In a complex system—like your business—every action leads to a second-order effect (SOE). Some are unknowable. Others are easily predicted but routinely ignored by business leaders. We’ll explore success-stunting SOE’s you should avoid… and a 5th order plan for your B2B organic growth. A college student studies hard, gets good grades (second-order effect), and begins ... Read More
Here’s the scene: You are a B2B business leader unhappy with your membership in the Shareholder Appeasement Club and its quarterly meetings. You want profitable, reliable growth so you are free to captain your ship, not some Wall Street analysts. But what should you do—not in the abstract—but in concrete, actionable steps? Before exploring admission ... Read More
Leaders can speed up product development by putting their foot on three “pedals”… resources, communication and accountability. And teams also have three pedals to push: market knowledge for NPD accuracy, risk management, and communication. ... Read More
Learn these six ways to avoid the Commodity Death Spiral that short-term-thinking business leaders fall into: 1) Take ownership of your future. 2) Measure your progress. 3) Change your time horizon. 4) Work on high-impact products. 5) Get out more. 6) Directly engage your customers. ... Read More
Some companies rely on a handful of internal VOC (voice-of-customer) experts to interview customers. You’ll do far better if you train a critical mass of employees—who routinely interact with customers anyway—to gather customer needs. Keep your VOC experts as coaches and trainers, but implement “VOC for the masses.”
This certainly applies to your sales team. Instead of being satisfied with just a “sales force,” why not also commission a “learning force”? That’s what happens when your sales professionals have strong voice-of-customer skills.
More in white paper, Everyday VOC at www.EVOCpaper.com
When you consider B2B vs B2C, which market profession has greater advantages? Business schools offer more B2C courses, consumer research tools abound, and sophisticated marketers at B2C companies like Apple and P&G are held in high esteem. B2B marketers are often engineers or sales reps that were tapped on the shoulder and told to “do ... Read More
When it comes to B2B customer insight, a face-to-face customer interview offers significant advantages. Some think they’ll learn all they need to know from their sales force… but there’s a big difference between customer-reactive meetings and market-proactive interviews. ... Read More