CASE STUDY | CONSULTING
How Spigseth AS Tripled Its Revenue by Partnering with Strategy Tools
The Challenge
After over 30 years of working at corporations, Ole Sverre Spigseth decided that he wanted to branch out and start his own consulting practice in Skarnes, Norway.
Armed with three decades of experience across industries, from management consulting at KPMG to holding the Regional Director post at the Kardex Group in Europe, Ole was no stranger to the typical challenges corporations faced.
However, when he was in the process of planning out his new consulting firm, he came to the realization that while he had deep industry experience, his strategy knowledge was outdated – based on old strategic mindsets and thinking like Porter’s Five Forces.
He needed something that was suited for today’s turbulent business landscape. Something new, visual, and most importantly, actionable.
The Solution
Ole joined the Strategy Tools Global Coaches (STGC) program in June 2019, which provided him with a portfolio of tools spanning different areas in strategy. From that point on, he started training his mastery of the tools (and the frameworks behind them) before being certified as a Strategy Tools Master Trainer in January 2020.
After the Master Trainer, he went on to complete the Building the Transformational Company (BTC) program, where he mastered the 10 Principles of Transformation, an end-to-end framework for large-scale business transformation.
He recently completed his certification in Transform! Digital Simulation Facilitation, and is working on setting up digital Transform! Simulation workshops with his clients.
Ole is also currently enrolled in the Strategy Tools Partner-exclusive business development project, Project Bounceback, where he works closely with his BD coach on new online and offline business development methods. In his business development efforts, he constantly uses the reports published by Strategy Tools as a conversation starter, and has managed to pique the interest of many clients through that.
He joins in on the free monthly Partner Meetups, STGC workshops and Simulation Facilitator Workshops where he gets updates on new best practices, new ways of working digital and sharing from the global Strategy Tools community.
“What I like about Strategy Tools was the portfolio thinking, the ecosystem thinking. A major learning I had after the Master Trainer program was not to be tool-oriented but rather internalize the tools to be able to relate to them when in discussion with clients.”
Landing New Long-Term Client Contracts
Combining his deep corporate experience with his freshly-acquired portfolio of strategy tools, Ole reached out to his network and found several companies in great need for a transformation framework.
“Two days prior to visiting a client, I emailed him the Two Lenses of Strategy and simply asked him ‘what do you think?’. I didn’t receive a reply. I turned up at the meeting and we started sketching out something that seemed like the Strategy Intro. The client told me that seeing the Two Lenses of Strategy just struck him like a sledgehammer that their company wasn’t future-oriented enough and is stuck in the day-to-day.” Ole revealed.
The discussions eventually led to several full-fledged BTC projects that Ole is now currently still working on (digitally, thanks to Covid). He is also currently working with multiple other clients using the BTC strategy framework.
A Solid Client Pipeline In Spite of COVID-19
2020 was a tough year for consultants, who mostly rely on in-person meetings and workshops. Like many others, Ole had also lost his order backlog, but decided not to sit and wait for COVID to end. Instead, he attended several Zoom, Miro and Strategy Tools trainings to up his skillset around digital facilitation.
Over the past year, he has successfully run completely digital workshops and strategy sessions with multiple clients. Today, his company Spigseth AS has a solid pipeline of several million Norwegian Kroners largely thanks to the combination of his digital competency, his robust toolkit of simulations and canvases as well as his deep and wide network that he’s built up over the years.
I think this is the future – all the projects I’m currently working on are digital. Clients have realized how easy, convenient and effective it can be with the right facilitator.
“I’d also like to highlight the Project Bounceback Business Development program I’m on with Andy Green. It’s been really good to have a coach to challenge my thoughts, even though I’m an experienced CEO. It’s given me some really good ideas and have helped me focus my efforts better,” he added.
A Supportive Network of Fellow Strategists
“Being a part of the Strategy Tools network has been amazing. I get new ideas each time I join a workshop with Strategy Tools, and I’m invited to many free ones – including the monthly Partner meetups, the Strategy Tools Global Coaches workshops and the Simulations Deep Dives. There are always some learning points to take with you,” said Ole.
On some of his bigger projects, he has also partnered up with another Strategy Tools practitioner, Hege Langaas, whom he had met during the Strategy Tools Master Training program in early 2020. The projects would’ve been too large to handle alone, but with Hege, he now has a sparring partner.
A New Mindset on Problem Solving
“Having been through both the Strategy Tools Master Trainer program and the Building the Transformational Company program also taught me one crucial thing – that it isn’t about the tools, but the challenges they overcome,”
“You have to use the time to understand the challenges your client has before bringing out your arsenal of tools, rather than showcase all the great tools you have off the bat,” Ole added.
“The tool set from Strategy Tools is a good frame for the discussions in transformation or strategy sessions. It activates all people and secures a high degree of involvement.
The key is visualization. Working with the canvases and sticky notes is visual, eliminates hazy talk and is interactive. This is valid both for physical sessions as well as virtual sessions via Miro or other virtual whiteboards.”
About Ole Sverre
Ole Sverre Spigseth has more than 20 years experience as CEO and consultant, changing, transforming, developing and scaling up small and medium sized companies in Scandinavia. He is recognized for conducting successful business turnarounds, improving efficiency and ascertaining companies’ competitive market position. His experience is from several industry sectors, mainly within B2B organizations.
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