Blogs

Ever wonder what you would do with a billion dollars? Most of us have. Christopher Smart, an economist and investor consultant, does too. Recently, Smart wrote “If You Had a Billion Dollars and a Crystal Ball…What answers does an investor (or CEO) need to make good decisions over the next decade.”  He asks these both relevant and heady questions:

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Gaining insightful customer feedback is essential for investors as they evaluate the satisfaction (SAT) and “stickiness” of the potential seller’s customers. For sellers that have a large customer pool, with no customer being 5% or more of total revenue, and varying diverse segments, Mayfield Consulting couples our usual in-depth telephone interviews with Enhanced Feedback. This is quick customer feedback from two additional sources – a check-the-box email survey and a digital review. By casting a wider net across the customer base, you increase the likelihood of engaging more customers through their preferred communication channel. Used along with qualitative, in-depth interviews with small samples, Enhanced Feedback helps investors gain more quantitative data from a larger sample while the in-depth interviews explain the “why” behind the responses in the email survey.

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 With many new investor clients in 2023, Mayfield Consulting kept very busy performing our signature qualitative and quantitative customer feedback for investor due diligence.  Investment opportunities for these clients covered an interesting spectrum, ranging from portable cooling equipment and traffic control services to lab testing, LMSs (Learning Management Systems), payroll services, private pay card management, post drivers, aluminum signs, and various others. To make informed decisions some clients also requested market sizing, competitive comparisons, and Total Addressable Market analysis. Mayfield Consulting thrives on using our extensive experience to assist our clients in reaching their goals. 

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Brand positioning is a critical aspect of marketing and business strategy that often makes the difference between a company's success and its failure. Thanks to the internet and social media, consumers have become accustomed to having endless amounts of information at their fingertips. Brand positioning is not just important for big brands like Nike or Coca-Cola. Regardless of business size or industry, companies need to ensure they are giving consumers a reason to believe in their brand. What makes YOU different from the competition? This month, we are taking a deeper look into the significance of brand positioning and why it is considered a strategic imperative for any business.

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Unless you’ve had your head in an actual book this summer, you’ve seen all the press about the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). We decided to put one popular chatbot to the test and asked ChatGPT to write a blog on a topic we know well — customer feedback during investor due diligence. Not surprisingly, there were some hits and misses when using AI to write this type of content. Below you can see the actual Chat GPT blog. But first, our assessment and some things to watch for if you choose to use AI.

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We’ve all been there before. You buy something online only to discover a person – or a bot – has stolen your credit card information. The credit card company cancels your card and sends a new one. Or perhaps someone has hacked into your Amazon account and changed your password so you are locked out of your account. It’s a hassle to correct, but thanks to the IT security set in place by most large companies, that’s all it is.

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If you are buying a SMB (Small or Midsize Business) and you ask for feedback from the seller’s customer base, you understand it is a reasonable request – but it can be scary for the seller. For example, what happens if a competitor obtains that customer list? Mayfield Consulting, as a third party, has gained this feedback for hundreds of buyers. We capture in-depth feedback from the sellers’ customer base, in the name of the seller. This feedback can be invaluable to the seller, whether the deal goes through or not. Typically, the buyer offering to share the feedback with the seller is the key to gaining their trust to move forward.

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One of the things Anne Mayfield remembers most about working for a large international consulting firm is how effective an organization can be when super-intelligent people take the time to mentor young professionals. She spent eight years as one of those lucky young professionals at Arthur D. Little (ADL) and in that time watched a senior colleague who used his expertise on the stand in the IBM anti-trust trial for 40+ days and still had time to mentor her.  Anne took to heart not only how hard her colleague worked, but also how important “trust” established from relationships made with colleagues was for success. She brought that knowledge with her when she started her own consulting firm in 1987. She’s thankful that she did.

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Armed with superior knowledge about the customer base, an investor gains confidence, lowers risk, and increases negotiating leverage for pricing and terms prior to closing. Whether investors are PEs, VCs, searchers or strategic buyers, in-depth, objective customer feedback provides superior insight compared to filtered information from sellers.   

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