Are You Ready for the On-Demand Economy?

By Brad Mehl|2015-05-01T11:54:36-04:00May 1st, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Are You Ready for the On-Demand Economy?

We live in an on-demand world, where help and expertise are a click or a call away.   New online platforms, sophisticated mobile apps and an increasingly independent workforce are the driving forces shaping the on-demand economy. Put simply by Steve Schlafman of RRE, “Welcome to the Uberification of our service economy.”   (A reference to Uber, the on-demand taxi company with a valuation of $18 billion).

There may be big implications of “on-demand” for your business, which I’ll cover later.  But first, here are some examples how this dynamic is cutting across different industries in both B2B and B2C.

Venerable Professions are Going On-Demand 

• Doctors.  Worried about a nasty rash at 3am?   Telemedicine providers like Asentra Health provide live medical expertise from physicians who are on call and accessible for quick remote consults on any smart phone, tablet or PC.
• Financial service providers.   Unhappy with your financial advisor?  No worries.  Covester lets you “follow” experienced portfolio managers and mirror their actual trades.  In other words, sophisticated investment models are readily available on-demand.
• Legal services.   Need an attorney with a specific expertise right way?  Companies like Hire Counsel are redefining the legal economy by providing fast access to vetted, qualified lawyers with deep specialization, in addition to a broad range of other legal services.
• Design.    Need a new logo or brochure in a hurry?  Crowdsourcing sites like 99 designs provide affordable services from designers around the world in hours or days.  However, there are caveats since the nature of this service is a far cry from top tier professional services firms like Hire Counsel.  I’ve used crowd-sourcing before and have some strong opinions if you’d like to ping me.

•  Home services.   Is your home a mess from that big party last night?  With services like Handy, cleaning help, plumbers and painters can be booked online in 60 seconds and you can schedule your home service for as early as tomorrow.  Recently I met an entrepreneur who is developing a location based app so you can find local contractors within a geographic radius of your home who are currently available – even at midnight.
• Food delivery.   Want a burrito delivered to your door in 5 minutes?  Seamless provides food delivery from local restaurants, and users can choose from thousands of menus on any device.  They now have nearly 4 million active monthly users and are growing over 50% a year according to Mike Jaconi, an on-demand expert.  The trend is going up-market too.  Some companies are now providing prepared home cooked, organic meals on-demand, delivered to homes.
• Chores.     Don’t have enough time for daily tasks?  Check out Task Rabbit.  A friend of mine suffering from a concussion needed help replying to some emails.  An on-demand helper came to the rescue within hours, courtesy of Task Rabbit.

It of course depends on your industry and the specifics of your business.  That said, look out for:

• Potential disruption from On-Demand players.  If your customers can instantly find a suitable replacement at a fraction of the price, you may no longer be the go-to source.
•  Becoming a commodity.  Your competition may no longer be across town.  It’s likely across the world, which presents the risk of your service becoming a commodity which puts downward pressure on pricing.

Strategic Considerations and Opportunities 

1. Be Aware of on-demand trends in other industries, because they may affect your own.  And by the time this happens, you may be at a disadvantage.  In the legal industry for example, 89% of law firm leaders feel that legal work will be more commoditized going forward, according to Altman Weil.   And 68% of large law firms are shifting work to contract or temporary attorneys.
2. Service, Service, Service.  If your company is being disrupted by on-demand forces, consider rethinking and upgrading your service offering.  Premium, unparalleled service and a deep understanding of your customers go a long way.
3. Specialization.  In an increasingly commoditized sector, it pays to specialize.  Some home contractors are now specializing in treating basements to differentiate themselves, for example.
4. Partner with the disruptors.   Consider adding value to your service by working with on-demand players.  For example, American Express launched a partnership with Uber earlier this year.  Amex got a foot in the door by allowing customers to earn double points on their Uber spending with an American Express credit card.
5. Invest in relationships.    One way to hedge against on-demand disruption is to build deeper relationships with your customers.
6. Become a great place to work.   To keep your employees from walking out the door and becoming on-demand freelancers themselves, investing in your people and your culture can help increase employee retention.

Disclosure:

Some of our clients are on-demand innovators mentioned in this newsletter.  Others are facing disruption from the on-demand economy.   We’re seeing an acceleration of this trend and if you’d like to discuss, drop us a line.

Process Makes Perfect – Building a Well Oiled Sales Machine

By Brad Mehl|2015-03-20T11:20:01-04:00March 19th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Process Makes Perfect – Building a Well Oiled Sales Machine

In the creative world of sales and marketing, “process” often gets a bad rap.  It can imply an over engineered, bureaucratic method that lacks inspiration.

Should you have a CMO or head of sales who is a process person?  Or a strategic leader who guides and motivates the team?  The latter is what’s usually required of leaders.  But don’t you wish you had a nickel for every strategic visionary who doesn’t know how to execute (or hire strong executors)?

Well conceived processes can make the difference between mediocre results and spectacular results.  They help create well oiled sales and marketing machines.   There is no one “right” process that applies to every company.  It is highly situational. But to illustrate, here are some new processes we put in place for a client whose business is a mix of e-commerce and enterprise sales.  Revenue is up 54% YTD vs. last year.

Within the context of an overall go-to-market strategy, timely and topical mini-campaigns are created based on a marketing and sales calendar.  These are 3-4 week sprints all around a specific theme. Each sprint follows this playbook:

1. Sales representatives and customer service staff and are notified in advance and made aware of the campaign theme and the messaging.
2. Products and services related to the theme are merchandised more heavily on the web site to kick off the sprint.
3. A topical video is created and promoted through multiple channels.  At least one sales representative provides feedback when the video is created.
4. Multiple channels are used to drive web traffic with messaging that relates to the campaign and reinforces the overall brand.  In advance, the team thinks through how to re-engage the audience with re-marketing and CRM targeting.
5. Past buyers and win-back candidates are sent a series of targeted emails with content on the same theme, along with new prospects who are treated somewhat differently based on our segmentation.
6. Sales representatives send personalized and slightly different versions of the email to their VIP customers, including a link to the latest video.
7. The outside telesales team uses the timely topic to create a sense of urgency with prospects and then segways into the main pitch.
8. Customers who purchase on this topic are flagged as such in the database, so we know their interests and what drives their responses.
9. Customers who buy through e-commerce are contacted and targeted with up-sells and higher-end services by sales representatives.

Rinse and repeat.  Unless a better process is developed, since processes can and should improve over time.  We have built other processes to improve quantitative rigor and get feedback directly from customers.

The things above may or may not apply to your business. But the point is, when well done, the pieces of the process build on each other.   Processes like this have important benefits:

• Each player on the team knows their roles and what’s expected.
• When done cross functionally, they create team wins and foster a team culture.
• They provide valuable data to improve over time

Best of all, they allow an organization to have a repeatable and scalable playbook —and that’s the hallmark of well oiled sales and marketing machines.  The trick is to stay fresh and encourage innovation in ways that reinforce the overall strategy.

So the next time you’re in the board room, consider this:  “process” shouldn’t be a dirty word.

Entrepreneurship Lessons from Billion Dollar CEOs

By Brad Mehl|2015-01-23T11:14:27-05:00January 23rd, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Entrepreneurship Lessons from Billion Dollar CEOs

Recently I had the pleasure of attending the CEO2CEO Leadership Summit at the New York Stock Exchange.  As in previous years, the event was a terrific opportunity to gain insights from leading CEOs, including Leslie Wexner, founder of The Limited and Victoria’s Secret and Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical among others.  The common themes, very much on the minds of leaders of both multi-billion dollar companies and mid-market firms, were innovation and entrepreneurship.  (Yes, the “E” word is very much alive and well in the C suite of multinational companies).  Here are some lessons from these luminary CEOs:

 HAVE A SENSE OF URGENCY

Great entrepreneurs move quickly and make bold decisions.   Les Wexner personifies bold decision making.  He’s a retailing legend and the current longest-serving CEO of a FORTUNE 500 company.  He started the Limited in 1963 with a $5000 loan from his aunt and grew that investment into a $12 billion company whose brands include Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Henri Bendel and others.   Mr. Wexner talked about how jumping on opportunities can pay off in spades.

I read The Wall Street Journal on a Friday about Lane Bryant going private…called them the same day about a possible acquisition.  They said ‘no’ because their board meeting was on Monday.  So on Saturday I got a loan for $125MM and we closed the acquisition of Lane Bryant on Monday.   We paid off the debt in 120 days.

 — Leslie Wexner, Chairman and Chief Executive, L Brands

A sense of urgency doesn’t always mean fast, game changing decisions.  It can come from long term strategies that cultivate broad scale change motivated by a healthy sense of paranoia.

You’ve got to innovate faster than the disruptive companies can commoditize you.  There’s where partnerships come in.   At Dow, we lead and join associations that are at the center of change.  We foster innovation hubs in partnership with federal and state governments and universities.  They take time but we gain a research edge… one result is the development of ‘smart paint’ that can absorb emissions.  In the future we’ll have paint that can absorb viruses.

We get criticized for investing in R&D to create future earnings…things like self healing materials and smart batteries.  Everything (on Wall Street) is so short term focused.  We partner with entrepreneurs and learn from them.

— Andrew Liveris, CEO, Dow Chemical

CONNECT THE DOTS

We’re inspired by entrepreneurs who seek out and spot emerging trends and then jump on them with extreme focus.

In thinking about new business ideas I look for patterns. I spend 20-30 days a year visiting small independent stores around the world looking for patterns.  Like kids putting fragrances in their lockers etc.   So we came up with portable scents…

–Leslie Wexner

QUANTIFY YOUR INNOVATION

As we’ve written before, innovation doesn’t have to imply a lack of quantification.   The leaders of Omnicom and Dow Chemical, for example, are quick to point out the measurement they’ve put on innovation efforts.

$250MM in revenue has been created from ideas that came from bringing together very diverse groups of people— solving challenges for customers.

–Tom Harrison, Chairman Emeretus, The Omnicom Group

One KPI we use:  the % of margin coming from new product launches.

–Andrew Liveris

But beyond measuring the results of innovation, the innovation process itself can, in part, be driven by the numbers.   Here are some examples.

 INSPIRATION AND RESULTS, FROM A TEAM WITH A FINANCIAL STAKE IN YOUR SUCCESS.

By now, you probably know that Boundless Markets accelerates revenue growth for clients by increasing their marketing and business development capabilities.  But you may not know that we also accelerate innovation, though a proprietary framework and exercises that have helped generate millions in revenue for clients and past employers.  These proven processes (and our love of upside) are one reason we often take a percentage of the revenue we generate for clients.

Have  a thorny challenge?  Let’s talk.   917-373-7451

What’s “Working” in Your Business May Be Hurting You.

By Brad Mehl|2014-12-11T19:29:44-05:00December 6th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off on What’s “Working” in Your Business May Be Hurting You.

Usain Bolt is widely regarded as the world’s fastest man — he’s the world record holder in both the 100 meter and 200 meter dash and other events. In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing he also set a world record in his other event, the 4×100 meter relay, during the Games.  And he did so with flair.  As Wikipedia notes his record was not only set without a favorable wind, but he also visibly slowed down to celebrate before he finished and his shoelace was untied. Bolt won, and it wasn’t close.

What was the secret of his success?

According to Time Magazine, Bolt’s 2008 Olmypics diet was, by and large, Chicken McNuggets.

In the ten days Bolt spent in Beijing, he downed approximately 1,000 nuggets, averaging 100 a day.   “At first, I ate a box of 20 for lunch, then another for dinner,” Usain writes in his autobiography. “The next day I had two boxes for breakfast, one for lunch and then another couple in the evening. I even grabbed some fries and an apple pie to go with it.” The end result?  Three gold medals, all with world records attached.

The Things “Driving Your Success” May Not be What They Seem.

As an ambitious Olympian whose entire focus was winning gold, Bolt must have believed that the McNugget diet would help him win. And win he did.  But did McNuggets actually help?  We’re all results oriented people. But there can be dangers in focusing on “the win” without closely examining what really drives it.  There can be correlation without causation–  just because things two things happen at the same time does not mean that one caused the other. Not knowing the real drivers of your success makes it hard to repeat that success, or change course when situations require.  We advise clients to quantify business drivers with real granularity.  Often the data is not easily available and lives in different silos, e.g. CRM systems, financial systems, email systems.  Unifying sales and marketing data is a challenge but something we take on since you can’t act on data if your data is not in shape to be analyzed.  Understanding the reasons for success often requires a deeper dive.

How Sustainable is Your Success?

It’s wonderful to celebrate successes. It motivates the team, builds momentum and unifies people around common goals.  However, as leaders we need to carefully define what success really means, particularly in the context of where the company and market is headed. Things that seem to be working that can actually pose a future risk, because what works today may not work tomorrow.  Here are some examples:

1. A high performing, dominant marketing or sales channel. What if it dries up?
2. Star performers carrying the load. What if they leave?  Every great team needs a strong bench.
3. Solid sales reps, but those focused on legacy product lines and old sales tactics – not strategic growth areas.
4. Certain customers (that may not be that profitable after deeper analysis).
5. “Reliable” metrics. Are you measuring and optimizing for the wrong thing?

Self Imposed Change is a Sign of True Champions

True success is repeatable and scalable well beyond the short term win. But building a repeatable system of success often requires adapting and changing.   After the Games, Bolt hired a well-known dietician.  He ultimately realized that his horrible eating habits had to change. Like great champions, winning companies impose change on themselves.  Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Nardelli, the former CEO of Home Depot and Chrysler, at a conference where he spoke.  As Bob said, “Leaders must be able to reinvent themselves before they can reinvent their companies. You either innovate or you evaporate.”

Watch Successful Disruptors Closely and Be Realistic

Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel, used to stress the importance of having a healthy paranoia in business. How well do you know the disruptors nipping at the heels of your company?  You can see their success but can you and should you emulate it?  There are no plug and play strategies—the successful practices of your competitors may not work for your company.  Honest looks in the mirror and reality checks on your company’s capabilities can help avoid false starts and inform strategies around building vs. buying vs. partnering to fill big gaps.  Because the success you see on the outside may not so doable when you look deeply inside.

I hate to end this article on such an abrupt note, but I have to run and get some Chicken McNuggets…or should I?

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Let’s be in touch.  Drop us a line at  917-373-7451 or send a note.

Read our other recent article:  Build an Ecosystem Around Your Company: The Google Way

Getting Real with Data-Driven Innovation

By Brad Mehl|2014-10-17T15:13:35-04:00October 17th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Getting Real with Data-Driven Innovation

This article, our latest on data-driven innovation, was originally published in Chief Executive (yesterday).

According to a 2014 IBM study, three out of five mid-market executives have gained a competitive advantage from information and analytics.  But with all the noise in the market about analytics, and unclear ROI from investments in data initiatives, it can be challenging for CEOs to right-size investments in analytics and create more data-driven organizations. One helpful practice to focus efforts is to simply “get real” by finding other companies similar to yours and looking at analytic approaches that have worked before making big investments in people, technology and processes for data projects.  Here are a few examples of companies doing it right:

• FleetRisk Advisors helps trucking and logistics organizations and commercial fleets improve their performance. They have access to mountains of data about their drivers and vehicles.  Predictive analytics has helped the company achieve a minimum of 20 percent reduction in the overall accident rate and an 80 percent reduction in severe accidents.  Identifying risk factors–especially those that contribute to driver fatigue–has helped them provide a more reliable service for their customers, protect valuable cargo, and most importantly, keep drivers and other road-users safe.

• Plymouth Rock, a automobile insurance provider, faces an increasing competitive market from national brands known for low cost services. They needed to focus on a specific niche, with messaging that resonated to the market.  By doing a series of online multivariate tests targeted to educators, they increased online quotes 300% and reducing cost-per-quote by 33%.  Personally, my experience with multivariate testing is similar and these kinds of results are very achievable with affordable new technologies.  Multivariate testing tools enable marketers to quickly test hundreds (or thousands) of versions of a web page and find winners that produce quantifiable gains in key metrics.

• Iron Mountain. They assist organizations across 36 countries and five continents with storing, protecting, and managing information. With complex client needs and countless ways clients use to interact with Iron Mountain, account management tactics were more reactive than proactive. By incorporating a predictive data model, account managers are now alerted if they have clients at risk of leaving, and they’re given specific recommendations within their CRM system to help retain the client.

The number of cloud based solutions that help companies achieve results similar to the ones above are proliferating, yet according to the IBM Study, only one-third of midmarket companies have adopted cloud technologies to achieve data-driven insights.  Here are some tips on how to bridge this gap and “get real” with data-driven initiatives:

• Take inspiration from other companies in the market who have similar challenges as yours. Charge your team with “getting outside” and proactively seeking out examples from other companies worth emulating.

• Start small. Before investing in a big data infrastructure, have a specific use case in mind and conduct focused experiments to solve particular problems.

• Identify key data gaps. It’s vital that your organization “know what you don’t know” about your sales prospects, current customers and markets.  We recommend a structured process to proactively identify and fill key data gaps.  This can yield golden insights and dramatic gains in sales and marketing effectiveness.

For additional perspective or guidance on how your company can “get real” with sales and marketing analytics, drop us a line at 917-373-74351.