Richard Clifford
Consulting Corporation

I love the photo of the unicyclist. How does he captivate such a large audience? Imagine the work he has to do to convince the first few people to stick around and wait for the big show.

Customer-centricity establishes the customer as the primary reason for your company's existence. It uses every means to win and keep customers. It's as essential as motion is to the unicyclist —without movement, there's no balance.

What if you could successfully navigate vital growth transitions—from 10 to 50 employees—by implementing a customer-centric approach that leverages technology to support your staff, maintain company culture, and attract and retain top talent?

So that you can achieve consistent, high-quality service across sales channels, thereby significantly enhancing customer retention, increasing loyalty and spending, and reducing churn.

For example, I start by assessing your entire customer experience through detailed Marketing, Customer Success, Customer Service, and Innovation audits of your current technology stack, resulting in a customized Customer Journey Map that provides intimate access to customer needs and highlights immediate areas for software improvement.

That's not all. I prioritize the opportunities identified in the map using the RICE technique (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) to focus on the most cost-effective and impactful improvements, and provide specialized consulting services like the creation and execution of tailored Digital Adoption Plans (DAPs) to ensure your teams learn and adapt quickly to the necessary changes.

Using a customer-centric approach, I help growing businesses (with 10-50 employees and $1-$10 million in revenue) navigate digital transformation.

Growth Challenges for (Small to Medium-Sized Businesses) SMBs

SMBs often face growing pains at employee milestones. These challenges stem from adapting structures, processes, and communication as the company expands.

Growing Past 10 Employees:

When companies grow past ten employees, there's a shift from an informal to a formal structure. Formal processes and structures become necessary as the team grows beyond a close-knit group. Employees require more explicit roles and responsibilities to prevent overlap and confusion. Staff need systems for onboarding, performance reviews, and addressing employee issues. Business owners must delegate tasks and trust their teams to handle more significant responsibilities. Maintaining open and effective communication becomes more challenging, requiring more structured approaches.

Growing Beyond 20 Employees:

Managing more than twenty employees brings new levels of complexity. Team dynamics can introduce potential conflicts in navigating interpersonal relationships. Business owners must establish departments or teams to handle specialized functions. Owners must introduce a middle management layer to oversee teams and report to upper management. Preserving the company culture and values is more demanding as staff relations become less intimate.

At 50 Employees:

SMBs experience significant changes when they grow to fifty employees. Companies require formalized processes for HR, finance, and operations. They also need new technologies and infrastructure to support the growing workforce, clientele, and strategies. Staff also need more robust leadership and management skills. Maintaining employee engagement and effective communication across departments becomes more complex. Preserving the value propositions of the original agile company and avoiding excessive bureaucracy requires thorough planning, frameworks, and technology.

I Help Businesses Manage Growth Transition

I help business owners navigate these vital growth transitions, enabling them to maintain company culture, attract and retain top talent, adapt to change, delegate effectively, and avoid communication breakdowns through well-planned and cost-effective digital transformation. 

I help organizations use technology to support their growth while assisting teams in learning and adapting to the changes necessary for sustained growth.