challenges.
Techniques Katie Gailes Uses:
One of the best problem solving techniques is active listening. Most problems are a combination of what is real and what is perceived. Research can tell you what is real. But only listening reveals what is perceived. Once we know what questions we need to ask, I use the ChangeWorks system to identified where the targets are relative to those items. This tells me what types of tactics we should put in place.
Katie Gailes's Problem Solving Skills:
- Business development.
- Marketing and communications program development, launch, and management.
- Customer/Client acquisition strategies.
- Marketing and Communications strategy that is deeply connected to business goals.
- Marketing messaging and taglines.
- Customer/Client retention strategies.
- Social networking as an integral part of a marketing and communications strategy.
Katie Gailes's Problem Solving Experience:
- A small bank was having trouble competing with the larger financial institutions and with other small banks. All of their marketing materials and messaging screamed 'Me, too!". Their competitive edge was a philosophy and corporate culture of treating small businesses and entrepreneurs well, regardless of the size of their deposits with the institution. The challenge was articulating that in such a compelling way that it could motivate a prospect to switch banks. After several discussions with them I delivered the winning tagline; 'Your business is big business to us.' This says it all.
- A light gauge steel fabricator was not being very successful in acquiring customers. They were selling primarily to people who were doing custom building. When they did get business, their internal processes could not guarantee a high quality product. Therefore, customers were not references. After comparing their strategy with reality, I determined that they were not marketing to the right customer and were not selling or operating to their strengths. We identified a portfolio of pre-designed structures, based on their past work, that they could sell as a package to small builders and developers. This will allow them to capitalize on economies of scale. I also partnered them with a national provider of design/build services so that they could participate in the light commercial construction market in a very low risk way. We arein the early stages of implementing this strategy, but it looks very promising.
- A ladies handbag retailer was having difficulty driving revenue to keep the business afloat. I identified the fact that there are not enough hours in the day to create the necessary revenue using her current client acquisition strategy. We first change her view of prospects to one that is counter intuitive but critical for entrepreneurs. Her new strategy involves finding a use for every contact (not throwing anyone away). We also developed tactics to keep her customers and prospects 'warm' between or until they purchase. And we created several 'virtual' buying opportunities. In the first week of implementation we doubled her revenue for that same period.