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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.
CEO’s Guide to Improving the Customer Experience
Wed, Feb 21, 2018 — Part 1 of a 3-Part Series "The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer." - Peter Drucker With that simple, concise statement management consulting legend, Peter Drucker, captured the essence of business. He also made it clear it all starts with the customer. That’s never more true than today. The era of the empowered consumer, driven largely by technology, has resulted in customers demanding more of companies and wanting the experience to be delivered on their terms.
“Less is More”: Four Steps to Aligning Your Project Queue and Goals Today
Fri, Feb 16, 2018 — There was a time in our lives when “busywork” might have been a good idea. Back in school, it was the way many of us created that semblance of subterfuge when we had expeditiously completed the assigned work, and were now just interested in writing a note to the girl two seats over.
Only the Paranoid Survive: Three Steps to Being a Disruptive Innovator
Thu, Jan 11, 2018 — There is a much-ballyhooed Harvard Business School case study which examines the competition between athletic shoe companies Nike and Reebok -- before Nike became the behemoth it is today, and when Reebok was a tiny company making its first attempts at scaling up. Nike, at the time, was a “runner’s runner” shoe, aimed at the hardcore, “rise-at-5 a.m.-and-run-like-the-wind” customer. Nike’s signature advertising visual at the time was very compelling: The perspective, down the length of a deserted Manhattan avenue in the early morning hours. A glimmer of the sunrise peeked around one building; no traffic or people were around – with the exception of a lone runner, a tiny figure against the cityscape. It characterized what Nike stood for – hardcore training -- and that famous ad resonated hugely with Nike users. It was about the discipline and fulfillment of running. Shoe comfort at the time, while adequate, clearly was secondary.
Supercharging Your SWOT, Step One: Consolidating Your SWOT
Wed, Jan 10, 2018 — Conducting your SWOT analysis was fun, wasn’t it? It allowed you to take a break from working in your business, and allowed you to work on your business — a valuable step back during which you were able to take a breather from the day-to-day grind, and view the big picture of your business with clarity. No matter how long your SWOT process lasted, undoubtedly, once you got rolling, the information flowed — resulting in a growing cavalcade of lists that characterized your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Get in “Gear”: How a Market Focus Can Propel Your Company Forward in 2018
Fri, Jan 5, 2018 — For CEOs reading this blog, you are undoubtedly working to emerge from a bit of holiday malaise in your enterprise. Though you would love to enjoy peace on earth and spreading good will to all mankind, you still have a business to run – and 2018’s benchmarks, objectives and targets will be here before you know it.
Do I Need a Chief Growth Officer? Five Questions to Ask Your Top Marketer in 2018
Wed, Jan 3, 2018 — Back when my hair was long, and my taste in music was more eclectic, I was a huge fan of the musician Neil Young. Among the great albums he issued was one called “Rust Never Sleeps” – introduced at a time when newer artists threatened his relevance.
The Marketing Health Check: 5 Questions to Ask Right Now to Prep for 2018
Wed, Dec 13, 2017 — Another calendar year is just about in the books – and the atmosphere around most businesses is decidedly festive. Your staff, no doubt, is thinking about spreading cheer, forgetting about old acquaintances, and making plans for that dead zone between Christmas and New Year’s when the most mission critical strategic consideration is whether to drive or fly to grandma’s house for the holidays.
The New Sales Funnel: How to Revitalize Your Messaging to “Wow” Today’s Consumer
Mon, Dec 11, 2017 — For sales-driven organizations, 2017 marked the year that the baton was finally – and permanently – passed to the consumer. This was the year, it was declared, that all of the growing technology megatrends finally gave the consuming public the upper hand in the relationship with marketers. This means that, despite all of the efforts and resources we’ve invested into outbound sales and marketing efforts, heretofore, we’re simply going to find ourselves several paces behind an educated and savvy buying public.
Sold, not Bought: The Marketing of Unfamiliar Solutions
Mon, Nov 20, 2017 — Several years ago I met Davis, an executive in Ohio, who segmented his product lines into “Bought, not Sold” and “Sold, not Bought.” “Bought” products, he said, were familiar to prospective buyers. They had self-diagnosed what they needed and self-prescribed a product solution for that need. Often, they’d previously purchased a product in the category. By contrast, a “Sold” product presented an unfamiliar solution—so the prospect couldn’t self-prescribe, and may not have self-diagnosed. In fact, their need could be latent and wouldn’t be recognized without prompting.