get your customers to pick you

Here’s a link to an article I’ve written  that appears this month in Business Connect magazine….one of Australia’s top 20 business journals….
“get your customers to pick you”   click on the link below
http://www.nswbusinesschamber.com.au/?content=/channels/Building_and_sustaining_business/Sales_and_marketing/Marketing/getcustomerstopickyou.xml
Would appreciate it also if you could forward or mention our blog address to your  colleagues, [...]

…compared to the impacts of climate change, business transformation seems somewhat less important

Late last week  I attended a public lecture at the UNSW in Sydney (Australia) by Dr. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  (IPCC)  and a leading commentator in this space  (the IPCC  is sponsored apparently by the UN ).
My guess is that over 1000 people packed into the room to hear what [...]

5000 plus views and growing

I’m just delighted to report that we have hit our first milestone with more than 5000  leaders around the world having read this blog.
It’s taken about 20 months…and has vindicated our research and beliefs that we’re adding value…so thank you very much…and please keep reading and emailing.
We’re not a big player…but we’re in the very [...]

What happens next at the top of your game?

You’re  at the top of your business game. Market shares are significant across the prime segments  and defence mechanisms are working well.
EBIT is growing nicely ( thanks to  rising prices and tight cost control ). Competitors don’t seem to be developing value propositions as fast as you are. Staff capability is good and your loyalty [...]

How can you operate successfully in a fragmented market?

I’m often asked this question. And for the record, my thoughts are not to be construed as specific advice…but general commentary.
The answer depends on clarifying what the enquirer means by “fragmented” ( you’d be surprised at the differing views ); and secondly, undertaking a thorough market mapping analysis to confirm where [...]

Consultants…or doers…is it horses for courses?

Consultants are brought in for a variety of reasons…
Track record,  sector specialisation,  analysis,  Board’s  discomfort with management resources…
But how many fulfil the critical role of implementation?
A  new strategy that makes sense requires continuity through the execution phases.
My view is that external advisors need to offer doer teams that mentor management’s imperatives.
It is horses for courses…but [...]

Competitors and stakeholders can change your life

A former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser once said “life wasn’t meant to be easy”. And it’s true in our changing business world that nothing is gained without hard applied smart effort.
Cash ( particularly free cashflow ) is king. And competitors will take it away from you if your value proposition is [...]

Refresher days…they are worth it

This week I went to a strategic selling workshop to refresh my sales development practices and thinking around the issues of customer identification and conversion.
My thanks to DSRD and presenter Sue Henry for a worthwhile morning.
It reinforced my view that refresher days are worth their weight in gold. We do all get too [...]

Market assessment…the vibe is…plenty are doing it

Organisations seems to be re-assessing their markets more often nowdays. I suspect that’s a function of executive churn being fueled by shorter leadership stays at the top.
If your competitors are changing their captains and line leaders, you can bet reasonably safely that they’re also undertaking market reviews…which may mean they are better placed to interpret [...]

Who should drive new product development?

In my view, the CEO should have a key driving role in new product development processes.
If customers are a business’s lifeline, then new product development is the store of lifejackets.
New product development is too important to be left to the marketers to enact. They can do the analyses…but the process management needs to be monitored [...]