Where are your OSZ boundaries?

Where are your OSZ boundaries?

Nov 25, 2016 | Change, Management, Strategy

We are all familiar with the term ‘Comfort zone’ as in ‘that is outside my comfort zone’.

When most people speak publicly to a large audience for the first time, it is way outside their comfort zone. That discomfort manifests as fear, they sweat, the knees are rubbery, voice goes up a few octaves, and sometimes nausea takes over, but for most, they become increasingly comfortable with being on stage with practice.

In effect the limits of their comfort zone have been expanded. What was previously in their discomfort zone has become comfortable.  The ‘fear’ of being on stage has lessened, you learn to work with it, manage it, and often turn it to your advantage.  For some it becomes an exciting and stimulating experience.

I would propose then that we go one  step further.

To our own comfort and discomfort zones, which are well populated in our minds, we add a third option.

Our ‘Oh Shit’ zone, or OSZ.

This is not just an increased level of discomfort, the jelly-knee, voice cracking experience of that first gig on a big stage, where you are able to add rational thought and know that whatever happens, you will go home that night at about the same time.

The Oh Shit Zone implies a level beyond  psychological discomfort to one of physical or psychological danger. Manageable but nevertheless, danger, with the attendant fear that has to be managed if you are to get through to the ‘other side’ of the event.

For me, it would be jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane with a little sack on my back that promised to float me to earth safely.

However, once done, having conquered the fear the first time, the second time would be easier, and the third, easier again.

The uncomfortable things we all need to do, but often do not are the things that hold us back. I am as guilty as anybody, that fear of failure, of public censure or even pity is strong. Those that push through, conquer their fear and get the job done despite the obstacles, are the ones who will be successful.

Considering you OSZ puts a different perspective on  bit of discomfort.

 

How to easily solve the strategy jigsaw

How to easily solve the strategy jigsaw

Nov 23, 2016 | Leadership, Strategy

Imagine, your task is to complete a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle with one of your kids, but the puzzle is an old one, in a bag, so you do not have a picture of the end result to work to.

It is further complicated, as some of the pieces in the body of the picture  are also missing, some are faded beyond recognition, and others have been bent to be ‘force-fitted’ to other pieces that they were not designed to fit.

Not easy.

Building a strategy is not dissimilar.

The jigsaw is a good metaphor, because the steps to solve the jigsaw puzzle are the same as solving the strategy development puzzle.

Have an objective. Start by knowing what the end result should look like, or in the vernacular ‘start with the end in mind’. As they say, ‘without a clear destination, any road will get you there’. Without the picture of the completed jig saw, you are working in the dark.

 Find the foundation pieces. In a jigsaw they are the 4 corner pieces, in a commercial strategy they are your Customer Value Proposition, cash flow management, profit and loss account, and break even point.

Define the limits of activity. These are the sides of your jigsaw, obvious because one side is straight, and defines the edge beyond which there is nothing, but you still have to define the manner  in which they fit together. For your strategy development exercise, the side pieces are determining who your ideal customers are, how will you engage and service them, the manner in which you will be paid, what offer you will deliver them. In other words, your business model.

Functional grouping. The next step in assembling a jigsaw is to group like pieces together, Even without the picture, you can put together all those that seem similar, for example the blue of the sky, green of a field. It will take some experimentation and shuffling to get it right, but slowly, a few pieces will  start to be fitted together. Developing and executing on a strategy is again similar, but the pieces are generally functional. The manufacturing pieces all go together, as do the financial, sales, marketing, and other functional pieces, they fit together, but they also progressively fit as groups into the larger picture.

Build the whole. As the jigsaw picture emerges in front of you, it becomes possible to fit groups of similar pieces together, and you see the ranges of possibilities opening. Those 3 that you found that were blue, and fitted together, are not sky, they are the blue of the house that is emerging on the other side. Again the strategy development process is the same. You will progressively find points where groups of pieces fit together, where sales and marketing merge, the financial reporting systems  are adapted to offer performance metrics on the factory, and you measure customer retention and share of wallet.

Make it scalable. Throughout the construction of the puzzle, once you have found two pieces that fit together, that are a part of the bigger picture, you never take them apart, you move them around until you find others that similarly fit and together make the picture easier to see. In a business this process is more like the development of procedures that are repeatable and scalable. Once you know something works, don’t take the risk of breaking them up and losing a piece, make sure they stay together. Creating standard operating processes for everything that gets done regularly, so it is done the same way every time, is the commercial equivalent. Standard procedures remove variation, creating stability and predictability.

Of course, when you have the picture of the completed jigsaw in front of you, the task is 10 times, perhaps 100 times easier.

Strategy development is exactly the same. Start with the picture, define and progressively build on the foundations, then fill in the holes as you go.

Be prepared to iterate and experiment as you go, just like testing the fit of the jigsaw pieces until you find 2 that are just built for each other, then another 1, then group of several.

Where now for the two big supermarket retailers?

Where now for the two big supermarket retailers?

Oct 10, 2016 | Marketing, retail, Strategy

What a fascinating time to be an observer of FMCG.

The speed of strategic evolution is ramping up, and the risks to the investors in the two retail gorillas must be increasing as a result.

15 years ago FMCG retailing in Australia  was a two horse race. Coles or Woolies, there seemed to be no other options. While there were other options, independent retailers of varying types, particularly in SA and WA, their profile and strategic relevance was generally lower than a dwarf in a game of basketball. They could be annoying, and occasionally useful, but would never change the outcome of a game.

The net result is that Coles and Woolies concentrated on their short term game, with Woolies winning hands down in the shareholder returns stakes until recently. However, in the process, they lost sight of those who made a difference to their strategic numbers as distinct from their immediate financial ones: Customers.

They used their power to belt suppliers, and ignore customers beyond the land grab to put stores in every place where more than a footy team could congregate.

They ignored the opportunity to innovate beyond optimising what was already there, in other words they ensured innovation could not happen, or at least, ensure they carried absolutely no risk in the process.

The world has evolved since then, and panic has set in.

Woolworths botched Hardware in spades, demonstrating an astonishing lack of strategic insight, closed down Thomas Dux after strategically emasculating it just as it was gaining traction, is closing the Metro stores, and now it has been reported over the weekend, that they are considering selling the petrol retailing business. All that and declaring a $1.2 Billion loss for the 2015-6 year.

Meanwhile Coles has renewed itself, and announced a $1.86 billion profit for the year amongst some large write-downs in other parts of the Westfarmers group, particularly worryingly, Target.

Relative newcomer Aldi has upset the comfortable duopoly by grabbing market share and shopper penetration at a rapid and continuing rate. On top of all that you have alternative and web enabled retailers taking an increasing share of mind and attention that will over time convert to sales share. 15 years ago you could not find a Farmers Market, now they seem to be everywhere, and doing great business, and the net retailers seem to be able to actually deliver, sometimes.

For Woolies and Coles to fight each other, and invader Aldi on price makes no sense at all. The logical outcome of a battle on price is that Aldi will win simply because their business model is aligned to accommodate low margins and the gorillas are not, but if they do win that race to the bottom, the real risk is that they will go broke in the process.

No joy there.

So Woolies and Coles are left with where supermarkets started back in the thirties, delivering value to customers.

What an interesting notion for the gorillas, to be competing on the basis of the total value they deliver to customers, not just on price.  They might even have to collaborate in a meaningful way with suppliers, invoking  Joy’s Law, named after  Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy who noted ‘No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else’.

Clearly, very few of the smartest people work for the gorillas, although there are some more left in their supplier base. However, those suppliers of any real scale who remain locally owned could together just about fill a phone box.

There is plenty of room in the demand chain left for innovation. The first step is to recognise the necessary change from a retail optimised supply chain that implies screwing suppliers for margin in any way you can dream up, while maximising margins at the checkout, to one that puts the consumer front and centre.

A demand chain.

This change requires recognition that the consumer has a reasonably certain amount of money to spend on groceries and household supplies, and will allocate those dollars in the ways  that best suits them and their circumstances.  Economists will call this phenomenon ‘Customer demand”. The name of the game then is to share out those consumer dollars in the best way that serves the whole supply chain based on that actual and latent demand.

Plenty of room for collaboration through the chain, enabling innovation and sustainable profitability. You just have to see the competitive game completely differently. I wonder if the gorillas are capable of that sort of strategic renewal or if I should sell my (very few) shares ASAP.

 

 

Things I do not do to make money from blogging

Things I do not do to make money from blogging

Sep 26, 2016 | Customers, Strategy

StrategyAudit has been going now for quite a long time, almost 1,500 posts to date, averaging between 2 & 3 a week. Every month there are  around 1,000 unique visitors, who consume on average 1.8 posts each visit.

By some standards these are pretty modest numbers, but at least I am reasonably consistent and persistent.

I am asked from time to time how much money I make from the effort, and most are surprised at the answer:

Nada. Zilch. Nothing.

There are so many blogs out there that have no purpose other than to squeeze a bob, I am reluctant to add another. Besides, my purpose is to capture, organise and record my mostly random musings on various  matters of interest, and to make my living providing insight and advice to my clients, not flog stuff to random visitors led to the posts by PPC ads.

It makes me a better confidant and consultant to my clients, as well as sharing a bit of the love around.

I have however, thought about it, and been very tempted from time to time. I thought about it again over the past weekend, and decided against it, again, but in the process, assembled a list of ways I thought I could ‘monetise’ the effort, should I decide to do so, at some point.

Affiliate marketing.

This requires that you either put an ad on your page for the affiliate product, or put in a link that sends a visitor to the sales page directly, such as to the Amazon site. There are many variations on the theme, and there are many products available to sell as an affiliate. Most responsible bloggers restrict their affiliate efforts to products that their specific niche may be interested in. Were I to do it, the sorts of products might be business books and courses, website hosting, and various tools such as autoresponders, and CRM software that automate parts of the digital marketing  ecosystem.

Affiliate marketing is the most common and biggest money spinner for most bloggers. The two biggest affiliate sites are Clickbank and Amazon Associates, but there are many others.  Before you venture into it, consider the sorts of things that you might sell that are consistent with your niche, and that your audience might welcome being able to get from you. Generally it also comes with some level of implied endorsement, so caution is warranted.

Google AdSense. 

Google makes it very easy for you. All you have to do is sign up, they will stick ads on your site, and give you a fee for every click from your site. For a small blogger like me, the amount is pretty small, and Google controls which ads get placed on your site. When you work hard to service a niche, risking them being alienated by ads for the flimsy promise of a few dollars does not make much sense to me.

Sponsored posts and reviews.

Some bloggers get paid to write a post, or review of a sponsors product, presumably favourable, which is the point. There are many books and writers that I am happy to endorse, but I have never taken a buck to do so, as that would compromise my right to absolute independence.  Similarly, paid guest posts are a great way to build a ‘list’ trading on the readership of others. This certainly does work, and I have guest posted a few times on sites relevant to ‘my patch’ but never been paid. (it is also true that nobody has offered to pay me, but don’t tell anyone)

Paid directories.

The double sided nature of the web means that assembling links and content that others might like to use is a service that can be sold. It is easy enough to use a WordPress plugin to enable such a service, but then to my mind if you are to make any useful money from it, marketing the service has to become the focus of the blog. Not interested.

Create a product and flog it.

This is an extremely useful strategy, but contrary to all the hype from those seeking to profit from your efforts by teaching you how, is it very difficult. The 1400 plus StrategyAudit posts give me a significant well to dig into, and clearly I have done a lot of writing work to get there, but it is still not easy, as my several efforts to collate my musings into still unpublished books will attest.

There are many options, give away e-books as lead magnets,  e-books for sale on Amazon and others, hard cover books and guides, courses, membership ‘clubs’, the list goes on, all designed to generate so called ‘passive income’ a really attractive prospect.  All however take effort to create, curate, and market the content on an ongoing basis. One day perhaps.

 

Be an expert.

This is the one thing I do set out to do. By writing and publishing those sometimes random thoughts, I hope to demonstrate rather than just talk about the expertise and experience I have gathered over 40 years of commercial life, and just life itself. The ‘urgers’ around tell me I am just trading time for money, without the option of scaling, and that is true, but it is also comfortable. Perhaps that is the problem, I am genuinely setting out to help others, not just myself into their pockets.

 

Let me know what you think, am I mad??

Classic marketing strategy: Before & After

Classic marketing strategy: Before & After

Sep 16, 2016 | Management, Strategy

The classic ad for weight loss products is to show a before and after. It also works for make-up, home decoration and renovation, and a myriad of other products,

What about yourself, your personal branding?

Works there too, and it is a pretty important product.

Digital media suddenly requires that we become ‘public’ in a way that was unthinkable just a generation ago. We have become our own products, and yet so many of us are reluctant to spend a few bucks to get the best out of what we have.

I have been no different.

For the past decade or so I have been active on various digital platforms and have used the same photo, taken with a good camera, but nevertheless an amateur photo. While it conveyed (at least I thought it did) the sort of ‘gravitas’ that my long career and deep domain knowledge has developed, it was less than optimum.

So, I took my own advice to my clients, and lashed out and had Sam Affridi  take some shots. Sam spent a considerable time with me in conversation, so that when he broke out his gear, he had a clear idea in his mind what would deliver the best result. Of the many shots he took, he selected a small number, all different, that all convey a subtly different message underpinned with the foundation conveying the wisdom that comes from long experience.

You judge for yourself if it was worth a couple of hours and a few dollars.

hero_shot_sydney_strategy_audit-5

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Environmental research: A commercial necessity.

Environmental research: A commercial necessity.

Aug 29, 2016 | Change, Leadership, Strategy

Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited to a session that outlined the latest Roy Morgan research focussing on Mortgage stress and superannuation.

The data presented by Morgans CEO Michele Levine  was both informative and disturbing in a number of ways. I recommend you have a look at  the slides, and the report, and give some thought to the problems that will evolve over the next few  years that this country will have to address, somehow.

As I considered the data and the implications, it got me thinking more broadly  about one of my long term hobby horses.

Environmental research.

Not the tree hugging type, although there are significant commercial questions and opportunities there, but the sort of research that informs thinking about the long term trends and behavioural changes that will impact the competitive environment in which we all have to live.  Understanding the direction of change has proved time and again to be more important in successful commercial development than the more common stuff that just tests the reactions to a specific proposition. It provides the context for  the varying value propositions reflected in commercial and social offerings, and creates the framework from which you can learn.

environmental research 1

 

A sensible framework includes an ongoing process to scan the trends, focus on those that will have a long term impact on the community, generate alternative responses, execute responses in a trial format, test , measure and iterate.

 

In the fortunate circumstances that we had a political climate that encouraged and enabled the sort of decision making that a society needs if it is to optimise the mix of economic and social policy outcomes over the long term, this sort of ‘environmental research’ would act as a valuable input to the debate.

Pity we do not have that sort of political environment, our children will pay a high price for our failure in that regard.  The best I think that we can hope for is to rely on the collective common sense of the electorate, but I sense that cynicism and the resulting self interest are dominating.

Not much of long term community value seems to be coming from the current politics, although the participants all claim to represent the mood and values of the community. They should be publicly considering the implications of research such as that done by Morgan, and we would all be better off in the long run for the informed debate founded on facts rather than supposition, suspicion and hyperbole.

There is however considerable meat in the data useful for the development and informing of commercial strategies and priorities. This ‘meat’ should assist you to optimise your returns while our so-called leaders fiddle.