Phoenix Rising

Sensationalism is not Expertise!

Scott McKain wrote a post on Friday that got me going, Intellectual Dishonesty. It's an eloquent rant concerning the growing negativity and sensationalism created by supposed industry 'gurus', all for the sake of ratings and followers. IN the end that behavior all boils down to MONEY and EGO. As I said in my comment to Scott's post - once you sell out your integrity for money - we all know what you are. Now the only question is, "What's your price?"

Scott put it on the table when it comes to selling out our integrity for the big bucks - something I personally see happening all around me. Many of us have been discussing this sad state on our own blogs or behind the scenes of social media.

I am not about to try and steal Scott's thunder here. He nailed the topic right between the eyes. So go read his post. It is an ABSOLUTE MUST READ for anyone who would think of hiring an 'expert', or for all of us who follow said experts and wonder about their motivation.

So why am I writing?

Scott focused on the industry Gurus - the A-List bloggers and social media-powered gurus who are selling out to reach for fame and fortune.

I don't think the issue of sensationalism stops there. I see it all around me.  Think about it:

• What about the team leader in your company that is constantly pointing to that latest problem and waving their hands like chicken little - the sky has fallen and we can't get up?  Or the 'entrenched leader who disses every idea by the new kids on the block - creating sensational visions of why it just won't work? Where's the expertise there?  All it takes is one or two highly vocal, respected-by-others employees to strike fear into the hearts of a company - all because they went sensational instead of  into rational problem solving mode. Most of the time those folks want more attention, more praise or they are trying to stop a change that would threaten their world.

• Then there are the leaders who create drama and excuses for why they can't meet the goals, why that new product is failing, why the board should give them more money because that big bad competitor is playing so unfairly.  r the internal sensationalism - pointing to another leader or team and creating negative drama around their capabilities or work - just to draw attention to their own efforts. As leaders, we are role models for our employees and partners. What kind of role model fuels sensationalism and negativity just to cover their own flaws or make themselves appear bigger? WOW. 

• And now to one of my current personal peeves - the everyday sensationalism or just plain negative attacking comments that have become cool in our world. Want an example? We attack greats like Eric Clapton and The Who because they are now the Geritol generation still performing on stage. How dare they?  Lets insult them for being older and having the gall to keep doing what they love. While we buy their tickets.  I have to wonder how many of a making the sensationalist comments to and oh-so smarmy comments just to make themselves appear 'cool' will ever reach the fame and fortune of these fabulous stars. None....
  

Yet we all see this, don't we? I know I do. It's always bugged me,this need to create sensationalism to ward off what we fear, make ourselves bigger, or just plain control a situation.  Lately it feels like it's more prevalent than ever. 

Sensationalism cannot replace expertise and focus.

We all go through that cocky, 'I know more than you' stage. At least a lot of us do.  But we grow out of it by our early 30s. I have to wonder if that's the case anymore.

What happened to focusing on solving problems, creating positive value, raising our standards higher, respecting those who have worked hard and come before us, seeking to find the value in all things? That's what it meant to be a leader once upon a time. Leaders direct others to new improved levels of thinking and being. They lift others up.  They surely don't put them down.

Anyone can be sensational.

It's really easy to find the negative and create energy around it. You don't need experience, intelligence, savvy or much else to throw mud.  All it takes is a negative attitude and a drive to be heard (and seen) above all others. in that case - the bigger the sensational claims, the more you win.

It takes expertise, integrity and perseverance to find a solution. Focusing on the upside isn't easy sometimes. But that's what a true leader does. A true expert solves problems, improves their followers lives, supports growth and expansion.

Check back tomorrow as I discuss the 8 Signs of a Leader (or expert). Signs that we're focused on the positive, productive side of the equation - in integrity and professionalism.

Guess what?  Sensationalism is not on the list.

Extreme Measures

Fifteen Laughable Product Warning Labels

The above article was in Forbes this week.  I got a kick out of all of the warning labels - some were truly extreme, for example the one below.  Imagine - Office Depot warning people to wear Safety Goggles to use a letter opener. Pretty bad, huh?

But then I started thinking about why the  companies delivering these products felt compelled to cover their proverbial derrieres in such obviously over-the-top ways.

It's not because they've lost their minds. Nor have their corporate lawyers run amok - well, at least no more so than normal. It's not even because they're trying to do the best job possible of protecting their customers.

These companies are going to extreme measures to CYA because NOT doing so means they open themselves up to frivolous litigation. Not going to these extreme measures means they could lose their business to someone who makes a silly move and blames them - and in the end, the company pays, and pays big.

My righteous indignation is screaming!

I get ticked every time I hear of yet another lawsuit filed by some person who wasn't paying attention, using common sense or who was doing something just plain stupid and was injured.  Remember the person who poured hot coffee on themselves and was burned - and sued the restaurant?  That was only the beginning.

I have to ask. What happened to personal responsibility and just plain good judgment?  Is anyone else out there  thinking our legal system has gone loco?   Are we so inept that we can't be trusted to make good  decisions and protect ourselves from dangerous letter openers?  Must we place the responsibility for protecting our safely (and common sense) on the manufacturers of products?  I hope not.

Here's my BIG concern. 

If this trend continues - businesses will have a hard time releasing products to their markets. Legal teams will determine the risk/reward scenarios of bringing  a new product to market. Great innovations will die a sad death. We'll fall behind the rest of the world thanks to our onerous litigation. 

There has to be a way to halt this madness and return to a balanced and equitable distribution of responsibility. Starting with our legal system - or maybe with a return to personal responsibility.

Let me know what YOU think.  Rebel Rant over and out....for now.

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.

Experts Behaving Badly. Why? Drama Sells!

The great minds of Apple gave us innovation today.

Thanks to the iPad, I can access anything I want on the web, watch  videos, write a blog post, create a presentation, run a spreadsheet,  read my book or magazine and email as I like.  I can carry one small iPad onto the plane or in the car and do everything I need to do.  Wow -I just lost ten pounds of luggage! 

Too bad some smaller minds had to show up at the party.

As soon as Steve said the name 'iPad' - they started attacking.  'Bad name' screamed the cynics.  'iMaxi' or 'iTampon' joked these brilliant gurus.   

You have to be kidding me? 

The iPad changes the way we can work and play. It obsoletes netbooks, Kindles and Nooks and more.  Apple just delivered the answer to many of us travelers' dreams.  Just think what it can do for our work life, our personal life and our kids!   Star Trek - here we come!

So why are 'experts' so focused on dissing the name?  

They're doing what they are paid to do. They can't find a major flaw - but they have to create negative drama to get attention, to earn their paychecks.  After all -  a vendor can't deliver a product that hip experts say is GOOD, right?  Hip experts are always cynical and sarcastic. So they create conflict, look for anything negative. If it means attacking the name iPad - so be it.  After all, drama sells, right?

We are better than this!

• Do any of us really believe someone won't buy an iPad because of the name?  No.
• Is the iPad any less innovative because of the trash talk about its moniker?  No.
• Do any of us think the name will in any way impact the coolness of this new Apple iPad?  No. 

Why do we  listen to and even pass along such drivel?  Those comments were rude, vulgar and unprofessional at best.  They certainly had nothing to do with an expert opinion (even a hip expert) on a new product offering. 

I'm ditching the drama. I've had enough.

I stopped watching the news because of drama and manipulation by supposed 'experts'. As of today I've stopped listening to the new generation of sarcastic, negative experts in all aspects of my life. I'm reclaiming my power to decide for myself, based on real facts that matter, not on petty drama.  

I'm surely not listening to self-adorned experts who resort to crass name-calling.

I'll buy my iPad, enjoy the innovation and laugh all the way to the plane. And for those who don't like the name - WHO CARES?  Shame on you!  I'm not using the name to do my work, watch movies, send email, write a note or surf the web, now am I?

Let's focus on what's important - creating positive value. 

No DMs Please

Just when I thought it was bad - it got worse.

We all know how annoying all the Twitter 'Thanks for following' DMs are, right?  Mine have become downright out of control these days.  I miss my friends DMs thanks to all the SPAM in my DM column. Sigh. It's worse than email because I can't block Tweets.

I wouldn't mind the DMs so much if they really were thanking me and/or offering something valuable. But we know that's not true either.  It's a rare DM that offers anything other than 'Follow me on FB', 'Get 1,000 followers in under 60 seconds', 'Use my MLM and you'll be a millionaire tomorrow'. Blah Blah.

Recently I've been paying a bit more attention to those pesky DMs. I wanted to see if anyone had a clue about an effective use of Direct Messages in response to Follows.  I'm sad to say - I haven't found a single one yet that made me jump up and scream "Yes!!"

I did find one yesterday that made me scream "NO!" more loudly than usual.  The Tweep has over 32,000 Followers so you'd think he'd know better.  Obviously not.

Here's the DM...with a few changes to protect the guilty.

I'm honored for the follow! I create sustainable business systems. Can I help? See my site: http://XXX.com   (NO DM's pls)

No DMs Please? Excuse me Mr. Tweep, I must be confused. Didn't you just DM me to sell your services?  Didn't you just take my time, invade my space, without asking permission?  And now you're telling me you're too busy to accept a DM back from me? 

You gotta be kidding me. 

I am amazed at the Power of Twitter and other Social Media platforms to network with like-minded folks.  ISM is a fabulous tool when used appropriately.

I'm also continuously shocked at the seeming lack of just plain common sense (or maybe in this case it's common courtesy) from folks on social media - especially Twitter.

So, here are a few little clues for anyone  using Twitter.  Forget the DMs, stop annoying people and just be yourself. Let your voice shine through your Tweets, share your value freely and let people see why they want to be a Follower of you and your  thoughts. That's the key to creating a loyal SM following - on any of the platforms.

• Don't send blind, pointless DMs.
• Stop Spamming with your promises of thousands of followers.
• Forget the millionaire overnight promo and most of all...

Don't insult people by telling them your time is more valuable than theirs.

Fair Play

Fair Play ruled in my upbringing - in everything from horses to golf to piano competitions to life itself.  It's a simple principle promoting that how you play the game is more important than winning.

The rules have changed.

We have cheating bankers getting federal bailout money while honest people are losing their homes and lives.  Then there are companies like GM who ignored the markets and followed their own egos all the way to bankruptcy - well they are bailed out by our tax dollars. Now that I think about it - we've even lost the concept of Fair Play in our sports heroes.

I won't keep going - we all know the examples, in business, government, sports and our own personal lives. We all know that Fair Play is becoming more rare every day in certain circles. 

I wonder if we've let Fair Play slide because life is easier without that rule. 

Fair Play means that we have to be better than others to succeed. When we deliver a quality product and service to our customers, we have a significantly better chance of winning than the guys who do shoddy work. 

Fair Play also means we take responsibility for our actions. We step up and deliver - focusing all our energy on our assignment - rather than on who has the power and how we can get more.

Fair Play means we focus our efforts to get better and better at what we do.  Our skill and knowledge, our performance, becomes our path to accomplishment. We can't use other forms of manipulation to get ahead anymore - they won't work.

Think what the return of Fair Play could do for our lives.

In business we'd return to the premise that when we deliver quality - we get the rewards. When we deliver crap - we go out of business. Now that would solve a lot of problems, wouldn't it?

In our personal lives we'd learn to trust again - knowing that everyone we encountered was playing according to the rules of Fair Play. Wouldn't that be a great step.

I believe we Fair Players are the majority in this world. 

So why do those who break the rules get by with it so often - and for so long?

I don't have the answer to that question.  Nor do I know how to bring Fair Play back as the name of the game.  What I do know is that I don't like it when others get to play by a different set of rules - actually break the rules - and still win. 

I want to do something about it. I wonder if I can get my tax dollars back from all those guys?  Hmmm...

Little White Lies

There's nothing wrong with a little white lie, right?

So we deliver an upbeat message to our team to keep everyone engaged. Why share the reality that the we're in a bigger mess than we want to admit, even to ourselves? It will only make things worse.

Or we over-promise our capabilities to win a new customer. We will find a way to satisfy their needs, and they'll just love us when they get to know us.

Maybe we stretch the truth about ourselves - our experience, our skills.  We're sure we can learn on the job and do well - we always have before.

Little white lies can lead to great big problems.

When we set an expectation - that expectation is taken as a commitment. If we set that expectation with a little white lie - we begin our commitment out of integrity.  

Sooner or later, the truth comes out. In the worst case, we lose the respect and trust of those we 'mislead'.  In a better case, we sneak by with only a minor ripple - we met that customers' needs, even if it did take an extra month or so.  But we still lost some of their confidence when the truth emerged. 

In the best case - no one ever knows about that little white lie. We get by and live to tell another - the next time we don't want to face reality.

White lies quickly become dirty dark secrets.

No matter how we rationalize them, white lies are still lies. We can't base our business, or our lives, on untruths.  When we start from a faulty foundation, we're setting ourselves up for the fall.

Just read the business section and you'll still see examples of that sad, sad truth.  The names you see there didn't start out by telling their ultimate whoppers. They began with tiny steps across the line of truth.

As part of my New Decade commitments - I'm watching myself for those little white lies. I took a good hard look and realized I was guilty of stepping across that line - and I didn't like it. Not big stuff - just baby steps.  But no more.  I'm sticking to my truth. And yes, I'm learning to share it more graciously as part of the journey.

How about you?

Power Chicks Do It Bigger

Somebody commented that I was really taking it out on the Power Dudes. So, just for the record, Power Chicks are worse than Power Dudes. Power Chicks swagger over other women like no man I've ever met, while they're sucking up to the guys, just sweet as pie. We gals know the type - they'll trash you behind your back, set you up to fail every chance they get - and smile like your best friend whenever you're around. I don't know a woman in business who hasn't run into these females. And guess what?

Power Chicks get by with More than Power Dudes!

Let's start with Martha Stewart - All American Heroine. Martha wanted to make big money. Let me correct that, she already had big money. She wanted more. So she spit in the eye of the law - and all the rest of us law abiding citizens. She went for it. When she was caught, she didn't understand all the fuss. She was entitled after all. But alas, poor Martha wasn't quite Powerful enough to defy the hard evidence against her - so she want to jail.

That didn't deter Martha - she took over.  Made a joke out of her entire jail stay. Laughing all the way to the bank. And what a bank it is. Martha Stewart defied all her consequences, and we let her do it all.  She's worth almost $640M today - thanks to our supportive spending.

As an aside for anyone who might still be drinking the Martha Koolaid - here's a true story. A friend of mine writes for a New York magazine. When she went to visit Martha for a cover profile, she and her crew were left outside to wait in 90 degree plus weather. Martha didn't even offer them a glass of water while they waited, or when they finally came into her home - four hours late for her interview. She'd been having her hair restyled for the cover photos.  So much for the hostess with the mostess.

Power Chicks run right over everyone, smiling all the way. 

Want my current favorite? Sarah Palin. I know - a lot of you love her.  That's your right, and I won't deny you that privilege.  She was an elected official, committed to her state and its best interests - the second woman to run for the 2nd most important position in our government. I'd just like to point out that when the rest of the world wasn't as easily won over as her state - she took her marbles and went home. Once there, she quit an elected post over one and a half years early, leaving  her state in the lurch and a lot of us shocked beyond words. If I did that in my business, I wouldn't have a business.

But Sarah's abrupt exit doesn't seem to matter. Sarah's Power lives on in her new book - Going Rogue. Over 300,000 people rushed out to buy that literary masterpiece - supporting her behavior, her entire way of being with their dollars.And Sarah's so thankful that she's going to run for President in 2012.. 

So what's my point?

I won't buy her book - any more than I'll buy Bill's or Tiger's or Martha's or John's. I won't vote for her either.  My question is, why do any of us?  Yes, I understand the ideal of forgive and forget. I believe in it. But I also believe that there are lines that must be drawn, especially when it comes to those who blatantly abuse Power.  People make mistakes, do things in the heat of the moment  - those are the folks we forgive. Not the Power Brokers.

Why are the Power Brokers rewarded for breaking the rules?

I abide by the laws of many Gods and mankind, honor my fellow beings, use my power for the good of all beings that I can help.  Why are the Power Brokers above all the rest of us?  Aside from the fact that we put them there. We all put on our pants the same way every morning. Even us Chicks!

When people abuse their Power to take advantage of others, work the system for their own gain, betray those who love and trust them, I'm drawing the line. I am not supporting them in any way, shape or form.

What are you going to do?

______________________

Special thanks to my dear friend Ellen for supporting me while I write this whole series. You're a magical woman E!

We Need Consequences

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely 

Tiger is only the latest in the line of 'Great, All American Nice Guys' to fall short of our God-like standards. We have Michael Vick and his dogs. There's Sanford, Edwards and Ensign to name just a few government leaders who've 'crossed the line'. Let's not forget those special leaders of ENRON and Wall Street whose corruption brought our economy to its knees. We have Bill and Monica, Brad and Angelina, Tom and Penelope. Even Fox Mulder is corrupt.

Without consequences, behaviors don't change.

So, where are the consequences? Oh sure, Wall Street fell. But our tax dollars bailed them out - we even gave some of them big bonuses. Oh I forgot, we took care of that, limiting bonuses to south of $1M or so.  Now there's a consequence.  I want that punishment myself.  The Enron guys went to jail - but how many just like them are still leaders, hiding beneath a corporate brand and crooked books, enjoying their undeserved bonus streams?

Michael Vick has his job back along with his great big salary.  Fans pay huge dollars for tickets to go see him. Some friends tell me he paid for his crime - he went to jail.  They were just dogs after all.  (Don't get me started!).  Somehow, I don't think the time in a posh little jail changed much about dear Michael - although I do pray that it did. Time will tell. I'm not picking on him by the way. Pick your favorite sports team and you'll find cheating, drugs and gambling beneath that mascot. We cringe when the news first hits. But soon we forget, buy those tickets and rush to see them in action.The All American Dream.

How quickly we forget. The Power is just too strong. 

I'm not proposing an answer here - that's not my place. But I am doing my part to create consequences - paltry though it may be. I refuse to buy a Tom Cruise ticket since he was such an ass with Nicole and their children. I didn't buy Clinton's book and I won't be contributing to his library fund. I vote more against the corruption than for the positive. That's a sad fact itself, and totally another story.

I know it sounds silly.  It's just my way of showing that just because you're powerful, it doesn't mean you can cheat - on your wife, your company, your fans or our country.  I'm also learning not to put people on pedestals. No matter who they are, or what they've done, very few people deserve that lofty view. 

The likes of Mother Theresa and Gandhi - those are our Titans.

The rest of us? We are all just mortals.

_____________________________

Tomorrow - Blinded by the Light.

Absolute Power

Power is an ugly drug, a drug that many of us crave, some of us capture and we all believe we can manage oh-so-well. We point to those who slip and fall on the slippery slope of power, ridicule them and make jokes, knowing that we would never follow in their footsteps.  We behave as if those who slip and fall are the exception to the rules.

Tiger is NOT the exception.

Gosh how I wish he was. But he's not, and maybe instead of cracking jokes about his mistakes and the poor women in his life - we should all look a little deeper into our own actions, and our culture.

Our culture is determined to set up those in power for ultimate failure. No one can live up to the onslaught of adoration and idol worship, the just plain 'bigger than life' spectacle that we create. All who are lifted up to those oh-so-high pedestals will slip and fall off, sooner or later, in some way.

We are, after all, human.

I've worked with powerful leaders for over twenty years now as a consultant.  I can tell you, for sure, that even the most 'sainted' among them is changed by the power they are granted. Sooner or later, we start believing our own press. 

We create our Titans - the men and women who power our businesses to huge success, lead our country through wars and economic upheaval, entertain us in our sporting, music and media worlds. We deify them, following their every move with awe and glory.  Then we trash them when they fall short of our already unrealistic expectations.

We're all responsible.

You may disagree with me, but hear me out. We help to create the monsters these powerful folks often become. We promote them with our spending dollars, our votes, our fascination with their lives (and those tabloid sales). We accept their every direction in business, knowing they are the visionary to lead us to success. We don't question - we follow. We accept and promote their position above us, expect them to be perfect and beyond reproach, and then wonder why they fail to be the Gods we expect.

Sure, there are a few souls who don't let power affect them. I know some who haven't changed.  A few hold their true selves separate from the public image that is so much larger than life. These are wise and valued souls.

They are the exceptions.

How sad is that?

_____________________________

This week I'm discussing Power and all that comes with it. Check back tomorrow for Absolute Corruption....

We Get more Flies with Sugar

My southern mother had all kinds of cute sayings about life and the pursuit.  This one came to mind this morning.

"You get more flies with Sugar than you do with Vinegar".

I was chatting with an associate  about a client of his who is in a battle with another vendor at a customer site.  There's lots of finger pointing about who was causing which problem. In the meantime the customer is stuck in the middle as his business grinds to a pace that even tortoise land would view as slow.

My buddy was frustrated with their approach, so he'd called me more to vent than anything. 

From his client's perspective there were only two solutions:

• Get proactive.  This sounded exactly like the right option until I learned what they meant. To them, proactive meant 'slinging mud' and 'FUD' at the other vendor. I thought he was kidding, but it turns out he wasn't.  It truly was (and is) a strategy on the table. Point the finger and focus on proving that the other vendor was at fault. Now that's helpful to the customer, isn't it?


• Be reactive:  After the proactive approach I figured this one had to be better.  Wrong. This approach basically meant they would say as little as possible about anything to the customer or the other vendor, lay low and see how things worked out.  Basically, the vendor would play ostrich with his customer.

Where's the customer focus?

I was floored. I honestly didn't think anyone thought this way anymore.  But obviously some do - which is why I brought the SoapBox out.

• Is anyone thinking about the customer and the business impact this little vendor game is having?
• Are they focusing energy on finding a solution instead of just covering their tails? 
• Are they taking an honest, open, partnering approach to handling this situation?

In case you're wondering, the answers are No, No and No.

This vendor has an option to be honest, open and direct with the customer.

Instead, this company is focused on proving that it's not to blame and potentially starting a war with the other vendor.

They focused on Covering Their Butts.

This situation is a GREAT opportunity to create a stronger partnering relationship with the customer. This vendor could join forces with the other vendor and the customer's team - and show that customer that their business success is more important than any corporate ego. It's the chance to tell the truth and gain credibility.

The chance for honesty and partnering is long gone. 

I bet the flies do come even with this 'vinegar' approach. 

They'll show up to buzz the vendor's carcass after the customer shoots them dead.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Aretha had it right about respect.

We want it, we need it and we don't get enough of it.

That makes for an interesting situation doesn't it? What happens in our society when one of the basic foundations of a civilized world - respect and courtesy - is a rare commodity? I'm not saying we're all disrespectful. I know lots of people who are kind and courteous gentle men and women.

But I also see a lot of disrespect - from snide not-really-under-the-breath asides to full blown bullies who are nasty to anyone they deem 'beneath' them. The business traveler screaming at the airline gate agent because a snowstorm closed the airport and he needs to leave NOW. The well-dressed woman raging at the sales clerk for not having the lipstick she wants in stock. What a crisis that is.

Our mothers would be ashamed of us.

Leading strategy brainstorming sessions for clients is an interesting dance. Invariably some folks will shoot down every idea other than their own. I call it 'rolling on top of the ball'.  If I put someone else down, I'm above them. So the key to my 'winning' is to roll others under the ball while I climb on top and thump my chest. It's not exactly a behavior conducive to brainstorming or team building.

I intercept the naysayers - nicely but firmly.  First they argue with me. Then they get disrespectful and try to roll me under the ball. When I refuse to react, politely focusing back on the goal of limitless brainstorming,  they get sullen and retreat into silence.

That's better I suppose - at least we move forward. Often these naysayers are leaders in the organization. What does that say about the culture, or lack thereof? Yet usually the rest of the team accepts the petulant behavior without a flinch.  "Oh, that's just Joe."  Say what?

Are we disrespectful out of habit?

Have we become so accepting of disrespect in our quest for performance that we don't care anymore?  Do some swagger to promote their own self-importance regardless of the impact on others?  And do we 'others' accept the disrespect of colleagues due to habit as well?  Do we chalk it up to stressed out people unaware of their thoughtlessness?

Maybe it is a habit. Maybe the 'Joes' are clueless about their behavior. Maybe we're so focused on visibly being 'ahead' or 'winning' that we don't care who we step on to get there. Regardless of the reason - I have to ask. What are we teaching our children, the next generation of leaders? 

The leaders of ancient Rome took the path of disrespect and self-importance.

I think it's time we changed our course.

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!

Is Trust Broken?

I was looking at a contract with my publishing house last week. It got me thinking about trust. This contract was lengthy and detailed. Fair, but very detailed. Yet there were still a few things I had to take on trust. I did it. But how many others would?

My how times have changed.

When I started consulting, I took client work on a handshake. That's all I needed. You see, I don't want to work with anyone who I can't trust. Today, everyone wants a contract. Mostly to protect themselves in case of litigation.

What a way to start a relationship.

 

If we live in mistrust today - where will we be tomorrow?

Lost trust impacts all of us. Here's an example.  My horse trainer's insurance company refused to allow dogs on her property because they were afraid of lawsuits. Mind you, 70 or so horses live on this property  24 x 7. Up to 6 of them run free during the day at one time - along the road and in front of people's homes. It's horsey heaven! And FYI, my trainer has allowed dogs for twenty years now - without one single problem.

Anyway - the insurance thing sounds like no big deal. Right? 

Not to my pup Diego.  The ranch is his favorite place to go. I pick up my boots and he begins his doggie dance. Barking and running in circles - joy oozing out of every hair.  Now that favorite place is gone. How do I explain to his pure trusting doggie self that because of human mistrust - he loses?

Without trust, we will lose more than our freedom. 

The weight of mistrust is heavy on our businesses and our economy. Legal costs are skyrocketing, progress is slowing. Soon we won't be able to do anything without a legal release. Imagine - signing a release to eat at a restaurant, enter a mall, pump our own gas.

A friend called me last night to vent about a legal hassle with marketing materials. Hey company is  taking every single marketing piece - from outbound emails to landing pages to spec sheets, through a legal process. The results are a disaster for the business.  Every compelling, though factual, word and statement is gone. There's nothing left but pablum now that the legal beagles are done. It's a waste of money and time to use the poor content that's being 'allowed' by the legal teams. It's ridiculous - and such a sad statement of our culture today.

We cannot move forward without trust.

_____________________________________

Tomorrow - Some thoughts on how to find trust again.

Mine’s Bigger than Yours!

Is anyone else tired of all the hype marketing?

I don’t mean all marketing. I’m talking about the hand-waving promises that are so unrealistic as to be laughable. Perfect teeth in 4 days, hair re-growth in a few applications or a perfect body in only 2 weeks thanks to some revolutionary rubber band. Stretch it 3 times a day and look like a fashion model in no time. Wow.

Do buyers really fall for that stuff?

I guess they do, or we wouldn’t have those ads all over the place, now would we?    Still, I don’t think it works for the majority of cases in the B2C world. Certainly not for B2B type audiences.

Yet we see similar claims from B2B vendors. Promises to reduce cost, eliminate debt, increase revenues - make you profitable or bring 100,000 users to your door TOMORROW. All with not a lot of proof to go along, just fantastic claims. I call it chest thumping. I also call it the Dinosaur Way of Marketing.

Those approached don’t work anymore folks.

Our audiences are too smart.

They can find out every 'truth' they want to know about us. Give them a search engine and they are off and running on a fact finding frenzy.  They roll their eyes when we start to claim leadership and do the chest thumping sell. They politely wait for us to finish – sometimes - and then take a dive deep into our real-world experience at the first opportunity.

Think about the way you use the web for your own buying decisions. 

Do you read the vendor website - or do you go to the reviews, the ePinions, Consumer Reports?  Odds are you look for others like you that have reviewed your products.  You don't go drink marketing Kool-Aid for your new refrigerator from the guys who built it, now do you?

Why should our B2B audience be any different?

They aren’t.  They want to know why they should trust us, why they should partner with us. Customers and prospects want to see our expertise in action. They want to know that we understand their business, that we've helped others like them to do cool things for their business. They want the evidence, not the claims.

B2B customers don't want positioning claims and Me, Me, Me Marketing.

They want the truth, and the evidence to support it.

Just like each of us when we begin a purchase a decision for a new car, television, appliance or home. We don’t want to hear the hype, we want just the facts. So why should we expect our own customers to want hype from us?

When creating a marketing story, it’s time we start thinking like a customer. Better yet, it’s time we let our customers and their successes speak for our abilities. Instead of thumping our own chests, we can let others speak our praises, demonstrate our value, prove our success.

It’s called ‘telling the truth’ and ‘being humble’.

Wow, what a concept.

________________________________
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All I Wanted Was to Buy an iPhone

“I'm sorry, we can't find a way to sell you your iPhone.  You'll have to wait.”

Those are the last words I expected to hear in  the AT&T store. I’d run in all excited to purchase my new iPhone yesterday. You see, my Palm Centro is on its last legs. After playing with my friend’s new iPhone on Sunday, I was jazzed.

I ran home on Sunday night and placed an order with Apple. I even paid for fast shipping, so I could get it ASAP. Yes, immediate gratification was in charge!  Monday morning, I received a notice from Apple, stating that the phone would arrive by Friday or the following Monday. You call that ASAP shipping?

Strike #1 Apple.

I called Apple's customer service desk, and explained my situation to the nice man in India five times. He kept explaining that five to six days was fast shipping. In whose world?

Strike #2 Apple.

He finally accepted my opinion on his fast shipping, after I explained my locale and situation. I live 6 hours from the Apple distribution warehouse so a week is not ASAP.  After much pushing and begging, he offered to reverse the order so that I could go buy the phone in a local store.  I remember thinking "Why does buying something have to be so hard?" Little did I know...

I headed out later on Monday to the local ATT store to buy my new iPhone. I was so excited – I love new toys! I found a salesman, Jeff, who got a kick out of my excitement! We picked out my iPhone, accessories and headed for the checkout. Jeff entered my phone number, started to check me out – and then got this confused look on his face.  “Have you already bought an iPhone?” Ah, the Apple thing. I explained what had happened. He shook his head and took a deep breath.

“I have to talk to my manager. I don’t think we can sell you a phone."

WHAT???

Long story short.  Apple did cancel the order. But it takes 3-4 days for Apple to clear the transaction from ATTs system. In the meantime, they put a hold on my ATT account – so no new purchases or changes can be made.  So basically – I can’t have a new phone until Apple's system releases my account. You gotta be kidding me? What transactions takes 4 days to clear in this digital age??

Strike #3 and you’re OUT Apple.

I’m a customer ready to make a purchase. I have cash in hand. And I can’t buy?

To be fair - the ATT manager offered to sell me an iPhone at full price for the week. I’d return it when Apple released my account. ATT would sell me a new one at the discount for my upgrade – and then THROW AWAY the brand new iPhone I bought at full price.  OMG – what a waste!

I declined.  That just didn’t seem fair to poor ATT.  Just because Apple can’t ship in a timely way and saw fit to highjack my account, why should ATT pay for it?

So here I sit, no iPhone and helpless to do anything about it.

Sigh, I can’t even go buy a Blackberry Storm. They stopped me from buying anything.  I called Apple again and finally found a manager after a long begging session with another outsourced rep who badly needed to buy a clue.  That manager stepped up and attempted to get my iPhone here sooner, due to my inconvenience.  So I’ll have a phone by Wednesday (we hope). Now why didn't the first rep offer that same timeline???

I give Apple three strikes and a BIG OUT for Customer Service.

What do you think?

Cats with Shiny Objects

Mighty Mouse taught us that focus is key to competitive success.

Vision and change is also key to business growth. 

We must seek out and embrace new ideas, new ways of being, new markets and new opportunities.We must evolve and change to thrive.

So, how do we blend vision and focus?

The key is to identify and focus on those truly great ideas - focusing until we bring them to fruition in our business. That may sound easy, but all too often it's not. Why? Because new ideas and opportunities keep popping up. What's new is often more interesting and exciting. 

Companies are often like cats with shiny objects.

  

Ever watch a cat with lots of objects in motion around it?  Kitty will change her focus every second chasing that new and different thing. That's great for keeping kitty engaged and out of trouble, but it's not so good for business success.

That's not meant to be an insult by the way. I happen to be just such a cat. I see a problem and then next thing you know, I'm free associating all over the place to solve it. I bounce from one extreme to the other and everywhere in between, trying on new ideas and approaches until I find one that I know is right for my client. 

That's the key  - right there. 

We have to know when to settle on an approach and get focused.

Constantly chasing the next great thing is a big problem in many businesses. Sure, innovation is great.  But there's ALWAYS going to be some new shiny object. We can't drop our most recent focus to move to the next, and the next. We never get anywhere. We spin our wheels, waste time and money.

It's a delicate balancing act.

The key is to blend the curiosity of a cat exploring new ideas - and the discipline of Mighty Mouse, focusing once we set our course, to the exclusion of competitive and other distractions. Listening carefully for new ideas that fuel our current focus, expand it, evolve it - without distracting our overall efforts.

Focus implies a constant, vision an ever-changing horizon.  The ultimate? To blend the best of both worlds. It's not simple to balance between two seemingly diametrically opposed viewpoints. Yet is a critical factor in our business success.

If they can do it, We can do it!

 
 

Lessons from a Mighty Mouse

So you think your competitor is scary?

Put yourself in Mighty Mouse's shoes, er, paws.

Our heroine appeared in this leopard's habitat just after the keeper dropped off breakfast. Mighty Mouse headed straight for the food. She ignored the leopard. Nothing was going to deter her. No matter what the leopard tried, Mighty Mouse stuck to her focus. When she had her fill, she moved on, unharmed and a much happier (and fatter) mouse.

What can we learn from Mighty Mouse?

Competitors are looming around us.

We're all after the same piece of the pie, er steak.

Do we focus on the competitor? Or on the goal?  You can see what little Mighty Mouse did. She focused on her goal.  She knew exactly what she wanted, and she kept her eyes on the ball, er beef.

The competition will try to distract us.

Sometimes they get really pushy.

That didn't bother little Mighty Mouse. She stuck to her focus no matter what her competitor did to distract or dissuade her!

She didn't change her tactics just because the competition got nasty. She didn't start throwing FUD or engaging in the leopard's tactics. She had a lot to lose if she played the leopard's game. So she kept to her own game plan. She ignored the leopard and went for  the gusto!

Even with fierce competition we can be successful!

If we stay focused!

Mighty Mouse attained her goal. She fed herself until she was stuffed. Her 'friendly competitor' stayed close by and watched. The leopard didn't know what to do. It was dumbfounded by this little mouse who refused to be swayed by its usual tactics.

Think what we can do when we stay focused!

________________________________

These shots were taken at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire by photography student Casey Gutteridge.  Way to go Casey - what a great example of being at the right place at the right time!

I Really Should...

'Should' can go the way of the Woolly Mammoth.

It limits us, keeps us in a repetitive pattern of thinking and behavior. Think about it. Our parents used the 'should' word to teach us their version of right and wrong, to take responsibility and to follow the local cultural and social rules. And yes, some 'shoulds' are good things. We should be responsible, contributing members of society. We should follow the important guidelines of humanity. We should brush our teeth:)

The problem?

'Should' limits our new thinking and behaviors.

An early mentor asked me to listen to my inner 'shoulds' for a day'. It was an unforgettable exercise. Why? I learned that my 'shoulds' were creating an inner struggle. They wanted to keep me and my behavior in line with the accepted norms of the day. Not one single should was supportive of being different - or distinctive. As you can guess - I wanted a different path. So the internal dialogues began.

I should stay in my job, not build my own business. I was too young, it was too high risk. But I want to be a consultant and help many companies. I believe in me.

I should work fewer hours, stop traveling and settle down.But I love my work and want my freedom to explore this world of ours.

I should be afraid to travel to alone. But I want to climb the Himalyas, see Machu Picchu, dive in untouched waters.

I should work 5 days a week, 8-5 and live a normal life. I don't want others' normal - I want my own lifestyle and pace. I want to be free.

Thanks to that mentor, I began to break free of my 'shoulds'. I started my consulting business at 29 and never looked back. I worked my tail-off and found fulfillment in my own way. I traveled to Nepal and climbed through amazing mountains - including a Millenium trip to Everest. I dived with sharks and kayaked with whales in the middle of nowhere.  I work a lot of hours, but on a very different schedule than the norm - one that supports my life priorities.

My point? I chose to abandon the 'shoulds' in favor of my truth in my life in my present.

Business 'shoulds' are really no different.

'Should' keeps us stuck in our status quo.

When you hear someone say 'We should', it's a surefire flag that we're thinking in the wrong direction - toward the status quo. By its very nature 'should' keeps us in past thinking. It's a harbinger of programming based on the history of our business, of business in general and 'good sense'.

The problem is that many of our business 'shoulds' aren't valid  anymore. The world changes, our market  moves, our competitors are playing differently.  Sticking to our 'shoulds' destines us to failure - we don't evolve. We stay stuck in whatever belief that 'should' represents.

'Should' can also give us the wrong message.

Case in point. We should take care of our customers. 

Sounds reasonable doesn't it? ONLY if you constrain it. How many companies spend fortunes taking care of customers who aren't reciprocating by being reasonable, or true partners? How many times do you try to take care of someone and get bit by your response? Wanna read a great take on this 'should'? Check out Scott McKain's post on the Ultimate Customer Experience.

Let's all kick 'should' out of our business vocabulary.

We already know the fundamental principles about honesty, integrity and doing the right thing.  That's the primary value 'should' brings. Embrace those principles and we'll no longer need the 'should' word.

To be successful, we have to think beyond the status quo. We have to think forward, not about what we 'should' do, but about what we can do that is new and different.

Wow, we've come full circle back to Tuesday's post.  Instead of asking "What should we do?", ask something much more powerful.

"What CAN we do?"

I'll Try....

Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'
Jedi Master Yoda

I never thought I'd open a blog post by quoting a short green alien. Yet wiser words have seldom been spoken. Whether in business or your personal endeavors, following Master Yoda's wisdom will change your life and your business.

'Try' is little more than a cop out.

Wanna limit your responsibility and waffle on a commitment?  Use the 'try' word.

• I'll 'try' to get that done. (But if I don't finish at least I tried.)
• I'll "try' to make the deadline.(When I miss it you can't be mad, I tried.)
• I'll 'try' to change my behavior. (I may not, but I'll tell you I'm trying to buy time.)

We've become a society that rewards 'trying' as if it was an accomplishment. We're even training the next generation that 'trying ' is what matters -  we give them awards for simply showing up (and even doing a poor job) because they 'tried'.

Since when is 'trying' an accomplishment?

Before you get all bent out of shape - yes, there are times that trying is the ultimate accomplishment. When people 'try' to move beyond physical, mental, spiritual or other limitations - it IS an accomplishment! YEAH for them. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about our increasing belief that simply attempting a task is good enough.  What if a doctor took that tact with your surgery?  'That's a different situation' you cry. WHY?  Isn't your responsibility to your business or personal commitments just as important?

'Try' avoids a commitment to success.

We'll try to finish the product on time, try to help the customer fix the problem, try to complete our job responsibilities. Try to be good honest people. And if we don't, well. we tried.  But that little difficulty got in our way, that other project sounded more fun so we focused on to it, the dog ate our homework and our computer broke down and we fell asleep instead of finishing that important assignment. BAH!

Commitments have become something we keep if they are convenient for us. We'll try - but do we feel anything close to failure if we don't deliver on that commitment?  I wonder.

We are Better than this!

I believe that my word is my bond, that when I make a commitment it's my responsibility to do everything in my power to meet that commitment. If that means working late hours or cutting into my weekend to complete that commitment - then so be it. I deliver quality, on time and as promised.  BTW, I'm not holding myself as the bastion of responsibility - heaven knows there are many times when I wish I WASN'T so demanding of myself. There is a happy middle ground I've been told:)

My point is that many of us were raised with the same definition of commitment. There was no 'try' in my house - and probably not in yours. Yoda ruled supreme. We were happy, felt a sense of accomplishment and others trusted us on our word.  Contracts were completed by a handshake and, in my humble opinion, life was better for it.

Say Goodbye to 'I'll try'. Forever.

We can do it. All we have to do is change our thinking, and our beliefs around commitment. The next time someone ask us for a commitment that we agree with, there's one simple answer that can clear up the 'try' problem for good.

 'I WILL'

But We CAN'T

'Can't' is a destructive little word.

How many times a day do you say or hear the word 'can't' in your business? What about in your own personal life?   Try paying attention for a day and see what you find - in yourself and in those around you. You may be surprised at the power this little word is wielding over your life.

When I'm leading strategy sessions, I start counting when I hear the 'can't' word coming from an executive team.  They don't know why I'm putting those marks on the whiteboard. When I tell them they are usually shocked at the reality right in front of them. Sometimes I hear 'can't' so often I don't keep up with the tally. Sometimes it never enters the room.  Guess which clients are the successful ones?

'Can't' will stop a new idea flow dead in its tracks.

We use that word all too often in business. It usually reflects a need to hold onto the known, the accepted way of thinking, the pattern that is our safe way of doing. In our personal lives 'cant' often signals that we're just plain stuck in a rut. Regardless of the why, the results are always the same when 'can't' comes to visit.

When 'can't' enters the room - progress stops dead.

Sure, there are times when 'I can't 'is the logical answer - schedules are booked, plans are set. I'm not talking about that kind of 'cant'. I'm focusing on 'can't as the excuse, the thought-stopping negative, the tiny little word that deflates innovation and fuels the status quo. The 'can't' that is our knee jerk reaction to a new idea or approach.

To fuel innovation, outlaw the 'can't' word from your business.

Can it really be that simple? Yes, it can. Sure, there's more to innovation than eliminating a single negative word. There's out-of-the-box thinking, hard work, great products and more. Innovation doesn't come easily, we have to apply ourselves and focus our efforts to create, and then manifest, business innovation and distinction.

Innovation and 'can't' are like fire and water.

We want the fires of innovation burning in our teams. We fuel them, stoke them until they're white hot and roaring. That's where true distinction is born, in the fires of innovation.  When we allow the 'can't' word to enter the discussion, the fire is drowned,the chance for innovation gone - up in smoke.

Just for a few days, try fueling the fires of innovation with 'what if' and outright no-limits brainstorming. No negatives - just pure, unfettered opportunity.

Then try adding a simple variation to further fuel the flames you've kindled.

We can.

Tell the Truth

Why do we search for excuses, seek to distract tough questions, throw mud at the competition - all to turn attention away from our own difficult situations?  Especially with customers?

Denial is not just a river in Egypt  - and it kills our credibility.

Telling the truth seems especially hard sometimes.

We had a bad quarter, or a bad year 
We lost a big account or partners
We're having big issues at a major customer
Our new product isn't doing as well as we hoped
A big competitor just stole our thunder

We're having some problems. So what do we do?  

First, let's chat about what we don't do. 

We don't fib, make up stories, make promises we can't keep. We don't distract attention by blaming another company or person. If we're having problems, anyone asking us about them already knows what's up.

So cowboy-up and face the music.

Be Open and Honest! We don't have to share the dirty laundry and all the details.  But we can be honest, open and paint a picture that is true. 

People respect others who open the kimono and tell the truth.

Ask yourself, which do you respect more?

The person or vendor who admits they have a problem and talks to you about how they plan to fix it ?  This approach assumes that you are a partner, that there is a trust-based relationship and that working together you can fix and/or improve the situation. It's a teaming, highly efficient way to focus on the solution and not how we got here. It also puts you, the customer, first.

OR

The person or vendor who sits there and justifies why the issue is not their fault, points at another vendor or your staff and blames them, or tells you why the issue just isn't that bad (even if it is interrupting your ability to take orders, or ship product).  This approach assumes that everyone is the enemy, that we're all in it for ourselves and that being right is the most important thing of all  - certainly more important than your business running smoothly.

Trusted relationships are one of the keys to success.

So start building and participating in trust, with everyone your business touches. Tell your customers the truth - and they will trust and respect you more for it.

And while we're at it - tell your employees the same truth. They're on your team, and they most likely already know what's really going on. 

Anything less than the truth kills our credibility. So fess up!

Accentuate the Positive!

I decided to go looking for signs of positive sales and marketing amid the SuperFUD we discussed yesterday. I hopped out to some high-tech websites, a traditional FUD bastion.

I have to admit I was surprised to find a positive and upbeat focus.

Leaders in PC's, a tough industry, are positive.  HP is helping kids to 'Study Hard and Learn Big'. 'Designed with You in Mind' is a core theme of Dell's enterprise business - that carries over to kids and other users as well.  Positive customer upside, no fear in sight. There IS hope out there!

I took a look at IBM. More positive and uplifting promos!  'Dolphins. Tiny Babies, Rocket Scientists. All Are Benefiting from  the Power of Stream Computing.' What a happy headline - with a beautiful flash picture of dolphins swimming. The article  discusses the great results offered by Stream Computing - featuring real world stories. No SuperFUD here. Just an uplifting and positive promise of opportunity for customers. Now that's a new IBM!

These leaders seem to believe that a positive sales approach will win.

So what  keeps some of us stuck in the FUD? I think we get carried along by the current of fear that surrounds us. Read a newspaper, magazine or watch tv news and you'll be transported to the negative zone. Chances are competitors are promoting FUD in our market. We tend to go with the flow, follow suit and follow the crowd.

How do we move past a status quo of fear and negativity? The first step is to transform our thinking. We have to consciously choose to focus on the positive. We must commit to seeking out positive stories and metrics that demonstrate positive value. And then we must act  on that commitment. 

What if we can't find a compelling value-based approach for our solutions? Then we'd better step back and rethink our solution, our focus, our market and the whole premise of our business.  If fear is the  only way we can successfully compel a customer to pay attention to us  - that doesn't say much for our sustainability. Somebody with a bigger fear message can come along, take the customer and leave us in the dust.

When we offer value, we can leverage real-world cases to sell and market positively. We just have to commit to the search. Here are some of my favorite places to look for positive stories.

• Customers. My bet is that most of your customers bought from you for a positive reason - not because they were afraid of not buying from you. Go beyond the economic buyer to the users.  Talk to them, ask them what upside they've enjoyed thanks to working with you. What new opportunity did they uncover, what better way of doing something did they find? What did you do to improve their business lives?  

• Partners. Ask your partners the same questions - about their own business and about the customers they've sold your solutions. Get with their own PS and Cs teams, the ones who work with customers day-to-day. Chances are they can offer lots of stories about opportunity and upside.

• Customer Service and Professional Services. If you want to know the real impact you've had on customers - go talk to your service and support team.  These folks work with customers to put your solution into action and keep it running. I often find they have the best positive anecdotes of all.

Its just takes a focus on the positive to find the positive. It's as easy to promote the upside of hope as it is to fuel the downside of fear. We just have to choose and commit.

We each make the choice - do we focus on fear or hope?

We can choose to follow the pack and lead with fear - follow the Shock and Awe approach and scare our customers spitless.  It's certainly the 'in' thing to do.

Or, we can choose to break free of fear. We can seek out new approaches that power innovation and opportunity. We can focus on helping our customers find new opportunities, improve current practices and solve the problems they already recognize and care about. We can trust that our innovation and expertise will shine through the FUD.

We can take a risk, choose to be different, choose to be positive and hopeful in a market flooded with fear, trapped in FUD.  Wow - how sad is it that choosing to move beyond fear may be viewed as risky in our current business environment?

We can be the fuel to help our audiences reach beyond their own fear to find their next opportunity. Or we can be the ones to scare them spitless. 

Think about that. 

Is Fear Really the Great Motivator?

I saw an article in BNET last week that just plain ticked me off. To Sell More, Scare your Customers Spitless also sparked a little Twitter debate when I ranted about it. I was a bit surprised by a few Tweets declaring FUD as an accepted sales tactic and fear as a great motivator.

I sold mainframes against IBM in my formative 20's. I cut my teeth on FUD. I won deals against it, and I didn't use FUD to do it. But that's another post:)

The BNET article went way beyond FUD in promoting Provocative Selling. The fundamental premises are similar to the way many of us have sold/marketed for decades. Solve a problem for, or offer an opportunity to, your customers. In the case of Provocative Selling - it's focused on pointing out a problem.

Unfortunately this revamp takes a turn to the dark side. The strong implication is that to sell more in this tough economic time, we need to:

• Find or create terrifying outcomes our customers haven't thought about,
• Build a pile of evidence around that  threat, and then
• Go scare the bejezus out of our prospects so they buy from us. 

Since when did fear become the primary motivator for customer relationships? Is that really the foundation we want?  Do we believe such relationships will last? Ask yourself, "Would I trust someone who scared me to get my attention?" Maybe if I was going to step off a cliff, but in this case we're talking about making big mountains out of tiny molehills.

It's not just the article that has me on my Soapbox. It's the trend I see all around me. We market and sell around fear. Watch TV and you'll see how we've devolved.

• We have pharmaceutical ads for a limitless stream of scary diseases with oh-too-familiar symptoms.
• We have legal beagles looking for folks with every form of cancer, accidental loss or long term hangnail. You too can sue! 
• Or there's everyone's favorite slime marketing - the poor old lady whose fallen and can't get up.  I think that's the lowest - tapping into our elderly population's biggest FEAR to drive revenue.
  

Fear pops up everywhere in our daily lives. I don't know if the politicians started the trend or if they just picked up on a corporate dynamic.  It really doesn't matter how this slippery slide started.

What matters is how we pivot toward the positive.

I know, there are experts who will defend the use of fear as a strong motivator in business and personal situations. There will always be those who view fear and intimidation - the Shock and Awe tactic - as the best way to motivate audiences, employees and partners.

I personally don't believe or support the idea that fear is a great motivator. I don't believe that relationships, based on fear have staying power. The next guy will come along with a bigger, badder boogie man - and our relationship will be gone with the prevailing fearful wind. 

I think it's time we took a hard look at our own marketing and sales tactics.

• Are we motivating our audiences with visions of opportunity for improvement?
• Are we offering to help them solve the problems that most matter to them?
• Or are we scaring them into submission?

Tomorrow we'll chat about ways to accentuate the positive and leave the fear mongering behind.

_________________________

For wiser words than mine regarding the BNET article, read my friend David Brock's post Provocative Selling - the Shock and Awe of Selling.

The Ghost and Our Integrity

The topic of ghostwriting blogs and tweets is popping up everywhere.  I even saw a Tweet last week touting that a VA (Virtual Assistant) can write your company's blog. OMG!

I can't believe we're even having this debate. Especially among those who claim to believe in integrity and honesty above all, who strive to create trusted relationships with our customers.

So, answer this question for me. 

Do you trust someone who presents a piece of work as their own, when it's not?  In some arenas we call that plagiarism, or even fraud. In school we called it cheating. Remember? You flunked if you got caught having someone else write your report or thesis.

So why do we think it's OK because it's business?

By now you can probably guess where I stand on this subject. To me, anytime we represent someone else's work as our own it's cheating - even if we did pay them to do the work. And if we're the one who did the work for hire, and we allow someone to misrepresent it - well, to me you're just as out of integrity as they are.

I can hear my associates telling me all the reasons it's OK to ghostblog, ghostTweet etc.  Let's take a look at some of those excuses:

• CXO's use speechwriters, ghosting is no different. Yes, they do use speechwriters. But they get involved in creating that speech and they deliver it themselves.  The speechwriter doesn't give the speech now do they? Don't try to tell me CXO's give input on every ghost blog post - we all know better. Many of them don't even read what gets posted. It's not the same folks.

• Companies don't know how to blog.  That's true.  So teach them.  Just don't do it for them and have them take the credit.

• There's no byline so who knows who writes it. Come on - that's splitting hairs. It's implied that a corporate or CXO blog is written by employees who are 'in the know' in that company or by the CXO themselves - with or without the byline.

• CXO's don't have the time to blog. Well, Gee - if they don't have the time to share their thoughts and ideas with their customers/audience - then what does that say about their customer commitment?  And why are YOU helping them hide that fact?

• I need the money. Why do you have to sacrifice your integrity to make money?  Earn the money by teaching them to blog, helping them to be independent. Did you do someone else's homework to make money as a kid?  Then don't do it now. If you did do homework for hire - shame on you!

I understand that sometimes companies need help learning to create a social media presence. No argument there. So help them learn - teach them to fend for themselves. Don't do it for them.

• Co-author a few posts, but make sure it's with their input and guidance for topics etc. Help them put their words and thoughts on paper - not yours!

• Help them learn how to post for themselves.  Have them write drafts and critique them. That's what teachers do!

• Work with them to create an editorial calendar for their blog. Based on their thoughts and perspectives about the blog topic. Then help them create the content. Just don't do it for them.

• Help them identify a blogging team that alternates posts so there's no big load on any one person.

If  you do have to ghost for a client to get them started - be honest and let the audience know you're doing it.  You can be subtle and truthful by adding a byline.  Sponsored by Company X.  Words by author Y. Co-written with author Z. Guest author Z. Find a way to tell the truth.

Just don't sell out your integrity for that fee.

More importantly - don't sell out your audience by misrepresenting the facts.

Audiences view social media as the safe ground for truth and integrity. It's the  place where they can share and obtain real information in honest and meaningful ways. The place they can learn about prospective or current partners, get a feel for their thoughts and perspectives.

They trust us to deliver just that.

Are you?

__________________

NOTE:  My dear pal Mark Schaefer and I have been discussing ghosting for a bit now. His post (Can You Outsource Authenticity?) opened a floodgate of comments from the sphere last week. I haven't read them yet because I wanted to keep my post authentic as we let his circulate first. Go read his post if you haven't - I'm going there right now!

Profit at Any Cost?

Businesses are tightening their belts. We all know that.

But what happens when that tighter belt puts our customers in jeopardy, when we deliver inferior products and service just to remain profitable?

Are we willing to sacrifice our integrity, our values, our sense of right and wrong for the bottom line?  How do we expect our customers to respond? As customers, how are we supposed to respond?

I'm faced with just such a dilemma. I bought a brand new diesel truck last November. I decided to go 'new' versus 'used' because I'm hauling a 5 ton horse trailer - not to mention my precious horse children. I assumed a new truck was more reliable than a used truck. Bad assumption as it turns out.

I've had electrical problems, transmission issues and worse. Two months ago (at 7.5K miles) I lost the brakes and steering, simultaneously. WOW. Three weeks ago the truck lost all power (the turbo literally blew off the engine) as I was hauling my horses up Highway 1 to my favorite horse camp. The trailer flipped sideways across the highway. I have no clue how I kept from crashing into someone or something.  My Guardian Angel is surely watching over me, as always.

I'm writing this post because I am shocked by the manufacturer's response- a profitable US automaker. (That limits the choices, now doesn't it?)

I've been reasonable, considering that the truck could have hurt or killed me both times. I've asked for a corporate investigation into the issues. The local service manager has told the corporate office that she feels the truck may not be safe given the issues she's seeing.

Their response?  They are stonewalling me.

They have a social media presence, a supposedly strong and powerful one.  But in my experience - it's all for show.  After writing to that guru multiple times, I received a call from a corporate 'handler' who did the circle dance. She repeated a set script designed to protect them no matter what. No questions about my experience, not even the slightest facade of concern about my safety as their customer. The script was focused on three things:

• They'd 'fixed' the truck for free (uh, duh?)
• Nothing serious happened (OK, I didn't die)
• They are too big to check every warranty issue or part.  (Wow, if I’m big I can ignore my failures?)

When I asked what they'd do if I had died - I got the same response. The company was just too big to check all warranty problems. Well, I guess their priorities are pretty clear.

What in the heck is wrong with this picture?

Has the economy pushed us so far, the need for profitability grown so strong, that we are willing to ignore customers? To 'turtle-up' into self-protection mode?  Are we knowingly risking our customers safety?

I hate to believe we've come to that. It goes against my core belief in the best of human nature. Yet I see evidence of profit at any cost all around me. Reduced staff in key customer areas, longer hours with lower wages on manufacturing lines, employees stretched so thin they make critical mistakes, a focus on corporate-CYA versus customer care.

Are we so afraid of failing that we'll sacrifice our own values, perhaps our own customers' safety, to stay ahead?

If so - what does that say about our future, as business people and as human beings?

I'm beginning to wonder. As for my truck - well, she had some more issues on the way to the High Sierras last week. Nothing as dramatic but the turbo is still flaky. So now I'm doing something I've never done before in my life - hiring a lawyer to handle a tough discussion with a vendor. At this stage I have no reason to believe the manufacturer will pay any attention unless I make a move to show them I am serious. 

I can’t begin to tell you how dismayed I am. So many things are going right for me, I hate to bring this negative energy into my life. A battle with my auto manufacturer was NOT on my agenda when I wrote that check. But now, I feel as though I need to do something.  I didn't get hurt - but what if the same things happen to someone else, and they do get hurt? Someone needs to stand up and help this manufacturer see that profit is not more important than people. 

I should have bought an import.

Stop Blaming Marketing!

My recent post Stop Blaming Sales received a few comments from sales type folks -  asserting that I was 'right on', that marketing should not be given responsibility for websites, for corporate positioning - that marketing was pretty much worthless.

I was kinda surprised by those comments - they were pretty far out of context from my own thoughts as I created that post.  So - here I am again, discussing the flip-side of that statement.

Stop Blaming Marketing!

Enough already - the Enemy is Out There folks.  I've been both a successful enterprise sales rep (I sold mainframes against IBM) and a successful marketer. I can tell you that you need both teams working together to drive revenue.  I can also tell you that while many sales people think they can do marketing -it's not that easy and most great sales people aren't really marketers.

Why? 

Because great sales people serve their customers viewpoint - and sometimes they take it as the Holy Grail.  Sales reps are focused on doing whatever it takes to drive shorter-term revenue and customer relationships. That includes focusing on the needs of their specific clients, revenue opportunities and strategies for success.  They live and breathe the current, day-to-day worlds of their customers and prospects. As the customer advocate, they support their customers' perspectives, share their views, follow their lead and serve their customers. They listen to what customers say about their own company and competitors, and they integrate those beliefs into their own.  

That's all great and as it should be.  But that's not what marketing does, not by a long shot.

Before you get all huffy, yes, marketing should be based on customers' success. Yes, marketing has to understand their customer and prospect audience. Yes marketing has to listen.

Marketing also has to represent a broad base of perspectives, across diverse customers and prospects and the market in general - for today and tomorrow. Marketing has to vet all of those perspectives to derive the reality, the optimum perspective and positioning for the overall company - today and in the future. What a customer says to a sales rep to drive discounts/deals is usually not the best basis for your company's future. Yet, for a single sales rep, or a sales team - those perspectives may indeed be their most important focus.

So, how can we all work together?

Marketing thinks about today, tomorrow and next year. For ALL it's audiences -  current and potential.  Marketing's role is to keep the company on track for market strategy, positioning and evidence at the macro business level - for all markets. Marketing delivers the materials that best reflect that short and longer-term corporate and product position - that's been blessed at an executive level.

Sales takes that strategy, positioning and evidence, then applies it to a subset of the company's audience -their own specific customers and target prospects.  Which often is a very distinct subset of the overall audience.

Here's where the rub can start.

• Sometimes the company's direction and the specific sales audience (e.g., older customers that we're moving away from) don't jive.  So sales, as the customer advocate, blames marketing. What marketing delivered isn't what they need - so marketing sucks. (Can I use that work on a blog?)

• Marketing is focused on a broad audience and delivers against that plan. When sales asks for something they view as down in the minutiae, they cry foul and blame sales for not following their plan.

•  Sales doesn't have the customer stories they need to focus on their specific segment, they can't prove the value so they discount to get a deal. Marketing points fingers and wonders why sales isn't 'value-selling'.

We've all seen these stories and more - so I'm not going to spend time on the examples.

My point?  Marketing and Sales need to get over themselves and stop with the finger pointing.  Period.   Communication and understanding is the key.  Here are some ideas I use to bring these teams together in my clients:

• Sales has to help marketing people get out on sales calls to experience first hand the sales process.  Sales needs to stop building walls between marketing and their precious customers and get with the team approach.  So what if that product marketer doesn't know how to sell to customers. TEACH them. That's how they learn how to help you. Treating them like a pariah and leaving them in corporate is only adding to the sales disconnect.

• Marketing folks need to include sales more prominently in the marketing process. That way sales learns more about the overall goals and strategies and flow within marketing. They get to comment and be included. That builds lot better working relationship than when marketing throws 'stuff' over the wall at sales as if they were mushrooms to be fed in a closet.

• Both teams need to start communicating and including each other, versus excluding and blaming.  We all need to focus on one thing - WINNING for the company.  That's what we're paid to do.

Great companies need both organizations to function, preferably working together, to thrive. So stop blaming each other and change the attitude.

We're all on the same side, after all.

Stop with the 4 Letter Words!

I brought the soapbox out to talk about both 3 and 4 letter words - those pesky acronyms that seem to permeate technical and complex B2B product marketing. 

I just spent some time reviewing materials from a potential new client. It  was a deep dive into the cloud computing world.  Which is fine.  But it was ALL deep dive. Not a true customer benefit to be found - and I looked for one, any one.

As I clamber out of the techno forest -  I'm back on a rampage about the importance of customer-centric and benefit-oriented messaging - and the words you use to tell that story.

Technobabble does not belong in our key positioning stories. Waxing eloquently using insider 4 letter words does not position us as a market leader. Not to the people that matter most, the economic buyers who write checks. Yes, technical buyers love that alphabet soup. But those conversations happen at a specific point in the communication cycle - and your Home Page and first engagement is simply not the right time or place.

I give you the following as an example of what I'm talking about  -  a list of 4 (and 3) letter 'words' found on the Home Page of my potential client -  who will remain nameless.

• GRID,
• .NET,
• SAAS,
• MTBR,
• SOE,
• TCO,
• kWh,
• SOA,
• Web 2.0,
• HTTP,
• XML,
• MSP
• and M O U S E... 

Alright, MOUSE wasn't  really there. I was checking to see if you were paying attention. Plus that song just keeps running through my mind as I write this.

I know I'm going to get flak for this one from my techno-minded marketing friends, but here goes.

Spewing forth with the Alphabet Soup of your industry, aka acronyms, is NOT a market position.  These 3 and 4 letter 'words' do not reflect the most important questions you need to answer for customers and prospects (e.g., So What). They describe a feature - not a value.

Technical standards, definitions, interfaces and acronyms do not belong as the lead in creating your corporate brand, positioning or differentiation.  IMHO the only place they belong is in standards committees. And in the prerequisite technology deep dive explorations of how your solution will interface with and support the customer's infrastructure. Conversations best held one-on-one with technical buyers, and certainly  not on your Home Page. Why?

• Where's the problem solution focus?
• Where are the benefits offered?
• Where are the So Whats?
• What's compelling enough about this alphabet soup to get someone to write a big check? (Yes, a sale and revenue still is the ultimate goal here.)

4 letter words are like Chest Thumping - you should go use them at the gym, er Library.  Better yet, have a 4 and 3 letter festival! Support a technical user community where those words are featured to everyone's delight. Post them in the research and engineering labs in your company - where your brilliant technologists are slaving away to make them a reality. Use them with technology peers in your customers and partners.

Marketing's focus is first on the economic and user buyers.  OK, user buyers might like a few 4-letter words thrown in for flavor, so  use them in that technical specification sheet.

CIOs and BU execs (who are the economic buyers) are businessmen. So stop with the argument that they want technical sales information. They have to justify their 'business' just like every other exec. Trust me, they are not discussing cloud computing standards in their executive meetings.

Economic buyers do not speak technogeek. They speak customer.

So should you.

The Enemy is Out There

Why is it that when companies begin to struggle, heck, sometimes even when they are doing well - the internal battles are waged? I see Sales and Marketing battles, Marketing and Engineering battles, Sales and Finance battles - everyone blaming others for all the issues, taking little responsibility themselves. 

Think about all the energy and time spent battling internally with each other, pointing fingers and passing blame. And think of what we could do with those most precious resources if we only remembered one simple battle cry.

The enemy is out there folks!

Every second we spend pointing a finger at another group in our organization, trying to show how we can do their jobs better, we are wasting valuable time and resources. Not to mention the professional disrespect and contention that blooms. While we are infighting and pointing fingers, our competitors are laughing all the way to the bank.

The refrains at my client meeting last week were familiar: same story, different technology and faces.

Sales and Marketing

“Sales doesn’t sell solutions, they just discount instead of selling value.”

Countered by:

“Marketing didn't give us the tools and evidence we need to sell solutions. They don't understand our customers or selling.”

Marketing and Engineering

“Engineering didn't deliver the features our customers needed.”

 Countered by:

“Sales & marketing don't appreciate the innovative technology behind our product.”

Enough already.  This is business, not kindergarten!

You’d be amazed how productive my strategy sessions become when we implement one new rule. I call it the ‘No Blame Game’.  No one gets to badmouth anyone else in the company. Instead, we take all the time and energy wasted infighting and apply it to externally focused analysis and discussion.

Low and behold, perspectives began to change. Especially when everyone in the room is put on the spot to discuss solutions based on their own roles and responsibilities. No one is allowed to discuss others’ jobs – no one. Not even the CEO!

Take a Zero Tolerance approach and Stop the Battles. Make a commitment from the CEO level down to stop the comments and discussions about others’ roles and their performance – unless those discussions are positive and are part of a teaming approach.

Executives must take the lead.  First they have to cease and desist with their own cross-talk about their peers - they must lead by example. Then they must take a firm and immovable stance - and NOT allow their people to battle across functions, or within their own function for that matter. Stop the snide comments, the blaming comments – the jabs disguised as humor, only with mal intent.

Don’t sit there and think your company doesn’t do this - you know exactly what I am talking about. It happens even in the best of companies and we all know it.

But are we willing to step up? Here are some ideas on how to do just that:

• Bring sales and marketing and engineering and finance together as teams at the ‘worker bee’ level and show them how to respect each other. Be respectful and accept nothing less.

• Visibly and publicly reward cross-functional team work against a common goal. Rally the team to join together and focus on customer success, on being the best each and every one can be.

• Purposely create cross-functional teams and make them equally responsible for an outcome.  Make their compensation dependent on the results of the team, not an individual organization.

• Nip any snide asides, disparaging comments about other organizations or outright attacks in the bud - visibly and forcefully.

• I suggest clients with this type of infighting post signs all around the company.  'The Enemy is Out There', or some similar phrase. Make the point at an all hands meeting to set the stage. Then enlist a group of 'monitors' within each organization to act as keepers of the corporate culture. Empower them to step up and stop the bashing among their peers. The majority of folks will get behind them.

No good employee is comfortable in an environment filled with finger-pointing and the blame game. Over time, people become tentative about doing the right thing for fear of the blame and consequences. Worse yet, energy is focused on internal quarrels, self protection and more.

Everyone loses in a blaming organization. The only ones who win are your competitors.

Who loses most of all?  Your customers. That's just plain wrong.

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? 

Reading Between the Lines is for Dating

Looking at a friend of a friend's website. I spent 30 minutes and was still scratching my head about the value the biz provides.

I found claims for improved performance, increased revenues and just plain super duper business results. Statistics and name dropping. Every popular buzzword right there on the Home Page for all to see.

But I still didn't know what they did. I had to dive into the product pages. I wonder how many other visitors would spend the effort?

The point of communicating with an audience is to share relevant information quickly and clearly. Forcing your audience to read between the lines, thinking they'll take time to decipher your message, is a bad idea. Unless you're actually trying to create mystique. 

When communicating - for business or for personal reasons - state your truth, clearly and simply. State your value, the thing that makes you different, the reason people buy from, or work with, you. Don't make your audience do the work - that's your job.

So why all the ambiguity?

• Fear of exclusion. Often 'fuzzy' communicators are afraid to take a stance for fear of being excluded from a deal or a potential customer by saying too much. They play coy and hide in ambiguity, letting their audience draw hopefully positive conclusions as they cast their nets far and wide.

• Unclear vision. Other nebulous communicators simply aren't sure of who they really want to be. Sometimes they are in transition, holding onto the old while seeking the new. They split the difference to avoid upsetting anyone, and communication pays the price.

• Trying to be something to everyone. Sometimes the company is spread too thin, trying to do too much. In the attempt to communicate so many things, clarity is lost. Or worse yet, the company talks about everything and anything that might relate to what it does. Everyone ends up confused - and trying to read between all the noise.

We play coy when we're uncomfortable, unsure, not wanting to say the wrong thing. Like when we first started dating in our teenage years. We didn't want to be dismissed because of something we said, so we kept our dates guessing, letting them draw their own conclusions.

Forcing your audience to read between the lines and make assumptions is a poor communication strategy.  You'll be a lot more successful by being clear and concise than by keeping your audience guessing. Or worse yet, leading them to assume you're something you're not. 

Please Don't Bet Your Business on Those Numbers

I just spent some time with one of my clients. The goal was to identify the best target market profiles for a new product they are launching in the fall.

The team argued in detail about the quantitative market data from a leading industry analyst. Which was the biggest opportunity?  I finally had to jump in and rain on their parade. I happen to know that the data came straight from their competitors - who made up whatever they wanted to look good in the survey.

Not exactly the best empirical fodder for your business decisions, now is it? We finally focused on the qualitative side of the equation, agreeing to markets that felt right in our collective 'gut' - but it was a battle. All because of those numbers.

My first boss used to shrug and say "'Figures lie and liars figure" whenever someone pointed to numbers that defied his intuition. He was usually right on.

The fact is that numbers alone are not enough input, in and of themselves, to power strategic decisions.Sure, numbers can give you guidance about the market at a very high level. Numbers do have their place.

But never ever forget - anyone with a calculator and motivation can spin numbers to prove anything they want them to. I can do it, you can do it, anyone can.  That's why numbers are dangerous on their own.

Don't bet your business just on the numbers. Numbers can't give you the gut feel that every executive, product owner and marketer needs - especially if you're reinventing yourself and/or your company.

You also have to follow your gut.  You know what I'm talking about. It's the feeling that tells you a technology idea has legs, a story is going to sell, that a customer segment can and will buy your product.  If you're like me - you'll know when you're on the right track. Regardless of the numbers.

Yes, you have to go test those gut assumptions.  But I'll match my educated gut assumption against general quantitative market data anytime. Especially if I've chatted with a few of the right audience targets and they have responded well to whatever we're testing.

My clients always ask me why I recommend a course of action. Often I  just know the right thing to do, based on my experience in similar circumstances. Everyone can have that same gut feel - we just have to develop it. 

Here are some ideas on how to do just that:

• Spend time learning about your customers and the markets you serve.  Subject matter expertise is the foundation for a good strong intuitive sense.

• Study history.  I'm not talking about the history of war. I'm talking about the history of marketing in your industry - in all industries for that matter. By this stage of my career, I can tell you a secret. Today's strategies leverage lessons from yesterday's approaches. Over and over and over again.  Note, I said 'apply' not 'repeat'. Always modernize and tailor past lessons to current experience. Most of all, learn to think and apply all that experience.

• Think Beyond the Known. I'm a big believer in the "What If?" line of thinking, where no idea is bad, nothing is discarded. Get a few people together and brainstorm about your product, your market, your company.  Play with big ideas, play with wild ideas. Think with no boundaries. Include sales folks too - they often have a great gut feeling about their specific subject/market area.

• Go test your assumptions in the real world. Whether based on your numbers or your gut -  get out there and test with real people.  Listen to what they think, they'll hand you opportunities you never thought of. Don't count up the for's and against's with little check marks.  Listen to the qualitative information they give you that helps your intuition learn more about how your audience thinks. 

• Trust yourself and what you know. The more experience you have, the more you just know what direction you should go.Trust yourself.  Don't let the naysayers drive their agenda for something you know is wrong, or for an approach that is at best a compromise. Trust your gut, test in the market and then, if you need to, find the numbers to prove your point so the left-brains will hear you.

Still don't believe the power of gut feelings over numbers?  Here's a case in point.

Take Apple, an old standby for showcasing the power of gut-level strategy. How big was the revenue potential for PCs in education when the Steve's founded Apple? Education is a large sector, but has always been known as the biggest discounting market of all - next to the government. No one intentionally targeted education as a key sector.

But the Steve's didn't rely on the numbers, or the knowns. They saw an opportunity to seed the next generation of PC users with their Apples, and they took it. They ignored the numbers and trusted the art of intuition. They trusted their guts - and their innovation.

The rest is history.

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.

 

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!

Transformation is All Around Us

A business associate sent me an HBP newsletter on business transformation, a subject near and dear to my heart. Since it was HBP, I expected a positive upbeat view of all the upsides companies can enjoy thanks to the ever present opportunity for business transformation. Boy, was I ever surprised!

Here's the gist of the article's message.

Changing a company is tough: only about 40% of transformation programs succeed, according to McKinsey research. But some change programs have a better chance than others: defensive transformations (those undertaken to stem trouble) have lower success rates than progressive ones (launched, for instance, to boost growth or to move from good to great performance). Trigger events matter, too. Some change programs are initiated proactively, while others are undertaken in reaction to external shocks, market pressure, or poor financial performance. Our research finds that most successful transformations are those that are both offensive and proactive — we call them "progressive" — which have a 47% success rate. Defensive transformations have a 34% rate of success.***

How can only 40% of transformations overall be successful?  More importantly, how can only  47% of proactive transformations garner positive results? What was McKinsey's definition of transformation? And what was their measure of success?

I believe this kind of negative reporting  is one of the reasons we have we come to view business transformation as a big (and all too often negative) bang in our corporate life cycle. And the reason that often the thought of transformation strikes fear and trepidation in the hearts (and budgets) of corporate executives.

Business transformation is as natural as business growth - and just as inherent in any company's lifecycle. Transformation is synonymous with the opportunity to change, evolve and improve our products, our services, the way we do business.  So why the negative rap and and the associated Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt?

Transformation is all around us. Businesses transform themselves every day. Transformation is not just about failed businesses and turnarounds, nor is it about big bangs and massive changes, which I suspect is exactly what McKinsey measured. 

Real transformation happens so often that we often don't even recognize it as transformation. Here are some examples of transformation at work in everyday business :

• Customer responsiveness: When you  get customer feedback and change the way you do business, the way your product works or the way you communicate with customers, that's transformation.
  

• New product or service launch: You add a new product or service, or expand your current offerings. When you do, you're giving customers more value and/or solving more of their problems in a new and better way.  That's transformational to your clients - and to your business.

• Market expansion: Let's say you've decided to expand your sales focus and address a new market. That means different customers, a different application of your problem/solution scenarios to those new customers, a different way of looking at your solution and its value. That expansion requires transformation on multiple fronts.

• New channels: You're leveraging new or different distribution channels to deliver your solution to the market. It's a new way to work with your customer base or new prospects, and you've added a new set of partners as well. Yep, that's transformation.

• Geographic expansion: You're reaching beyond your current boundaries, moving into new markets and new geographies. Your new audience has different customs, buying behaviors and business perceptions. You'll need to evolve to meet them. Isn't that transformation?

• Launching a social media presence: You've decided to enter the world of social media.  You have a new blog, your execs are tweeting - you're communicating more openly with customers and your market than ever before, in new and compelling ways. You just transformed your brand and presence.

Each and every one of these steps can and should be viewed as transformation.  Yet somewhere along the way, business transformation became associated with expensive, unwieldy and mammoth corporate re-inventions. Sometimes I wonder if that impression was nurtured so that the Big Three could charge big dollars to help corporations enact transformation. Maybe that's also why the FUD was created in association with business transformation. How sad is that?

In my world and that of my clients, business transformation is a given. It's exciting, an opportunity to evolve, grow and get better and better at what we do.  Transformation doesn't have to be scary, expensive, or massive.  Nor does it have to be prone to failure, as the McKinsey research statistics suggest.

Transformation is part and parcel of the corporate life cycle. When we fear and avoid it, we stagnate and we lose.

When we embrace transformation openly as an every day part of our business, success follows.  

_______________
*** Source: The Daily Stat, Harvard Business Publishing

Positioning: May the 'Abilities' Rest in Peace

Rebel's Soapbox is Out!

I reviewed a prospective client’s website last night, checking on their positioning and messaging as well as products, customers and overall company highlights.  Then I popped to a couple of their competitors’ sites to cross check the value and differentiation for myself.

It didn't take long to realize I couldn’t tell the difference between these vendors if their logos dropped off their websites.  Think I'm exaggerating?  Fine, you try.

I give you three opening positioning statements describing the vendors' leading offerings:

• Vendor 1’s product ‘delivers unsurpassed customer value, with breakthrough reliability, scalability and manageability, all within a highly cost efficient and green platform.'

•  Vendor 2’s product ‘offers clients unmatched performance and scalability, simple manageability, industry leading reliability and the lowest cost of operations available.’

• Vendor 3’s product ‘powers real-time performance and scalability while delivering unmatched reliability, availability and serviceability – all in an economical green package.'

OK – so at least the last product has a green paint job. That’s different!

Come on folks, is this the best we can do?  The best and brightest supposedly work in the technology industry.  So is this is the most compelling, clear way we can position our solutions and why customers should care about them?  Do you see a customer 'So What?' in any of these statements?

Yes, for those technically inclined marketers,these are some of the areas buyers care about when investigating and acquiring technology solutions.  But can’t we communicate our value in a way that's more relevant and compelling to the customer, rather than thumping away at our chests about our tried and true ultimate 'abilities’?  By the way, those same abilities have been claimed since I sold my first mainframe in 1982.  If I'm 'mature'  - those 'abilities' are from the ancient marketing scrolls!

Any of the following approaches would make one of these three positioning statements standout above the crowd - and compel customers in your direction. Think about it.

• Add quantitative evidence, and spin it in your favor.  If you don’t have the exact numbers, give relative percentages.  Rather than ‘increased reliability and performance’, how about "Systems continuously operate 25% longer with no downtime, while you complete transactions 3 times faster."  I know - that's still a bit nebulous.  But you get the idea.  Apply the value in a way that maps to your customers' concerns and business results.  

•  Apply the ‘ability’ to a customer scenario.  Apply your value in customer language. Frame the benefit. ‘Customers can process 2x the transactions in half the time thanks to….’ Then tell a story of how a customer did just that - and the impact it had on their bottom line results.  Make it easy for your audience to quickly find customer stories that mirror their world - their business, their markets, their problems and challenges - and how you helped them find the solutions. People understand value when it’s applied to something relevant to them. When it's not applied - they don't get a clear picture. That leaves the door open for the competition to do a better job of communicating - and grabbing the customer's interest.

• Get specific. Find a better way to talk about the value. Stop using the same industry claims every one of your competitors use.   Instead of that nice 'green packaging', how about '4 out of 5 customers reduced power costs by 40% over 18 months'.   That sure got the green claim across, didn’t it?  Better than the paint job!

The bottom line is that to truly communicate with our audiences, we need to stop using the same words that everyone drags along, and start thinking creatively, originally and most of all – think and talk like a customer.

Oh, and while I'm on my Soapbox, I think phrases like ‘industry leading’, ‘breakthrough’, ‘unmatched’, 'revolutionary' and the like should all be stricken from the marketing dictionary.

 

 

 

 

Leave Your Ego at the Door, Please

I was listening in on a teleconference last week. The vendor was a former client. Every once in a while I'm invited to 'spot check' an activity and offer somewhat objective feedback. In this case, they were launching a pilot program for their new product with their top select channel partners. This company has a superb channel and has always been known as one of the leading innovators in channel support and training - which is one of the many reasons their channels have always been so successful.

Imagine my surprise when I heard this new approach.  I almost choked on my coffee as I listened to the call. It took everything I had (and a muted phone) not to jump in and say something to bring things back on course.  Because I can tell you, we took a wrong turn.

Things started out pretty well. They did a good job of introducing the product and its value propositions, where it played in the market. Then they started to discuss their channel offer - and that's where things got a little off course - and from there it went downhill.

In a nutshell, this great channel company started to swagger. They forgot that channels are partners by their own free will. The vendor started behaving as if they could dictate to these independent business people. 

Here's the gist of what happened.  First, let's review the program - which in and of itself was well thought out.

• Product: The product was offered to these top channels a full six months ahead of the rest of the market.  These select channels would be given demonstration versions, special training and more - and the chance to jumpstart revenue in a non -competitive environment.
• Marketing: the company is ready to fund a demand generation and outreach program custom tailored to each of the channel partners.  In fact, they've hired an expert digital marketing firm to power demand generation and qualify channel leads.
• Sales: The vendor was ready to provide sales and technical training for up to 10 resources in each channel partner free of charge. The travel cost was to be picked up by the vendor as well as the expenses during the 4 days of training.

Sounds great, right?  So what could have gone wrong?  Read on.

After the product presentation and the program review, the leader of the call asked for commitments from each of the channel players involved. (A side note: None were in competitive geographies or markets - although I would still have done the calls individually).

The requested commitment included:

• A matching fund of $8K from Market Development funds
• A minimum of 4 resources committed for training - meaning a week out of the field for each resource
• A minimum of 3 weeks of product testing commitment
• An immediate decision - on the phone call itself.  Yes or No.

Well, it turns out that most of the channel partners involved were also part of another program with the same vendor.  This program required significant resources from each partner for another two months.  Additionally, the vendor couldn't actually deliver the product  as a beta for another two to three months.  There was still some final development work - so the partners were being asked for a commitment  and resource allocation well ahead getting their hands on the product.

As you can imagine, the channel representatives on the call were tentative.  Given the resources in the other program, and the delay until a beta was available - the channels suggested that they be given a bit more time to decide about their commitment.  Their desire was to wait until they could see the beta - at which time their resources would be free from the other program so they wouldn't be quite so over extended.

Seems reasonable? Well - this is where we went off the deep end.  The leader of channels held firm.  No extensions, no changes.  If you want to be involved, sign up today and assign resources. We'll deliver the product in 2-3 months.   Make the commitment if you want to be part of the program.

Needless to say - not one of the fifteen channel partners represented agreed to the program.  How could they?  They were being asked to commit resources - both personnel and dollars - for a product they couldn't yet touch.  Worse yet, the vendor - their partner - was being a bit unrealistic about their demands.

When I chatted with the Channel leader after the call - he was upset. An understatement.  Seems he understood and agreed with his partners' perspective. But his new boss - a new channel VP from a powerful traditional 3 letter vendor- had decreed that these partners could 'get with the program or we'll leave them in the dust'.  Now that's a Win/Win attitude, isn't it?

It would have been so easy to spin this situation into a Win/Win. Simply by listening to the partners - in this case the customers - and adjusting the timing of the program - everything could have become a Win/Win. The program could have been executed with the leading partners, the product would have been introduced by a well trained set of channels - and everyone would have been focused on its success.

Instead, my bet is that after these interactions, more than the product program has been lost. 

It can take years to develop a relationship based on trust and loyalty. In this case it may have only taken one phone call to diminish years of partnership.

Marketing has Left the Building

I was leading a whiteboard strategy meeting last week with a client in the system management space. We were drilling down to the core So Whats and frankly,  I was getting frustrated. My head was aching from the continual deep dives into strings of 3 and 4 letter acronyms.

The client could describe their customers’ architectures to the deepest detail.  But they kept missing the So What - which sure as heck wasn’t about feeds and speeds alone.

I got specific. “Who was the last customer you talked to and what did they say they liked about your product?  Why did they need to buy it?”

“Well, there was a tradeshow last month and we talked to over 300 prospects and some of our biggest customers.” 

“That’s great.  But let’s talk about the last actual user (and hopefully economic buyer) you spoke with about how your products impact their business."  

“Well, the sales reps know that - so we call them.”

“You don’t talk to the customer?”

“Well, sometimes.  But we’re not supposed to travel with the economy and all.”

“What about calling them? Setting up a webinar? “

“Oh, the reps talk to them – and so do the engineers and customer service.  So we take our lead from them.  We don’t want to bother the customers with too many of us talking to them.”

I wish that was the first time I’d had that conversation.  But it’s not.  It’s actually pretty common.

Rebel’s Soapbox is out!

Since when did Marketing become a corporate headquarters role that never leaves the building? Even in tough economic times – we have phones and web conferencing and a video camera in every laptop and the network bandwidth to drive it.  Come on - We have Skype!

It’s time for marketers to become subject matter experts on our customers.  All this hype around customer-centric marketing won't change your results if you don't go beyond talking the talk and start walking the walk. 

Get out there and learn your customers, get inside their heads, their hearts, their businesses and learn to think and breathe their problems.  Then apply your solutions to the walk you're walking - and bring your marketing into the realm of customer-compelling.

There are no excuses.

 

Parley Vous Customer? How To Learn their Language.

I was listening to a marketing webinar as I sipped my first cup of coffee yesterday morning. The topic was on social networking and how to use it to promote product launches, events or company successes.

I logged out because I couldn't take it anymore. And I didn't want to start a public argument with the presenter. Especially since I have less patience before my 2nd cup. So I just exited stage left. 

Why?

Because social networking is a powerful marketing tool. Just like PR, Webinars, seminars and all the other arrows we have in our marketing quiver. But it can't be approached with the same chest-thumping marketing we've grown accustomed to using. 

No marketing tool is effective if you can't talk and think like your customers. Social networking is even less effective - and potentially more damaging - when you don't communicate. Creating a large social web can hurt your business more than help it if you can't speak to your customers and prospects in their own language - and about things that are important to them.  Social webs and media give you the chance to reach more people - and turn them away even more quickly with the wrong messages.  To be effect in social networking, you have to be honest, open and most importantly, speak the language of your customers.  If you don't, they'll move on - just like I did with that webinar.

If you've read some of my other blogs you know I'm passionate about the "So What?' approach to marketing, passionate about the customer and the value they derive from my clients' solutions. 

As far as I'm concerned  the technobabble approach should go the way of the woolly mammoth.

How do you think and speak like a customer? It's not that hard. Spend time with them, get out of the building and go learn about your customers.  Become a subject matter expert on them.

But that's what sales does, right?

Wrong. Sales is your customer. Their job is to power revenue, not support marketing.

So stop  being dependent on sales for your marketing inputs - and get to know your customers yourself. What do you want to know?  Well, start with things like:

• What do they do for a living?  How do they make money and how does information technology help them do that?

• What's going on in their market? What are their current challenges?  What help do they need to address them?  How can IT (and your solutions) empower their efforts?

• What are the things that make them frantic at the office (aside from meetings, meetings and more meetings).  What are the top three things that would help them reduce their stress?

• Why did they buy your solution? NOT the technology selection criteria - the business reason. What were they hoping to accomplish and did they do it?  If not, why not?  And if so - how did your solution help. If not - why didn't it help them, and how can you fix it?

• What are the things they like best about your company and its solutions?

• What are the things they like the least? And you'd better be ready to follow up on this one.  If they'll share this with you, they just gave you the keys to the kingdom of ongoing success, don't blow it.

One other thing to note.  Make sure you're speaking with all the right people in your customers, not just the IT staff who install and manage your technology. Talk to the business unit people that apply your technology to business operations -and more likely also control the dollars.  Ask them the above questions and learn how your solutions help them in their front line business operations. 

Finally, pay attention to the words customers use to describe their business.  That's the language you want to learn - and use.

Is it a Big Opportunity? 4 Questions To Ask Yourself Before you Dive In.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard this one.  Seriously.

Why is it that all you have to do is wave an RFP with a big dollar figure in front of a technology vendor and they follow you anywhere - even to the proverbial slaughter?

I don't get it.  We're all smart, well-versed business people, right?  We understand the principles of revenue vs. margins, profit vs. loss.

So why is is that we'll sacrifice our corporate goals, push the boundaries right to the brink of losing money on a deal (and jump right through the boundaries if it's exciting enough)?  Just to get a big  deal that we can thump our chests about?   

Sure it's a huge opportunity.  The question is - is it an opportunity for success or failure?

In the High Performance or Supercomputing arena, they call these beastie deals 'Hero Systems'.  Vendors fight over them with large investments in proposal teams,integrating and 'fixing' untested technologies and pricing that would make any CFO cringe.

In the commercial space we talk about Proof of Concept (POCs) implementations. POCs are a great way to 'seed' the market with small, quickly deployable solutions that are highly repeatable and get a "foot in the door'. Unfortunately, all too often POCs turn into large, resource intensive demonstrations of - yes - never before attempted uses of technology.  POC just became a nice phrase for big losses.

The justifications?  Well, they range from things like "the publicity will keep us in a leadership position" to "we can use the deal revenue to fund continued development" to "it got us in the door".  And then there's my favorite. "Everyone uses loss leaders - this is just bigger than most. We'll make it back over the lifetime of the customer's revenue."   Yeah right - and the check is in the mail.

Trust me when I say, taking these deals will not make you a hero - anything but. These deals are one of the single biggest causes of corporate stumbles.  It doesn't matter how much you justify them, they are dangerous.

I'm not saying you should never do a POC - or be a Hero to a customer.  What I am saying is that you need to approach these deals with discipline and with your eyes wide open.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What's the REAL cost of this deal - not just the numbers above the line.  What are the associated costs for custom engineering, integration and test ( a big one that often goes unstated), architecture refinements and ongoing service and support. Make sure you're being honest and not pulling the wool over your eyes just because of the lure of 'huge'.

• What's the opportunity cost of pursuing this deal. Deals like this aren't just about the direct costs. They're as much or more about the costs of what you can't do while you focus on the implementation. Is it worth giving up those engineers for 10 months so they can't work on the other projects on their plate.  Is it worth sacrificing a Professional Services team for 4 months instead of focusing on those other 10 customers that are smaller, but are highly profitable and a better fit for the business?

• Is this deal really a fit? Is this POC focused on creating and demonstrating a solution that you can package and resell over and over again? Or is it a branch off of your main path, a distraction that your company probably can't afford?  Often, I find these deals end up being one-timers that make the customer happy (until the next RFP, when they start all over again) but then never see the light of day again. And getting that customer happy - well, that takes twice the expected resources. So much for any profit - on paper or otherwise.

• Is there really a longterm play here?  We all know that customers will dangle the promise of 'better' future deals, expanded deployment and even corporate standardization to get a vendor to bite off these deals and perform. And in some cases, will paint beautiful pictures of a rosy revenue stream that may or may not be real (not often, of course).   Take a hard look at the true potential before you jump to the assumption of future revenue. You may just jump through the hoop and find yourself in a bottomless pit on the other side.

Just to be clear - I fully believe in POCs.  But I also know that a company must be disciplined about using them.

Focus the efforts on  limited, highly defined and controlled opportunities to penetrate strategic, high value markets.  If a specific POC isn't the right fit for you -  have the courage to just say "No".

Stop being like the dog down the street that chases every shiny car that goes by.

Get picky, and get profitable.

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!

Three is Marketing's Magic Number

When is the last time you read your marketing collateral from a customer's perspective? Been a while?  So do this now.  Go grab that latest brochure or product sheet.  Now try reading it as if you knew nothing about your business, its products or its expertise.

What are the top three messages you come away with? Can you even narrow it down to three?

Technology companies tend to take the 'throw everything at the wall' approach to messaging. I don't mean that negatively. Well, maybe I do. It's just that technology products have so many different ways they can impact different customers, so many cool things that companies want to talk about.Tech marketers often fall into the trap of trying to tell everyone everything - and then let the audience pick what's valuable to them.

The problem? Customers can't ‘consume’, much less remember, all the messages you give them. They are not sponges. They can't absorb every aspect of your technology like you can - they don't live and breathe it every day as you do. Neither do your sales reps for that matter. Neither do your partners.

When you overload your audience with too many messages, you risk not communicating at all.

The solution? Try synthesizing everything to threes. Three is the magic marketing number. Okay, I'll admit, sometimes I stretch it to five. But never, ever, more messages than that. Anything more is noise.

Why three? Because studies have shown that that's the optimum amount of information ‘buckets’ that a person can process at any given point in time.

 "But I have more messages than three, more value!”

Sure you do. The trick is to create, organize and then tie your story together so that it flows in blocks of three messages at a time.

So how do you do that? I create a positioning matrix with three facets***. Starting at the highest level, I create three key messages, then drill down into stories within each facet.  For example:

• Start by synthesizing your overall message into three key areas. I usually create these messages, around three standard arenas; your company and its expertise, your solutions and their customer value, and your market and your leadership within it.  

• Under each of those aspects, create up to three evidence messages that demonstrate your success in that specific area. At this point, I'm usually still at the business level benefits, and I haven't entered the technology zone as yet. Think business evidence, based on customer success, at this point in time.

• Under each of those three areas, add three highly specialized messages with very specific proof points. And guess what? Now your messaging can dive into those technology claims you were chomping at the bit to share.

• Now go look at your target markets. For each target market, apply the top three messages that map to their specific problems. Tune them to meet the specific market needs, and add the supporting evidence you need from real world customers in that market. 

Great messaging synthesizes a crisp and compelling story that customers and prospects easily and quickly comprehend and value.

By following the rule of threes, you'll be able to create just those stories.

***

For more on how to create a positioning matrix, check out my blog at Fusion PR: Positioning 101.

Sales is Discounting Again

How many times have I heard this cry from clients?   Always makes me wonder if corporate citizens understand and appreciate how hard selling can be - especially if you have little air cover and not much ammunition.

The fact is that if sales is discounting it means the company, and particularly marketing, hasn't done its job. I'm not trying to pass blame - just pointing out a 'relative' truth.

Sales people salivate for dollars.  Come on, we all know that.  At least the good ones salivate - they'll do whatever it takes to bring the revenues into your company so their wallets are happy.  Those are the reps you want working for you. So if they are discounting - before you blame them, take a harder look.

Sure you'll always have a select few deals you discount to open a door or seed a market.  But those are exceptions, not the rule.  Especially if discounting means that reps are losing money out of their own pocket. If reps are discounting consistently, then something is wrong. 

It could be a number of things:

• The Product. This is the last place technology companies want to look, and probably the first place they should focus. It's human nature to fall in love with your children, er creations. That's what our technology products often become as we develop them, enhance them, nurture them.  But more often than not when sales is discounting the product, its capabilities, design, stability, architecture - something is off the mark. So just admit your kid isn't that cute, and find what it needs to make it more attractive. 

• The Story. Sales reps will act to fill a void. They have to - it's the nature of what they do. If you don't give them a story that customers understand, believe and care about - then they'll do whatever they have to do to create that story. If that fails, they'll cut the price.  It's sales nature. So get the story right, and work with sales to make sure it works for them and their customers - not just for the citizens at corporate.

• The Target Market. Just because they were your best customers in the past, don't assume they are for this product or time.   Like you, your customers are evolving and changing, following their own Phoenix flight plan. Make sure you're still a match and if you're not - either switch markets or products.  Discounting is often a sign that you're aim is a bit off in the market.
  

• The Trust Factor. If customers don't trust that you're the expert partner they've been looking for, they won't pay you full price.  They'll want a discount for the risk they perceive they are taking. Make sure sales has the evidence to demonstrate your expertise and prove relevant successes.

• The Comp Plan.  But what if the reps don't lose that much money for discounting?  What if they can discount a deal to the point that you lose money - and they still get paid, maybe even slapped on the back for it?  If you think it doesn't happen, look around you.

My point is - discounting is a very telling behavior. Here and there, it's not a big deal.  But when it starts to happen consistently, then it's time to pay attention and fix the reason it's going on.

And stop blaming sales.They're most like doing the best they can with what they have been given.

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!

What if Technology Isn't the Heart of Your Business?

Heresy!!  Technology makes the world go around, right? That's why the best technology always wins in the market, right?  Hmmm.  Well, maybe not.

Technologies come and go. Even great technologies.

Before we have a heart attack - yes, technology is important.  I recognize that and I would never argue that you can be successful without it. Your technology innovation is most likely one of the key reason customers find you. It's also a source of revenue.

That doesn't mean that your whizbang whatchamaflopppy is the heart of your business.

It certainly doesn't mean that your technology alone will power you through the ups and downs of your entire business life cycle.

Nor does it mean that technology in and of itself will keep you in a strong market position

What keeps your business alive and thriving is your customers. We technology folk forget that sometimes. But the bottom line is that customers, and the value you bring to them, should be at the heart of your business.

Your technology represents a facet of your customer value matrix. But your value goes much deeper. Value comes from the energy and attitude you put into solving customer problems. It comes becoming a trusted partner with your customers.  That's an intangible thing, made up of so much more than tangible technology. For example:

• Market Expertise. Customers want to work with  vendors who understand their world, their daily lives.  People who have expertise in their specific field, not just in coding the latest and greatest software. Don't underestimate the value of real-world, hands-on experience and knowledge - your customers value it and you should too. You should fuel it.  Being able to apply your technology to your customers' business in their terms will build a stronger partnership than your latest whizawidget, every time. 

• Customer Commitment. Great companies are passionate about their customer experience. Sure, all great vendors aren't that way, there's always an exception (and I can think of one large vendor that is noticeably lacking a customer-focused attitude).  But most great companies live and breathe 'customer'.  Take a look at Steve Jobs if you want the ultimate example.  He is beyond passionate about his users. I've seen him miss an important executive session because he wanted to spend time with an employee's mom - exploring her experience with GUIs, with the web, with music downloading.  That's one of the many reasons he's a winner - big time.
  

• Customer Vision. Enduring companies have vision. And not just about technology. They see the world through their customers' eyes.  They understand that their own infatuation with the next cool innovation may not match their customers' most- pressing needs.  Set your vision from your customer's perspective. Then go use your technical skills to create the best technology or service to help your customers be successful. Starting with technology and then trying to find a customer home  is like trying to make that proverbial horse drink water - it rarely works well.
  

There are many complex factors that go into each and every success. Different mixes make a company unique, power it to leadership and keep it there. Your technology or products are definitely one of those factors.

Still, keeping your fingers on the pulse of your customers is the one guaranteed key to success. When you're taking stock of your company, be sure you look beyond the development labs.

Go Thump Your Chest in the Gym

I spent half a day with a team last week who fell all over each other sharing their claims of technological superiority.  Their whatchamadoodle was faster than the competition's, it did everything better, it was obviously made by those of superior intellect. I mean really, it was a marvel of modern technology. 

Not one word about the customer problem or how this amazing solution solved it.

Not one word about the business value, or the competitive advantage this technology could provide.

Not one word about anything or anyone but this company and its awesome technology.

If this company were a person - we'd call it a self-centered ego maniac.  And I sure as heck would not want to spend a lot of time around someone so self-enthralled. Would you? 

Now think like a customer.  When someone approaches you to sell a car, or an appliance, or a house or whatever -  using me, me, me marketing -  how do you respond?

How do you think your own customers respond? I have a pretty good idea, in case you don't already know.  The more you boast, the more their eyes glaze over,or roll around in their heads. And then they tune you out.

I call it chest thumping -and you should go do it in the mirrors in the gym, not in business. And certainly not as a way to win customers and influence prospects.

Business, and certainly your market persona (aka brand, image, etc) is NOT about you anymore. IMHO it never was.

So how about we stop the chest thumping and start letting customer success speak for you.

Feeds and speeds and technological claims of superiority don't win business. Nor do they impress your customers.  in fact, too much chest thumping can drive customers away - right into the arms of the competition.

Think about it.  How much time and trust do you want to share with someone who is all about me, me and me?

Your customers and prospects are  really no different.

So get out, go to the gym, work it out of your system and then come back to the office and focus on your customers and their successes. 

Be a humble expert offering advice, educating your market on issues that matter to them, pointing to customer success as the real evidence of what you can do.

Then just watch the response.

2 + 2 = 7

I was reading an article this morning that IMHO was way off base - presenting some pretty inaccurate conclusions based on standard financial reporting numbers. I was just plain flabbergasted to see the conclusions that were drawn. And published right there on the web - with some credibility!

To be fair, I don't think the person writing the article was trying to misrepresent anything. I just think he used the numbers to make his points without fully understanding the numbers. And his conclusions were pretty shaky, at best.  I commented back to BNET, so I won't go into the gory details here.***

What I want to emphasize is the importance of understanding your numbers -  and of spinning them to support your points in a reasonable and logical fashion.

Quantitative evidence can be a great boon to companies.  They prove the points we want to make. But they can also shoot our credibility in the foot - or even worse. 

My keys to evidencing with numbers are simple - be accurate, be logical and tell a story that makes sense.

• Accuracy Matters. Especially in this business. There is always someone in your audience ready to play 'stump the chump' with you and your stories. We all know the kind - someone who knows more than everyone and is just waiting to prove it.  The fastest way to shoot down your Phoenix is to use numbers that are inaccurate, or to inaccurately use the correct numbers (as in the case with the article above).  Be accurate, be knowledgeable or don't use the numbers.  You'll just give that guy in your audience the bullet he needs to shoot you down.

• Be Logical. If you're going to use numbers, whether they are yours, the analysts, some market study's - show the audience the logic you used to draw your conclusions.  Logic is the thread  that weaves your quantitative evidence together. When your logic is solid and your audience accepts it as trusted expertise - you gain credibility. When you throw out SWAG assumptions or just plain inaccurate logic - well, you better duck that next bullet.

• Tell Stories. Numbers are the foundation for great stories. For example, I use company growth numbers to tell stories of leadership - even when the growth may not be at the top line and/or  company-wide. For example, let's say your overall revenue has declined.  But look at that new sector - the one that you just dipped your corporate toe into.  You've grown sales by 10x and have some nice customer names to show for it. <NOTE: Sounds like a Phoenix to me!>  That evidence shows the success of your transition in a tangible way. Use it to weave your leadership story - the value you bring, the success you're finding - and the customers who make it so. BTW - that market is your most likely next destination!

Numbers are one of the best marketing tools we have.  Using them in an accurate and informed way can go a long way in gaining customer credibility as a thoughtful and trusted expert.

***  If you care to see what started me thinking, you can check things out for yourself. Here's the article I'm talking about at BNET: Examining Microsoft and Apple's Marketing Spend