Phoenix Rising

In an Instant

Life changes - in an instant.

I was riding the Headwall lift at Squaw Valley last week. It was a gray snowy day, but all us locals were out playing in the storm. I noticed a gang of the local hotshots up on the Light Towers, a series of gnarly chutes off of the Slot - a famous Headwall run. The kids here ski those chutes as baby-training and I'm always amazed at their ease and grace. They were one-footing it down these narrow rocky chutes like it was child's play, laughing so loudly I could hear them way over on the lift. What fun to be young again!

I headed over to the face of Headwall after I left the lift. Skied down a ways, then stopped to enjoy the snow falling on my face. As I started to ski the rest of the way down that run, two patrollers went flying past me pulling a sled. That's a sure sign someone has fallen and broken something. Darn it! But Squaw snow is heavy and folks who are used to the light stuff of Utah or the ice of the east coast sometimes rip an ACL or meniscus here in Tahoe - it's not an unusual sight to see.

I skied on down to the bottom, headed into the Member's locker room since I'd had my fun for the day. Put my stuff away and headed out the door. I noticed very busy medical staff outside of their First Aid office - one on a radio.  About that time I heard the sounds of the chopper.  That's a SURE sign that someone is hurt on the hill, and pretty badly. Damn. Nothing makes a skier take notice like the sound of a chopper coming in to take a fallen warrior off to the hospital. Everybody slows down - for a while.

If I'd only known the truth. 

I went home and started working and networking, then noticed a Tweet about CR Johnson - one of the local guys here in Tahoe. He was WHAT? DEAD. You gotta be kidding me. I just saw him this morning on the Headwall lift.

That's when I learned the truth. CR was one of those locals on the Light Towers. He'd hit a rock, spun, hit his head and was dead before his friends could get to him. With a helmet on.

CR was a Champion in so many ways.

He was an X Games champion. He created a lot of the moves the kids use today. He was the first at so many tricks, including the first to do a 1440 (that's 4 complete 360s folks) -at the ripe old age of fifteen. 

Five years ago he had a major accident that resulted in a brain trauma after another skier fell on him while they were shooting video in UT. He was put into a medically-induced coma for ten days and was in the hospital for 34. When he woke up,  he was an infant. He had to relearn everything about life. Walking, talking, holding a fork - and yes, skiing. But he did just that. He was back on skis within a year of that accident.  This winter, he finished third in the prestigious Red Bull Linecatcher event in the French Alps. CR was BACK.

But CR was more than just a great skier. 

I didn't know him personally, only on sight.  But my friends at Squaw knew him well. I chatted with them on the lifts for the days after his sad, sad, accident. Every one of them said the same thing about this 26 year old born for greatness. 

"CR was one of the good guys." "CR was the real deal." "CR and I just chatted a month ago. The kid sat down and talked to me for 20 minutes about life and how grateful he was to be back."

"CR was one of a kind."

Kids in Tahoe have CR posters on their walls. He was one of the guys you wanted your kids to see as a role model. A committed athlete, an all around great guy, one of the good souls on this planet earth who was all about making a difference as he enjoyed life to the fullest.

He was also someone who wouldn't stay down. How many of us could lose all of our basic skills - and fight to make it back to the top of the skiing world, or the top of any world for that matter?

Here's CR talking about his recovery....

The world didn't just lose a champion skier and industry innovator last week.  We lost a son, a friend, and an inspiration for us all - in an instant.

The Way We've Always Done It

We don't usually respond well to change.

Especially in tough economic times – when our company or home life is already tense and constricted.

When things get tense, people tend to hang on to what they know.  The status quo is known and safe, even if it does mean a downhill slide.  Why is hanging onto a boat anchor safer than striking out for dry land? That one eludes me. Especially when we're spiraling downward. Why don't we try something truly different?

The way we've always done it' is usually the reason we're in a mess.

That's one of the reasons I question everything, asking about the logic, the 'why' behind thoughts and processes involved in our business decisions.Sooner or later, I hear the same little answer.

"Because we’ve always done it that way."

Those seven little words cause so much trouble.  They lock us into our status quo, limiting our ability to evolve and grow.  Even as we're seeking a solution for our slump with the best intentions and focus- the way we've always done it drags us down and keeps us there.

The key to growth is to adapt and evolve. From Madonna to Apple - successful enterprises know they must reinvent themselves to thrive. We can’t reinvent ourselves while hanging onto the knowns of our past. If we want to thrive in today's dynamic world - in business or in our professional lives - we have to release our past and evolve.

It's really not that difficult to adapt. Start by questioning ‘why’ you do things the way you do. From the biggest strategic decisions to the smallest daily actions. Every time you hear that answer, “Because that's the way we’ve always done it,” – take another look.  Chances are you’ll find an opportunity for innovation and improvement, for a new way of thinking. 

Isn’t that why we’re all here in the first place?

Turn the Tables!

 We all know when the big bad chain moves into town - small businesses lose.

How many of us would panic if some big, larger than life competitor moved in next door to our business? Would we focus on promoting ourselves with more extensive advertising, discounting our own product to meet their prices or pick up and move to a new location?  Perhaps we'd become deer in the headlights and do nothing, waiting for the inevitable?

This owner used the competition's perceived superior value against that big bad chain. He turned the tables and spit in the face of the expected outcome!

I love this commercial!   Hope you enjoy it too!

Twisten Carefully

Harvard Business Review ran an article last week entitled 'Let's Tweet About Something Important!' I was yet again surprised by the premise of the article - that the power of social networking is being hijacked by frivolous, not-important-at-all information. 

We all know there's a lot of noise out there.

That's one of the best things about social media - Twitter especially. People can share whatever they feel like sharing. Everything from what they had for breakfast to personal details I'd rather they kept to themselves.  But there is also great value found on Twitter. From people sharing ideas and information, to folks sharing themselves and their experiences.

That's what social media is all about IMHO.  Any and all information and insights are available for whoever wants to listen to them. And there's my point.

We get to choose what we hear.

We don't have to listen to all the noise - we get to choose who and what we Follow. We naturally UnFollow the people who don't match our tastes.  We search, use #hashtags, download TweetDeck or Seismic, create friend streams or lists. We  filter the stream to meet our own personal needs...not to hear everything that's said.

Saying Twitter has little great info is like saying television has nothing but sports and reality TV. There's so much more out there!  We just have to click through the 5000 satellite channels to find the great learning and entertainment. 

Similarly, we have to search to find the great insights, information and people on Twitter. We need the right tools and we need to be curious.  But just think what we can find in the Twitter stream! Anything and everything we want!

My Twitter Experience

I've met mentors and friends in the Twitter stream, ready to share their wisdom and expertise, as well as their hearts.  I have new friends from Warsaw to Paris - people I communicate with every day, who I've never met face-to-face. And it doesn't really matter. I've found blogs to follow, information to guide my own learning - all from the folks who share on Twitter. But I've found even more.

As may of you know, I'm launching a new platform and book this year. Thanks to Twitter, I met my fabulous speaking coach, Scott McKain. I met my publisher, Clint Greenleaf of Greenleaf Book Group.  I met my strategist, Thom Scott and his fabulous business partner Bob Burg, both of whom I'm honored to call friends and associates. I found my favorite art director (who I haven't spoken to in 10 years) and now he's helping me with some re-branding.

Thanks to the Twitter Vortex, I have the perfect team to help me launch 'Rebel 2.0'.

My information and networks may not be 'important' to other people- but it's darned important to me. I believe that everyone can find value on Twitter. Just look beyond the mundane and just plain silly (or obnoxious) and focus on what we want and need. We'll find relevant information, meet new friends, expand our networks.  

And yes, we can also know what that stranger had for lunch - if we so choose.

We Are Responsible

I believe we can all create 'fair' lives.

I'm a big follower of the Law of Attraction (and Quantum Physics). I believe that we create (or select) what we focus upon in our thoughts and intentions.  If I focus on good things - I create them, or select them out of the infinite stream of possibilities. If  I focus on what I don't want, or negative things around me - I create, or select, more of the same negative results.

I know that my life is created by my focus.

Today I realize that all of the really , really tough times were my own personal creation. I had some pretty nasty subconscious beliefs that were driving my life toward constant crises and painful disappointment. I released the beliefs- and my world changed.  Dramatically.

All the 'unfairness' in my life prior to that awakening - well, it was fair, even if it was painful. It was exactly what I was expecting - and creating. Those tough times also helped me to grow  as a person, So maybe 'fair' is about what helps us to expand and grow - not about what keeps us safe and stuck in our comfort zone?

Mine is not the most popular opinion - especially when things go badly. Most of us don't want to believe that our entire lives, and the fairness or unfairness, is our own responsibility. We somehow feel compelled to blame some unfair external power or person for the challenges. 

Take those acts of nature, or God.

Some point to Haiti or 9/11 or other disasters and say life isn't fair. But how do we know that?

What if all the people who weren't' in the towers, even though they should have been - demonstrate that life is more fair than we want to admit?  What if all the people who survived the earthquake for days in Haiti show that life is fair even in a crisis?  What if in the big picture balance - the survivors and those who avoided death make our world more than fair? 

Here's the hardest part.  We'll never really know what all the folks involved in 'disasters' were creating. It's not ours to say. I certainly am NOT saying that terror attacks and earthquakes are fair. Anything but.

But do those horrific natural and human events mean life overall isn't fair?  What if they are part of the balance across all our thinking, or our own subconscious and individual creations joining together? I know, that's a hard one to fathom, but we understand so little about our existence. What if we're responsible?

We make the choice for fairness - or not.

I believe life is meant to be filled with joyful abundance for all of us. I also believe that we get in our own way, focusing on the negative and the lack and the fearful horrors. That focus creates things that are painful.  I spent decades of my life creating unpleasant experiences for myself.  Once I learned that I was responsible for those experiences - I changed my thoughts and everything changed!

When we shift our attitudes toward the positive, we create positive lives.

We can create abundance and prosperity.  We just can't fall prey to the collective consciousness and the dark side of the force.  I've lived on both sides - and I can tell you that simple focus on positive expectations can make life 'fair'. Even the unpleasant things can be fair, growth giving experiences - it's all in how we see them.

As for acts of Nature - well, only our higher power knows about those. But I still do believe there's a reason for all things.  I also believe that each of us has more control than we like to admit  - like whether we're in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time.

I know, that's not a factual answer to the question "Is Life Fair?"  But it's my answer - straight from the heart.

Changing My Game

Hanging onto old recipes limits our success.

We all have old recipes running around in our brains.  It's human nature to find and follow a pattern. We creatures of habit feel more comfortable that way.

I became aware of an old, and dangerous, recipe in my own life not too long ago.

I've helped companies grow for over two decades now as a consultant.  In 2009, I decided it was time to step into the life of my dream as an author and speaker, sharing my consulting experience to help  people think differently about how to grow their business.

I've always been an independent person, rarely taking the tried and true approach to anything.  Must be my name.  When I began to write Defying Gravity, I wanted to self-publish, primarily to have control of my content and direction. 

Everyone I spoke with strongly suggested that I stick with the a known recipe for success as a first time author.  That recipe declared I needed a NY publishing house to be taken seriously with my first book. After many discussions, including a big argument with my own intuition, I changed my plans and headed down that path. When a well-respected NY agent signed me, I was thrilled.

But as things progressed, it became apparent that the houses, and my agent, wanted to change my book pretty dramatically.  They didn't 'get' what I wanted to write - they only knew their traditional formulas and focus areas.  I wasn't about to sell out for the NY houses. I know my audience and I understand the value I offer.

I finally drew the line about what I wanted to write.  My agent fired me. OMG - how's that for a wake up call?  I was a little lost for a bit, but then I remembered my original dream.  On the recommendation of my friend Scott McKain, I connected with Clint Greenleaf or Greenleaf Book Group.  Three weeks later I signed with them - and I’ve never looked back. Greenleaf is everything I dreamed of in a publisher - innovative, supportive professionals who are creating new recipes for authors to power unprecedented success.

That old recipe for author success? Forget it. It may work for a few, but not for most, and certainly not for me.  I'm working with Greenleaf on some pretty exciting things - beyond the book itself, which I am finishing as we speak.  Defying Gravity is my book, written my way - with superb and out-of-the box additions from the smart, innovative thinkers on the Greenleaf team.

The traditional publishing approach felt so wrong for me.  Greenleaf feels so right. I just know I'm on the right path - creating my own recipe for success as I go along.  I'm learning every day and adjusting with every conversation.  And I'm cookin' up some pretty fun ideas along the way!

What about you?  Have you ditched an old recipe and found a new way to cook up your success?  I'd love to hear about it!

Legends

Legends keep the past alive in our world.

Legends are handed down from generation to generation. As they are passed along, they gather strength.  In many cultures - legends act as guidelines for behavior.

We have corporate legends as well, rules and 'knowns' that we accept as truth. If you're wondering what legends I'm talking about, here are some examples. 

•    Our product is just too cool.
•    We can’t win in that market, so why bother trying.
•    Our sales cycle is unpredictable, but that’s just our business.
•    We have to discount to beat that competitor.
•    Changing plans will just disrupt our business.
•    We’ll just have to cut expenses to keep profit margins.
•    We can’t grow in a down economy, everybody is hurting.

Often we can’t even remember the source of those legends. Some come from our own internal beliefs, some from external sources – like those business school truths handed down from mentor to student.

We tend to hang onto those legends, the knowns about our businesses. They become ingrained in our business cultures - just as the legends of King Arthur and more are ingrained in our personal stories.

But what if those legends are just plain wrong?

That's why they are dangerous. What happened in the past isn't necessarily a reliable truth today. Our world is moving too fast. Our 'wow' value from six months ago may already be 'ho hum' in today's market. Certainly the rules of business from a decade ago are ancient history for today - but perhaps even our beliefs from last year are already past their prime.

When corporate legends live long - we don't prosper.

Our success depends on our full attention to today - and tomorrow. Letting the past decide our future is a sure step down a slippery slope.  Legends hold us on the wrong course, blind us to opportunities and give us a false sense of security. Sometimes - they help us avoid the change we fear.

The key to success in our dynamic world is to focus forward - leveraging the lessons learned in our past, while questioning everything in light of today's reality.  Great leaders do just that - asking for the logic behind every legend and known, taking nothing for granted as a given. Great leaders plan their course for today based on what they see ahead of them, not what they've already passed.

What are some of your legends? How can you evolve beyond them?

That Personal Touch

Marketing departments in all kinds of companies are using the power of being 'personal' as a way to attract customers and win business.  Personalized profiles are all the rage in outbound marketing.  We insert recipients' names into email campaigns that are tailored to what we assume are their requirements, thanks to a tailored sentence or two.

Somehow - that doesn't seem like a truly personal approach.  A mass production of 'personalized' information is just that - a mass communication.  Customers and prospects, friends and family see right through those approaches, especially when we aren't thoughtful about our personalization.

Sometimes, we just plain blow it.

My name gives me lots of opportunities to experience pretty poor attempts at personal communication. The emails claiming to be an old friend of Mr. Rebel Brown always give me a giggle.  Then there's the offers of all those boy toys that companies just know Mr. Rebel wants.  That's a problem born of assumption - so we'll leave it at that and suggest care in assuming anything.

Then there are the communications that don't mess up my name - but fail at the personal equation.  One professional has sent me the same holiday email, with the same picture for four years running. Each year their message is the same.  "I wanted to share my best wishes with you for your new year, and thank you for your support of my business this year." Blah blah, I delete them  - and by the 2nd year, I stopped doing business with that professional.  Somehow, I just didn't feel special.

Bob Burg recommends a great approach.

If you're trying to connect on a more personal level with your audience, then really be personal. He suggests we write personal thank you notes to those who touch our lives.  I did this for decades, taking time to personally thank each and every client and partner who helped me through the year.  I fell out of the habit a few years back when I was sick for a while.  But now I'm thanking folks personally again - with emails and kind gestures. For those who really touch my world, I'm sharing a gift that keeps on giving, thanks to Colin Lewis and Wisdom Notes.

For a large business, that may seem daunting, but it's not. If everyone steps up to communicate with their own focused audience in ways that really matter to that audience - it's an easy and powerful approach to truly connecting  with each audience member.

So what's my point?

Stop trying to act like you're personally communicating in a mass way.  Take the time and effort to truly be personal with your audiences. Yes, it will consume more resources and time. But the results will more than cover those extra costs - you'll be distinct simply  because of that personal touch.  Always remember, business is done on a personal level.

While you're at it,  do the same in your relationships .  Don't be the guy who acts like he's your best friend for show in front of the boss - but who really doesn't know a thing about you. 

Faking it doesn't work.

You're either truly taking the time to communicate with someone in a personal and relevant way - or you're not.  Its obvious to your audience which you're doing -and the repercussions will follow.

Stop faking it in that middle ground.  It's insulting and it drives people away from your business and you.  Just like it drives me away from anyone who calls Mr. Rebel his or her friend.

Ready, Fire, Aim

That's kinda backwards, isn't it?

I catch myself doing it all the time. I get an idea, remember something I need to do, all while I'm in the middle of something else. I'm distracted by the new thought, so I get up to go fix whatever, grab whatever, do whatever, so I can come back and focus. But then sometimes I can't remember where I was going or what I was going to do. Or I see something along the way and stop to do it, then move on to something else, and remember my original goal, um well, sooner or later.

50+ mentalpause may be partially to blame.

But not really.

Our pressure to deliver is my prime suspect. We have to do something to feel worthy, to make progress, to stay ahead of the crisis that is sure to come. So we rush into action, way ahead of thinking through our plan. We focus on the doing, the busy-ness, pointing to activity as progress. We do, do and do again and wonder why we never reach our goal.

We're so busy doing, we don't know when we're done.

We head into markets firing with all our value, assuming something will hit a willing buyer right between the eyes. We cover the proverbial wall with marketing and sales campaigns - assuming something will stick.  We cold call potential customers with the same androgynous script, firing our chest-thumping messages at them before we understand their specific focus. 

Doing, without a goal, is wasted energy.

A crisp, well-defined goal helps us focus our doing. With a specific goal in sight, we can leverage all of our actions into a coordinated effort. Each step of doing becomes a building block for reaching our ultimate goal. We're more efficient, we get more done and we're more successful.

We can only hit the target after we take aim.

So the next time we get that urge to rush out and do something for the sake of doing, let's all slow down. Plan, take aim and then do. We'll get much better results. And who knows?

We might just hit the Bull's eye!

Never Say Never

What would we accomplish if we believed anything is possible?

I've been asking myself that question a lot lately. I'm transitioning from a 20 year career as a consultant, reinventing myself as an author and a speaker/business coach.There are days when I know I'm on the right track. The book is coming along, I have so much I want to share with audiences that I can't decide what to present in my first platform product. Everything is moving full speed ahead and I can feel my new life right here, right now.

Then there are days when I think it will never happen. I begin to question whether I can really make this change, start to limit my possibilities. I'm only fooling myself and throwing away my career. My dream life will never happen. Those are the really bad days.

A key to success is believing.

We all have crises of faith - in ourselves, our business, our world. I don't think that's unusual. The trick is to nip it in the bud, pivot our thinking and focus on that dream as if it were already real. We can manifest anything in our lives - if we believe.

These cowboys believed in the impossible. 

The first time I saw this video - I was astounded. I'm a horsewoman, born and bred. I was riding  before I could walk.  I thought I'd seen everything. I obviously hadn't.  Patches and these cowboys helped me once again appreciate the power of belief - in ourselves and in those around us. Let me know if they do the same for you!

I'll surely never say never again.

Are We Civilized?

I have deep thoughts at gas stations.

I was filling Thelma (my truck) with diesel and a 5 gallon can with unleaded. As I was working the nozzle into the can, the owner gently took it out of my hands, smiled and shooshed me toward the truck with a wave of his hand.  "Ladies shouldn't pump their own gas."

I was on my way home from the ranch. I'd been working in the paddock - digging trenches ahead of the winter rains and organizing tack. I was filthy, disheveled and looked like anything but a lady.

 What a welcome surprise. He gets my business forever!

But then my reaction got me thinking. Why was I so surprised? After all, respect and common courtesy are fundamentals of any civilized society, right?  Then a strange question popped into my head.

Are we really civilized?

 My knee jerk answer was "Of course we are!"

But then I started thinking. His behavior was the exception, not the rule. Most places guys would stand and watch while I pumped the gas and hauled it into the back of Thelma. It's rare to have a stranger offer help of any kind these days. But it goes beyond that sort of apathy.  I see at least one display of rudeness every day. I hear people yelling at each other in grocery stores, raging at strangers while driving. We aren't exactly nice to each other sometimes, now are we?

We're losing some of our civilized behaviors.

Then there's business. Wall Street wasn't a great display of civilized honor and integrity. Greed and cheating are common business practices. Backstabbing is a form of career advancement for many. Even the little things paint a sad picture - the rudeness and apathy of telephone support reps, the receptionist who barely looks up from her magazine to acknowledge your arrival in her employer's lobby. 

From apathy and disrespect toward our customers to rudeness and backstabbing in the workforce to lying, cheating and stealing to 'get ahead' - our civilized world seems to be devolving.

Some say we are following the path of ancient Rome and Greece.

I hope they're wrong.

________________________

I'm waxing all this week about our civilized world, or lack thereof. PLEASE join me in comments and discussion. I want to hear your perspectives too!

Are you Expanding or Contracting?

We're all trying to do more with less.

But what happens when we cut things a little too lean and the result just plain sucks? OOPS.

As the child of two depression kids, I was raised to be frugal, to 'save for a rainy day' - to be always ready for economic disaster. I stopped short of stuffing the mattress with cash. But for years I was afraid to spend money on the right things in my life. I was a hoarder and I admit it.

Contraction is not a path to success.

That's true in life and business.When we contract our beliefs, our actions, our spending - we're asking for contraction in the results.

A former client called me last week. I'd helped them define their go-to-market strategy and positioning. They'd decided to go with someone more 'cost effective' for the much larger execution project. I wasn't willing to drop my rates (which I'd already heavily discounted on the promise of the entire project) so they moved on.

My client told me that the results had been less than he'd hoped. They weren't awful, but they weren't what we'd expected. My response?

You get what you pay for!

I didn't say that to him directly - I'm not that obnoxious!  But I thought it. And I bet he did as well.

The strategy was compelling, powerful and high value. The execution required an investment that matched that power. Instead of entering the market with a bang, they'd entered with a whisper. 

I gave him a few thoughts on how to address the issues and salvage the opportunity. All of which involved spending more money than if he'd done things the right way in the first place.

Be thoughtful when cutting corners!

Contraction is great for silly dollars. We all know there are ways to save and reduce spending, in our business and in our lives. But we must be conscious and selective about where we cut - and where we invest.

If all we do is contract, then how will we ever expand?

I learned that lesson recently in my own life.  I had a choice. Go with a New York publisher for my book - change it, dilute it, make it conform to their (boring) norm. OR, invest in myself, breakout and take a new path. Publish it myself - my content, my way.

I chose the latter - after a lot of gnashing of teeth and other body parts.Talk about mom and dad's voices in my head! But it's the right thing to do.

With the help of a great friend and mentor, I found the perfect publisher!  I met them last week and I love them!

Still, for my little depression-trained self - it's scary. But I know that contracting myself and my ideas is not the best path. So I'm practicing what I preach. I'm expanding and investing in myself. I've never been more assured that I was on the right path. It feels great.

Expansion breeds growth.

When we expect to expand, we open ourselves to the possibility of positive outcomes. We invest in those outcomes. When we contract our thinking -  we plan for the potential negative and it comes right to us.

So the next time you're trying to find a way to cut corners on that important project, think again.

Are you being smart, or simply contracting out of habit?

Powering Momentous Launches

Launches are viewed as the Lighting Bolt of our corporate world, the big Ta Da! We get all our materials together in hush, hush secrecy. A week or two before the big date, we go share our news with the leading analysts in our community, the top customers and partners.  Then, on the big day our Press Release  hits the wire and  we start selling our hearts out, having trained the sales force the day or week before.

The problem is that those approaches don't work anymore.The Lightning Bolt has given way to Rolling Thunder.

Rolling Thunder launches focus on announcing success - not availability.

I've been using Rolling Thunder launches for over a decade. We use a Rolling Thunder approach to build momentum, create buzz and excitement, leaving our audience wondering what's coming.  We gather supporting evidence before we 'launch', strengthening our sales and marketing efforts.  We also work the 'kinks' out before we step into the limelight.  I wouldn't launch any other way.

Case in Point

A client had a game-changing innovation in the storage marketplace. They were ready to announce their new solution when I was brought in by the board of directors. Here are some of the issues I saw:

• They had three beta sites  but the customers weren't ready to talk about anything yet.
• They had two partners but they weren't working with the product yet.
• Their sales force had only seen early demos of the product. Only the VP of sales had been involved in creating the go-to-market strategy.
• No analysts or experts had been briefed or questioned around the strategy.The Thinking was to keep it secret and not share with anyone who might tell the competition.
• There had been no 'softening' of the market, no momentum built.

The plan was to put out the lightning bolt press release, brief everyone on that day and then start selling.

We didn't follow that plan. Nope, not even. Here's what we DID do:

• Brief sales. The first thing we did was to get the top 5 reps in the top markets, focusing on the strongest current and future opportunities - not just the current few big customers.  We showed them the product, asked what they wanted for demos. We got their feedback, their concerns -and over the next month, their buy in.  Which, by the way, they shared with the rest of the field sales force.

• Target early customers. We ran like the wind with those reps to target the top ten customers who would get the most immediate results from this new solution. We briefed them, collected their feedback and got the storage system running in five sites within 60 days.

• Target top partners. We worked with one of the channel reps to target two partners as early channel players. We briefed them, took their feedback and let them have product - with our tech support guys standing by to answer any and all questions. The only agreement was that they would each deliver one beta site in the first 60 days with our help - and they did.

• We whispered: At a large industry event, we whispered our news to the most exclusive group you  could imagine. We invited the top four analysts,two long lead press, five well known customers and a few other folks to a private Whisper Suite.  We asked them to sign NDAs and begged them not to tell anyone they'd been to our suite, seen our product.  They did exactly what we wanted. They went out and told the world they'd seen something cool that others hadn't.  And the Buzz began.

• The secret lab. We set aside a 'private' space in the corporate office for the final testing. We brought in outside parties to 'test' the product in that lab, swearing them to secrecy until the day of the press release. The Buzz grew.

• We were the Expert. We put together a set of themes around the market and customer need for our solution - and began to talk about those needs publicly.  Not our solution, not chest thumping. We educated the market as an expert - discussed the challenges AND the optimal ways to resolve them. At tradeshows and conferences and in a few contributed articles - we set the stage for our solution, without ever mentioning anything specific about it.

Four months after I met the client we finally wired that press release -and the world was waiting. It was the best coverage the company ever had. The company was touted as an innovator and leader, the product won awards for product and technology innovation in a number of reviews. 

So what was different about Rolling Thunder than the traditional Thor's Lightning Bolt?

• We had customers using the product before we announced it. They gave us the evidence of the value that solution provided. That brought immediate credibility.

• We had partners selling the solution with hands-on experiences. They shared their stories - and yes, our credibility rose even higher.

• Thought leaders agreed with our approach. Why wouldn't they. We'd been sharing our expert ideas in the market, people had latched onto them as valuable, embraced them as their own.  Add more credibility.

• We had revenues. Imagine that, revenues before you drop the PR. What a great idea. That's the ultimate proof that your offering has value - people have already paid money for it. Talk about credibility!

Rolling Thunder creates buzz in the market ahead of anything formal announcement. It lets you leverage that buzz to create momentum for your launch.

Most importantly, you get to announce success.  Who can argue with that?

_____

Rebel's Note: My associates asked me to write a series of posts on Company and Product Market Launches - subjects that are near and dear to my heart. So, over the next few weeks, check back for posts related to Rolling Thunder Launch methodologies.

Next Week: Beyond the Lightning Strike, or Why the Press Release Isn't the End of the Launch.

The Ugly Baby (Product) Dilemma

We become emotionally attached to our products.  I know, that's not the professional approach.  But it's true and we all know it. We conceive them, bring them to life, nurture them along then proudly put them on display for all the world to see, and of course buy. Often they become a version of our 'children'.

That's a great kind of commitment. But sometimes that adoration blinds us. Our fresh new baby ages, gets wrinkled and dull. Our best selling product of yesterday no longer serves today's market. Sure, some customers still adore it.  Why wouldn't they? They probably have a vested interest as well.

Holding onto products that have passed their prime is a key reason companies falter.

It's hard to let go of something we've poured our energy into for years, even decades. That's true personally as well as in business.  But quite often, that's exactly what we need to do to make forward progress.

Case in Point.

Take a look at the companies that are struggling all around us, right now. The first thing you probably thought was something like "Well, that's the economy's fault."  Maybe. But look more closely.

You'll find that many of these companies held on to their way of doing business, their favorite products (and customers for those products) for far too long.  Want an easy example?  GM. GM held onto the gas guzzling, or certainly gas-powered, vehicles that were its legacy even as competitors were successfully introducing Hybrids. Did any of us NOT see that mistake in the making?  Yet GM couldn't, or wouldn't, see that its approaches were growing old and tired. They kept making incremental changes, rather than creating a new generation of vehicles to match the changing market dynamics.

Other examples? Look at the iPhone as the new pretty baby, with everyone else caught flat-footed holding onto old concepts of cell phones and PDAs. Or how about Microsoft and Sony (with their traditional joy stick consoles) watching as Nintendo's Wii captured the hearts of young and old - and flew past them in the market? The list can go on and on.  Yes, Apple and Nintendo were innovators.  But the door for innovation was flung wide open by competitors who were complacently holding onto their aging product concepts.

A client had been selling this whizbang system for almost a decade. They claimed it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, the only one of its kind - the power behind their future. Yet when we looked closely, they were starting to lose money on nearly every sale of this same system. Yes, it had a unique and quite valuable capability. The problem wasn that only a tiny segment of their market could actually use that capability.  And that segment was shrinking. When we pointed this out - well, the words fell on the ears of deaf parents. The company couldn't see the reality of their situation - that system was unique, but noone cared anymore. The company finally went bankrupt a while back. And they were still holding onto that system, spending money on it 'til the very end.

Change is hard. Let me repeat that in a different way. We fear change. It's tough to take a step out into a new world and leave the known behind. But that's exactly what companies have to do, if they want to continue to soar.

I'm not saying that every legacy product is an ugly baby.  Just look at Kleenex - it's been around forever and just keeps going. What I am saying is that we need to  look objectively at our favorite products and their value - to our customers and our prospects. We may just need a new offering that's more in sync with today's markets. That's okay. We can leverage the power of our current products to create better and brighter opportunities.

Let your ugly babies go, gracefully and gratefully. Keeping them alive can cost you money, resources and ultimately, your business success.

Get in the Boat or Take the Train!

Why do turnarounds fail? 

There are lots of reasons, but one stands out above the rest to me.

Leaders don't want to rock the boat. They're afraid to make the tough, unpopular calls that change often requires. Leaders don't want to lose their followers, or be unpopular, or make the wrong move - so they don't make the tough choices.

Case in Point.   

In every turnaround, there are executives and employees hanging onto the way we've always done it. That's OK for a while; it takes time to get everyone into the new boat, to change course and transform the business. But, at some point in time - and preferably sooner rather than later, everyone has to get into the boat.The Same Boat.   Or they need to take another train. 

Continued promotion of the way it's always been against the new direction is one of the major reasons turnarounds fail. Business is not a democracy, where everyone gets a vote and opinions are given equal rank. Dissension spreads like a virus, and is just as destructive. Still, you'd be surprised just how few CEOs will step up and remove that virus. The reasons?

• He's a great guy. I'm sure he is. But if he's negating your strategy for change, then it doesn't matter how nice or great he is. He either needs to change his stance or find another company where he can keep that stance while you move forward. Niceness is not an excuse for someone dissing your business decisions. That's insubordination (after a point) and it breeds issues.

• She's been here since the beginning. Maybe that's part of the problem. Especially if you're steering a new course. If she's a proponent of the status quo because it's known and comfortable then maybe it's time for a big change.Just because someone has longevity doesn't mean they get to misbehave and stir up dissent in the ranks.

• We'll lose people if he leaves. Maybe that's a good thing?  If all those people are as resistant  to changing course - then maybe they need to catch that other train so you can move forward. If people can't support the direction of the company and are openly negative about it,  they're distracting and sucking your momentum - internally and probably externally as well. As I always remind my clients - no one is indispensable.

Then there's the unspoken excuse. The leader doesn't want to be seen as the bad guy. Many execs don't want to be the heavy, more than you'd suspect. CEO's seem to thrive in two extremes; being cantankerous, obnoxious and heavy handed, or being the nice guy who takes care of everyone and responds to all sides of the argument.

Popularity is not part of a CEO's job description - at least not in most businesses. There's a middle ground between these two extremes, and more executives in troubled companies need to take it.  

Be a leader and make your decision. Listen to all the input, take the feedback and then decide on a strategy. That's why you get the big bucks...to be a leader and make the tough calls.

Then, if your staff doesn't get in the boat with you, Rock that Boat. Hand them a pink ticket to another boat or train. You may lose a few folks in the process, and they will most likely say bad things about you.

Get a thicker skin and step up. You'll give your business the chance to fly and be profitable again. And that's a lot more important than winning that popularity contest, now isn't it? 

Revenue's Down, Let's Fire Sales

I met with a former client to discuss his company's current business. He wanted to pick my brain on how to best approach their opportunity to transform themselves, to reinvent and re-tune.

In response to their flat (and somewhat declining) revenue, they've cut back their company resources across the board - but they've specifically reduced headcount in sales. 

That surprised me.  Why would you cut sales when you need to drive revenue?   Beyond the obvious opportunity to let go of the dead weight?  I asked some questions and here's what I learned:

• The company released the bottom 15% of the sales force, the non-producers. I agree with that choice - separating the chaff is always a good step - even when revenues are up!

• The company also cut all sales resources in their top three emerging target markets.  The reps had been on board for less than 5 months and while they had a strong pipeline - no deals for dollars had closed, and this decision was all based on revenue. 

• They also cut their new channel program and reps. They'd moved into channels to expand their reach into a rapidly growing market sector where they needed partner expertise. The channel program was initiated about 6 months ago and was starting to get traction - but not fast enough for the bottom line results to justify the investment.

• They kept their top selling reps - especially the ones servicing their largest accounts in  traditional industries - their bread and butter so to speak.  Even though these reps made higher commissions and represented a higher cost of sales - they were worth it to keep the core of the business happy.  When I asked about margins and the overall growth in this core business - my associate looked a bit dismayed. Margins were shrinking due to competitive pressure, and the core business was flat to declining overall -but we have to keep the core solid to survive, right?

This story isn't that unusual. From my perspective, it's filled with common decisions that can have negative ramifications.  What are my concerns?

• Cutting sales. Cutting  back on your source of revenues is something that needs to be done with a precision scalpel - not a chainsaw.  I don't believe that reducing sales when revenue is declining is the best strategy.  Yes, its a great chance to clean house and remove any non-productive resources.  It's also a chance to proactively focus sales resources into the most advantageous markets - current and future.  You have to be very precise and cautious - or risk cutting your future off at the knees.  Which leads to my next concern.
  

• Hanging onto the status quo.  If you haven't read my post 'But It's our Biggest Seller'  and 'But They're Our Biggest Customer' - go read them please.  Hanging onto the status quo can be a significant contributor to a company's demise.  In this case, the company is paying reps more money on lower margins just to hang on to customers they perceive as 'core'. Competitive threats are increasing and margins are shrinking.  Isn't this  an opportunity to streamline the cost of sales into these accounts - and apply some resources to fuel your next market opportunity?  What if that 'core' isn't your market of the future? Think about it.

• Strangling your future. I see this one quite often in my turnaround clients.  They've started to expand into new markets. But then the overall company has issues and they back away from opportunity, returning to the status quo - just as they were getting traction.  I'm not saying that sometimes new markets just don't pay off. When that's the case, it's a good decision to realign and refocus.  But you need to give new  investments the chance to  fly. I happen to know that in this case the sales cycle for the company's products was in excess of five months (more like nine to twelve). So they didn't really give their new sales reps or channels the runway they needed to make a difference. Chances are that the margins, opportunity for expanded revenues and competitive differentiation were much more significant in their newer market targets. But now we'll never know, will we?

Realigning resources  is one of the hardest parts of my turnaround business. It's emotional and personal, no matter how many times you do it. But as Spock would say, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." That's true in business, as well as exploring the galaxy.

We need to be thoughtful about where and what we cut. Sometimes we do have to make tough decisions about the future. But cutting all future investment,  just when it may pay off, is not the ideal approach. You usually end up in a bigger mess in the long-term as competitive pressure escalates and markets mature - and you're stuck in the status quo. 

Cutting sales and revenue-driving marketing resources may not be the best place to look for savings, either. Reducing nonproductive resources is one thing. Eliminating the engine that drives your revenue and opportunity for future growth is another.

To grow and thrive, companies must continue to invest in their next opportunity, even as they stabilize their foundation.  The best decision for resource reallocation usually entails a balance between the known and the potential.

It takes courage to face the risks and invest in the unknown future - but the upside is far brighter when you do.

The Problem with Plans

Picture this. A big company has one last chance to rise from a serious downturn. But the company has lots going for it.

• An unbelievably loyal customer and market following,
• A game changing innovation,
• A significant demand for exactly that innovation,
• A bit of money to back it.

I watched customer after customer 'light up' as we told our story. We relaunched the company around that game changing solution to widely acclaimed success. In all my years I've never seen customers react so passionately. It was the proverbial Slam Dunk. Within a month of the relaunch, there was $60+M of qualified potential revenue in the pipeline.

Sounds great, right? 

Wrong. Six months later the company is facing tougher times than ever.

The new product?  It's still there, dying in the corporate gloom.

So what happened?

The Plan happened. There were other factors that played. But most of all, The Plan happened.

The Plan of Record called for the development/enhancement, selling and support of a broad range of products including:

• The best selling product 
• The product the best customers want
• The product we have to have to beat the competition
• A custom, new HUGE opportunity
• The game changing product we were launching

The game-changing innovation offered:

• strong differentiation - as in 'only one of its kind'
• 4-5x the product margins - probably double that 
• a residual leasing revenue model - predictable, high margin revenue
• immediate customer demand - everyone wanted to buy it.

But, since the game changing innovation didn't have revenues (yet) it was allocated a paltry share of The Plan.  BTW - company revenues were increasing according to The Plan, but the company was losing more money than ever and draining cash along the way. What does that tell you about the quality of those revenues - and of The Plan? 

Even after the launch success, the customer meetings, the pipeline -  the plan was still The Plan. The rest, well, let's just say this story doesn't have a fairytale ending.

This company was positioned to soar again.  But thanks to The Power of the Plan - this perfectly set up Phoenix crashed and burned before it ever had the chance to fly again.

You'd change course rather than fly into a thunderstorm, wouldn't you?   Even if that storm wasn't in your flight plan?

Markets change, customers change, people change - plans should change too.

 

But the Other Guys Have It!

Remember your Mom's response to that justification? If your folks were like mine, it probably went something along the lines of "So does that mean you'd jump off a cliff just because the other guy did?"

Business is no different - or at least it shouldn't be.

Market leadership is not about being just like everyone else.  Leadership is about defining (or clarifying) who and what our companies are, what value we bring and why that matters. It's about doing things that are special for our customers. Market leadership is about being unique.

We've all read book after book about the ingredients of leadership, listened to the consultants tell us how to be leader, even claimed to find our leadership path.  Yet how many of us are conscious leaders, rather than subconscious followers?

Take our obsession with the competition. We point toward a competitive loss and proclaim that some brand new competitive whatchamafloppy is what we have to have to win.

Right. Just like I needed that new really cool pink wig for my barbie doll, like the one my friend got for her birthday. The one I NEVER put on Barbie's head again after I whined and wheedled until some grandparent bought it for me.

Wanna bet how many customers feel the same way about that cool technical whatchamafloppy?  How many could care less? Probably a lot of them.

Sure, there are great technology advances that are absolutely essential to your fundamental business.  And you should find the most effective way to incorporate them into your solutions.  But competitive me-too's are NOT what differentiate you. They surely don't make you a leader. Not when someone else already has them.

If you need to follow someone when defining your future, your distinction - focus on your customers. Follow the right ones and you'll succeed every time.

As for your competitors, they belong in your rearview mirror.

Free Positioning eBook: It's Not About You Anymore

I was checking out a potential client's website. I found everything I ever wanted to know about the company.  About their unmatched experience and revolutionary products, their industry leading service and kicktail integration capability.  Their firsts  and awards, their executive team's impressive track record. It was a chest thumping extravaganza!

I couldn't find a customer story anywhere.  Just the obligatory logos on a page entitled 'Customer Success'. Two of the four links I clicked on were broken. Oops. Now  that gives a customer warm and fuzzies, doesn't it?

Positioning is one of the most important things you’ll do in your business life.  Positioning is what compels buyers to trust you. Great positioning weaves stories that touch our audience. The right stories attract buyers, and keep them coming back.  Chest thumping usually sends them packing.

To learn more about customer-centric positioning -

Download my Free eBook as a PDF

ITS NOT ABOUT YOU ANYMORE

OR      Link to an Interactive version

 

Its Not About You Anymore 

So, what’s in this eBook for you?  A simple yet effective approach to strategic positioning that works.

1.    Identifying our true value  - through the eyes of our audience
2.    Describing our value – with real-world evidence
3.    Spinning stories that touch our audience  - by letting our customers' successes speak for us

I hope It's Not About You Anymore will encourage you to take a different look at your organization and its strategic market positioning. 

Please let me know what you think.  I truly appreciate your feedback!

If You Talk the Talk, You Better Walk the Walk

Businesses large and small are jumping into a social media presence these days. It’s a great opportunity for real communication with your audience.  If you walk the walk.

But what happens when the talk isn’t the walk?  When a customer pushes past the social persona. Do you walk the walk - or do you crash and burn?

Two cases in point.

CASE ONE: The Social Media Guru

Take a certain large corp that's into social media big time. This company is a rare deal - a successful business in an industry that is going down fast. Well, I had a nightmare customer experience with my brand new, high dollar product from this same company.  One of the worst. Trust me, that says a lot.

A friend suggested I ping the social media exec with my story - to give him the feedback and let him work his magic. My initial reaction was that my complaining to a big corp wasn't going to matter. I'm a gnat on their derriere.

But my friend persisted and so I Tweeted the social media guru. Guru Tweeted back an email address and asked me to share my story. Good!  So I did. 

• A week later, no response. I thought maybe he was just too stunned to reply. So I Tweeted and asked what was up (a private DM).

• DM a few hours later. “Sorry, I'm busy, my email is backed up, I'll get back to you soon.”  Not exactly endearing, now was it.

• I DMd back that thanks to him, I now fully understood my importance to the company. (Note:  I know, bad form, but at the moment I just couldn't stop myself.)

• Response in  half an hour. "I can't respond because I need feedback from others. I'll get  back to you." 

Why the change in attitude? “Guru probably just now read your email, figured out he's in deep *** and is making excuses,” says my social media maven/sis.  It never even occurred to me that he wouldn't have read my email after I DM'd him with my plight.

That night I watched as Guru Tweeted on and on about sports, movies, the Stanley Cup, great restaurants and more.  Yep, he’s WAY too busy to care about me and my issues.

Fast Forward Two Weeks: To be fair - I had a different ending written for this story until Sunday night.  But the company called me on Thursday. We set a time for Friday but they were late for the call.  A whole 7 hours late. But they left a message so I'll call them. There is hope. Still....

CASE TWO: A Young Internet Entrepreneur

I responded pretty strongly to a pesky Twitter MLM peep who wouldn't take NO for an answer. Don't ya hate it? Snakeoil. Ick.  Ping, an immediate reply. "What the ..."  I opened the email, ready to blast away. Stopped short. It was from a totally different person and company.  Seems I replied to the wrong email.  OOPS!

Sy Whitehall, the voice of www.myebook.com*, had emailed and offered to introduce me to his site personally. I'd responded to his email with my, er, blast.  He told me later he felt 'chucked in the gut'.  What had he done, what was so bad about his website, his offering? What could he do to help me?

I quickly replied, explained I'd made a big boo boo and thanked Sy for his responsiveness. Poor guy!  He chatted with me on email for a while, and then we Skyped late last week and he gave me tips and pointers. Good stuff here, I'm using it on my website now!

I left a happy and satisfied user - impressed by Sy's dedication to his business, his customers and his own brand of social outreach with such a personal touch.

Who's Walking the Walk?

You can decide for yourselves. For me, it's pretty obvious.  Right now I'll do everything I can to help Sy get his business going.  That's why I named him in this blog. He deserves a BIG and public pat on the back for his dedication to his business and his customers.

As for Guru? The jury is still out on that one. 

The Bottom Line

Walk your Talk.  Someone will find out when you don't. Thanks to Web 2.0 - that bullet can be shared around the world. Besides, it's the right thing to do.

Keep your integrity and do what you say. You may not win all the time, but you’ll win more than most.

______

*www.myebooks.com is a FREE site to create and distribute interactive, multi-media eBooks. Try it out!

Objectivity is a Beautiful Thing

I met a new client a couple of weeks ago.  We spent time over dinner discussing his company and their strategy for diversification and expansion. The guy is sharp, and the opportunity he unearthed is strong.  All the  prerequisites for success are there: current customers are clamoring for the solution (it save them major money), there's an un-served and significant market demand, minimal investment is required and there's a 'sky's the limit' upside.

He hired me to help him communicate that strategy to his board and fellow executives.  The next morning we met to dig into the story. It didn't take long before we were both drawing pictures on the white board, talking all over each other, passionate and excited about the opportunity, about telling his story clearly so everyone could see the opportunity. It really wasn't that hard, really.

He was wowed by my 'quick uptake' and what he viewed as 'expert' suggestions. I thought it was plain ole business sense.   By the end of the session, we had the fundamentals of the story down pat. Yes, it was and is compelling.

So why was I able to capture that story so quickly when he'd struggled for weeks, even months? I'd like to say it's because of my brilliance, but that's not true. My experience did help - all that practice does payoff after all.

I brought one really helpful thing to the table: Objectivity.

I didn't do or say or create anything my client didn't already know. After all, he's the one that gave me all the fodder for the story.

The difference was my objectivity.  He'd lived and breathed his business and strategy for a couple of years. He knew it inside and out.  So much so that he couldn't see the story anymore. He was mired in the details, in everything he knew that others didn't - at least not yet. Being objective, I was able to elevate the key points, and downplay the details that were distractions.

Objectivity is a beautiful thing.  This is just one example. We all can think of more - from the way we read emails to what we hear in other people's statements. Unfortunately, all too often we lose the very objectivity that helps us create business value.  We simply get too close.

At the risk of sounding self-serving, objectivity is one of the best reasons to ask for an outside opinion. We are, after all, human.  As we begin a new project we start out passionately objective. But then we dive deeper, gather knowledge and fall into a subjective state of the 'known'.  We listen less and finish sentences more, assured of our course. It happens to all of us; at some point we lose that objective edge. As I said before, it's part of being human.

Seek out the objections to be more objective.You don't have to hire a consultant. Go chat with an associate.  Test your thoughts with a client who is known to be 'cantankerous'.   Sometimes I play a game of 'Stump the Chump' with my clients - asking them off-the-wall and pointed questions, poking holes in their strategies. More often we reverse roles - and I play the Chump to be Stumped.We have a lot of fun, but we also find those known truths that are holding us back.

I found this quote and I think its says it all.  "A creation needs not only subjectivity, but also objectivity*."

It's great to be a subjective expert. Just be sure to keep checking in with your objective self along the way.

* Stephen Chow

5 Keys to an Awesome M&A

In the interest of balance, today I’m waxing on about the awesome opportunities presented by M&As - and some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way to help things go a bit more smoothly.

M&As are one of the most powerful opportunities for a Phoenix to rise; stronger, brighter, ready to soar into a leadership. After all, you're bringing two companies together who presumably have complementary skill-sets, products, market knowledge and customer bases. What could be MORE exciting?  Instead of investing time and dollars to build these assets  - we have the opportunity to blend the best of the best and keep running!

But sometimes it's easy to forget that opportunity once the deal is complete. When the deal is signed and we roll up our sleeves as the true blending begins, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the day-to-day reality of these two completely unique business entities. To keep the power of the vision and opportunity alive – there are some key things I recommend to clients:

Define the strategy and vision upfront and for all to see. Sometimes execs introduce the coming event with high level glimpses of the strategy – not wanting to set the wrong expectations before the details are all ironed out.  This leaves the door open for personal opinions and perspectives to take the lead – and assumptions to be made. It’s human nature to apply our own predispositions to our analysis – and that’s when ego and turf can take priority over following the agreed to vision.  As early as you can, state the vision and the steps to get there clearly and concisely, and keep refining with all those involved on a regular and frequent basis.  Just as feature creep can negatively impact product value, so can 'turf battles' dilute the power of your vision.  Don't let your teams be distracted from the end goal as you move from the high level to the details.

Stay positive and passionate about the vision.  But we are – we’re excited!  Of course you are – you see the value and opportunity. Yet somewhere in your organization are folks who don’t share that perspective. We all know that.  But we need to do something about it.  The snide remarks at the water cooler or the condescending attitude in departmental meetings do more to undermine the success of an M&A than any other single action.  These opinions need to be heard and settled once and for all – and then folks either need to get into the boat or go take another train.  Dissension in the ranks is wasteful and detrimental to success.  Nip it in the bud -visibly -  and move on – swiftly.

Be thorough with your best-of-the-best planning. We technologists tend to get all excited about the products and solutions and innovation that we can bring together.  But the best-of-the best goes far beyond the offerings we can deliver.  Some other factors to consider include:

• Technology. Just a quick word here.  If you haven’t read my blogs ‘But It’s Our Biggest Seller’ and ‘What Exactly is Game Changing', you might want to check them out. The biggest seller today may not be the best-of-the-best for going forward.  Make sure you look at ALL the technologies in play and map them to the plan for future markets and customers.  Put  resources on your best future opportunities, and not just on those 'best selling' legacy products that may not power the future you want or need.

• Customers. Customers are one of the biggest assets an M&A offers. Combining two diverse customer bases can positively impact your market presence. Take the time to thoroughly understand the customer opportunities – past, present and future. Too often we look at the biggest customers as the best going forward opportunity – when in fact other customers may hold the keys to that new market or emerging opportunity we‘ve been seeking. Make sure your executives charged with the blending have a clear vision of the future – and don’t make short-term decisions that can blow your longer term opportunities.

Be sure and communicate with the customers – in more than an email and news announcements. I see so many companies send a press release and customer email and move on. They expect customers to be happy about the change – while they leave the cleanup to sales and customer support reps. Executives and leaders need to be involved with customer transitions – be present, be obvious and communicate, communicate, communicate.

Finally, be sure to thoroughly evaluate the teams who support those customers.  Those teams may be the reason those customers are around…and will stay around. Personal contacts are often more important than product offerings when it comes to customer loyalty. Never forget that when blending a customer-facing team. For example:

• Sales and pre-sales relationships are complex and often quite personal.  Before you start substituting players, make sure you understand the dynamics. Buying decisions are often made based on these relationships –when you change the rep you may lose the business. 
• Service and support relationships can be even more valuable. These are the folks the customers trust to come to the rescue – and many times they are the keeper of the customer truth. Listen and learn that truth, take their inputs seriously and respect their expertise.
• Marketing relationships with customers can give you huge insights – when you pay attention.  Too often we look at the folks who lead the User Groups or industry/special interest groups and see organizational overhead and duplication – when they may have critical customer information that can add value to our overall assessment and going forward planning.
  

• Expertise. Experts come in many forms, and all are valuable beyond measure. Too often we look at the technologists, the leaders, the innovators – and ignore some of the most valuable expertise we acquire. From the executive administrative assistant who knows the personal side of every customer CEOs (including their favorite lunches, their birthdays, their wives' and kids' names), to the telephone support rep who is on a first name basis with every customer in your key target market, to the product marketing manager who knows more about your next solution space than your whole company combined – pay attention to the expertise.  Listen and learn.

• Don't overlook processes. One of my client's product definition process was the most streamlined I'd ever seen. Their merger partner recognized that fact - and instilled that same process into the new organization. It wasn't easy - the merging teams didn't respond well to change.  But within six months everyone involved agreed it was the right thing to do and a big win for the business.

• Market perception. Sometimes the acquiring company is a leader and has the best overall brand and image.  But often that’s not the case. Especially in this market.  Sometimes the acquiring companies are the young 'upstarts' acquiring critical expertise and market presence. Market perception takes time to develop with customers and the market at large. Think twice before you throw it away because of who acquired whom. Look carefully at how the market holds each of the entities. Play your cards so that you leverage the best options possible – which may mean anything from assuming the name of the acquired company to maintaining their expert position as a subsidiary to adopting everything about them.  Perception rules -  and besides, we all know it’s easier and lower cost to leverage what’s in place than to invest time and money to evolve people’s beliefs.

Dig Deep. One of the biggest challenges with reinvention strategy is that we don’t often dig deep enough to find the jewels hidden among the clutter.  We get lost in the noise – the buzz about the biggest and brightest and best.  The ‘knowns’ come front and center and the ‘yet to be founds’ often end up in the bottom of a pile – never to see the light of day.

The challenge is that in more companies than you’d expect – the true value, the crown jewels that will take you to the next level of success – may not be that obvious. At least not to the folks who live with them day in and day out.

• That technology sitting on the shelf  – that was developed ten years ahead of its time – may be the key to reinvention and future growth.

• That relatively small market that’s been a side business for a year now may be the next big opportunity –if it can get attention and resources from the crowd swarming to the status quo.

• Those five guys in the corner lab doing things no one really understands may be onto the next big innovation – and a perspective that will change a paradigm for good. Too bad they haven’t shared their vision beyond technology.  No one ‘gets’ the opportunity so they may go the way of the woolly mammoth – when in fact they are creating the next game changer.

Take time to get away from the day-to-day perspectives and knowns.  Dig deep within the organization, look at things from a fresh perspective, without the contamination of the plan. Sometimes its valuable to bring in objective outsiders to take a look with you – they don’t have the  beliefs (or maybe baggage) that employees and executives can collect along the way. That’s one of the values a strategic consultant brings to the table – assuming they have the fundamental market and technical understanding to get up to speed quickly on your opportunity, your markets, your vision.

Instill teamwork immediately. Let all employees know that you expect them to work together toward your vision – and leave their egos at the door. I know – that’s a hard thing to ask people to do. But business is business and there’s no room for turf battles in an M&A. Business suffers as soon as they start.

Above all, executives must set the tone of an M&A event. That tone needs to go beyond the initial company meetings and announcements. It has to permeate each and every interaction from exec round tables to coffee in the kitchen. Leadership is often the difference between a successful or failed M&A.

Great Phoenix' rise from M&As. Open your eyes, check your past perceptions at the door and Throw Everything in the Fire. With the right blend of assets and attitude, you’ll soar into opportunity.

M&A - Will the 'A' Stand for Arrogant or Awesome?

So I'm dragging my Soapbox out again - if I had a Webaphone I'd be using it as well.

My week began with a call from a business associate -  a marketing director from a former client.  I'm always glad to hear from him - he's bright, has a natural instinct for business/marketing and also has one of the best attitudes I've ever encountered - all to complement his 'get 'er done' work ethic and practical common sense approach to marketing and sales.

His company (let's call it Game Changer)  was acquired by another tech vendor (call them PlainIron). On paper it was a super M&A opportunity.  PlainIron has captured the market for scalable platforms in its primary markets and is seeking to expand its industry focus while adding value to its platforms. Game Changer has expertise and software solutions that fill some huge holes in PlainIron's offerings - and also happens to be well established in the markets PlainIron wants to penetrate. PlainIron has cash to fuel Game Changer's innovation. Together they can become a Phoenix to be reckoned with.

Instead, my associate is ready to leave the new company, ready to jump to any job he can find to get away from the arrogance he's faced with on a daily basis.  Every suggestion he makes is belittled, every work product  he submits is treated as inferior, he's constantly ridiculed by his new boss and co-workers.  BTW - PlainIron is not exactly known for its strong marketing and IMHO is product marketing bereft - which is where my associate shines.

This latest complaint isn't the only negative comment I've heard. Evidently the attitude runs deep in the company - with a few departments as notable exceptions. As my mom would've said - I'm 'fit to be tied.'  I want to call someone, shake someone and say "What are you thinking?  You're throwing away a fabulous opportunity." But I can't. They wouldn't listen anyway, now would they?

Why do we often blow the advantages to be gained in mergers -  because of human nature?  M&As have the chance to create awesome value - so why the arrogance?

I wish this was an exception - but this experience is more the rule when it comes to acquiring companies. Sometimes the attitude starts at the top and filters its way down. Sometimes, as in this case, the attitude pervades in subgroups  - where egos emerge and thrive.

It's such a wasted opportunity.  Companies and boards invest in M&As with the vision of building greater value through the combination of talent, skills and innovation - through mutual cooperation that brings a sum that's greater than the parts. So why don't we focus on the best way to create that value, instead of waging the often seen turf wars?

Just look at some of the facts in this instance. They mirror circumstances I've seen time and time again:

• GameChanger has 3X the number of customers of PlainIron. Many of which are in markets crucial to PlainIron's expansion. These customers have loyalty for GameChanger and its experts, not for PlainIron. If Game Changer experts leave - the customers most likely will follow. And there goes one of the reasons - and the upside potential - of the acquisition.

• GameChanger has expertise where PlainIron needs to expand. That fact has been noted frequently in the market since the M&A was announced. PlainIron knows hardware and some specific market sectors.  GameChanger knows software and services in those and broader market sectors. Together they have an opportunity to differentiate themselves in new ways, expanding their market reach and range while growing margins and overall bottom line profitability.

• GameChanger didn't fail in the market - in fact they grew over 25% last year - in a bad economy.  But they were caught up in a power play between two investors who couldn't agree so they just sold them to solve their own issues. That doesn't mean they have no value.  Ask yourself - why would you buy them if they had no value? Someone in the executive ranks at PlainIron saw the value. It's just sad that others can't or won't see the potential.

M&A events are supposed to create opportunities for reinvention and growth.  By selecting the best of the best - and throwing the rest into the ashes - we can create a business opportunity far larger than that of the individual companies.

I know for a fact that this merger is a real opportunity to create a thriving industry leader - a rising Phoenix.

Instead,  this is starting to look like a buzzard.  I hope the leaders at PlainIron pull it all together before the internal fires consume everything of value.

______

Check back tomorrow for  The Awesome Side of M&A!

But They are our BEST Customer

This is another one of my favorite battle cries.

A strong relationship with a customer is the Holy Grail we all seek.  After all, once you have a Win/Win relationship, both businesses profit, right?

Sometimes, but not always.

Here's a case in point - just to show some of the pitfalls you want to avoid when it comes to that 'best customer' of yours.

A recent client had grown at 40%+ year over year and was positioning for further market expansion.  This Phoenix had an envious trajectory on paper - and seemed ready to unfold its wings to soar farther and higher than ever before.

When I looked at their revenue history by customer - I noticed that over 50% of their revenues came from their top 3 customers - with the largest customer contributing over 25% of total revenue.

That's a pretty scary thing if you ask me. Call my cynical, but I've grown to suspect anyone that is known as a "best' customer and who has that much impact on your bottom line.  To be fair, sometimes these type of  relationships really are good for business. It's just those select few that will kill you dead.

When I asked the executives about the revenue volume attributed to that specific account - I got these big grins and watched as pride literally swelled their chests.

Seems that customer had been a huge battle with their leading competitor a couple of years back. The competitor was more than 10 times larger than my client.  But my client had won the initial RFP - which was the first of many and a Huge Opportunity.  Since then they had been "thick as thieves" with the customer in question. 

Small follow on deals had materialized as promised.  Although:

• The margins had been lower than expected. 
• And yes, the customer had required custom development for each of the follow on deals - which they expected my client to cover as part of the normal cost of doing business.
• And of course, now that they had such a large deployment, they expected a special level of support that included my client's personnel on site (at my clients' expense).
• But man, they love us for all we do, and they are our best customer!

Well, it seemed obvious to me that there were soft and hard dollar costs associated with this account that might be questionable. But I let it slide - for that moment.

My client continued with the story.  Seems they'd had a big problem with the installation.  The client had been pretty upset when the solution didn't work as expected.  My client invested man-years of investigation, but they'd finally tracked down the problem - which was in another vendor's technology.  It took a while, and my client had to show the other vendor how to fix their problem - but in the end the customer was up and running and happy as a clam. And the other vendor loved my client now too - they were proposing more deals with them than ever.

Why wouldn't they both  love my client? Sounded like free development, free problem determination and resolution, free coding and even free training to a vendor that hadn't spent a dime with them.

Sound scary?  It gets better.

Seems the customer had the next RFP coming up for decision in two weeks - the next big step in the roll-out my client had initiated almost 2 years previously.  My client's team had been on site continuously, working with the buyers and users and engineers to offer just the right response.  The business was a shoe in - and for a change it was at a reasonable margin.  Finally the investment in this huge customer was about to pay off.

You can guess the ending to the story right? 

The RFP was awarded to a competitor. Yes, it was the vendor that was 10 times my client's size.  They underbid them by 3%. And the customer switched vendors faster than I switch toothpaste.

• They'd let my client do the grunt work and break the ground on the first round of solution deployments. 
• They'd waited for my client to work through all the bugs and issues in the customer's infrastructure.
• They'd let them cover all the associated costs
• Then they'd swept in and taken the bigger, and more profitable, deal.

The vendor my client helped?  They'd partnered with my client on the RFP.  But they'd also partnered with the other vendor who won - and since their technology actually worked, well, they were guaranteed a piece of the business no matter who won the proposal. 

And the customer? Well, they really appreciated all that my client had done for them. Really. But business is business and we have to go with the most cost effective proposal. You have to understand that, right?

Oh, and by the way - we still have a few things we need you to fix for us...

Competitive Assessment that Works

While I don't believe the competition should heavily influence a company's strategy, I do believe competitive knowledge is key in better understanding your market. Yet IMHO few companies actually assess the important aspects of the competition.  We spend time evaluating our competitor’s technology foundations, comparing feature against feature. We look for every detail that we can use to prove that our technology is far superior to that of others. We compare pricing and discounting and facts and figures.  

Don’t get me wrong. Understanding your competitor’s technology and its capabilities is a worthwhile exercise.   As long as you don’t fall into the trap of defining your solutions based on their features – and become a follower.   

So what is the most important thing to assess about the competition? 

That’s easy. Customer perceptions. What your customers believe about your competition IS their reality.  It's their truth.  You may be able to change some of that belief with facts and figures and demos - but much of it is pure perception based on opinions and experience.

What customers believe about you and your competitors will trump technology breadth and depth every time.  At the risk of repeating myself - the best technology doesn’t mean you win, remember?  If a customer perceives the competition's products or service or expertise to be superior - it is.  At least until you find a way to change that perception - usually through real world experiences with this customer or others who are like them.

CASE IN POINT

One of my clients was in the SMB software space. They had a feature rich software suite and were doing well in the market.  I was hired to help with some expansion planning.  These guys were great technologists and had some interesting solutions in the B2C business arena.

When I asked about competitors, they gave me detailed analysis of the features/capabilities of the top 3 ‘big’ guys.  Two were well known leaders at the enterprise level – who were moving into the SMB space. One was an online provider of hosted solutions that were probably the best overall fit for the SMB space.  The client believed that their rather large R&D budget was necessary since these 3 competitors had ‘everything’.

When I asked to speak to 10 or so customers – I learned a different truth.

• Customers and prospects didn’t view the 2 enterprise vendors as viable choices – they were overkill, had too many features and were viewed as too complicated.  Plus, what kind of support could an SMB expect from vendors whose bread and butter came from the big enterprise accounts?

• The Hosted vendor? Well, these SMB folks weren’t ready to put their precious business data out  at someone vendor's location, much less access it through the public web. To them, that couldn't be secure. Since they were just moving off of paper systems, they really wanted their solution to be tangible. Turned out that the server they could see in the back office made them feel more comfortable.

• We learned that the real competition fell into two camps –the status quo (and comfort) of remaining on a paper system OR moving to a much simpler software solution with limited features – something the customers could view as 'manageable' vs the overwhelming feeling they got from the big guys’ products.And BTW, the same feeling they were starting to get from my client's solutions with all their Chinese menus of features.

·       My client really didn’t need all those features they were adding like rabbits.  They needed to focus on delivering what customers wanted most – simplicity of solution focused on specific needs and the feeling that they mattered.

We realigned the client’s resources to bundle the simple solutions these customers wanted against target use cases. We focused our marketing around stories of other customers - using a 'Just like them' approach. We highlighted my clients’ commitment to the SMB marketplace ONLY – and showcased their experience in key SMB areas as well as customers sharing their responsive support stories. 

Most importantly, we stopped following the competition with all those features that customers didn’t really want.

The results? Well, we increased sales (and more importantly margins) in the top 4 opportunity markets we identified, while reducing the overall product Plan of Record by about 25%.  The company grew around 30% in the nine months following our work.

A few things to think about when defining competitive assessment and positioning:

• Start by creating a market landscape that focuses on your true competitors – defined by customer perception. Forget about who you think you compete with.  Ask your customers who and what they perceive as alternatives. You may be surprised what you learn.

• Go ahead and look at the technology or product:  You're dying to check under the hood, so do just that.  But ask your customers about their experiences, ask other partners. Go beyond the specifications on the competitive website OR the perceptions your own engineers or specialists carry.  What matters is what the customers perceive to be reality.

• Take a look at qualitative and 'social' aspects of the competition. Never underestimate the power of soft aspects.  How competitors present themselves, how they are perceived is often the reason they win, and not their technology.  Make sure you know exactly how your audience perceives your competition on multiple fronts: technology acumen, experience, customer savvy, customer responsiveness, market knowledge, corporate viability – look at ALL the soft aspects, and stop focusing on the technology alone. Also - look at the 'buzz' about this competitor in the market - find out what your audience is saying about them out on the social web.  That's where true perception is often created in this networked age.

• Identify their Achilles Heel. In the above example the very technology breadth that my client envied (and chased) was one of the Achilles Heels of the competitors. When it comes to weaknesses – you have to look out-of-the-box. Often I find that competitive weakness isn’t in products (imagine that!).  It’s in the market’s perception of their expertise, the quality of their support, their ‘caring’ factor when there is a problem.  Look hard for those soft areas – for they are the areas you can exploit.  And remember, for the market majority too many features or too-rich technology can be a weakness and not a strength.

• Identify their core value and what they do well – and let them do just that. Know their strengths and where those strengths will win – and stay far away. As a  matter of fact - give them that space. You're better off focused on available opportunities.   If there isn’t enough market for you to give them their space and still have a viable opportunity for yourself – then you might just think about your choice of target.

Understanding your audience's perceptions of you and other alternatives is a key step in creating a flight plan for your company growth. So the next time someone knocks on your door with a feeds 'n speeds competitive analysis - ask them what the customers think.  That's what really matters.

The Best Place for Competition is in the Rear View Mirror

One of my first CEO clients - a leader in the early days of the Search industry - gave me a great piece of advice about the competition.  I still follow it.

"If you pay too much attention to the competition - you'll always end up following them."

At the time I actually think I thought he was nuts. After all, as a young idealistic marketing consultant, competitive analysis was one of those B school standards near and dear to my heart.

Now, some twenty something years later, I see how brilliant he was.

Companies have to think for themselves, not like their competitors.

I'm not saying that you have to ignore your competition. That'd be kinda silly, now wouldn't it.

What I am saying is that companies have to stop focusing on what their competition is doing as the baseline for defining their future direction. Following the competition's lead won't help you be a leader.

Leveraging the competitive information you have to think differently, now that's the key. 

As my  grandpa used to say, "The view never changes unless you're the lead cow."

_______

Come back tomorrow for Competitive Assessment that Works!

But It's Our Best and Biggest Seller

Getting  down to the nitty gritty about a client's 'best sellers'  is one of the first things I jump into when I start a new project.  More often than not, those 'best sellers' are the source of more problems than anyone would expect.

How can that be?  It's the biggest seller (which is easy to prove with revenues), the cash cow, sacred cow, the product that delivers major corporate differentiation.  Right?

Sometimes it is.  But more often it's not.

It may generate the most revenue - but you have to look deeper, much deeper, to find out how the product is impacting your business.

• How differentiated is this product - truly? I often learn that it's not, really. It was at one time, but it's not now. In fact, it should be well into its end-of -life.  So why is it selling?  Sometimes the reps are discounting it to get more revenue.  The company is OK with that since well, it's revenue. Sometimes it brings a significantly bigger dollar value per sale than any other product - so even a small number of sales make it look 'big time'. Sometimes it's simply on the brink of starting its decline.

• How much is it costing to continue this product? I had a client who was measuring product success at the contribution margin level. The leading product looked like it was a real winner. The problem?  Well, turns out the product required a lot of integration and testing before it was delivered.  The reps were selling 'specials' more than ever - so, the costs below the line were eating up the margin - and more.  But the company just kept selling more and more of this favored technology. Yes, even in business, love is blind.

• How many and which customers are using it?  I'll sometimes find a handful of the best customers using the product in question. Which sounds like a good thing on the surface.  But what if those customers really aren't that great for your business? What if they aren't the market of your future?  What if they are a market that costs you money? Ask yourself.  How much is it costing you to develop and support a product for customers who don't represent your best, or most profitable, market opportunity going forward? 

• How much are reps allowed to discount? This is one of my favorites. I continue to be amazed at the number of companies who measure reps on revenue and not margins - and celebrate the $2M deal which secretly cost them money.  I'm not going to get into sales incentives and motivation here.  But IMHO if you have to heavily discount your 'best selling product' - you might want to think again.

• What are you NOT doing because if the investment in this product? Here's another big rub. A client  was investing almost 40% of their R&D budget into a legacy product that was losing margins. The installed base was strong but small (and declining) and its applicability was growing more limited.  Why?  Because it was really cool technology (5 years ago), differentiated (for those who needed it) and was frankly, the client's adored 'baby'.  The problem?  The company's future,the set of products that were potentially game changing, were being strangled for resources by this legacy beast. 

I'm not claiming this is always the case.  Certainly not.  Some clients point to a best seller and it is truly the lifeline for the business.

What I am saying is - Throw Everything into the Fire, test that best seller.  If it rises as a key asset for your Phoenix - then ride it to the sky. 

Just make sure it's a Phoenix, and not a vulture in disguise.  

Throw Everything in the Fire

As you begin a Phoenix Rising^® process - you have to let go of all the tightly held assumptions, beliefs and just plain 'hard facts'  you hold about your company, your value, your product, your customers and your market. 

Some of them are true - but many of them aren't. 

Markets and customers change.  More often than not a company's beliefs about itself lag behind those changes.

Why wouldn't they?  Even if you're selling to the masses at ever more commodity prices you still have a good business, right?

The danger is when 'false truths' continue to drive company strategy long past their time.

Be just like the Phoenix.  Take everything you know to be true and cast in into the fire of scrutiny.  Question everything. Be tough, be fair and honest, and most of all  - let your customers' perspectives  be the most powerful flames of all.

After all, their opinion - demonstrated by the dollars they spend with you -  is what really matters, right?

Take the assets that stand the test - along with the new ideas born within the flames -  and use them as the foundation to recreate your company.

The result will give you the best and brightest definition of your company, its power, the value it brings to customers today, and tomorrow.

It's always hard to get started. Human beings bring their perceptions and beliefs with them every where they go - including their business beliefs.***  But the more diligent your are in your appraisals, the better the results.

So how do you kindle the fires of change?

Start with a Blank Whiteboard.

 *** I'm writing about the common beliefs that I've asked clients to challenge through the years, beliefs that they need to rethink. You can check them out in Think Again.