• Excelsior: Onward and Upward

    In naming the Excelsior Program, we turned to the original creator of the superhero mythos, Stan Lee. He was fond of saying “Excelsior!” which meant for him “onward and upward.”

    This perfectly captures the ultimate goal of our Excelsior Program: to take your company onward and upward and make you a superhero to the customers who turn to your company again and again to fulfill their needs.

Table of Content

Phase I: The Discipline of Strategy

Phase II: The Discipline of Marketing

Ancillary Support

Excelsior for Jewelry Companies

Excelsior for Apparel Companies

Next Steps

Introduction

No one ever really knows what they’ve committed to once they decide to follow their passion into business ownership. In our two decades working with client companies and getting a front row seat into what goes on behind the scenes, from start-ups to global companies, we’re often amazed at how just a few tweaks into the business operations can turn a mediocre company into an exceptional one.

The Excelsior Program is about recalibration, helping emerging and growing companies reach their highest potential. The program is neither easy, nor a quick fix. It requires commitment from you and a willingness to be fully exposed to an intensive deep dive into your business methods, your own psychology, fears, and limitations. This is where the recalibration begins.

At the end of the six months, you will experience a transformational change that gives you confidence to consistently make the right decisions for the growth and expansion of your company.

The Program

The Excelsior Program provides an opportunity for Lilian Raji to work with you one-on-one in designing a public relations and marketing strategy to help elevate your company without having to invest in a long-term retainer agreement.  Excelsior offers you all of the strategy development received by all of our Agency clients and shows you how to execute these strategies on your own, providing you resources to do so while Lilian Raji remains available to consult with you throughout the execution process.

This six-month program brings us to the your headquarters on two separate occasions as we work to fully understand your company’s history, brand, products and long-term vision.  With this understanding of who you are as a company, we are then better able to guide you forward in designing strategies that will help you achieve higher brand recognition and customer demand to help increase your sales. 

At the end of the six months, you will have:

  • A comprehensive strategic communications plan for the U.S.
  • Education on how to execute this plan on your own without the need for a long-term public relations retainer agreement
  • Customized solutions specific to your needs as identified through this process
  • Support in identifying resources to execute your strategy
  • Ongoing access to Lilian Raji to answer any questions that come up

  • PHASE I: THE DISCIPLINE OF STRATEGY

PHASE I

Our services begin with an intensive, two-day visit to your headquarters or showroom to get acquainted firsthand with your existing business model.  We will tour your facility, examine your products, and allow you to tell us your story, who you are and what you stand for as a company.  

As we become more acquainted with your company, we’ll work together to create the Business Strategy Agenda — an overview of the company’s history, mission, products, core features, key differentiators, and long and short-term goals, each now defined by what we discuss during our two days together.  This will become an important part as we develop messaging to attract new customers

The Business Strategy Agenda will also include an overview of what we will accomplish in our six months working together.

PHASE I CURRICULUM

  • Discovery:  Understanding your company vision and how you’ve arrived where you are
  • Goal-setting: Determining what we’ll achieve together over the next six months
  • The Deep Dive: Uncovering hidden factors impacting your company’s progress
  • Your Customers Are…: Understanding why your customers choose you
  • Competitive Analysis: Knowing who does what you do and how you can be better than them
  • Passion and Discipline: Understanding your competitive advantage to define your messaging
  • The Missing Link: Identifying what needs to be implemented for you to be successful
  • The Way Forward Part One: Assembling all components of Phase I to develop your Business Strategy Agenda

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INTERMISSION

  • 60 to 90-minute phone calls every two weeks following the completion of the two-day intensive
  • Regular communication by email

  • PHASE II: THE DISCIPLINE OF MARKETING

PHASE II

Approximately 90 days after our first two-day intensive, we will return to your office for Phase II.  Where Phase I was an opportunity for us to learn about who you are as a company, Phase II is where we teach you what you need to know to handle public relations and marketing by yourself, based on our understanding of your company.  This is three-days of strategy development and education.

Day 1 begins with reviewing where we left off with Phase I. We’ll go over any questions or concerns that may have come up since our last meeting and spend the day reaffirming the work we’ve already done together, while looking for any new challenges that may have come up since our last meeting.

In Day 2, we’ll cover the nuances of marketing and public relations within the U.S., exploring regional differences, legal requirements and other beneficial information to aid in your expansion. We’ll look at marketing strategies to help you raise awareness for your products to U.S. customers.  You’ll receive an initial overview of public relations and social media marketing, then we’ll go into which strategies should be pursued for maximum results.  Since not all social media platforms work for all types of companies, we’ll discuss which one is best for you.

Day 3 will be focused on educating you and your team on the selected social mediums and how best to utilize them cost-effectively.  Together, we’ll develop a full Strategic Marketing Plan, with clear action items that can be implemented immediately and deadlines to manage follow through. 

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Ancillary Support

In between Phase I and Phase II and for 90 days following the second meeting, we will continue speaking with you via Skype or phone every two weeks to govern accountability, give guidance for any roadblocks or obstacles,  provide resources to aid in execution and ensure your team is fully committed and taking all necessary actions for your company to reach its highest potential.

THE FINALE: ANCILLARY SUPPORT
• 60-minute Skype or telephone consultations every two weeks for 90 days following the conclusion of Phase II visit
• Regular communication by email
• Delivery of supplemental information to aid in the outlined Strategic Marketing Plan
• As appropriate, introductions to personal contacts that can support the company

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  • Excelsior for Jewelry Companies

For jewelry companies, the Excelsior Program includes creating new relationships with U.S. retailers. Based on your needs, your program may also include developing an e-commerce strategy to sell directly to consumers.

We’ll help you identify retailers where your collections will be a good fit, telling you who to contact and how to get through their doors.  Once a relationship has been established, we’ll teach you how to ensure the retailer continues doing business with you.

If you’ve decided to sell online, we’ll also help you develop your e-commerce strategy, connecting you with resources to help build an SEO-enabled website to generate traffic, provide suggestions for fulfillment and show you how to use your social media strategy to generate sales.

In addition to the above outlined curriculum, your program will also include:

Product Development Consulting
• Collection review with a focus on identifying potential best sellers based on existing and projected trends
• Consulting on pricing strategies to match current market trends

Retail Consulting
• Contact information with complete profiles for ten independent retailers or department stores, with a focus on identifying which retailers would be most receptive to carrying your type of jewelry
• Counsel on best method to contact retailers and support in negotiating terms
• Counsel on how to make the best of the new relationship with the retailer
• As appropriate, introduction to sales agents that may be interested in representing your collection

E-Commerce Strategy
• Setting up an e-commerce website
• Audit of existing website
• Resources for managing fulfillment
• Using social media to generate sales

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  • Excelsior for Apparel Companies

For fashion apparel companies, the Business Strategy Agenda will include developing a list of qualifications for identifying viable U.S. based showrooms/sales agents to represent your company. Based on these guidelines, we will then introduce you to appropriate showrooms and sales agents. 

Your Excelsior Program will include:

  • A review of our extensive database of over 100 different U.S. based showrooms and sales agents to identify an initial list of 20 candidates that fit your specified qualifications
  • Creation of a mutually approved list of showrooms/sales agents you’re interested in working with
  • Our outreach to this approved list to arrange discussions for possible next steps with you and the showroom/sales agent

After the initial conversation with the showroom or sales agent, we continue being available to you to assist in understanding the terms and requirements presented by each candidate showroom/agent. We will also serve to advise on viable next steps.

The process of researching and contacting candidate showrooms/agents continues until we’ve presented you with five (5) showrooms and/or sales agents. In addition to these five guaranteed introductions, we will also provide you a list of an additional 20 pre-qualified candidates should you wish to continue contacting other showrooms and/or sales agents.

We guarantee a minimum of five introductions to five different showrooms and/or sales agents that fit qualification guidelines you provide, and contact information for an additional 20 showrooms and/or sales agents fitting these same guidelines should you wish to explore other showrooms.

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  • Next Steps

Let’s talk.

Choose a day and time that works for you on our calendar. You’ll receive an immediate confirmation.

If you can’t find a convenient time on the calendar, contact us to discuss other possible times. 

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