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Outsider Insights | Beyond the Sale—Why CEOs Are Turning Attention to Retention and Expansion
Outsider Insights
Across Chief Outsiders, we talk to hundreds of CEOs every month. In this 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.
Why Growing a Business is Harder Than Ever
Mon, Jun 18, 2018 — One of my daughters recently read Of Mice and Men in English class. Since I also read it in high school, it was fun to chat about the story as she progressed through the book. I wondered how Steinbeck came up with the title. It turns out he used a quote from a poem written by Robert Burns in 1785. The contemporary translation is, “the best-laid plans of mice and men.” The two main characters, Lennie and George, have a plan for a new life. Unfortunately, their reality ends up being far from what they hoped.
Costs Spiking? The Right Price Moves can Offset the Impact
Fri, Jun 15, 2018 — Like so many of us, Phil is pressed for time. An avid mountaineer, when he prepares for a climb he wants to train just enough that he can summit and descend in a safe amount of time. He has a strategy (certain amounts of running and stair-climbing) to achieve that fitness level. Last year a back injury precluded his usual training approach. The injury didn’t mean he couldn’t prepare to perform at the required level. However, it did force him to look for alternative strategies to train.
Find Your Road to Growth: How to Identify and Move Beyond Random Acts of Marketing
Tue, Jun 12, 2018 — When I meet with CEOs in my role as a fractional CMO, it’s usually at a time when their company’s growth, revenues, or market share – or some combination of the three – have flattened. Often, these CEOs are finding that their current marketing efforts aren’t delivering the results they expect. And in most cases, their companies are in “scale-up” mode with substantial emphasis on sales and operational excellence. An unintended consequence of this critical stage in a business’s maturation process is that marketing is often relegated to a meandering series of one-off tactics such as glossy sales sheets, the occasional trade show, search engine optimization, and a basic website with the intent of meeting in-the-moment needs. We call these types of tactics “random acts of marketing,” and while company leaders mean well in creating them, the reality is they cost money, don’t get results, and divert attention of the marketing staff from higher-value activities. Worse yet, they consume precious resources that could fund and execute a strategy to support growth and build value.
Finding the Value Proposition Bullseye For Your Business
Mon, Jun 11, 2018 — Recently, the management of the Tsukuba Express train line, between Tokyo and the city of Tsukuba in Japan, had a serious problem. This “problem” was grave enough to warrant a public apology and touched off a wave of social media attention, in Japan and around the world. What was this grievous issue that required a public issuance of corporate regret and captured the attention of a global audience? Astonishingly, the “offense” was one that would be lauded in about 99.99999 percent of the remainder of the world: One of Tsukuba Express’s trains had departed Tokyo 20 seconds earlier than its scheduled departure time. Worldwide reaction ranged from amazement at the commitment of the Japanese railway to service times, to surprise that such a minor deviation from precision would be headline-making news.
Three Reasons Why A One Page Marketing Plan Will Keep Your Growth Strategy on Course
Thu, Jun 7, 2018 — If you type in “marketing strategy” on Google, your screen will instantly become flooded with a spectrum of software tools and new-age philosophies. With all the information available to us at the click of a button, defining and implementing the right strategic plan for your business can become time-consuming – and overwhelming.
The Top 12 Internet Trends Executives Should Know About in 2018
Wed, Jun 6, 2018 — For business executives, staying relevant in this time of innovation and rapid technological advancement can be challenging. Thankfully, we can leverage consumer and marketplace data to help our companies optimize products and services. One of the premier analytical reports on emerging business-related trends, Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends 2018, was just released. While the more than 290 slides in the full report come packed with useful information for driving your company forward, here are 12 important and actionable insights for business executives.
CMO or Chief Growth Officer?
Mon, Jun 4, 2018 — CMOs continue to calibrate their role in the executive suite as the scope of marketing has kept growing. In addition to the traditional fields of branding, demand generation and market research, it now includes many digital workloads, sales enablement, customer experience and retention and often strategy.
How People and Organizational Capabilities Sustain Business Growth
Thu, May 31, 2018 — If you have been following this series of articles on sustainable business growth, you know that we have arrived at our third topic. The first article introduced the difference between a growth plan (singular event) and a growth engine (recurring system). The theme we developed in that piece supported the need to go beyond growth plans to create sustained growth performance. Our argument that while growth plans are good, growth engines are better.
Beyond the Latest Tech: Four Essentials to Leading the New Workforce
Wed, May 23, 2018 — Let’s play a quick game of word association. When I say, “remote worker,” what comes to mind? Is it a 20-something creative-type sipping on a Starbucks latte? How about a global team videoconferencing in real-time? Yes, it’s easy to conjure up a stylized version of an offsite freelancer or employee, because the interest in (and need for) remote, fractional, and temporary work is growing at a breakneck pace. Because today’s most talented employees prefer the flexibility and quality of life that the new way of working provides, leading enterprises and emerging businesses alike are adopting flexible policies to embrace the new normal.