1- 330-413-8552 Mark@NoSmokeAndMirrors.com

market loser

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lessons #10, #11,#12; Make Sure Your Marketing Has All the “Rights” Covered…right time, right customer, right offer

A basic marketing tenant says make sure you have all the “rights” covered in your New Product launch, New Service Launch. I discussed solving the right problem in my last post and that leaves the following “rights”; Right Time, Right Customer(s), and Right Offer(s).

Failure to nail all the rights puts your new product and or service launch results in jeopardy of missing ROI targets. Let’s take a quick look at these “rights”.

Right Time

One of the difficulties the Obama administration faced when launching the 2009 Health Care reform initiative was bad timing.

Like companies who have launched products in their markets before they were ready, or failed to meet the expectation set by marketing and sales, the Obama administration could not have launched at a worst time. They followed a failed stimulus from the Bush administration, a failed stimulus from the Obama administration, and they tried to begin their launch in the worst economic conditions the United States has seen arguably since the Great Depression.

When you launch products that are not complete solutions, or are not solving a specific problem, your market at first becomes suspicious, and if you repeat the insanity (doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results) you eventually break the trust in your Brand. When trust is broken you turn loyal customers into shoppers again.

Market leaders understand the importance the right timing plays in hitting their new product launch goals and the ROI’s promised the board and or shareholders.

Market Losers are so in love with their new product they fail to listen, they fail to send out market soundings and often their launches crash into the rocks of bad timing

.

Right Customer

In the Book Tuned In the authors discuss how to determine if the problem you are trying to solve should even be considered for development. They discuss the need to determine if the problem is urgent, pervasive (a bunch of folks have it) and most important, is your market willing to pay to solve it?

As we look at the “market “of US consumers we have distinguishable groups that can be segmented: Gen Y’s, Gen X’s, Baby Boomers, and Retired Consumers, consumers without health insurance,…just to name a few.

When you launch a new solution the burden is on you and your organization to clearly understand the problems of each market segment and solve them.

Once you solve problems the burden is also on you to clearly articulate the problem(s) you solved in the voice of the market.

Market Leaders understand the importance of segmenting their markets and speaking to each segment in a voice that they understand.

Market Losers launch with one size fits all solutions that require a salesperson to interpret, and fail to be understood and therefore Miss ROI targets.

 

 

Right Offer

When you thoroughly solve problem(s) for specific segmented groups in your market, you create offers that are made to stick. The offer is clear and does not require a rocket scientist or an attorney to understand. These perfect solutions instantly connect and become viral in all your targeted market communities. Social media picks up your solution and cannot wait to share how you solved the problem.

Market Leaders understand and value the impact social media can play in a successful Product launch.

Market Losers use Ready-Fire- Aim new product launches that, not surprisingly end in disaster.

Market Losers do not understand the power of Social Media and how it can be a valuable ally or an incredible foe that literally can cause you to go out of business.

How about your business….

Do you have all the “rights” covered in your next new product and or serve launch?

Are you living a launch disaster now?…tell us about it…

Have you successfully launched a product without having all the “rights” covered? If so, tell us about it.

Do you have clearly defined solutions or are you practicing “Agile Product Launches” …how’s that working for your shareholder value?

Are there other “rights” we need to consider?…Right Channel?….

Technorati Tags: Right customer,right offer,right time,Obama Health care,health care reform lessons,marketing,New product launch,market loser,market leader

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #8; Buyers Become Tone Deaf to Lazy Marketing Messaging

Marketers who build their message from within the perceived safety of their office walls create lazy marketing messages that are perceived as safe, but do not resonate in the marketplace. When marketing and their creative teams build messaging from an inside out approach, versus the market needs and problems in, they create noise and buyers learn to tune out to the noise. If you continue to violate your buyer trust with luke warm messaging that fails to explain the problems you solve for them, your buyers become tone deaf to all you’re marketing.

Scientists who have studied people who are tone deaf have found they lack specific connections in their brains. These individuals have an interruption in the synapses and thus no longer able to distinguish changes in pitch.

Your market becomes tone deaf by hearing repeated messages that do not resonate so they learn to disconnect from your product and your Brand.

The Obama administration is now in that ever so common place entrepreneurs find themselves after rushing to launch without doing the market research and connecting to buyer needs early on. When you launch products with a; Ready-Fire-Aim approach you miss your target and may actually hurt your relationships with buyers in your market.

The current administration was so focused on hitting a launch date (hasting) they compromised the needed upfront strategy work. When this occurs in your business, you launch expecting to sell 3,000 units of your new product or service and in reality you only sell 3.

Market Leaders recognize they have a problem early on, conduct win loss interviews, dive deep into their market to gain understanding (and not sell), and create learning’s.

In the Bible it talks about the sailors sending out “soundings” in the black of the night during storms at sea. What they were doing was listening for land, and more importantly rocks that could sink their ships. The Obama administration needs to be connecting to the market, and listening for soundings and not selling.

Once you learn more about your buyers, their problems, their buying process, buying criteria, and develop buyer personas, you can speak to them in a voice they hear an understand.

Market Losers just tell the same message, over and over again.( hoping this time it sticks)

Market losers are like Americans hiring taxi cabs in foreign countries…if the driver does not speak English…we just speak LOUDER!

Market Losers create Lazy messaging because they failed to do the strategy work upfront and pay in missing ROI targets and more importantly broken brand trust in their market.

If you find yourself in the middle of a storm brought on by underperforming sales to goal…

If you find your marketing team trying to convince you to spend more, have more placements and impressions, you may be dealing with a tone deaf market.

What do Market leaders do?

  • understand the value of spending time upfront in their markets

  • understand buyers and their problems

  • segment those buyers into common groups

  • create buyer persona

  • speak to their buyers in a voice that resonates

  • Constantly send out soundings in their markets, always listening…

How about your company…

Are you in a Taxi cab In Mexico City trying to speak louder in your market?

Does your team practice; Ready-Fire- Aim Product Launch?

Have you learned to become Tone deaf to the Obama administration messaging?

Is your messaging resonating with your buyers…or is it lazy marketing noise?

Can you afford to have your lazy marketing negatively affect your Brand image in the minds of your buyers?

Technorati Tags: messaging,marketing,buyer persona,market leader,market loser,obama,president obama,health care reform leasson,market problems

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #7: Asking…and not listening to your market, is worst than not asking at all…

A number of organizations are so focused to achieving their objectives that they stop listening to their market. Oh, they ask the right questions, (like they are supposed to) but they only hear the answers that are in alignment with their internal goals, understanding, and historical data. The market (your market) has changed as I discussed in my post interviewing salespeople. So asking open ended questions in your market is imperative to gaining current information and understanding the buying process of today’s market. When organizations ask, but not authentically listen, they create more damage in the trust between their team and their market than if they never would have asked in the first place.

I received an email invitation to attend a telephone town hall being held by Harry Mitchell. What the message said was;

U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell will participate in two live telephone town hall meetings to discuss the issue of health care and health insurance reform on Wednesday, August 26, with individuals residing in Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District.

“I believe that the telephone town hall format maximizes the ability to engage respectfully on the issue with folks across the district,” Mitchell said. “Reaching more people and taking more questions provides an opportunity to constructively listen to the thoughts, concerns and opinions of people and to answer their questions about the proposals in Congress.  I also want to highlight the provisions where there is bipartisan agreement and on benchmarks I believe should be met in order to gain my support.”

I have followed Harry Mitchell since moving to Arizona and what appeals to me is he seems to be a regular guy, someone I could call and have a conversation with. Someone, unlike a number of representatives in Washington, he is one of us. On his website he does a much better job than the Obama administration in clearly stating his views;

As I meet with people throughout the district, many have shared with me personal stories about health care.  Like most Arizonans, I believe that rising costs and the threat of losing existing coverage is cause for great concern.

Our health care system needs reform and I believe that it should be comprehensive. Reform should not only improve access to affordable and quality care for all Americans, but it also needs to also preserve individual choice and protect competition in the marketplace.  Reform should not leave individuals with fewer options, should not add to the national deficit, and should not leave doctors with inconsistent and low reimbursement rates as is often the case with Medicare.

This page closes with:

While our advances in the health care system are the envy of the world, too many Arizona families and businesses are facing skyrocketing costs, the threat of losing coverage, or denied care by their insurance companies.  Reform needs to protect what works and fix what doesn’t.  Any solution must first start with an open and honest conversation that gives all of the stakeholders in the debate a seat at the table.  That includes you.

As legislation works its way through Congress, I will continue to review the bill and monitor its changes.  I have also created this resource page where you can also read the bill, access information about the legislative process, and contact me with your thoughts.

Awesome, he clearly has done what I ask business leaders to do;

go out into your market, discover their needs and unresolved problems listen and do not try to overcome their objections…

Here’s my concern; Is a telephone conference call truly the best venue for you Harry, and your brand?

I do not think so, and I think it will be the biggest strategy mistake in your career….but I may be wrong. For me it is an interruption in your Brand. But then again all who Am I? I live in Arizona, I am a Republican, and I help business people connect with their markets which ultimately results in explosive growth. However, what this “feels” like is you are trying to control the voice of the customer. Whoever recommended a telephone conference, in my opinion, should be asked to serve in another capacity on your staff. I thought it might just be me, so I asked a number of friends, and unfortunately perception is reality and the perception is you are afraid, and you want to control the venue. The reality may be you truly want to serve more people in a better way; however the execution does not match your Brand so we are Branding you by Default.

I tried to sign up for the telephone conference but your web site said;

Note: Due to heavy traffic, we are experiencing delays with our email system. If you encounter difficulties, please return later and try again.

Did you not expect heavy traffic? Did your advisor not research what was necessary to support this venue, support you?

Here’s the problem, we the American people have lost trust. The shame is you “feel” like a great , Authentic guy next door, (like someone I wrote about ), however this teleconference “feels” like you will be “telling and selling” not listening.

It feels like you are trying to control the voice of your customers and shape a confirmation of what you already believe and not listen and learn.

When you ask buyers why they do not buy, most think it is price, or the product is not right…but what buyers tell you the top two reasons are;

#1 the salesperson did not listen

#2 they did not understand my problem

Keep in mind, as consumers, we Love to buy…we hate being sold!

I truly hope your motivation was to reach more people and provide a positive venue to address real questions. I was not able to participate but I hope to hear from those that do. However, if you are trying to control the voices of your marketplace, stop, and have someone on your staff buy you a copy of a book titled: World Wide Rave.

How about your business…

Are you asking and not listening?

Are you trying to validate and support your beliefs or are you authentically listening and connecting to unmet needs?

Are you “selling and telling” or listening and solving?

Did you attend the teleconference? How did it make you “feel”?

You see, at the end of the day how markets “feel” about you, your company, your Brand, and if you and your team authentically Listens, Understands, and solves my problems affect their purchase decisions. Each purchase is a vote of confidence.

Technorati Tags: town hall teleconference,listen to your market,find market problems,not listening to your market,brand,brand by default,Harry Mitchell

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #6: Without a Road Map Your “Administration” Will Attempt Too Much, Too Fast and Not Achieve Any of Your Goals

It is an all too common problem;leaders trying to execute to many  things and not doing any of them effectively and thus missing their goals. Our current 2009 Health Care Reform is providing another lesson for business leaders throughout the world;

“Buy a Map!”

It was the late 1990’s and my independent sales representative Randy and I were working downtown Philadelphia looking for a new video game distributor. As we drove in what felt like circles we were obviously lost and frustrated. We must have passed the same hot pretzel street vendor three times, so I asked Randy to pull over in the next gas station so I can ask directions. As we pulled into parking lot and parked, I got out to ask directions, (Randy quickly locked the doors.) I thought …after all I am in the “city of brotherly love”…surely someone will be happy to give me directions… As I walked up to the bullet proof window the clerk said: “What?” I explained I was looking for the following address and I will never forget what he said…

“Buy a Map!”

 …little did I know then how profound that advice was when you feel lost.

A Road Map helps your organization (administration) understand where you are, where you want to be, and maps the 2-3 key initiatives  (from an overview standpoint) you plan to execute. In addition to identifying 2-3 key initiatives versus 23 or more, it also shows where you do not plan to go. Will your road map change? Sure, you may encounter a roadblock in your marketplace and you will adjust your trip plan, however you will recalculate the course to get to your desired destination.

A Mistake businesses leaders make is trying to do too much, too fast, and not execute any of your initiatives and miss your goals. When this occurs, your market loses trust in you, and you lose their votes. ( orders)

The current administration in the white house came in after a poorly executed stimulus plan. The market was already Leary of Washington’s ability to execute.

The past launch failure caused a lack of credibility and trust in the market.

Very quickly they announced the following plans;

“American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.”

Close Guantánamo

Education Stimulus

Auto industry bail out

Tax Cuts

Increase Efforts in Afghanistan

Stop the Iraq war.

North Korea

New Energy

Plan for Immigration

Normalize relations with Cuba.

Auto higher mileage standards

Estate-Tax Plan

Confront Iran

Gun control

Climate plan

Plans for Israel

Is it any wonder the current administration will miss its budget projection by $2 TRILLION DOLLARS?

“Buy a Map!”

Again, this was not meant to me a political commentary but an example for us all to learn from. When you list all the initiatives your team is working on I think it would surprise most business leaders.

An exercise I often do with new clients is I meet with all middle and senior leaders and ask what they are working on. Very quickly I determine if I am helping a team that has a road map and is aligned.

When I polled CEO’s not long ago asking what concerns them the most;

Finding out six months into a launching a strategic plan that my team members are not executing to the plan.

The leading cause of teams taking on too much and team members acting on their own initiatives not in alignment with the overall corporate strategy is the lack of a road map. So…

“Buy a Map!”

Once you develop your map you must prioritize the initiatives that made the cut. You must assess what your team has the capability, financial resources and skill sets to execute. You will identify 2-3 key initiatives…not 23…54…or 76 .

Market leaders assess their capabilities and create a road map for their organization and share it with all team members.

Market losers lack self control and alignment that results in many initiatives and they fail to execute any of their objectives.

Market losers resort to name calling and blame-storming.

Less is more with a Market leading Road Map.

How about your …administration?

Have you added initiatives to your plan to hit your numbers or identified 2-3 you plan to do well?

Do you have a way to filter new opportunities?

What causes your team to be distracted from the road map?

Do you know your companies road map?

Do you and your leadership team need to …”Buy a Map!”?

Technorati Tags: road map,road mapping,marketing stroy,strategy,marketing,market leader,blame storm,name calling,health care reform lesson

2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #4: Your Previous New Product Launch success (or Failures) Affect Current and Future Launches

At the Austin Pcamp last weekend I was speaking with a young product manager and he shared sales and marketing do not seem to be embracing his current new product launch. The first thing I asked him was;

“Have you launched other products or solutions recently expecting to sell 60,000 (and that was the sales goal) and you only sold 6…”

His answer was “Yes, how did you know that?”

I explained the one thing about having grey hair is I earned each one,and I went on to explain

“… you have a trust and credibility issue within your team and probably market you must fix first.”

As a salesperson and someone who has lead sales teams it is hard not to become a bit skeptical when marketing and product management “throws another new product over the wall for my team to sell”.

 It is particularly difficult to get excited about a new product opportunity when marketing and product management have throw two previous solutions over the wall and my team was given a goal for 60,000 and we only sold 6.

So I explained to this ( now wide eyed) young product manager that once you break trust with your sales and marketing team, once you no longer have credibility among your team members you have a much bigger problem you need to solve first. (And you need to solve it quickly)

I asked him a number of questions and the one that seemed to make him most uncomfortable was;

“When the last product launch failed and sales was out in the market banging their heads against the wall trying to sell it (so they get paid) and you were at corporate…did you attend any meetings with your leadership team and when asked why the product is not selling…did you throw sales under the bus?”

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2009 Health Care Reform Initiative Lesson #2: Without a Clear Definition of the Problem You Want to Solve, you cannot write good requirements for your development team

 

Without a clear understanding of the problem(s) you want to solve, how can you write the requirements needed in the solution your development team creates? They will assume the problems and will try solve those with  assumed requirements as facts. The farther the requirements move from actual market problems that you have agreed you need solved, the farther the final product solution will be from something that resonates in your marketplace.

In this case congress was asked to create a Health Care Reform bill with the lack of a clear understanding of problems they were to solve and my guess is they therefore did not have prioritized requirements that clearly explain what the final solution must do, and for whom. Couple this with being given an aggressive product launch date for your solution and you will experience what my father used to call: Haste makes waste. ( sound familiar, I have faced this many times)

Like congress, business owners use their gut and intuition at a time they should be gaining an intimate knowledge of their market, their buyers, buying process and buying criteria.

I am confident everyone “worked hard”, but I am also convinced without a clear understanding of problems to be solved they could not have “worked smart”.

What we are now experiencing with the 2009 Health Care Reform Initiative is symptomatic of leaders lacking market intelligence and a clear understanding of the problem(s) they are to solve. We see entrepreneurs with a vision boldly launching their solution into their markets only to find what they “thought” was a brilliant idea( their wife and golf buddies thought so) does not resonate with their customers and potential buyers. As I wrote in my post: Nail it before you scale it, you must completely solve the identified problems before you scale them. Scaling products that are not complete solutions only results in a lack of understanding among your customers and is often perceived as self serving, and an inside-out focused Market Loser, versus a market serving , Market Leader.. When this occurs you break trust.

Once trust is broken with buyers in your marketplace they are never won back 100%, and it will cost you dearly.

When you lack a clear definition of the problems you wish to solve you can not write requirements that are of value to the development team.

Without clear requirements, your development team will work very hard to solve the assumed problems they think you want solved and the perceived needs you “throw over the wall”. We not only need a list of the problems and defined requirements but development would also value the prioritization of those requirements.

Without open and clear communication development will decide the prioritization, again further drifting form market problems and solutions to urgent and pervasive needs.

One symptom of this is development spending more time defending what they built versus building new solutions your market wants to buy.

How about your organization….

 

Are you asking your development and or engineering to develop solutions without a clear understanding of the problem they are setting out to solve?

 

Does your development team have requirements or are they left to guess and assume?

 

Do you find your development team working “hard” or “smart”? Why or why not?

 

Do you find the quality of problem definition and the prioritization of requirements has an inverse relationship to the amount of time given for the solution to be launch?

Technorati Tags: requirements,problems,market problems,solve market rpoblems,launch,new product launch,development,market leader,market loser

“Dumb and Dumber, FOX and Warner and how they are Planning on Delaying Deliveries to Red Box

Lloyd and Harry reach Aspen on Scooter in Dumb and Dumber

FOX and Warner Bros delaying new movie releases to Red Box and other kiosk vendors is like watching a new release of Dumb and Dumber.

In the Wall Street Journal article: Warner Bros. aims to lift DVD sales, will delay arrival at rental kiosks. They discuss how they plan to delay new releases to DVD rental kiosks.

The movie studios are concerned about their DVD revenues.

The market is not only speaking, but screaming how they are raving fans of DVD rentals Kiosks like Red Box.

The current big customers like Blockbuster and others are posting over 22% losses in revenues when kiosks like Red Box are showing consistent and impressive gains. Call me crazy… but your market is speaking guys…can you hear me now? Red Box Kiosks are described as; “The hottest thing in movie rentals is as old as the Coke machine — and just as red.”Their CEO Gregg Kaplan said “We are incredibly proud to achieve 200 million rentals and 10,000 locations nationwide.”

The studios have a choice, they can try to “control” the market, the buyers, or they need to intimately understand the market, buyers and needs and not only embrace the new ways consumers wish to consume content but enable it.

Thirteen years of my work experience was serving the movie distribution, rental and mass retail. How Warner and Fox are behaving is no different than how they all were behaving worried that this new thing called “movie rental stores “would erode their box office revenues in the mid 1980”s.

Market losers try to control the market and they protected their current cash cows while ignoring the consumer’s voice. They ignore the bright lights of growth and change trying to tightly hold on to past business models their markets no longer value.

Market leaders spend time getting to know their market and they quickly understand consumers who rent movies also go to movie theaters and some even buy movies and collect them.

When we rent content it is about wanting entertainment in a convenient and cost effective way for me as a consumer. You can try to control us, however when you do we find other ways to solve our needs and often they are much more severe to your bottom line. Besides, how long will it be before one of your competing studios blinks? Didn’t we live this same scenario “back in the day” And what happened…aggressive smaller studios emerged understanding the needs of consumers and and one of you big guys blinked. Some of you held your ground (more stubborn and stupid, driven by your own needs and egos instead of being strategic marketers) and how did that work for you back then? I remember, do you?

I can remember the 28,000 independent video stores and large movie distributors placing pressure on the studios to not ship new video releases directly to this 14 store chain in Texas called Blockbuster. At the time they were buying through distributors like Big State, Commtron, Ingram, and others. Well that little chain of 14 video rental stores quickly became a market leader.

I am a huge fan of Red Box.

They solve problems for me;

· I want to rent a DVD fast, I like the experience

· I want to rent a DVD and do my grocery shopping in one trip, in one location, one stop ( I am already late for dinner)

· I do not want to pay what Blockbuster charges , no late fees …but still a lot more than $1.00

· I only want the movie for one night

· I don’t want to have to join Net flicks or others and pre plan my month of movie viewing

· At a $1.00 rental, I feel like I receive a value , if I like it I go to Wal Mart and buy it

· I do not want to have to “shop” at a movie rental store only to find out they have all the new releases checked out

· I do not want to pay more for a new release than an older movie

· I do not want to buy movies through my cable provider as they are already raping me with what they charge

· The box office theaters are increasing their prices ( again, feels like they are thinking about their own needs and not mine)

So what are you going to do Dumb and Dumber? Are you going to repeat the past and focus on your needs or are you going to understand the market, it’s consumers and our changing needs and not only enable us to enjoy movie entertainment, but who knows you may even find new products and serves that solve our unresolved problems that Red Box fails to solve?

When I wrote my post : Attention leaders: Don’t look now but your lack of market knowledge is showing… I was talking about companies like you that have lost touch with their markets and they guess , assume, and use their gut and intuitions as their way of hitting their goals. They make inside-out versus market -in decisions and their shareholder values decline rapidly.

Your choice…focus on your internal needs and try to control the market… Or gain an intimate knowledge of your market today and it’s consumers like me and build products and service delivery systems that serve me and solve my unresolved problems.

Oh I can hear the movie exec’s now…”easy for you to say, we have billions at stake here.” Well you are right, you do. But you will eventually supply the kiosk companies with new releases at the same time as others. While you figure it out, Red Box will go to a mass retail store on the day of the new release and buy them. While you figure this out you will remove profit from your movie distributors.

So the question is how long do you want to be a “buggy whip” manufacturer saying this horseless carriage is a fad? Or, do you embrace your market, its changes and evolve into a new company that meets our needs today and into the future?

Maybe you develop a “imovies” since my kids seem to download their favorite DVD’s onto Apple laptops? The only hassle is the download from the disc. Not a big deal, but maybe you take the time to understand why they are doing this, the problem it solves for them and solve it brillantly?

We are all watching…

How about your company….

Are you trying to control your market? How’s that working for you?

Are you trying to control your vendors trying to slow down a new service model in your industry?

Are you the buggy whip manufacturer saying this new horseless carriage is a fad and will never last?

Or are you studying your market, your consumers and intimately understanding what and why they do what they do?

All is not lost by the way as some forward thinking buggy whip manufactures found as they learned to make leather seating for these horseless carriages.

Trying to control a market is foolish and expensive. Understand and embrace your market and become a market leader, not a market loser.

Technorati Tags: FOX,Warner Bros.,Red Box,Market leadership,Market leader,market loser,Blockbuster Video,Marketing,market change

Market leaders know that Goals should not be a “Shell Game”

 

Market leading teams understand the importance of clear, measureable goals.

Market losers set loose goals and objectives that change like a shell game, as their mood and business climate changes…this is the quickest way to demoralize a team, lose shareholder value and key contributors.

Market leading teams understand the importance of clear, measureable goals.

Market losers set loose goals and objectives that change like a shell game, as their mood and business climate changes…this is the quickest way to demoralize a team, lose shareholder value and key contributors.

Goals that are not written down are just dreams.

So how do we set goals that motivate, drive growth, but do not feel unrealistic?

What I have always done is build goals from the market up as opposed to from the ivory tower down.

I recommend you segment your market into regions, and then keep peeling the onion until you are down to current and targeted new customers and then products and services.

You must spend time living in your market gaining current information to set achievable goals that drive profitable growth and add value.

From real market knowledge I then recommend building sales playbooks by team member. This is a collaborative effort with the team members who will execute the plan and are closest to the market. We identify sales goals for specific current customers and products .We spend time developing strategy upfront with tactics and key initiatives to achieve our goals.

Where market losers consistently fail is spending too much time deep in the weeds of tactics with little if any time upfront in strategy.

Then we identify new accounts we would like to sell and again assign a goal and develop strategies and tactics to open the targeted new accounts. Next we take the data and goals by product, by customer, and targeted new customer, and new products, and we now build a goal as well as a stretch goal.

The goal becomes our mission; it is what we will be talking about for the next year. The goal aligns us as well as other cross functional team members helping us clearly understand what we are setting out to accomplish.

A stretch goal is always developed to insure the goal is achieved. You are paid on the goal, and if you achieve stretch goal objectives above and beyond your goal you realize a compensation multiplier. Stretch goals become your contingency plan. Stretch goals give you the wiggle room for when things go bump in the night.

What do they say…? “Colonel Custer had a plan”…or “the best laid plans of mice and men”….and they are right. No matter how well we gather market data, “things” happen. Markets change, accounts get acquired, planned product launches are often late, and competitors also are executing their plans.

Having a stretch goal helps us” shoot for the moon and worst case we still end up a star”.

When a change occurs we go back to the original goal and review the specific strategies and tactics. If a key account was acquired or closed, we go back to our stretch goals and change the weighting of those stretch objectives. We ask ourselves…” OK, based on what we now know, we need to make up the shortfall . Of our stretch goals, which have the highest probability to make up the delta to goal? What do we need to do? What do we need to ask of others?

In Market leading teams everyone is a member of “the team” and everyone rallies around the goal, and are aligned with a singular purpose of the team’s definition of a win.

Market leaders know cross functional goals tear down dysfunctional silos and make mighty market leading teams.

Market losers play a shell game with their goals.

They have a “goal of the day” and their teams set out to take the hill. Their teams work diligently against difficult odds and often achieve the goal only to find out the goal changed. In this environment, you must be more skilled at watching the shell game masters hands and follow the goal more than the strategy and tactics to achieve the goal itself.

Market losers observe the goal building process (if they allow you to build it from the market up) and “bet the farm” on the stretch goals.

They need all the stars to align perfectly and although your team will achieve the 20% growth goal, and the corresponding increase in shareholder value, your CEO makes you feel like losers because you failed to hit the stretch goal he told the board ( and often the bank to justify additional capital) we would achieve.

Market losers build goals based on the ROI to justify the investment.

They create a number to make the board and investors happy then they slice this home grown goal and distribute the unrealistic slices to each team member. When team members challenge these goals from mount high they are disciplined and told to “make it happen”. If you challenge how the goals were developed you are often left feeling like you are not being a “team guy” and your questions are signs of disloyalty.

Market losers change the goal when they are not achieving it.

For example I hear some entrepreneurs bragging they are not;” losing as much business as others in their market” versus reporting their performance to plan.

Market leaders set aggressive goals and establish stretch goals as contingencies to insure they: do what they say they would do.

Boards, investors, and owners respect teams that do what they say they will do. Investors gain confidence and are more willing to make additional investments in the future.

How about your organization…..

Is your organization a Market Leader?

Is your organization a Market Loser? Why?

Who sets goals in your organization?

Are the goals fixed or are they a shell game?

Do you know your goals? If you are not sure…how does that make you feel?

What kind of company would you prefer to serve…one that sets aggressive market built goals or one that promises the bank and board numbers and then throws goal slices over the wall and tell you to “Make it Happen”?

Technorati Tags: goals,set goals,achieve goals,add value,increase shareholder value,cross functional team,tear down silos

Mentor Moment #12: Dance with the Date who Brought you to the Dance

There are a number of ways to grow a business; sell current products to current customers, current product to new customers, new products to current customers and new products to new customers.

However far too often companies spend a disproportionate amount of time and energy is spent on new customers and not building relationships with current clients. You must insure you focus on serving current customers.

Current customers have given you their vote, their trust when they placed an order with you

. Market leaders understand the importance of including current client development programs in their growth objectives. Market losers forget who brought them to the dance, and give all their energy to chasing new dates …and often go home alone broke. Market losers are unaware of the interruptions for current clients and often turn customers into shoppers again.

How about your company….

Do you have current account growth plans in place?

Do you have a KPI for retaining and growing current customers?

Once you lose a current customer how hard and expensive is it to win their love again?

Technorati Tags: sales,sales growth,grow current customers

Mentor Moment #10: “Nail it before you Scale it”

Entrepreneurs must insure they totally “nail” their product or service thoroughly before they “scale” it.

Like a number of these Mentor Moment nuggets, I do not claim to have written them, but I do whole heartily believe in them. I did a Google search and found this Mentor Moment can be attributed to Warren Packard. He was recently interviewed by Fox Business newsat the CES show concerning what his firm is investing in today.

Market leading entrepreneurs understand how critical it is to totally “Nail” your solution to an unresolved market problem before you “Scale” it. Where market losers fail is only incrementally providing a new solution and not totally solving it leaving themselves vulnerable to competitors who do their homework and thoroughly understand the unresolved market problem and solve it brilliantly. I know the rush of excitement…your new thing will be big and you can’t wait to launch it. When you feel this way, force yourself to to see all the “no-see-ums“. You must make sure you totally nailed it. What are users saying about your new product? Have you learned something new after launch? All of these are considerations you must reconcile BEFORE you scale it, or you will be very unhappy with the results.

Market leaders gain market knowledge and completely solve unresolved market problems.

How about your company…

Your last launch…did you nail it before you scaled it?

What prevents your team from totally nailing it first?

Did you nail it before you scaled it…if so share your results.

Technorati Tags: scale business,product solution,market leadership
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