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<h1>Welcome to Palmer & Associates</h1>
Palmer & Associates is a group of professionals, lead by Bill Palmer, dedicated to helping executives and organizations work more effectively. The range or our services and experience allow us to approach a business as a whole, and present solutions that incorporate the operational needs of the entire organization. Most importantly - we simply get results.
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We warmly invite you to browse our site: Get to know who we are, the clients we serve, the services we offer, and what sets us apart as one of the premier consulting firms in the Northwest.
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<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=394">Our Firm</a>
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<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=511">Our Focus</a>
<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=405">Our Principle, Bill Palmer</a>
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<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=395">Our Services</a>
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<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=402">Strategy</a>
<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=403">Leadership</a>
<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=404">Operational Effectiveness</a>
<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=486">Executive Leadership Forum</a>
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<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=406">Our Clients</a>
<li><a href="page.cfm?pageID=408">Contact Us</a>
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<h2>When the questions are really important</h2>
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There are times in the life and career of almost any business executive or organizational leader when the situation is challenging and the questions faced are vital to the present and future. Those are the times when a growing number of leaders have turned to Bill Palmer of Palmer and Associates. Here are some of the reasons.
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<li>Palmer combines broad operational experience with an integrated approach that helps leaders get their arms around the entire business rather than just a narrow slice.
<li>He understands the pressures of small and mid-sized businesses - you have little cash and even less time so you need someone who can quickly identify the most critical issues and help you make the most of your limited resources.
<li>He goes beyond conceptual models and pretty charts to doing the hard work of helping senior leadership drive the business strategy down through every level of the organization creating buy in, assuring follow-through and accountability, and achieving results. Few others provide real support all the way through this process.
<li>Above all, Palmer has experience working with business owners and organizational leaders to integrate business and personal goals during the formation of a business strategy. This requires understanding what leaders want to accomplish in life, not just in business.
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<h1>Business Planning and Strategy</h1>
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Business strategy is the process of answering three very important questions: Where are we? Where do we want to be? And how are we going to get there from here? It�s about articulating a comprehensive corporate vision that directs your people, resources, and operations at every level of the organization toward the achievement a of a single goal. It defines the value you offer your customers, the capabilities you must have, and the resources you will need to compete effectively. Most importantly, effective business strategy guides the daily decisions of every individual in the company to ensure that their actions are contributing to the company�s ultimate success.
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<b>Strategic Planning and Implementation</b>
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The old adage says it well, "if you don�t know where you�re going, any path will do." Many times the goals and objectives of the business are assumed to be intuitively clear when the reality is that owners, managers, and employees are all operating with a different notion of what it means to succeed. Strategic planning takes a comprehensive view of the business and it�s competitive environment to clearly define its goals and objectives in a way that is meaningful for every person in the organization. Further it produces a specific, measurable plan for achieving those objectives that can be translated into daily actions for every individual.
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<b>Ownership and Management Succession</b>
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Whether you are preparing for a transition in ownership from one generation of family or partners to the next, or engaging a professional manager, the issue of leadership succession has far-reaching implications for the organization. Often, those involved are concerned with different issues and the transition process has the potential to become stalled. We can help you manage the process by identifying what issues need to be surfaced, asking the hard questions and helping to negotiate an optimal solution.
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<b>Market Positioning and Customer Management</b>
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Regardless of industry or market every business must choose how they will compete for their customers' dollars. This almost always involves a choice between operational efficiency, customer intimacy, or product leadership as the primary focus for how the business will provide value. So how do you decide between the three? Good decisions regarding market strategy are driven by an in-depth understanding of who your desired customers are, what they see as their primary needs, and what drives their decision to buy, as well as what is being offered them by the competition. We not only work with you to help you understand your competitive environment, define your target customers, and articulate your promised value, but also to match those decisions with the business capabilities needed to successfully fulfill your promise. And ultimately it is in promise keeping that customers are won or lost.
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<b>Scenario Planning</b>
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When planning new ventures, initiatives, investments, strategies, or capital expenditures, managers need a way to compare their options and evaluate the effects of decisions they�re making. We help managers quickly build a business case that evaluates the options and facilitates the selection of an optimal decision. More than a time saver, this step builds confidence in the decision and often eliminates the tremendous cost of uninformed decisions.
<h1>Business Planning and Strategy</h1>
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<li>Strategic Planning and Implementation
<li>Ownership and Management Succession
<li>Market Positioning and Customer Management
<li>Scenario Planning
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<b>Leadership and Change</b>
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<li>Growth Management
<li>Leadership and Management Training
<li>Teambuilding and Employee Development
<li>Executive Coaching
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<b>Operational Effectiveness</b>
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<li>Performance Measurement and Accountability
<li>Process Analysis and Redesign
<li>Financial Decision-Making and Controls
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<h1>Operational Effectiveness</h1>
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When you market your products and/or services you make a promise to your customers about the value you will deliver. The effectiveness of your operation determines how well you keep that promise. Simply put, your organization�s ability to develop and maintain the operational capabilities necessary to deliver your customers� desired value is your competitive advantage.
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With such a direct link between operational effectiveness and overall business success the task of clearly identifying the capabilities you simply must have and the internal processes most critical to achieving them are top priorities. Once identified, the ability to monitor the performance of those key operational functions on a real time basis (or as close to it as possible) becomes mission critical for managers as they work to direct the daily activities of their people.
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<b>Performance Measurement and Accountability</b>
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Trying to improve business performance? It's a difficult task if you are not measuring the right elements of your business and holding managers accountable for delivering results. In fact, our experience has proven that you can't manage what you don't measure. Performance measurements act as scoreboards for your business showing you and your people how you're doing, where to improve, and best of all, when you're succeeding. We can help you identify the critical behaviors and process attributes you need to be tracking and create methods to help you do it.
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<b>Process Improvement and Redesign</b>
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The work of every business is accomplished through a system of processes. From purchasing and sales to billing and inventory there are defined actions taken by people and machines to complete the job. How well these processes perform individually and as an integrated whole determines the business' ability to deliver its promised value to the its customers.
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Palmer & Associates approaches process improvement in three ways. First, we help our clients better understand what is currently taking place within their business and identify opportunities for improvement. Second, we put the business processes in context with the business strategy in order to prioritize their importance in delivering the value promises you've made to your customers. This allows us to quickly identify the low hanging fruit and focus our energy on the areas that will yield the greatest return. Third, we provide our clients a broad perspective of how the various processes tie together to create a system focused on achieving your strategic objectives.
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Palmer & Associates has worked with clients from manufacturers and retailers to professional service firms to improve their operations by increasing efficiency, tightening quality control, and raising productivity.
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<b>Financial Decision-Making and Controls</b>
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We all wish that we had a clearer picture of tomorrow so that we could make better decisions today, but many business managers struggle to apply the concept of projecting the future based on past performance to financial decision-making. Due to ineffective information systems, lack of training, or lack of time, managers often find themselves looking backward at historical financial data showing them where they have been, rather than where they are going. This backward view of the business often creates a disconnect between daily decisions and financial results, and can result in a managerial culture that spends more time reacting than proactively managing.
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Working with the accounting systems already in place we develop financial tracking tools designed to present historical information in a straightforward way and project the future financial outcomes of operational decisions. Managers with and without strong accounting backgrounds are using tools we've developed to successfully identify the key business activities that drive costs within their operations. They are creating scoreboards that focus their entire team on the controllable behaviors that will ensure success and are gaining the ability to manage costs, forecast profits and cash flow, make informed decisions, and manage proactively.
<h2>Our Clients</h2>
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At Palmer & Associates we believe that great work is usually the result of partnering with great people. In working with our clients we seek to do just that.
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<b>Entrepreneurs</b><br>
Entrepreneurs are creative, determined, innovators. They take risks. They care deeply about their work. They also usually enjoy doing the work of their business a lot more than working on the business. Palmer & Associates has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs make better decisions about where and how to invest in their company's future. We work with them to identify red flags and prioritize business needs, investments, and projects to ensure that critical issues are addressed and opportunities are seized.
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<b>Family Businesses</b><br>
Family businesses are still very much alive and well here in Whatcom County. We are proud to have worked with many of teh m to address teh unique issues that arise when family dynamics collide with business management. From easing the impact of business pressures on family relationships, to helping guide the business (and family) through a succession in ownership, we bring valuable experience to this complex business arena.
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<b>Growing Companies</b><br>
Growth is a difficult thing to manage, primarily because it requires change: new staff, new facilities, new systems, new procedures, new financing, and often, new leadership. We help owners and management teams get their arms around all of these issues and make proactive decisions that minimize the strain on them and their people while effectively moving the organization forward.
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<b>A Commitment to Excellence</b><br>
Though our clients represent many different types of businesses spread across vastly differing industries they all share a common commitment to excellence. They are willing to do the hard work of self-evaluation, to ask and seek answers to the tough questions, and commit to follow-through and accountability. These are the qualities that drive continual improvement and rresult in achieved objectives. These are the qualities that make our clients such a privilege to work with.
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<h2>Principal Bill Palmer</h2>
<b>Bill Palmer</b> is President of Palmer & Associates, a firm that has assisted individuals and organizations become more effective since 1996. He has done that through the development of clear goals and the implementation of straightforward plans.<br>
Call, write, or fax we'd like to hear about you and your business.
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1616 Cornwall Ave. Suite 205<br>
Bellingham, WA 98225
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Tel: 360-714-8984<br>
Fax: 360-734-4893<br>
Email: information@palmerandassociates.com<br>
Website: www.palmerandassociates.com
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