You Can’t Be Serious!
Filed under: Business Growth, Profitable Growth, Top Line Growth
After last month’s piece in the Pittsburgh Business Times, (read it HERE), a Pittsburgher challenged me; “You can’t be serious! Topography can’t be why Pittsburgh has thrived relative to Cleveland!” Seriously, I believe Western PA is mostly thriving because it’s mustering energy, creativity and commitment to keep climbing out of its valleys and avoid falling off its mountains. I’m finding Pittsburgh’s business community to be focused on innovation, science, and applying what they have learned to help new customers rather than fixating on politics and the economy. There is a steep learning curve for those uncomfortable with change but every day I’m meeting more businesses who are driven to understand and solve new problems of their customers and create more profitable growth. In this month’s newsletter you will read about the best practices I am seeing and a story of one local entrepreneur I’m watching succeed through his Junoon. Give me a piece of your mind publically here on my blog.
Here’s to your profitable growth! – Andy.
A Shout Out for Razi Imam: Pittsburgh Entrepreneur, Author of “Driven”, and Teacher of “Junoon”
Recently, I’ve had the chance to work with a most interesting entrepreneurial and thought leader here in Pittsburgh, Razi Imam.
Imam is the founder of both Landslide Technologies and now, 113 Industries, an incubator for Nano technology-based material science companies. In addition to his entrepreneurial success, Razi has created some breakthrough work on how CEO’s can create high performing cultures with a singular focus on their founders’ missions is particularly compelling to me. And Razi’s brand new book “Driven” by Wiley, not only describes his crazy experiences but presents his unique concept called “Junoon.”
Junoon is an ancient expression that refers to a very powerful state of achievement. The one common trait of all high performing companies is that leaders like Steve Jobs, Andy Grove, and Herb Kelleher remain in this state and know how to transfer their Junoon to their entire company. Their Junoon spreads virally throughout their organizations resulting in a culture that is passionate and emotionally committed to fulfilling their leaders’ goals. So I called Razi and arranged for a one-on-one workshop where he is teaching me to achieve my Junoon of helping business leaders to achieve more profitable growth. While I’ve helped 450 company owners grow, I’ve seen thousands more who need sustained confidence and conviction to reach their breakthrough goals. Thanks to Razi’s successful methods many more owners will be able to achieve their Junoon and because of his generosity you may now. download a free chapter of Driven. Razi’s methodology makes perfect, practical sense and I recommend every CEO, founder, and entrepreneur read this book.
You will find it here on Amazon.
Do Your Sales & Marketing Dollars Work for You?
Filed under: Business Growth, Profitable Growth, Top Line Growth
Six Ways to Tell if You’re Getting Your Money’s Worth:
Despite many experts who insist that “Sales and Marketing are different,” why aren’t they just as accountable as Finance is for accurate results and Production is for working products? When good products and services are well marketed and sold smart, profitable growth happens. But when they are not, it’s a disaster. For example:
- A distributor negligently promises to sell a manufacturer’s new product line to her current buyers without learning that different employees at the customer make these decisions
- A manufacturer says that his research shows buyers consumers want new improved products. Their outside rep company agrees to get paid on commission and invests months of selling only to learn that the research was never done.
- An ad agency develops a campaign to reposition a services firm based on bad historical sales data only to have it flop and fight to get paid.
Despite “everyone’s” best efforts, why do 95% of new products and services fail, and why do so few manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and services firms feel that their sales and marketing arms got their job done?
When was success impossible and when is a sales and marketing leader deficient? How and when can a business leader know that their sales and marketing leadership simply didn’t do the job or even try? Here are six key responsibilities any P & L leader should demand are completed and done well.
- Understand, agree on and communicate your firm’s Best and Highest Use and product/service features, benefits and advantages. Provide your firm’s Best and Highest Use to your partner in writing and demand they do the same for you
- Define, quantify and target a niche of buyers assuming reasonable market penetration of a sizable, addressable market. Expect and confirm you can identify at least 100 prospects for each buyer you must close.
- Devise a simple growth strategy reflecting a clear understanding of your buyer’s behavior. Ensure you agree on exactly who your buyers are and the simple process you know they will follow to buy from you.
- Develop and execute thoughtful, practical and cost-effective sales and marketing tactics. Have measurable programs for finding, keeping and growing your customers.
- Build and your through a practical budget and timeframe for implementation by accountable individuals. Budget and adhere to hard costs of finding, keeping and growing your customers.
- Stay disciplined to capture and analyze feedback of your results. No program ever goes as planned, but failure to respond to market feedback equals failure.
Will taking these steps ensure that your sales and marketing programs work for you and your partner? No, but if these steps aren’t taken, its failure was a function of negligence in addition to incompetence. Need help telling the difference between negligence and a good effort that can be fixed? Contact me at 412-973-2080 or at abirol@andybirol.com for more of my help.
