Pragmatic Approach

Progressive managers, intent on transforming their process-based institutions into responsive, flexible and formidable competitors, will find Speer & Associates, Inc. to be an invaluable resource. From individual business area assessments to overall strategic planning, S&A supplies the skill sets, experience and tools that are ideally suited for any range of engagements.

In most assignments, S&A uses a proven two-step approach. First, S&A and a client Project Team jointly assess the current situation and client competencies in realistic terms. Then, drawing on its extensive experience base, S&A develops a plan for the client complete with implementation tasks, organizational requirements, and milestones.

Both steps typically address such vital areas as:

  • Strategic Goals and Objectives
  • Marketing Strategy / Competitive Positioning / Competitive S&W
  • Target Customer Segments
  • Product and Services
  • Distribution Strategies and Issues (branch, call center, ATMs, Internet)
  • Productivity and Staffing levels
  • Staffing, Products, and Organizational Structure
  • Operations / Credit and Risk Mitigation
  • Internal Operations / 3rd Party Operations / Information Systems Technology
  • Management / Organizational Structure
  • Financial Performance (Business Line, Product and Customer Profitability, ALCO)
  • Strategic and Tactical Implementation Plans

The Strategic Plan solution, developed hand-in-hand with the client Project Team, provides a thorough roadmap of the actions and initiatives which are essential to address the material management issues. The ultimate goal is to help client organizations improve their stakeholder/shareholder value.

The means for achieving this goal are often based upon a combination of longer-term strategic suggestions and short-term recommendations to address immediate shortcomings. For example, as part of a typical engagement, S&A and the Project Team may recommend repositioning of an entire product line to focus on particular market segments. This same engagement would also be likely to include short-term feature / pricing recommendations for specific products to bolster the client’s near term competitiveness and market share.

Strategy Pyramid

Consulting Approach


Strategic Planning

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"Combining an effective market segmentation scheme with complex financial models provides clients a basis to formulate the profitability of various customer groups. It is also the foundation for the trend from mass marketing to one-to-one marketing."
- Neil St.Germain