Whatever happened to managing with an iron hand

Have we gotten too soft?  When did a PowerPoint presentation replace communicating face-to-face?  It's time for action, not more words and presentations.  After months and months of failure you want to get everyone on the same page follow these simple steps.   

1. Create a clear and understandable vision of where the business is going. This is called Strategy.
2. Explain to people what their roles in this wonderful vision are. These are called goals and objectives. 
3. Hold people accountable to do their jobs. Help them when they get stuck. This is your job as a manager.

 But for those of you that need to hang something on the wall to memorialize the fact that you do more in your office than what everyone else thinks. 

Here is a list of the values that you should be hanging up:

1. I hold myself and others accountable.
2. I ask for help when I need it not after I have failed. 
3. I offer help to those I see struggling and if I am offered help I graciously accept it. 
4. There are NO surprises. I set the expectations and then manage myself, my team, and upper management to that expectation.  I will never be faulted for over communicating.

And please stop thinking that just because you put your thoughts on a PowerPoint presentation or in a memo that anyone read it or understands it.  Let’s get back to looking people in the eye, exciting them about the journey and telling them what is expected of them.

Write to me and let me know your thoughts...

 Oh, and TFNP

Don’t Think Out of the Box, Add Boxes

I’m on my way to another “let’s think out of the box meeting”. You know these meetings. A couple of senior executives sit around the room and try to brainstorm on the logical extensions to the business and products that can open up new sources of revenue. I’m sure if you are like me you’ve sat through your share of “out of the box meetings”. I surely have as a senior member of the management team and also as a consultant. Every time I sit through another one of these meetings I caution the attendants that these meetings have one thing in common no matter what industry you are in - out of the box meetings provide false hope because even if you can think out of the box the execution may be far beyond your current resources, capabilities, and budget. Out of the box meetings always end with questions of how and when and then someone stands up and tells everyone, “We’ll do it next year”. Guess what by next year it is forgotten or worse you schedule another “let’s think out of the box” meeting.

There are four product / sales / marketing problems that we see today in every business we work with. I’m not saying you have all four but you probably have at least one or two.
1) Sales, Marketing and the Customer are saying different things about your product weakening your value proposition and making it hard for the customer to determine why to switch or use your product. This may lead to aggressive pricing to win the customer.
2) The product is over-engineered, costs are high, pricing is competitive and you are close to break-even or losing money on each sale.
3) You are so busy hunting for new customers that no one is tending to existing ones. Customer retention may be next year’s problem which will drive pricing even lower.
4) You have no time to think about growth, innovation, or new products and the cycle downward continues putting stress on the business and all the resources.


Let me introduce Stages of Innovation’s 4BOX Marketing process. Why think out of the box when I can show you how to expand the boxes and make more money today, with today’s funding, resources, and capabilities. Could it be that simple? The answer is yes. SOI’s 4BOX Marketing process leverages your current customers, capabilities, resources, and budget. SOI’s 4BOX Marketing process:
- Aligns Sales, Marketing and the Customer
- Packages the optimal set of features to maximize profit
- Creates the reason for customers to switch or begin using your product versus other alternatives
- Finds the right channel, to reach the right person, so your salespeople and collateral can say the right thing.



Call or email us to learn more.
Rob Goldberg 2009
rgoldberg@stagesofinnovation.com

Using Day in the Life to Strengthen your Message

A day-in-the-life approach helps strengthen a product offerings value proposition.

Here's a real example: Remote Deposit Capture, the little desktop scanner that enables businesses to scan and deposit checks directly from their office, has started to gain popularity with small to mid-sized businesses. Most banks have an offering and non-bank solutions have begun to enter the market. The predominant message is focused on convenience. “Make a deposit from your office and never have to drive to the bank again.” Are the banks and non-banks missing the bigger picture? Maybe so. By using a day-in-the-life approach you can quickly get to the underlying need and develop the right message that works with your target market.

Let’s visit with two accountants, Mary who works for a small company and receives a few checks a week and Stan who works at a mid-sized company and receives checks every day. We hypothesize that the frequency of checks and the value of the check may drive the differences of how they handle bank deposits.

Low Volume of Checks
A couple of times a week Mary receives checks from her customers. When she gets them she opens the envelopes and immediately makes copies of the checks so she can file them with the corresponding invoice. Because Mary doesn’t have a lot of checks coming in on a daily basis she stores the checks in her draw throughout the week and makes one deposit every Friday. Some of the checks are large and Mary knows that if she could get them onto the bank sooner the money could be working for her. Mary matches the copies of the check with the right customer invoice and then manually enters the information about the check and the amount into her accounting system. On Friday Mary writes up the deposit slip, adds up the checks, enters each one separately on the slip and drives to the bank to make the deposit.

High Volume of Checks
Stan goes through a very similar process as Mary only Stan receives many checks every day. Because some of the checks are very large Stan wants to make a deposit every day. That usually doesn’t work out that way because although the bank is close by Stan can’t find time to always get there and checks sit for days before they are deposited. Also, because there are a lot of checks Stan spends hours coding and entering check information into his accounting system. Stan rechecks his work and sometimes has to reenter information due to keying errors. At different times during the week Stan writes up the deposit slip, adds up the checks, enters each one separately on the slip and drives to the bank to make the deposit.

Applying DITL (Day-In-The-Life) Approach
By visiting with Stan and Mary we observe that they both do a lot more with the checks they receive. In fact, we also now know that they think about higher value checks differently than lower value ones. Our investigation of the market with other merchants uncovers that how often checks are received and the value of the checks received drive a lot of the processes.

By plotting the information into a classic 2x2, volume and value we get the following exhibit. Notice where convenience is? It’s in the lower left box where volume and value are both at the lowest points. Is that the message you want to go out with to all of your customers?

Developing Targeted Messages
Using the same 2x2 we can develop very specific messages for the various target audiences. By using a DITL approach we are able to direct specific messages to potential customers.

You can also apply this to verticals. Where would a property manager fall, a doctor’s office, a landscaper or plumber? Plot verticals and with a DITL approach sharpen the message.

Stages of Innovation helps companies create, communicate and launch new products.

Rob Goldberg

--copyright 2009

Product Developments Offensive or Defensive Moves

As a practicing product developer the primary objective is providing enhancements, new and improved, or new to our customer base products and services, with the result being growth. Very offensive. When I put on my strategy hat I can’t help but think about defensive moves we need to make and how I may be able to block the competition from achieving their goals. Whether I’m playing the offense or defense product development and IP can play a role. On the offensive side IP may take a backseat to growth. I want to get my product out into the market quickly and not disclose what I am doing and how I am doing it. On the defensive side it may at times be the primary objective. I want to block others from doing this or I want to block my competitor form moving into a certain market or position.

There isn't a marked difference between invention and innovation. Don’t trade off innovation with invention. Look at invention as one potential means-to-an-end within the innovation cycle. Innovation should provide direction and help manage the gap between where I want to be (my desired end state) and where I am (my beginning state).


Need help, visit us at http://www.stagesofinnovation.com/. Our unique approach will help you understand where you need to play offense and defense to achieve your business goals.

The Hiddens Skills of Product Development

Is B2B product development a skill or an art?


It's a little bit of both but in this short article I'm going to show you how to make it more skill than art. Here's a couple of things you need to perfect as you move your product from concept to launch.


First Things First - Develop a Project Plan

Here's a good place to start because the best product development project can become derailed quickly if you don't know how to properly plan. My motto is THINK, PLAN, DO. Follow this and you will never go wrong. Over the years I've personally witnessed companies that have jumped to DO bypassing the other two steps and have found themselves unable to react during the development and incubation stages.


If you are familiar with any of the popular project software, like Microsoft Project, feel free to use it. Don't be intimidated though if you are not familiar with any of these. You don't need sophisticated software to prepare a project plan. Remember, it's not the equipment, it's the player.


OK, so you know the devil is in the details so be as specific as possible. It's OK if you miss steps but every project plan should cover processes (steps), people, and time required. The more plans you write the better you will get at it; promise.


Prepare a Budget

I'm often asked, within what margin should the budget be. It may take a while to get a feel for this so be patient and pay attention to what it costs to build your products. Whether you have to use an outside company for development or are being cross charged from an internal department, know your products, the components, and make sure you stick to your plan. Remember my motto, Think, Plan, Do. I guarantee you will overrun your budget if you go straight to DO.

The next question is should you account for the people time. Some of my larger clients who have mature product development departments are capable of allocating full time resources so it is easy to account for the cost of their time. Otherwise, these are sunk costs and trying to account for time other than x% is not worth the effort.


Translating Needs into Requirements

I use a proprietary approach I developed that allows product development teams to quickly identify the stakeholders and map to their needs. Once you know the needs of your target base it's easy to figure out what features need to be built that the customer wants, will keep you within budget, and can be launched within your time frame. Remember, you don't have to build everything in the first phase. I'm a big believer in launching the basic requirements and phasing in new features in future releases that can be publicized. The key is getting the first set right. Too many companies release products that do to much and end up confusing the target market and can't be priced correctly. My Marketing Optimization Grids ensures this never happens.


The Battle for Customers' Minds (Value Prop)
I want to spend just a second talking about value proposition. Here's my definition. I want the customer to do something different than what they do today at a cost (lower, the same or more) that will provide some added utility versus their current product or process. So you see if you add in a lot of features it makes it hard for the customer to understand how this may fit into their current process. The customer may be open to new solutions but if you make the comparison too hard it inertia takes over. And, as I always say, "you can never underestimate the power of inertia".

I'd love to know your product development stories. Write me here or visit me at Stages of Innovation.

Rob Goldberg 2009

Does Technology Help Sell

Can companies impact sales productivity positively with targeted investments in both technology and tools to provide additional support for their sales team's ability to win.

How many of you agree with this? I say tread carefully because once you start down the path to sales force productivity tools you become a slave to them. I'm not against them I'm just cautious about where and how to deploy them. And I would caution readers to have a well defined process in place before undertaking any sales force technology initiative.

So where and how can you make use of these tools? I have two ways that I've started.

1) Contact management. One of the best advancements I've seen has been the success of enterprise contact management programs. SaaS providers such as Salesforce.com have really made it easy to maintain, track, and report on customers and pipelines. Their move into more mainstream CRM for the masses has allowed small and mid-sized businesses to have the same technology as larger companies. As a user I can tell you it takes work and dedication to set up, run, and maintain. The information out is only as good as the information in. I've personally lived through the frustration with bad data and the clean up isn't ever worth it.

2) Shared storage. I started using Box.net as a way to keep centralized files. I can allow employees and customers to only see certain folders. It has made filing sharing easy(ier). It is like an FTP site but easier to use. Again it takes a lot of work to make sure the files are always up-to-date and that outdated materials are removed.

There are many great companies that provide sales force tools and I would love to hear about their products and your personal implementation and success stories. Comment here or you can email me directly at rgoldberg@stagesofinnovation.com.

Rob Goldberg 2009

Sales Magic Wand

What if you could arm your sales executives with the right resources for each challenge posed by a customer/prospect or competitor? What impact do you think having such a powerful "magic wand" would make on you or your team's ability to win deals.

They already have a magic wand, in fact they have 2. its called their ears. If your sales people listened more they would be able to respond to "challenges" from prospects, customers and competitors.

We use a process we developed at Stages of Innovation (http://www.stagesofinnovation.com/) called the Marketing Optimization Grid. We use it for new products as well as helping to tweak existing ones and to sell against the competition.

It is a series of 4 grids that in Grid 1 work through the customer needs and which stakeholders either have the need, influence the sale, or is a decision maker. In Grid 2 you are looking at what features of your product or service you should be emphasizing so your customer can receive the benefit to satisfy their needs. Grid 3 takes you out of selling and into marketing and focuses on positioning by looking at how you should package the offer. And finally in Grid 4 you look at value proposition by looking at what they are giving up to use your product or service.

We start at Grid 1 for new products. At Grid 2 to tweak our existing products. And at Grid 4 and work backwards to look at competitive products. The process backwards decomposes the competitors offer and identifies the gaps in meeting the customer's needs. It becomes very easy to sell against the gaps.

It works but it requires your sales people to stop talking, ask questions and listen to the customer.

To find out more take a go to my web site at http://www.stagesofinnovation.com/

Rob Goldberg 2009