Proven math: 1+1=5

In business (or in organizations), sometimes magic happens. It’s called synergy, the definition being “the cooperative interaction among groups that creates an enhanced combined effect.” The magic isn’t the result of luck or karma or good intentions. It’s the result of business best practices which involve business strategic planning.

It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of systematic, focused, intentional leadership and management that drives and manages an organization to excellence. It usually leads to higher sales, higher profits, happy clients, greater customer retention, happier and more loyal employees and other stakeholders, lower turnover, greater brand recognition and greater market value.

I’ve experienced synergy twice. It’s an amazing thing when an organization is performing at a high level. Everyone understands the Strategy and the Mission, they live the Values and they get the Vision. Everyone is in the boat and rowing…in the same direction. How does this happen? It’s more work and more complicated than you think and it takes time. Here’s a baker’s dozen of ideas:

1. Develop the Mission, Values and Vision for the org, with input from all stakeholders.
2. Develop an overall strategy that aligns with the MVV.
3. Make sure the strategy is ambitious in both scope and speed, what is referred to as a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal).
4. Develop individual strategies or plans that support the overall strategy.
5. Develop key initiatives for each strategy.
6. Make the Marketing and Sales Strategy your most important strategy- all other strategies should support the drive to acquire, retain and grow your customer base. Without customers you can’t work on all those other things like Quality/Process Improvement/Lean/5S, financial management and wellness, human capital development, innovation, etc.
7. Communicate your MVV and strategy, in person, to your organization- whether in company-wide meetings or in departmental meetings.
8. Develop a ‘war cry’ or mantra with your team, something to bind you all together in pursuit of the BHAG. Make it serious, fun and meaningful all at the same time.
9. Make sure everyone understands how their input influenced the MVV and strategy and make sure they understand the strategy at a core level.
10. Make sure everyone understands and commits to the strategy and key initiatives.
11. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate the strategy all the time- in meetings, in walk-arounds, in one-on-ones.
12. Create company advocates- develop a common language for everyone to use in the broad marketplace, so that whenever anyone hears about your business or asks about the company, the message is concise, consistent and carries impact. People hearing the message, from anyone in your business, should be interested in picking up the phone to find out more.
13. Give regular updates to the organization and while doing so ask for feedback and ideas on how to accelerate the process to get to the goal.

You’ve got your baker’s dozen. Start eating.

© 2009 Peter E. McDowell PERFORMA Business Development

Different View/ Better Results

pete@performabusdev.com

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Web @ http://www.performabusdev.com

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Interview with the vampire

I was interviewed recently by a good friend of mine, who is out of work and who I will not name, who wanted to know a bit about my views on the kind of business I would work for, if I wasn’t consulting. Mainly, he was interested in learning a bit about how I sort things out. I suggested that we record it as I thought it might be fun to return to.

Look Outside

Get out there and make your mark, make it happen. Business is nothing if you’re not bringing in the sales, whether it’s the direct sales force model that so many other businesses use or if you use resellers or independent agents or reps. Sales must be brought in and every owner and sales manager is responsible for making that happen. Companies should be sales focused first and foremost.

A change of scenery

I met a few friends or business connections today in two locations here in the Seattle-Bellevue area. I met one person at the Bellevue Hyatt Hotel and another at the University Village Starbucks (near UW).

The Hyatt had a huge addition put on over the past two years and has been open for a few months. The connecting area between the original hotel lobby and the new one is a gorgeous atrium- a very attractive and comfortable place to sit and converse. The new tower has new ballrooms and meeting rooms and the entire facility says ‘1^st Class’. If I was visiting Bellevue or the eastside on business this is where I would stay.

The Starbucks in U-Village has been remodeled also. It’s well done- very warm and comfortable and it strikes me as a step away from the almost too sterile, too perfect, too predictable Starbucks that we see everywhere. In my opinion, Starbucks has been in need of an upgraded and different look at their stores for quite a while. I don’t know if this is a test store for them or not. To me, the colors and mood of the place seem more coffeehouse like, and I liked it.

Whatever business you’re in, it probably makes sense to hit the reset button periodically to refresh your image. Every major company does this and small businesses would be wise to do so also. McDonalds comes up with a new slogan every year or so. Microsoft uses their Windows logo and colors in new ways. Nordstrom has been gradually changing the interiors of their main stores. IBM does variations on its famous logo and its tag lines. The auto companies change their messaging to fit the buying public’s latest hot button.

The world around you is constantly changing. Your customers are always looking for something new and/or different. What are you doing to reinvent yourself and be seen as fresh, exciting and relevant?

© 2009 Peter E. McDowell

PERFORMA Business Development

Different View/ Better Results

pete@performabusdev.com

email me to request getting my e-newsletter!

Web @ http://www.performabusdev.com

Blog @ http://petemcd.wordpress.com/

Connect with Pete on biznik, Contribution Networking Party, Eastside Entrepreneurs, Facebook, Linked In, Plaxo and Twitter.

Friday Musings on profits, competition and marketing

Sometimes I get curious. I read things in newspapers or magazines and actually start to think about the stories- imagine that! Today, a few things in the Wall Street Journal (the Journal or WSJ) caught my eye. First, remember all of the blowhard congressmen/women and Senators pushing and shoving their way into cameras and mic’s a year or so ago to rail about the ‘obscene windfall profits’ the oil companies were raking in, in 2008? Next, I noticed that price wars are intensifying. The Journal reported that Safeway, long a lower cost grocery store operation, is losing ground to competitors, notably Wal-Mart, Costco and Kroger. And finally, I saw that catalogs such as those mailed out by L.L. Bean, Pottery Barn and the like are still very much a part of the marketing plans for these businesses.