A Sample PEG Meeting

The Host Makes Preparations

Sarah, owner of Super Software Associates (SSA), had participated in a Profit Enhancement Group with other software manufacturers for a year. She was now preparing for the PEG to visit SSA and critique her business at their next meeting.

As she assembled a variety of materials about her company that she would provide for each group member, she reviewed the packet of materials Alan had produced for the previous meeting when the group had critiqued his company. She decided to add information to her packet that she recalled having to ask for at Alan's meeting. The Director of her PEG, Kathi Barry Albertini, urged her to identify target areas for the PEG to focus on and to include that in her materials as well.

Sarah recommended a hotel where the PEG members could stay and completed preparation of her packet.

MGI Takes Over

Albertini reviewed the packet and prepared a letter for members alerting them to review the financial information carefully. She indicated three areas of inconsistency in the financial information and suggested areas the critique teams should investigate when they arrived on site. She divided the group into teams. Based on the financial inconsistencies, she assigned three members to work on the finance and control team. Meanwhile the MGI staff contacted the hotel, arranged for meals, chose a meeting room, and developed a bulletin for members with information so they could book reservations.

About two weeks before the meeting, PEG members received the packet of information Sarah prepared with guidelines provided by Albertini. PEG members reviewed it prior to their visit.

The Visit

Thursday - The Group already had lots of questions when they arrived at the hotel located near SSA on Thursday afternoon. Sarah presented the group with an overview of SSA and answered questions during the afternoon meeting. Noting that no one asked about SSA's sales and marketing, Albertini asked for the SSA marketing plan. Though Sarah had one, she had not provided it in the packet. She said she would make it available the next morning when the group arrived at her offices.

With the questions finished, Albertini assigned the PEG members to teams and gave them instructions about gathering information at SSA the next morning.

Later, the group had an informal dinner at Sarah's favorite Mexican restaurant where members caught up with each other. Alan received the most attention when he revealed that he had hired a sales manager as the group had urged when the PEG visited his company.

Friday - The PEG teams arrived at SSA and began to gather data about the company. The team that was to focus on sales sent one of their members along with an SSA sales person who was making an important sales call. Another member reviewed the company's marketing plan and interviewed each member of the SSA sales staff. Similarly, each of the other teams used the MGI Checklist to guide their data gathering throughout the company.

The Group returned to the hotel late in the afternoon and the teams met to pool their data before dinner. At dinner, members asked Sarah a few more questions. Alan also distributed a written report of what he had done with the recommendations the group had given him when they critiqued his company.

After dinner, Sarah left and the group met to formulate their recommendations for SSA. Albertini questioned recommendations made by teams where the members had not gathered sufficient data to justify their conclusions. Members discussed all recommendations, and new ideas emerged as the dialogue continued.

Saturday - After breakfast, the Group made an oral presentation of its prioritized recommendations to Sarah and her top managers, whom she had invited to attend the session.

Follow-up

Sarah held a meeting on Monday after the PEG visit with the top SSA managers to decide how the company would handle the recommendations.

When Albertini returned to her office, she prepared a written version of the recommendations and sent it to all members of the group. She also included a critique of the meeting emphasizing the importance of gathering the right data to support recommendations.

Two weeks after the meeting, she had a lengthy phone conversation with Sarah to assure that recommendations were clear and to answer any questions she might have.

Later, Sarah noted on her calendar the date of the next PEG meeting and a reminder to prepare her report for the PEG about SSA's response to the PEG recommendations.