CEOs who sell gain clarity on competitive strategy
CEOs who sell gain clarity on competitive strategy
From a CEO's perspective, a deep understanding of true customer needs is a critical variable when shaping your company's competitive strategy. It gives you an unvarnished look at your position in the market and a clear understanding of the issues your marketing needs to address.
Better yet, these CEO/customer meetings can trigger big ideas that can take your company in exciting new directions. Take, for example, Starbucks.
In the early 1980s, Starbucks was a wholesaler selling coffee beans. On a trip to Milan, Howard Schultz (a VP at the time) visited a coffee bar and came up with the idea to re-create the Italian coffee-bar culture in the United States.
The company founders resisted Schultz's recommendation to change their business model from wholesale to retail. Recognizing the opportunity, he quit the company and started his own. He achieved immediate success and bought out the Starbucks founders in 1987. We all know the rest of the story.
Schultz's first-hand experience gave him the insight to create an entirely new market. But it's difficult to drive such innovation from a VP position. He had to quit Starbucks to make it happen on his own.
Schultz delivered what the authors of the popular book Blue Ocean Strategy call value innovation. Instead of just trying to beat the competition, make the competition irrelevant. Create a leap in value for buyers and you can open entirely new and uncontested markets.
Every CEO dreams of becoming the uncontested leader in a new market space. It's also the best spot for marketing directors. After all, defining a new market space is usually more exciting and rewarding than battling in the trenches in a noisy market with established competitors.
But it's rare for companies to achieve this goal. Logic tells me that meaningful value innovation comes from a deep understanding of the market and customers. It's more than data and customer surveys. It takes big-picture right-brained thinking - empathy, synchrony, creating meaning.
Remember what Henry Ford said?
"If I'd built what people were asking me for, I'd have delivered a faster horse!"
It seems pretty clear that value innovation is an enormously powerful business strategy. And since CEOs need to drive strategic changes, it's important to know the market like the back of their hand. But they need to know more than just the numbers. They need to understand customer experiences to truly innovate.
What better way to learn than to experience it than by selling?
CEOs who sell gain clarity on competitive strategy - To learn more about this author, visit John Brennan's Website.
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From a marketer's perspective, this is a great trend! A CEO who works directly with customers often gains a new appreciation for the strategic landscape. And that makes it easier for marketers to gain the CEO's support for strategic initiatives. It can also help marketing gain a stronger voice in C-level discussions on business strategy.
From a CEO's perspective, a deep understanding of true customer needs is a critical variable when shaping your company's competitive strategy. It gives you an unvarnished look at your position in the market and a clear understanding of the issues your marketing needs to address.
Better yet, these CEO/customer meetings can trigger big ideas that can take your company in exciting new directions. Take, for example, Starbucks.
In the early 1980s, Starbucks was a wholesaler selling coffee beans. On a trip to Milan, Howard Schultz (a VP at the time) visited a coffee bar and came up with the idea to re-create the Italian coffee-bar culture in the United States.
The company founders resisted Schultz's recommendation to change their business model from wholesale to retail. Recognizing the opportunity, he quit the company and started his own. He achieved immediate success and bought out the Starbucks founders in 1987. We all know the rest of the story.
Schultz's first-hand experience gave him the insight to create an entirely new market. But it's difficult to drive such innovation from a VP position. He had to quit Starbucks to make it happen on his own.
Schultz delivered what the authors of the popular book Blue Ocean Strategy call value innovation. Instead of just trying to beat the competition, make the competition irrelevant. Create a leap in value for buyers and you can open entirely new and uncontested markets.
Every CEO dreams of becoming the uncontested leader in a new market space. It's also the best spot for marketing directors. After all, defining a new market space is usually more exciting and rewarding than battling in the trenches in a noisy market with established competitors.
But it's rare for companies to achieve this goal. Logic tells me that meaningful value innovation comes from a deep understanding of the market and customers. It's more than data and customer surveys. It takes big-picture right-brained thinking - empathy, synchrony, creating meaning.
Remember what Henry Ford said?
"If I'd built what people were asking me for, I'd have delivered a faster horse!"
It seems pretty clear that value innovation is an enormously powerful business strategy. And since CEOs need to drive strategic changes, it's important to know the market like the back of their hand. But they need to know more than just the numbers. They need to understand customer experiences to truly innovate.
What better way to learn than to experience it than by selling?
CEOs who sell gain clarity on competitive strategy - To learn more about this author, visit John Brennan's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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