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Outsider Insights | From Hustle to System: Why More CEOs Are Rebuilding Their Sales Function
Outsider Insights
Across Chief Outsiders, we talk to hundreds of CEOs every month. In this new series, we explore the trends and challenges we’re hearing from these discussions – and what you can do if you’re facing the same issues in your business.
A CEO’s Guide to Modern Marketing Transformation
Thu, Nov 29, 2018 — Lather. Rinse. Repeat. There’s a reason that some things – like the number of tires on a car -- or in this example, how we use shampoo – remain decidedly the same. The old axiom that tells us not to fix what “ain’t broke” has served humankind well for generations. For successful businesses, it has been hard to argue with the status quo. For those fortunate to celebrate multiple years of exponential growth while deploying tried-and-true business strategies, it makes sense to keep doing what’s working.
Being Ferdinand Magellan: Four Key Predictive Indicators for Forecasting Your Growth Trajectory
Tue, Nov 27, 2018 — If you know the real story of the first man to successfully circumnavigate the earth, you know that Ferdinand Magellan died 16 months before his mission was completed. Despite his devastating death while in battle in the Philippines, his crew fearlessly sailed on without him – and completed his quest. They succeeded because Captain Magellan took the time to put the right KPIs in place – and his leadership team was deeply involved in the management, course predictions, and execution of the mission. Since they knew the predictable trajectory and the foreseeable obstacles before them, they were confident in carrying on to the finish line without their leader. As a CMO, I consider it my duty to provide navigable guidelines for those who are wondering what the best business growth metrics are for tracking, measurement, and forecasting. While Magellan’s guys didn’t exactly employ the same metrics as the ones I’m about to show you, it will be a good start in confidently sailing the challenging seas of your business marketplace.
What You Measure (And What You See) Is What You Get
Fri, Nov 16, 2018 — Are You Using Your KPIs Appropriately: Report Card or Predictive Data? After reading my first article in this series about using KPIs to properly predict the growth of your business, you likely began to understand why you should be wary of a simplistic view of KPIs in reporting company performance. Moreover, you may now fully realize the distinction between performance indicators and predictive indicators, which will help you uncover critical forecasts within your company data. As McKinsey explained in a recent article, “What gets measured, gets done.” That may be true, however, performance management begins to fail in any enterprise when executives use and act upon poor metrics, the wrong targets, or irrelevant information. How about an illustration? Let’s take a glance at a fictitious company example: New 3Q product sales at SparrowCo are up by 21 percent – and existing products sales are performing at the same steady level as last quarter, which was up 12 percent over 1Q. Business is clearly growing, would you agree? Everyone is happy, and the sales reps are counting commission dollars. Yay! Party time! But wait…there’s more! Let’s take a deeper look.
Maximize Your Growth Potential by Supercharging Your Learning Agility
Thu, Nov 15, 2018 — Imagine how much more money your company could make if you never made the same mistake twice. How much more successful would you be if you could quickly course correct every time a plan went awry? What new growth initiatives could you pursue with expanded capabilities? How much would your productivity increase if you could improve your ability to attract and retain top talent? Supercharging your company’s learning agility can drive material improvement in each of these areas. It will also enable your company to maximize its growth potential. Learning agility is the willingness and ability to learn from experience and insight, then leverage that learning to perform better. While companies have always needed to learn and adapt to be successful, changes in technology, consumer preferences, and political and economic forces make it difficult for them to keep their growth plans on course. Access to data and emerging technology has weakened industry barriers to entry, while simultaneously leveling the playing field for competitors. In today’s complex business environment, companies that learn and adapt will be the most successful.
Sales vs. Marketing: Chicken or Egg First?
Thu, Nov 15, 2018 — What comes first, adding a sales person or having ready prospects and opportunities to pursue? I once worked for a company where Sales held all the power – more than product development or finance and certainly more than marketing. I recall a discussion with a long-time senior executive about the amount of marketing investment required for the company to profitably grow. She commented that the company had a tried and true method of driving growth. “We don’t need to invest in marketing. For every sales person we add, then revenue will grow!”, she proudly exclaimed. This had indeed been true at one time in the company’s history, but along with that revenue growth came increased expenses and decreasing sales productivity. The company eventually went through an inevitable and painful exercise of downsizing a much too large sales force.
Omnichannel or Tunnel Vision?
Tue, Nov 6, 2018 — Journey with me back a few years, to a time when books were bought at a bookstore, clothing purchased at an apparel shop, and the concept of competitive shopping was limited to letting our fingers do the walking. Today, consumers are fully – and indelibly – in control. Selling our stuff to this finicky lot requires a trip to their dimension – or we risk them not hearing us. That’s why today’s CEO is being assaulted by entreaties to institute an omnichannel strategy as an essential piece of their competitive marketing plan.
Are You Using Your KPIs Appropriately: Report Card or Predictive Data?
Fri, Oct 19, 2018 — Just a few weeks ago, I enjoyed yet another screening of the 1976 movie The Gumball Rally. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a slapstick satire about a wild and crazy cross-country race. The competition starts in New York City, with a goal to finish in the shortest amount of time. During the trek, a driver named Franco rips the review mirror off his windshield and dramatically announces the first rule of Italian driving: “What’s behind me is not important!” Even though I’ve heard this line plenty of times, I couldn’t help but chuckle. This belief is not only applicable to the business world – but appropriate when creating and measuring your company’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). According to Investopedia, a KPI is a set of measurable data that a company uses to gauge its performance over time. Examples include return on marketing investment, customer lifetime value (LTV), and customer acquisition cost (CAC). There are endless performance indicators you can use to measure your business goals.
3 Marketing Mistakes Technologists Often Make
Fri, Oct 12, 2018 — Over the years, I’ve enjoyed working with some brilliant minds from the technology world. From my early days in Telecom and the pioneering days of interactive TV, to the groundbreaking revolution in eCommerce, smart technologists have astounded me with their vision and capabilities. As marketers, however, I find that they often fall short in a few areas. First, technologists tend to err on the side of verbosity, telling people everything their product can do. This lack of focus often results in confusion, and worse yet, a failure to connect to the prospects’ needs. Sometimes this problem occurs in the development stage as a result of what I like to call, “because we can” technical development. In this case, the developers decide to throw in every feature they can think of—whether or not their customers care. But often, wordiness is simply the result of excitement about all the things the company can do.
Shift Your Brand Perception – Tips for Getting Your Positioning to ‘Stick’
Thu, Oct 4, 2018 — After reading my previous posts, you’re almost on your way to productively and energetically leveraging your brand’s perception to drive company growth and profitability. Our previous topics of focus covered the specific impact that brand perception can have on the bottom line, the need for clear positioning as the foundation for communicating about your company, and some keys to arming others with that positioning so they can get your story into the market. Now, I’ll review the most important tips on what it takes to get your positioning to stick – to successfully change brand perception to accelerate growth and profitability.