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by Rick Baker
On Jan 7, 2010
This is blog #6 in an 8-blog series about Powerful Answers to 7 important business questions. The series is intended to be an introduction to strategic intuition and planning.
Preamble: I created a word to cover the last 2 questions, Question 4 and Question 5. That word is Tarmarvalproda©.
Tarmar: Target Market, also known as Market Niche
valpro: Value Proposition, as seen by the Client
da: Differential Advantage, also known as Unique Selling Proposition, as seen by Client
Tarmarvalproda© is the heart of Marketing.
Question 5 is aimed at What? - What Marketing & Sales work must be done? Many experts have influenced my thinking…to name just a few: Jay Abraham, Tony Parinello, Jeffrey Gitomer, and Malcolm Gladwell.
Some introductory thoughts about Marketing & Sales plans:
- Think before doing
- Think about how best to use multi-pronged actions
- Measure and test…everything…be selective
- Network well
- Use pictures
- Use video testimonials
- Be creative
- Inject humour…just the right amount, with the right timing
Question 5: How do you PLAN to connect with those people who care?
Powerful Answer:
Let me show you. My written plan is here in my briefcase.
Postamble: About 15 years ago, I created a template for strategic marketing planning programs. I called it SMP Programs©…here's a link to a sample of that template [ SMP Template]. Putting the plan in writing: that's a good start. Using plans as benchmark-tools - so useful and so important to us they are in our briefcases and in our BlackBerrys - that's proof of a deep-rooted motivation to succeed.
The next blog will consider Question 6:
How do you prove your people do the RIGHT things EVERY day?
by Rick Baker
On Dec 31, 2009
This is blog #4 in an 8-blog series about Powerful Answers to 7 important business questions. The series is intended to be an introduction to strategic intuition and planning.
Preamble: Question 3 is about Differential Advantage, also known as Unique Selling Proposition, and about Value Proposition. During the last 30 years numerous experts have advised us of the need for uniqueness and holding a differential advantage over our competitors. Tom Peters, for example, went into detail in his book Thriving on Chaos [1987]. Jay Abraham and many others provide guidance and ideas. However, for most business people at most businesses this is a real challenge.
Differential Advantage: the potential Buyer asks - Why should I buy from these people instead of buying from their competitor…or doing nothing?
Value Proposition: the potential Buyer asks - What value do I get when I buy this thing?
At the surface it seems it should be easy to answer these questions, However, that is not what we have seen when we talk to hundreds of business people. When it comes to understanding and describing Differential Advantage and Value Proposition, it is appears the grass may be greener on the other side of the street. Often, it is easier to answer the question for another company than it is for our own company.
Question 3: What do you do BETTER and DIFFERENT than anyone else?
Powerful Answer: an excerpt from the SWOGG Canada Inc website www.swogg.com
We guarantee your order will be delivered RIGHT! ON TIME! OR FREE!
Postamble: When we decided to invest in SWOGG we understood the decorated-apparel industry was fraught with over-promising and under-delivering. Examples: (1) corporate golf tournaments would happen before the shirts with logos arrived and (2) children would be wearing white T-shirts for the opening game of their soccer season…all because decorated apparel did not arrive on time. So, in reaction, we created the above statement of difference…a differential advantage.
The next blog will consider Question 4:
Who REALLY CARES about what you do best?
by Rick Baker
On Dec 24, 2009
This is blog #2 in an 8-blog series about Powerful Answers to 7 important business questions. The series is intended to be an introduction to strategic intuition and strategic planning.
Preamble: Perhaps you have life-goals, including a life-goal for the business-work part of your life? If you do then that makes it easier to answer Question 1. If you do not have a life-goal for business and would appreciate a simple tool designed to help people write one out then let me know. I created a tool called My Business© about 10 years ago. I can email a copy of it to you.
Question 1: What will your business look like when you are finished building it?
'The Manufacturing Innovation Network (MIN) is the central place for local manufacturers in the Waterloo Region to:
- Build Awareness - raise awareness of products and services manufactured in the region both on a local and global scale.
- Network - improve collaboration and knowledge sharing between companies and industry professionals in an effort to create shared best practices, standard protocols and new innovations. Members can join peer groups, create professional profiles and access experts in blogs and online discussion forums.
- Trade - a centralized e-marketplace for buying, selling and promoting goods and services online, such as classified ads, job board and a comprehensive company directory.'
Postamble: Question 1 is around business Vision and Mission. Waterloo MIN expresses its raison d'être in a clear, straightforward statement. Clear, straightforward statements are powerful. Written statements are powerful.
Trivia: according to William Duggan, the word strategy did not enter the English language until 1810. The word tactics had been in English dictionaries almost 200 years before the word strategy arrived.
Footnotes: Statements of Vision apply to organizations and also to people. Napoleon Hill [ www.naphill.org] called this definite purpose and chief aim in life. My observations indicate - if a person has a personal Vision then it is easier for that person to create a Vision for his/her organization. So, I created a 'tool' many years ago, to help people set and write out their thoughts about what they want to accomplish during their business careers. I called the tool My Business©. Heres a link to that tool - My Business©.
The next blog will consider Question 2:
What HUMAN strengths will you use to build your business?
by Rick Baker
On Dec 17, 2009
Our CRM system works!
We built our CRM system – which we call our eCRMine – using our own software-engineering savvy and our own sales-management savvy. We did that because experience showed us off-the-shelf tools did not allow us to inject creativity…a necessary ingredient of a successful CRM system.
To summarize, we think a CRM system is successful when it has the following attributes:
- It gets used…used by staff, used by management, and used by leaders
- It serves the needs identified by staff, managers, and leaders [ie, it serves The Plan]
- It can be expanded or contracted…ie, it can be changed to meet changing needs
When we talked about creating eCRMine we knew about Wikipedia and The Internet Movie Database.
We knew about those information systems and we knew people embraced them…they were user-friendly and they were comprehensive, containing huge amounts of cross-referenced information.
That’s what we wanted in our CRM system. We wanted to capture names and facts. We wanted cross-referencing like that contained in Wikipedia and IMDb. I used to say - we want it Wikipedia-ish and IMDb-ish.
Using IMDb as a metaphor – we didn’t just want to know everything about Sylvestor Stallone…when he was born, what movies he was in, when those movies were made, etc. We wanted to be able to quickly find out who else was in those movies. We wanted to know the people who know Sylvester Stallone: the movie producers, the movie directors, the fellow actors, etc.
Thinking about what Malcolm Gladwell [ www.gladwell.com] had written in The Tipping Point, about Kevin Bacon and Rod Steiger [the best-connected actor of all time], we wanted to capture relationships on multiple levels.
The good news: it is not difficult to build a powerful CRM system…and we would be pleased to share the results of our work with you.
If you would like to learn more about our eCRMine then let us know.
***
Over the last 2 years, Spirited has talked with hundreds of businesses, all seeking help. We noticed trends and we developed a short list of questions to help us understand the precise nature of the help required.
In the next blog series, I will share and discuss those questions.
by Rick Baker
On Dec 15, 2009
We are pleased to announce: Our CRM System Works!
For many years, we have seen people suffer with client-contact and relationship management systems..."CRM systems". And, we have suffered ourselves.
In the early 1990's I discovered Lotus123. That software allowed me to create a database/spreadsheet combination that had some positives: information capture, user-friendly, sorting, reports, etc. Lotus123 software allowed us to get some basic organization in place.
This happened about the same time cell phones were shrinking from luggage-size to hand-held size.
Back then - the world of information and communication seemed a much-simpler space.
Back then - people spent more time building relationship than talking about the need for them, let alone talking about the need for relationship-support tools.
Things have changed.
Now - lots of people have a desktop computer, a laptop, a BlackBerry, and a notebook. That's what I have and (ask anyone) I'm not a high-tech fellow.
Now - I'm writing a blog about CRMs.
Actually, this blog is about introducing our proprietary CRM, which we call our eCRMine.
e - electronic
CRM - contact relationship management
Mine - our gold mine of specialized information [Value repository]
Here's a link to a picture of the opening page of our eCRMine. ( link to eCRMine)
Over the years, we have suffered and watched others suffer with CRM systems.
To remove this suffering, after exploring many other options for many years, in 2007, we decided to build our own eCRMine.
We built eCRMine using our own software-engineering savvy and our own sales-management savvy.
eCRMine is 'modular' - it can be customized and we can transfer its 'technology' to other businesses.
In the next blog, I will provide some more details about our eCRMine…
by Rick Baker
On Dec 10, 2009
There are simple ways to ensure profitable business.
One way is Leading With Revenue, which I have talked about in my last 3 blogs.
In the last blog, we looked at a couple of examples of how a Leading With Revenue approach can help businesses succeed. I am going to provide another example and some comments about the hands-on application of the philosophy I call Leading With Revenue.
Angel investors have an interesting relationship with Leading With Revenue.
This is important when new products/services are invented and the entrepreneurial process is under way. In a similar way it should also be important when a company wishes to obtain funding, say an equity injection, to cover an expansion into new products, new services, or new territories.
Angel investors, and equity investors in general, ought to contribute to Leading With Revenue rather than replace the need for Leading With Revenue.
The Road Map:
I view strategic planning as the elite business function. The drive to business growth can follow several routes. One avenue is Leading With Revenue. It is not the only avenue. However, it is an avenue that will get us to the destination – financial success. Business people can drive alone or they can drive with partners. If they choose to have equity partners then they and their equity partners should be in synch…working from the same map, using the same compass, etc. Including a discussion of Leading With Revenue at the strategic planning stage is a good way to prepare to start your engines. Leading With Revenue is a strategic philosophy and a strategic-thinking tool.
Hair-Pin Turns In The Road:
When we drive at selling, from time to time, we encounter rough weather and troubling road conditions. If we have no guidelines – no maps, no road signs, no shoulders, no medians, no bumper blocks, no danger signs – then sooner or later we find ourselves off the road and in the ditch, or worse. The step-by-step process of Leading With Revenue provides a solution. Leading With Revenue is a tactical tool, for testing everything from product development to sales efforts.
I hope Leading With Revenue provides to you the comfortable feeling it has provided to me.
This is the last blog in this Leading With Revenue series.
In the next blog will begin to explore eCRMine…
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