Doing a micro-seminar this Thursday on "Networking for Increased Sales" spurs reflection on Return On Effort (ROE) for the many events I've attended, and where there are familiar faces and oh-so-familiar situations.
A colleague in the RAC network in PA told me that she now gets so many invitations to events (Business Networks Internationa; (BNI), Chambers of Commerce, BNI-emulators, Firestorm groups, Meet-Up groups, etc.) that if she could accept them all, it would be a 60-hour per week job. She finds that job doesn't pay well... Unless she improves the odds of success.
Can going to networking events be part of an effective, efficient marketing strategy?
Well, it depends.
If you go to everything you're invited to, it can be a "black hole" of time and resources. ROE for "shotgun" approach? Very low.
If you know who's in your target market, and know where they gather, and get invited? Better ROE.
If you know who you're looking to meet as a prospective client or a referral source, and find events where several people like that are present? Positive ROE.
And when you get to the event, and that moment of truth happens, when you get that one chance to make a first impression, some people launch their sales pitch. ROE for pitching? Very, very low. Can even do harm.
If you press to qualify, trying to smoke out if they're a decision-maker, have a need, and have money? Very low ROE - can do reputation harm and make people avoid you. Who wants their arm twisted by someone they just met?
If you are genuinely interested in the people you meet, curious about how their world works and where they find joy in it? Positive ROE.
Networking, randomly? Low ROE.
Networking, purposefully, with the right goals and attitudes? Better ROE.
More in the coming days.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Selling Strategy
Last post mentioned that if sales isn't working, the rest of strategy doesn't matter. Since writing that, in conversations with dozens of entrepreneurs and small businesses, I'm hearing universal agreement - and concern.
A refinancer said whatever deal she puts together today might not be possible in a month. A mortgage broker said he expects his business to shift dramatically this year when interest rates start to rise. A fellow consultant said most are stuck in a "wait and see" mode, unwilling to commit. A banker said conditions for making loans are tighter than ever before, and he has to tell his prospects "No" most of the time.
Of course it's all true, and it misses an important point: No matter what happens with interest rates, with taxes, with credit, with unemployment, with rapidly changing rules and conditions, with the random fluctuations of Wall Street, an effective sales strategy has to do just three things:
When a business offers a good solution to a priority problem, or the means to sieze a perceived opportunity, the sales strategy becomes getting it "out there" in front of those with that problem/opportunity and make buying a reasonable and easy choice.
How? Depends on the customer, and how they want to buy. The customer is in control; all a business can do is facilitate their awareness, confirm their wants & needs, anticipate and answer their questions, inform them of their choices in ways that help them decide -- however they decide.
And once a willing customer decides to buy, the rest of the strategy becomes important.
More on that next time.
A refinancer said whatever deal she puts together today might not be possible in a month. A mortgage broker said he expects his business to shift dramatically this year when interest rates start to rise. A fellow consultant said most are stuck in a "wait and see" mode, unwilling to commit. A banker said conditions for making loans are tighter than ever before, and he has to tell his prospects "No" most of the time.
Of course it's all true, and it misses an important point: No matter what happens with interest rates, with taxes, with credit, with unemployment, with rapidly changing rules and conditions, with the random fluctuations of Wall Street, an effective sales strategy has to do just three things:
- Find willing & able customers
- Offer help with what they experience as a problem/opportunity
- Make buying easy and satisfying.
When a business offers a good solution to a priority problem, or the means to sieze a perceived opportunity, the sales strategy becomes getting it "out there" in front of those with that problem/opportunity and make buying a reasonable and easy choice.
How? Depends on the customer, and how they want to buy. The customer is in control; all a business can do is facilitate their awareness, confirm their wants & needs, anticipate and answer their questions, inform them of their choices in ways that help them decide -- however they decide.
And once a willing customer decides to buy, the rest of the strategy becomes important.
More on that next time.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Strategy - Learning As You Go
The "Learning School" holds that organizational learning is how to keep strategy flexible and adaptive to rapidly changing environments.
"Walking the talk," I'm applying some practices of organizational learning to the sales microseminar series strarting on 3/11 (see www.effectivelearningforgrowth.com for details). Reflecting on what's been done before, challenging my assumptions about why and how, deliberately doing some things differently and watching for effect, cycling back through the reflective process.
(I'm noticing that organizational learning in an organization of one is, well, different, yet the same because it's quite practical. At least, the discussions are shorter.)
Microseminars are one component of my marketing strategy, which is in turn one component of my own overall business strategy for Effective Learning for Growth.
The marketing strategy - how one attracts clients - may be the most essential part of any overall strategy, since no clients means no business. Even if every other part of the whole strategy works beautifully, if this part doesn't, it's "game over."
Challenging the why - these are primarily to help other entrepreneurs, who often struggle from not knowing how to sell. But they're also to showcase the content of sales training for potential corporate clients and individual coaching clients. The why stands, but changes the how because the intended results from last year's sessions were less than anticipated.
Changing the how - Have marketed these through social media, primarily using Linked-In Chamber of Commerce and other groups. This time, continuing what worked, but adding two elements: cold-calling businesses in Chambers, and (thanks to a great idea from Tom Majewsky) started a Meet-Up group, as well. Also adding in social media more actively.
Real-time strategy adjustment through reflection-in-action - how might it translate for larger organizations?
"Walking the talk," I'm applying some practices of organizational learning to the sales microseminar series strarting on 3/11 (see www.effectivelearningforgrowth.com for details). Reflecting on what's been done before, challenging my assumptions about why and how, deliberately doing some things differently and watching for effect, cycling back through the reflective process.
(I'm noticing that organizational learning in an organization of one is, well, different, yet the same because it's quite practical. At least, the discussions are shorter.)
Microseminars are one component of my marketing strategy, which is in turn one component of my own overall business strategy for Effective Learning for Growth.
The marketing strategy - how one attracts clients - may be the most essential part of any overall strategy, since no clients means no business. Even if every other part of the whole strategy works beautifully, if this part doesn't, it's "game over."
Challenging the why - these are primarily to help other entrepreneurs, who often struggle from not knowing how to sell. But they're also to showcase the content of sales training for potential corporate clients and individual coaching clients. The why stands, but changes the how because the intended results from last year's sessions were less than anticipated.
Changing the how - Have marketed these through social media, primarily using Linked-In Chamber of Commerce and other groups. This time, continuing what worked, but adding two elements: cold-calling businesses in Chambers, and (thanks to a great idea from Tom Majewsky) started a Meet-Up group, as well. Also adding in social media more actively.
Real-time strategy adjustment through reflection-in-action - how might it translate for larger organizations?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Learning for Flexible Strategy
Mintzberg describes a "Learning School" of strategy that offers some neat possibilities for how to make strategy flexible.
The "Learning School" incorporates various elements from the last 20+ years to offer a radical approach to that flexibility problem: What if an organization's strategy included organizational learning? What if organizational learning actually drove strategic change?
That is, what if the organization focused time and attention on
Emergent learning? Maybe the right way to deal with the environmental emergent-cies we all see smashing over-considered strategies?
And, with the whole organizational learning opus on the table, what if an organization were smart and bold enough to combine a few things, as a test? Specifically:
Could be a game-changer...
The "Learning School" incorporates various elements from the last 20+ years to offer a radical approach to that flexibility problem: What if an organization's strategy included organizational learning? What if organizational learning actually drove strategic change?
That is, what if the organization focused time and attention on
- questioning strategic assumptions,
- scanning the environment for emerging threats and opportunities,
- engaging in dialog about the complexities and confusion in the environment,
- learning in an emergent way, and
- coming together about new directions based on a new shared understanding?
Emergent learning? Maybe the right way to deal with the environmental emergent-cies we all see smashing over-considered strategies?
And, with the whole organizational learning opus on the table, what if an organization were smart and bold enough to combine a few things, as a test? Specifically:
Action Learning
+
Executive small group
(chartered to find and recommend strategic modifications)
+
New technologies for virtual group work
=== === ===
An agile, adaptive, approach to strategy revision
+
Executive small group
(chartered to find and recommend strategic modifications)
+
New technologies for virtual group work
=== === ===
An agile, adaptive, approach to strategy revision
Could be a game-changer...
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
How Flexible Is Your Strategic Plan?
Strategic plans are based on analyzing the environment and prescribing a direction, a series of activities to create the future the organization wants.
Strategic plans limit choices of action to that path that the planner foresaw when the plan was made. Some are more flexible than others. If they’re not flexible, they’re doomed to be SPOTS (Strategic Plan On The Shelf).
How flexible is yours? These 3 questions will tell you.
Metrics tell you whether your plan’s working. The best ones provide a “dashboard” of key indicators that are sensitive and future-focused.
Assumptions list out the environmental factors – stable or changing in some predicted direction – that are necessary for the plan to keep making sense. Thinking them through, writing them down, and checking them periodically keeps the foundation of the plan rooted in reality.
Contingencies are a series of “what if” scenarios about the assumptions changing or the metrics going badly. They include at least the early steps of diagnosis and a direction for recovery.
A problem you anticipate can be halfway solved – which is what flexibility in strategy provides.
Strategic plans limit choices of action to that path that the planner foresaw when the plan was made. Some are more flexible than others. If they’re not flexible, they’re doomed to be SPOTS (Strategic Plan On The Shelf).
How flexible is yours? These 3 questions will tell you.
- What metrics tell you if you’re heading for the results you want?
- What assumptions are the foundation of your plan – and how do you know if they’re still true?
- What contingencies are built into the plan?
Metrics tell you whether your plan’s working. The best ones provide a “dashboard” of key indicators that are sensitive and future-focused.
Assumptions list out the environmental factors – stable or changing in some predicted direction – that are necessary for the plan to keep making sense. Thinking them through, writing them down, and checking them periodically keeps the foundation of the plan rooted in reality.
Contingencies are a series of “what if” scenarios about the assumptions changing or the metrics going badly. They include at least the early steps of diagnosis and a direction for recovery.
A problem you anticipate can be halfway solved – which is what flexibility in strategy provides.
Monday, February 1, 2010
"Strategy is dead" RIP, and long live AGILE strategy!
Last week, the Wall St. Journal featured an article saying “Strategic Plans Lose Favor” with larger companies (read).
The article reports that companies like Home Depot, Spartan Motors, and (surprisingly!) Accenture think “Strategy, as we knew it, is dead.”
I say “Rest in peace!” -- for the sort of strategic planning that Accenture has specialized in, and that most larger companies have practiced.
Strategic planning can be, and has been, a massively analytical undertaking. Large consulting firms, like Accenture, can spend months of effort and hundreds of thousands of dollars developing an exquisitely detailed strategic plan based on massive analysis. Sometimes they’ll deliver it in nice leather binders so it looks great on the executives’ bookshelves.
In an economy with lots of surprises, such strategic plans can be obsolete before they’re printed.
One manufacturing company spent months developing a plan to achieve ambitious growth over a 3-year period. Within the first 2 quarters, sales dried up and they went into survival mode. As for the strategic plan? “Well, we haven’t looked at it in quite a while.”
So does that mean that strategic planning is dead, killed by the accelerating pace of change?
By no means! But the analytical behemoths may go extinct, while more agile approaches will flourish.
To be useful in turbulent and difficult times, strategic plans need to be flexible and adaptive, open to rapid learning from the environment.
If a strategic plan is not agile, it’s dead, worthless, money very poorly spent for “SPOTS” (Strategic Plan On The Shelf).
So how can a strategic plan be agile? See my next blog.
The article reports that companies like Home Depot, Spartan Motors, and (surprisingly!) Accenture think “Strategy, as we knew it, is dead.”
I say “Rest in peace!” -- for the sort of strategic planning that Accenture has specialized in, and that most larger companies have practiced.
Strategic planning can be, and has been, a massively analytical undertaking. Large consulting firms, like Accenture, can spend months of effort and hundreds of thousands of dollars developing an exquisitely detailed strategic plan based on massive analysis. Sometimes they’ll deliver it in nice leather binders so it looks great on the executives’ bookshelves.
In an economy with lots of surprises, such strategic plans can be obsolete before they’re printed.
One manufacturing company spent months developing a plan to achieve ambitious growth over a 3-year period. Within the first 2 quarters, sales dried up and they went into survival mode. As for the strategic plan? “Well, we haven’t looked at it in quite a while.”
So does that mean that strategic planning is dead, killed by the accelerating pace of change?
By no means! But the analytical behemoths may go extinct, while more agile approaches will flourish.
To be useful in turbulent and difficult times, strategic plans need to be flexible and adaptive, open to rapid learning from the environment.
If a strategic plan is not agile, it’s dead, worthless, money very poorly spent for “SPOTS” (Strategic Plan On The Shelf).
So how can a strategic plan be agile? See my next blog.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
How to map to the future
Once your future’s envisioned, the harder work begins. Envisioning the future state as powerfully, vividly, viscerally as possible is creative, inspiring fun. (If it’s not, you’re not doing it right!)
This step’s much harder, and comes with a tide of hard questions. The first and hardest is, where are you now, really?
To get to that envisioned, inspiring future, you need a cold hard look at exactly what your present reality is.
That assessment includes (but, as a lawyer would say, “…is not limited to…”) –
• What’s your product and service mix? What do you do now to make enough money to pay the bills?
• What’s your brand, and how’s it doing in the marketplace?
• What are your financial resources and liabilities?
• What’s your current inventory, equipment, licenses, productive capacity…?
• What skills, talents, gifts does your staff currently have – and use?
• How well do they understand how their current roles fit the current reality? How engaged are they?
• What is your competition, and how’s the contest? When they win, how do they win?
With a little imagination, these actually apply to individuals as well as to organizations.
They’re hard questions that need honest answers, and these take a little time and wrestling to realistically assess.
But until you do, you can’t go on – because you can’t build a useful map based on any delusions. You have to know where you are, first, before you set your course to your future.
Next blog post – How to get there, from here...
This step’s much harder, and comes with a tide of hard questions. The first and hardest is, where are you now, really?
To get to that envisioned, inspiring future, you need a cold hard look at exactly what your present reality is.
That assessment includes (but, as a lawyer would say, “…is not limited to…”) –
• What’s your product and service mix? What do you do now to make enough money to pay the bills?
• What’s your brand, and how’s it doing in the marketplace?
• What are your financial resources and liabilities?
• What’s your current inventory, equipment, licenses, productive capacity…?
• What skills, talents, gifts does your staff currently have – and use?
• How well do they understand how their current roles fit the current reality? How engaged are they?
• What is your competition, and how’s the contest? When they win, how do they win?
With a little imagination, these actually apply to individuals as well as to organizations.
They’re hard questions that need honest answers, and these take a little time and wrestling to realistically assess.
But until you do, you can’t go on – because you can’t build a useful map based on any delusions. You have to know where you are, first, before you set your course to your future.
Next blog post – How to get there, from here...
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