The beginning of all knowledge is the desire to constantly learn, improve and grow and strive today to be better than yesterday. When applied to business, constant desire to learn and improve can imbibe better expertise and understanding, helping one view the business from different perspectives. Gaining insights into businesses and industries, tapping into the vast array of knowledge with insights to guide clients in making better business decisions is Petar Reshovski. As the General Manager at Williams & Marshall Strategy, Peter strategizes various business tactics to help their clients understand the markets and industries better, improve on their business performance and stay ahead of the competition. In an interview with Insights Success, Petar Reshovski shares his journey and contribution to the business consulting industry through Williams & Marshall Strategy.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at Williams & Marshall Strategy. What challenges do you have to overcome to reach where you are today?
Unfortunately, the challenges I have overcome are far too many to list in a few sentences. Since I started WMStrategy about eight years ago, I have made almost all possible mistakes – wrong pricing, bad people decisions, wrong strategy, etc. But analyzing the results and changing the strategy as we go made me learn a lot and grow – both personally and as a professional and a leader. This showed me that regardless of the current state, there will always be challenges ahead (both internal and external). So, we always have to stay humble and keep looking for them, analyzing the situation in the right way, and then taking measures to improve on them – the sooner, the better.
Tell us something more about WMStrategy, its mission, and its vision.
Williams & Marshall Strategy is a full-service market research and business consulting company. We help our clients understand the market(s) they are interested in, how they are moving, and the reasons behind those moves. We provide intelligence that helps our clients make informed commercial planning and strategic decisions and so timely tackle the complex challenges and maximize the opportunities that impact their businesses. We provide intelligence that drives the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies and helps our clients be always a step ahead of the competition.
Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the Consulting niche through your expertise in the market.
Our impact lies in our unique methodology, processes, and the thinking we apply in collecting and analyzing the data we have. Also, we are one of the very few companies that analyze certain developing countries and specific market segments in them, some of which had never been covered by any company before. We are also working on a few novelty projects we have never seen anywhere and will be more than happy to tell you more once they are operational.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?
Technology is an ever-developing field, and the speed with which it grows and innovates is just fascinating and not comparable to anything else. So, we are always interested in new technologies that can help us increase our efficiency and provide a better service to our clients. One recent example is in a script that we have built internally, which is used to automate calculating thousands of different points of raw data, writing hundreds of pages of texts, along with putting the right tables and graphs in it. We have implemented different technological advancements in the processes of recruiting market experts and analyzing the insights from the market expert interviews, building and presenting our reports, and many more. This allows us to spend less time on things that are not of first necessity and provide more value to our clients where we can do best.
If given a chance, what change would you like to bring in the Business consulting industry?
I think we all have a chance to change both our industries and our private universes every day. As for the consulting industry – I believe it is misunderstood by many (especially those who have never crossed paths with it), and many people have a very wrong idea about it. The business consulting industry is here to create value and help clients understand the world better so that they can make better decisions, improve their business operations and thus serve their clients better. This is what we are working on every day, and I am happy to say that we are changing that as we speak – one person and company at a time.
What, according to you, could be the next big change in Market research? How is WMStrategy preparing to be a part of that change?
In the last few years, the changes in many service-related industries came mostly from technology. The developing new technologies allowed the whole industry to streamline many processes and cut down on costs and timing while increasing effectiveness and efficiency. However, in that long technological marathon, we sometimes put people in second place, and I believe this will be one of the biggest changes for the short-to-medium term. Everybody should understand that people always come first, and only those who can attract and keep the best talent can get a significant competitive edge. As for the next big change, I personally believe there will be a lot of new developments in the market research industry, connected with the different metaverse platforms that are currently being developed and the amount of attention and users they are going to receive.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run and what are your future goals for WMStrategy?
The long run might be too far away, so I personally always keep a vision for the next 5-10 years, but try to focus on the next 1-3 and how what we do in them helps us grow even more. The immediate plans for the short term include growing our business further by attracting new talent to the team and also expanding our current portfolio. We are already covering tens of thousands of markets in more than 150 countries globally, but we are soon adding some new industry verticals and titles none of our competitors currently offers. We are also working on our internal software, streamlining a few of our working processes, and on a completely new way of analyzing and presenting informational insights.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the business sector?
I know it might sound cliché, but to believe in themselves and never give up on their dreams. And I can say that as a person who has seen that working in real life – at times, I have felt very successful but also have been very close to the other end of the spectrum not once. Talent is great, but nothing beats hard work and an open mind. So, if they are ready to put in the work and be attentive and analytical to the results – then everything is possible. Another important piece of advice I can give – be consistent and patient – the overnight success does not exist and usually takes lots of years to build behind the scenes. Last but not least – it is always about the people. So, regardless of the business niche you have chosen – make sure you learn how to attract the best talent and keep them motivated all the time. Only then can you strive for real success!
