The time when the decisions were made in a room full of men may be gone but the dominance persists. With women leaders challenging their limits and making leaps in their professional journey, the conventional paradigms have begun to shatter. One such leader who has paved her own way is Janet Schijns, the Founder & CEO of JS Group. An avowed ‘Digital Guru’, Janet is a former Fortune 500 c-suite executive with experience as Channel Chief at Verizon and Motorola. She is someone who swears by innovation and transforms businesses by generating honest outcomes.
She exclaims, “We strive in everything we do to help technology vendors, distributors, partners, and their marketplaces achieve profitable growth. Currently, the biggest issue we generally solve is the “how” to grow revenues via the indirect channel by enhancing marketing and sales strategies and tactics – we have entered the #digitalnormal and too few firms have evolved their go to market to win in this scenario. What does keep me up at night is how traditional partners need to move to marketplaces by launching white-label cloud marketplaces for their business like Vendasta and how to help them get there before their competitors take their share of the market.”
Located in Florida, today JS Group is a well-known strategy, sales, and channel consultancy firm that caters to tech firms with the latest in research and tailored programs that drive real-time growth.
#SavetheChannel
It all started when Janet wanted to redeem the business potential that technology promised. Being an expert consultant who helped many brands better their channel strategies and programs, Janet could easily spot the shortfalls of the business world. The gaps were small but had a considerable effect on the way businesses progressed. However, she was caught completely off guard by the inability of the leaders to target their audience, promote their products and get them into the right hands. To rectify the deficits Janet and her husband Roy, Founder & COO established the JS Group to help companies & technologists increase their customer outreach and get their innovations recognized.
JS Group offers its clients an average improvement rate of 17% in the running cost of channels and 47% improvement in channel performance. As the CEO and founder of JS Group, Janet Schijns affirms, “JSG specializes in creating impactful indirect go-to-market strategies for tech firms. We develop next-gen channel frameworks and deploy innovative growth strategies that go well beyond theory, delivering real-world results.”
Changing the way business is done
Having observed and seen many entrepreneurs struggle, Janet is convinced of what she is offering. She says, “I want to harness the need for change in our industry and bring our consultative services to our clients to improve their channel programs, accelerate sales and most importantly continue to improve the channel's performance. My journey has been unique in that I had a similar firm in the past which I sold to join Motorola Solutions as an executive, so this was like going back to my roots.”
Hence, Janet has come up with a package that offers services like Channel Evolution, Strategic Planning, Channel Marketing, Sales Enablement, and Talent Development. JS Group also provides keynotes at tech conferences, social selling boot camps and break-out sessions at company sales meetings. These are followed by Branding Solutions, Design and Creative Services, Social Media Marketing, and Marketing Development Funds packages.
“JSG specializes in creating impactful indirect go-to-market strategies for tech firms. We develop next-gen channel frameworks and deploy innovative growth strategies that go well beyond theory, delivering real-world results.”
Towards improvisation and transformation
JS Group has not only turned the tables for some businesses but has laid a completely new framework for businesses to achieve their goals. The strategies and services her firm offers come with the assurance of prompt and precise results. Speaking of her goal, Janet asserts, “When I think about my current goals, I continue to focus on how I build our team here at JS Group to ensure that we have the talent and the focus our clients' needs to achieve their goals. I hope my legacy will be that I was a leader who cared about people and made a difference in our industry.”
The joy of being grounded
Though Janet is highly successful, she credits her failures for carving the true leader in her. She has a set of beliefs and principles which make her shine. This manifests in the form of showing up even if you cannot, outworking the competition, keeping an eye on the latest trends while knowing what’s real and what’s a myth. Developing and maintaining strong relationships irrespective of whether they are your clients or not is another aspect of her acumen as an entrepreneur. As someone who listens more and speaks less, she stays compassionate and patient in every situation. "Success indeed brings rewards, but what people fail to realize is that success brings a responsibility of remaining grounded too,” affirms Janet.
Obstacles or opportunities?
In 2018, when women were dropping out of the tech industry at an alarming rate, Janet knew it was time to say, ‘Enough!’. So, together with a group of wonderful women, she co-founded a private digital community ‘Tech World’s Half” whose mission is to keep women in business and technology. She affirms, “As women leaders, we must encourage our firms to have new more creative work environments that enable women to balance their life and work more effectively. We also need to have tough discussions and challenge our male peers to help ensure women stay in the business. The connections and relationships that have been built through TWH are changing the industry one woman at a time. Readers can join us here at Tech World's Half.”
For her contribution and commitment to change, Janet was announced as the Channel Influencer of the Year. To the women who are aspiring to be the leaders of change just like Janet, she says, “If you want to drive your career forward you must have a plan to do so – leaving it to chance never works. Write up a plan and reference it often, tweaking it to ensure you achieve your goal. Then work the plan – think about the experiences you need to have, work you need to do, connections you need, and go get them. One final note – being well branded on social media matters – invest in your digital presence.”
