Aug 27, 2021 | Change, Leadership
This is it; we are in it.
There will be no return to the pre-Covid world.
Working from home, or at least in other than large, centralised offices, is acceptable and for many, strongly preferable, and will persist.
Social distancing has become more natural when amongst those we do not know. This has implications the way we plan and build anything from a garden fence to public infrastructure
Suffocating ourselves with masks, which are becoming a fashion item, while mandatory from time to time, will probably remain with us more widely when some of the restrictions are eased.
Being more accountable for educating our kids, which might be a good thing in a few cases is adding all sorts of pain to domestic life. Now, the cohort from 5 to 20 at least, has been denied 2 years of access to the school system. Flawed as that system is in many ways, at least it was more ‘averaged’ than trying to home school, and study remotely.
Business models are being destroyed, while new ones sprout like mushrooms after rain
Our behaviour patterns have been polarised. One hand we are suddenly more aware of the need for ‘community’ and are more dependent on them, while on the other hand, we are even more suspicious and unhappy with strangers.
The use of digital communications has skyrocketed (did you note my avoidance of the term ‘zoomed’) and as a result we are learning the value of face-to-face communication. We are a social species and talking to someone across a screen is not the same.
Un, and under employment is now seen as normal at higher levels than pre covid, therefore the need to take control of your own life, exercise initiative, take personal risks, to make your own way financially, is even more important. We are, however, not a community of risk takers. Despite our view of ourselves as laconic self-reliant individuals, we are just the opposite, always seeking the solace of group approval.
We are scared and fractured in ways not seen for several generations. ‘Common courtesy’ to strangers seems to have taken a dive. I was roundly and loudly abused a few weeks ago in a supermarket, just before we got locked down, again, for being so bold as to offer help to a woman in a wheelchair struggling to pack her shopping after going through the checkout.
Perhaps the worst part is the lack of leadership displayed by bickering politicians, distorting and selectively using the ‘numbers’ from various sources that suit their current narrative, while ducking for cover and shifting blame. I admit it is easier with the benefit of hindsight, but there has been so little transparent honesty displayed that trust is so eroded that we no longer believe anything we are told, and hope is absent.
There is a ‘national cabinet’ meeting later today. This was a process that started with the first wave of covid last year with much hope, and public approval, that has degenerated into just another political clown show. I predict the prognostications after the meeting show no sign of genuine leadership, accountability, or acknowledgement that we are all in this together.
I truly hope I am, wrong, but am, prepared to give long odds.
Header cartoon credit: www.Gapingvoid.com.
Aug 25, 2021 | Communication, Customers, Marketing, Strategy
The first QR code I remember seeing was in the early 2000’s, I think. It was a video taken in New York Zoo that showed people clicking on what looked like a square of code in front of an enclosure, and getting way more than the usual summarised information about the animal typically printed on boards. It gave detailed and varied information, linking to videos of the animals in the wild, anatomy, physiology, and the lines from which they had descended, all of which could be selected and viewed as you stood there, watching the animals in the enclosure.
This will change the world I thought. Then, almost nothing, for years.
Until Covid struck.
QR codes were invented by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994 as a means to keep track of inventory. The problem was that a barcode could only be read one way, and carried limited information, whereas a two-dimensional QR code can carry 31,329 datapoints arranged in rows of up to 177 X 177. As a result, they can carry a huge range of information, the QR code acting as both gatekeeper and curator of the information.
The combination of the availability of QR code readers on smartphones and Covid has resulted in all sorts of creative ways people are using them to register, and engage in a whole range of information delivery processes.
This level of detail is highly applicable to B2B selling. Send a prospect an engaging letter via ‘Snail mail’ which has an almost 100% open rate, that had a QR code providing access to all the information a potential customer may want. Who would not click on it, even if just for curiosity?
I am nearly 70, so not looking for a job. However, if I was, a personal QR code would be all I would need.
Such a resume could include video of me speaking to a group, engaging in group activity, coaching a team member, playing sport, as well as giving the details of various achievements, spoken by referees. It would be a customisable digital asset that could be tailored to the job for which I was applying. Even better, it might serve to create a new job in an organisation for whom I had decided I would like to work. It would take a bit more work than the standard written resume, but would carry geometrically more weight.
If I was back in my FMCG days, I would be putting QR codes on all products offering information on ingredients and their sources, recipes, supply chains, video that enhanced the authenticity of the end product. At some point, the two retail gorillas will demand it, so you may as well get in front of the game.
Toyota has given the world a bank of manufacturing and process management capabilities through their wide publication of the tools and techniques of the Toyota Production System. To that bank you can add the QR code. They elected to make the technology freely available, rather than enforcing their patent rights. As a result, we have at our disposal what has become a vital tool for the management of Covid.
Imagine the revenue they have foregone in the public good, even if they had extracted a royalty of fractions of a cent every time someone clicked on a QR code.
Aug 23, 2021 | Governance, Leadership, Personal Rant
The Prime Minsters performance on ‘Insiders’ yesterday reminded me of Erwin Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment.
This was an absurd illustration of wave function collapse, a characteristic of quantum mechanics. (Note: I understand absolutely nothing about quantum). It proposes that the imaginary cat can be both alive and dead at the same time. Clearly a challenging situation, for the cat at least. Dead but not dead, perhaps just not buried yet?
It also seems to represent the Morrison governments chattering about climate change, and the choices that are needed, and not needed, all at the same time, amongst several other important questions.
As with Quantum, I fail to understand the half in the box and half out of the box ambiguity that is presented by those supposed to be making the tough choices on our behalf, and then acting on them.
Perhaps they are acting and not acting at the same time as well, and perhaps acting, taken in the context of performing rather than taking action is appropriate.
The resurrection of Barnaby Joyce to the exalted role of Deputy PM may be another kitty both in and out of the box. It seems to depend on whether he is berating the Labor party (who have their own litter of pussie-cats hidden away, unseen in the box) for some infraction of his imaginary rules, or defending George Christianson’s right to blather nonsense in the federal parliament.
I guess George does have the right to blather nonsense in parliament, he had a solid majority in his electorate at the last election, so some must think he is on the money, but the Nats also have the right to kick him out of their box. Label him clearly as a dead cat! Problem of course that they want to hold the seat, so he must remain alive as well, at least until they can find some alternative feline just as screwy to replace him at the next election.
This is a ‘Schrodinger Government’ both dead and not dead at the same time. Disturbing to see them still stumbling around blathering.
The pussy is also busily clawing at the response/non-response to the question of enabling businesses making covid vaccination mandatory. They are hoping business will do their job for them, again, and carry the risk of legal action brought under the provisions of an act clearly not reflecting the current need.
That comes on top of the narrative happening in Kabul. The PM blathered yesterday about how hard the government has worked to get out those who helped us in the 20 years of slog, and how honourable the sacrifices made by our armed forces. The fast words delivered with the conviction of a snake-oil salesman will carry little weight at all to the families of the 41 killed, and 249 injured, and those we leave behind in that sad place.
At least the chronic decision making vacillation and teflonesque reflex to dodge outcomes is consistent!
Header cartoon courtesy www.howstuffworks.com
Aug 20, 2021 | Branding, Social Media
As regular readers would know, I write a lot.
There are a number of challenges faced every day as I scribble another blog post.
- Using several words when one might do.
- Writing long sentences.
- Using words with a clear meaning to me that may not be as clear to others.
- Not having a simple, sustaining idea for the post: no ‘Hook’.
The last one is the most potent challenge, and why I have masses of material that varies from a few words, to a sentence, to completed posts that never made the ‘cut’ to be published.
As I struggle along, I often think of two stories that make the point.
- Mark Twain writing a letter to his wife, apologising to her for writing a long letter, as he did not have the time to write a short one.
- A well-known Hollywood producer only accepting unsolicited scripts when the idea behind the script was distilled so that it fitted on the back of a business card.
That distilled brevity is what made the 140 character limit on Twitter so powerful. Once they doubled it, the blather more than doubled, and I stopped using it.
It would be nice to be missed by a few, but it is better to be ‘twittered’.
Aug 18, 2021 | Customers, Marketing
Your unique value proposition is the reason people will consider engaging with you, and when there is a choice, you, rather than the other options.
The clearer you are about the focus of your expertise, and the value it delivers, the easier it will be to attract customers/clients, and therefore, monetise it.
What single thing do you deliver to customers for which they will pay?
Complete this sentence: I use my expertise to assist people to ……………………………….
This forces you to distil your expertise down into one simple sentence that defines your value proposition.
You must be specific, avoid cliches and generalities such as ‘improve performance’, ‘be better’ and ‘deliver value’
In my case, the sentence is not ‘I use my expertise to improve business performance’. Instead, my sentence is; ‘I use my expertise to help people grow and build profitability.’ Depending on who I am talking to, I substitute the word ‘people’ with ‘SME manufacturers’ or even more specifically ‘suppliers of widgets’.
What differentiates you from other experts in the field?
What you deliver, and the manner of delivery must be different in some way from alternatives. The differentiator is what engages potential customers to you rather than to someone else. Therefore, ‘Better’ or ‘Bigger’ is not sufficient, they are generic claims that anyone can make.
These points of difference do not make you the right choice for everybody, it makes you the perfect choice for a very few, or at any point in time, just one person. When you are their only choice, where else will they go?
In my case, the differentiator is long experience, and success across corporate, government, and SME businesses. I have an unusual combination of expertise across strategy development and implementation, marketing, accounting, and operations management. While I am primarily a strategic marketer, having run manufacturing businesses, and having deep knowledge of ‘the numbers’ and how to interpret and use them, makes me unusual. This can be valuable to modest sized businesses that tend to have areas of weakness in management expertise outside their core skill.
Who needs what you deliver?
Those that are actively seeking it. There are often many people who might need what you deliver, but those who are actively seeking it are the only ones who will see it when it is presented to them. For example, a tax accountant can help anyone who needs an accountant, but their ideal customer is someone actively seeking advice on tax, today.
How will your expertise benefit your customers?
When you buy something, you expect a beneficial outcome, something that eases the pain, scratches the itch, solves a problem, or just makes you feel better.
Another sentence to be completed from the perspective of the ideal customer.
Those who use my expertise go from …… to…..
Again, in my case, the sentence is ‘Those who use my expertise go from frenetic activity that seems to go nowhere, to developing and deploying strategies that deliver sustainable profitability’
How do you best connect with, and deliver value to your potential customers?
This is the million-dollar question, and one that should be always left until all the above has been done, at least in some sort of draft. The answer to the question is hiding in the answers to the previous ones you have asked yourself, and the choices you have made as a result.
The choices about how you do this are myriad, which is what makes it so tough. There are many ways to set about communicating and engaging with potential customers. You must make choices, which will miss many potential customers, but will optimise the expenditure of your resources of time and money in connecting with those who are most likely to value and pay for your expertise.
