I was talking with a client recently and he shared a story he had read.

The CEO of a dog food company was distressed because the company’s sales were not growing each quarter. He fired their marketing company because he didn’t believe they understood the dog food industry, and instead hired a marketing company experienced in the dog food industry. He expected steady sales growth, but sales stayed the same – stagnant.

Out of frustration, he fired that marketing company and hired the best marketing professionals from the dog food industry that he could find. Several quarters later, sales remained flat, so he fired his marketing department.

The CEO was expressing his anger and frustration about the lack of sales at a company management meeting. Elmer from Accounting timidly raised his hand and asked to comment. The CEO angrily replied “Yes.” Elmer asked a question: “What if the dogs don’t like it?”

I believe Elmer’s question goes to the heart of the matter. So often when sales do not meet a leadership team’s goals, the assumption is the sales team and perhaps the marketing team are not doing a good job.

Maybe they are doing a stellar job and the real issue is your customers don’t like your product or service well enough to purchase again and to provide referrals.

There’s a way to avoid this situation, and it starts with the initial conversation with a prospective customer. It’s a question, which goes something like this: “What has to be true when this product is delivered or this service is completed?” Here’s another way to ask the question: “When the product is delivered or the service is completed, what must have happened for you to be completely satisfied?”

There are many ways to ask those questions. The point is that if you ask before you close the deal, your prospective client has told you exactly what they expect. You can then determine if your company can at least meet, if not exceed, the prospects’ expectations.

Now you will know if the dogs liked it.

If you are interested in learning how you can better meet your customers’ expectations and therefore improve your sales, I’m happy to help. Please fill out the consult form below to schedule a free, 15- minute phone consultation with me. Together we can develop a plan aimed at understanding and solving for what your customers truly need.

Let’s conclude this series with a discussion around “becoming your best.”

The singular role of any company’s leadership team is to fight for the organization’s greater good. To master that role, a leadership team must practice five disciplines.

1. The ability to Streamline.
   In order to grow, the Leadership Team must master the skill of reducing complexity – reducing everything to its simplest form. Leaders must obsess about simplicity. You must drive that into the organization. Complexity kills growth.
   
   
2. The ability to work within your Unique Ability^®.
   Unique Ability^® is a term Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach, created. It refers to what you love to do and are best at.
   
   The only way for an organization to grow is for the leaders to build extensions of themselves and let go of responsibilities. Just like you can’t be the chief cook and bottle washer, you can’t grow if you’re holding onto everything.
   
   
3. The ability to Forecast.
   Your ability to forecast is based on having a pulse on your organization’s health. Leadership Teams make forecasts on two levels. First, they forecast based on everything beyond the next quarter. Second, they forecast based on what is happening on a daily and weekly basis.
   
   Forecasting is always an educated guess. We can, however, add clarity if we are measuring the activities that get us the results we want.
   
   
4. The ability to create Consistency.
   Leadership Teams create consistency within their organization by documenting the sequence of events that allow you and your staff to do what you do. This isn’t a 500-page operations manual, which, by the way, no one reads. You can create consistency by documenting 20% of the events that yield 80% of your results.
   
   Creating consistency leads to easier scalability, less managerial oversight, more profit, and more fun in your organization.
   
   
5. The ability to create Alignment.
   Alignment is about creating so much clarity that there is little room for confusion, disorder, and infighting. Creating alignment is a team sport that eliminates potential issues like misaligned responsibilities, misaligned metrics, and poor communication.
   
   

These five abilities can give your Leadership Team the direction and discipline they need to take your company to the next level. Once they’ve mastered these disciplines, your company will truly become its best.

If you want to improve your company’s leadership abilities, I can help. Simply fill out the consult form below, and we will get the conversation started with a free consultation. I look forward to helping you strengthen your team and making your company the best it can be!

For the past month, we’ve focused on identifying your ideal customer and how to make working with your company easier. Next, let’s focus on your competition.

I expect you know who the competitors are in your marketplace. You probably also know the trends that might impact your organization: changes in technology, distribution, product innovation, markets, consumer behavior, and social trends.

So my question is—what are you doing with that information?

I have worked with leadership teams who invest considerable effort in learning their competitors’ strategic plans, pricing strategies, and market penetration tactics. I always ask how they use that information, but the answers rarely demonstrate how to gain a competitive advantage.

Let’s consider another approach. In  “Outthink the Competition,” Kaihan Krippendorff recommends introducing what he calls a “Fourth Option.” He defines a Fourth Option™ as a strategy that is not the usual and customary approach. His recommendation is to develop business growth strategies that interrupt your industry, so you can dominate your industry.

Here are some ways to stay ahead of the curve:

• Once you have a clear picture of the trends in your industry, use that information to visualize your future. There are no rules to visioning, but if there were they might look like this:
  • Be as specific as possible
  • Leave all preconceived notions, value judgments, and your ego outside
  • There are no boundaries – don’t overlook the ones that sound “crazy”
    
    
• Consider multiple scenarios as you move forward.
  
  
• With a clear future in mind, reverse engineer to establish your goals.
  
  
• Finally, prioritize and select the best options that will set your company ahead of the curve.

Once you have selected a new strategy to scale your company, make sure your leadership is working to become the best. We’ll talk about that next time.

Do you want to create a competitive advantage for your company? I’m happy to help you on this journey. Please fill out the consult form below and we can start the process with a free consultation. I can help you stay a step ahead of the curve and outthink your competition.

How easy is it for your customers to find and engage with your company? Does a real, live person answer the phone, or are customers greeted by an artificial intelligence system that can only respond if the caller asks questions exactly as programmed? What does a customer feel and experience when they enter your company?

To make life easy for your customers, you need an aligned, clearly defined structure; a set of timeless, guiding principles; and a consistent way of conducting business.

So let’s define each of those.

• To have an aligned, clearly defined structure, you’ll need to have absolute clarity of responsibility for each member of the team, which leads to solid ownership. When you own something, you are more likely to pay attention to it. That leads to consistent results.
  
  
• Your company’s core values are your timeless, guiding principles. Core values define your culture. They shape the way team members treat each other, treat their customers, and treat other stakeholders. When every member of your team represents your company’s culture, your customers will get a sense of your culture when they interact with you.
  
  
• You create consistency throughout your company by documenting your company’s core processes. Core processes are the conceptual sequence of events that enables people in a business to do what they do. If everyone is doing things their own way, chaos ensues.

As you scale your company, I encourage you to change hats periodically and assume the persona of your ideal customer. Stand above your company. Look at it as a customer might, and be sure to consider their perspective.

I’ll see you in two weeks when we discuss how to surpass the competition.

If you’d like to learn more about facilitating engagement between your customers and your company, I’d be happy to help. Please fill out the form below to get started with a free consultation. We can find a way to make sure your customers have a positive experience with your company.

This week’s blog is the first in a four-part series that will focus on accelerating your company’s growth in your distinct marketplace.

Our starting place is a reminder that you must first define your ideal customer. Chances are you’ve heard the phrase, “you cannot succeed trying to be all things to all people.” I included the saying here because while we may have all heard it, we may not have necessarily heeded the advice.

Customers have a wide variety of expectations when it comes to purchasing products and services. Some customers select expensive products and services believing they reflect the value of the company. Others may focus on product or service innovation, reliability, or world class customer service. I expect you can add to this list as you think about your customer base.

It is crucial that you identify the unique value that only your company can provide to a defined market.

The first step is to define your ideal customer’s psychographic. Think about what they appreciate, what they value, and what motivates them. Then focus on defining how your company can deliver to the psychographic most important to your customer segment.

This doesn’t mean you can ignore the remaining characteristics of their psychographic. However, if you want to be a leader in your market, I encourage you to focus on providing amazing levels of one particular value while being excellent at the other value disciplines.

Let me wrap this one up with an example. One of my information technology teams knows that their customers value customized software packages with features that cannot be easily replicated. While that is where this team excels, they also address their customers’ appreciation for responsive customer service, reasonable turn-around times, and a close, working partnership. They have a very loyal customer base that is quick to refer them to other companies who will fit the team’s focus.

The particular value your company decides to offer defines how you think about your business. It will shape your operating model. That is where we will resume the discussion in two weeks.

Are you interested in accelerating your company’s growth in a specific marketplace? I can help. Please fill out the consult form below and we can start with a free consultation. We can discuss your operating model and work to improve your business!