Envision Something Well Beyond Your Means

Then Share the Vision w/ People Who Have Money

Visit www.Natirar.com and you will see photographs of a 500 acre estate with lovely rolling hills, a winding river, and beautiful foliage. And you will also read information about the 90 Acres Restaurant, the farm that provides organic produce for the restaurant, the culinary center, the wine cellar, the refurbished mansion, and the planned SPA. I am not sending you to the site just to enjoy the pretty photographs. NATIRAR is a lesson in joint ventures and marketing.

The history is fascinating. The original owner was a wealthy Quaker woman whose will required that the mansion be used as a convalescent home for women for at least 50 years following her death.  Go to the “our story” section of the site to read how Bob Wojitowicz envisioned something better for the 100 year old estate. Read how he reached out to Sir Richard Branson (yes…The Virgin Airlines Branson) to become business partners to purchase the 500 acre estate from the Royal Family of Morocco. Read why and how they now have a 99 year ground lease with Somerset County for the 90 acre parcel that includes all of the buildings.

Are your visions larger than your own resources? I hope so. The best projects involve other peoples’ money.

This week I participated in a reunion of NJ300 (a group of very influential women) at NATIRAR. Bob Wojitowicz shared the history and plans and then provided a tour of the mansion, restaurant, culinary center and wine cellar. Our private dinner included paired wines and culinary delights.  I am certain that several NJ300 members will be returning to NATIRAR. Some will host client events there. Some will wait until the SPA opens. Some may suggest NATIRAR to their daughters when they start planning their weddings. A few will take cooking lessons at the culinary center.  And most will return to dine at the restaurant.

Are you hosting events for prospective customers who have the resources to utilize your products and services?  As influential as they/we are, the members of NJ300 have busy lives. The majority of the NJ300 members had not heard of NATIRAR; but they/we know about it now.

Aldonna R. Ambler, CMC, CSP has earned the right to be called THE GROWTH STRATEGIST™. She has won over 2 dozen national and statewide “entrepreneur of the year” awards for the resilient growth of her international businesses across 4 recessions.  Her midsized BtoB service, technology, and distribution clients get on…and then stay on…the published lists of the fastest growing privately held companies. All of her current service businesses (strategic planning, executive advisory, growth financing, talk show, speaking, search) help privately held midsized companies achieve accelerated growth with sustained profitability™. Ambler is wrapping up her 7^th year hosting a weekly peer-to-peer-to-peer on line talk show at www.Business. VoiceAmerica.com and www.growthstrategistshow.com that features interviews with CEOs/Presidents of midsized companies (typically between $20 and 200 Mil/yr) sharing success tips about the growth strategy-of-the-week. Family owned businesses are being emphasized in 2011. Ambler is in the process of launching her 8^th enterprise. She can be reached toll free at 1-888-Aldonna or at Aldonna@AMBLER.com             

 

The “Piggyback” Strategy

It’s funny.  Most business people can see when other businesses have created new revenue streams or new companies by “piggybacking” or “spinning off” but can’t seem to see those opportunities for themselves.

An example of “piggybacking” is probably best illustrated by the stores that surround a major shopping mall.  The Container Store®, Men’s Wearhouse®, Marshalls®, Barnes and Noble® all benefit from close proximity to malls.  Frankly, so does Burger King®. Those companies don’t have to pay the premium price for mall space yet they benefit from the mall’s marketing (and often its parking spaces as well).

One of my favorite examples of piggybacking is a strip shopping center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey that included a bridal shop, a tuxedo rental store, a travel agency, a caterer, and a divorce attorney.

Piggybacking involves observing which noncompeting companies are attracting the customers you want to serve and figuring out how to be there when the customers go there. These days, “there” does not necessarily involve a bricks and mortar physical location.  Hey, there are HR consultants, accountants, and M&A attorneys buying advertising space all around my weekly on line broadcasts and blogs. DUH. They want increased access to executives of midsized companies.

It pays to ask yourself if your marketing is too focused on attracting customers from a cold start. Where does your message need to be so it reaches decision makers when they are already demonstrating an openness to investing time and money, learning and trying related things?

Aldonna R. Ambler, CMC, CSP has earned the right to be called THE GROWTH STRATEGIST™. She has won over 2 dozen national and statewide “entrepreneur of the year” awards for the resilient growth of her international businesses across 4 recessions.  Her midsized BtoB service, technology, and distribution clients get on…and then stay on…the published lists of the fastest growing privately held companies. All of her own service businesses (strategic planning, executive advisory, growth financing, talk show, speaking, search) help privately held midsized companies achieve accelerated growth with sustained profitability™.   Ambler is wrapping up her 7^th year hosting a weekly peer-to-peer-to-peer on line talk show at www.Business.VoiceAmerica.com and www.growthstrategistshow.com that features interviews with CEOs/Presidents of midsized companies (typically between $20 and 200 Mil/yr) sharing success tips about the growth strategy-of-the-week. Family owned businesses are being emphasized in 2011. Ambler is in the process of launching her 8^th enterprise. She can be reached toll free at 1-888-Aldonna or at Aldonna@AMBLER.com.   

 

Not Doing BOLD Marketing Kills New Products

OK.  You’re scared.  Money is tight. You don’t know if your customers will respond to your new product/service. So you are tempted to slowly ease into the product launch. I can hear you now.  “Let’s see if a few customers bite before we invest a ton of money on this.”  But deep down you do know that if you are timid with the marketing and sales messaging related to your new product, your customers won’t bite, they won’t take a chance, they won’t be excited…or worse…they won’t even notice.

Think about the most successful companies.  APPLE® generated so much interest in its I Phone®, folks stood in long lines to be among the first people to buy it. Even when they had to fix some connection problems, customers forgave them and wanted more. Think about fast food restaurants. McDonalds® is successful in large part because it knows how to market its food. One company’s “burger, fries, small drink, and a toy in a box” is a HAPPY MEAL® in the hands of master marketers. Designers convince fashion conscious women to change the length of their hemlines and height of their heels year after year through effective marketing.

Enthusiastic marketing is even more important during an uncertain economy.  You need to be insistent, consistent, and persistent because so many people are preoccupied, worried, and have lost trust. Make sure your new product will truly help your customers, so you can honestly point out the benefits and tell them why it is important for them to try your product/service. Most companies are continuing to sell the same products through these tough times and a small percentage of businesses have improved their products.

If your business is actually introducing something new, important, and timely…gosh…don’t hold back!      

 

Aldonna R. Ambler, CMC, CSP has earned the right to be called THE GROWTH STRATEGIST™. She has won over 2 dozen national and statewide “entrepreneur of the year” awards for the resilient growth of her international businesses across 4 recessions.  Her midsized BtoB service, technology, and distribution clients get on…and then stay on…the published lists of the fastest growing privately held companies. All of her own service businesses (strategic planning, executive advisory, growth financing, weekly talk show, speaking, search) help privately held midsized companies achieve accelerated growth with sustained profitability™.  Ambler is in her 7^th year hosting a weekly peer-to-peer-to-peer on line program at http://www.Business. VoiceAmerica. com and www.growthstrategistshow.com that features interviews with CEOs/Presidents of midsized companies (typically between $20 and 200 Mil/yr) sharing success tips about the growth strategy-of-the-week. Family owned businesses are being emphasized in 2011. Ambler is in the process of launching her 8^th enterprise. She can be reached toll free at 1-888-Aldonna or at Aldonna@AMBLER.com.

 

Reclaim Your Innovation Process

The economy slows and the typical midsized business slashes a few line items in their budgets including marketing, training, recruitment, and product development (R&D).  That can temporarily ease strained cash flow, but it isn’t a formula for surviving and thriving during a recession.

The most resilient companies seem to find ways to weave the innovation process into their cultures. One way to attract and retain productive employees during tough times is for them to know that their employer is still interested in market trends, customer needs, new technology, and better ways to do things.  Plus, it pays to remember that the most innovative product improvements aren’t necessarily the most expensive.

The innovation process includes five stages:

• Investigation
• Preparation
• Incubation
• Verification
• Application

Some jobs can become tedious if the employee isn’t also invited to participate in a little research.  The second generation of a family owned business often doesn’t want to take over the business if they haven’t been invited to do research and lead innovation. What are competitors doing? What do customers really think? Which new technologies could speed up the process? Is investigation an ongoing part of your employees’ jobs?

Periodic meetings to review what has been discovered can surface patterns.  When you see which ideas have the most potential, preparation starts.  What is the idea worth? Who should be involved? How do you protect profitability as this project gets underway? What other resources might you need to analyze and design a viable idea?

You get the idea.  Verification is one of the most important steps, especially during a recession. Most of us can’t afford to make too many expensive mistakes.  In a classic article “5 Myths of Innovation” in MIT SLOAN MANGEMENT REVIEW, Julian Birkinshaw reminds not to believe “IF WE BUILD IT THEY WILL COME.” We have all heard stories about computer programmers who have generated millions of lines of code to software products that too few people wanted to buy. Customers feel important when they are asked to try your new products and services.  It pays to do a BETA test to verify if your proposed approach makes sense and will work.

 

Aldonna R. Ambler, CMC, CSP has earned the right to be called THE GROWTH STRATEGIST™. She has won over 2 dozen national and statewide “entrepreneur of the year” awards for the resilient growth of her international businesses across 4 recessions.  Her midsized BtoB service, technology, and distribution clients get on…and then stay on…the published lists of the fastest growing privately held companies. All of her own service businesses (strategic planning, executive advisory, growth financing, radio show, speaking, search) help privately held midsized companies achieve accelerated growth with sustained profitability™. Ambler is in her 7^thyear hosting a weekly peer-to-peer-to-peer on line program at www.Business.VoiceAmerica.comand www.growthstrategistshow.com that features interviews with CEOs/Presidents of midsized companies (typically between $20 and 200 Mil/yr) sharing success tips about the growth strategy-of-the-week. Family owned businesses are being emphasized in 2011. Ambler is in the process of launching her 8^th enterprise. She can be reached toll free at 1-888-Aldonna or atAldonna@AMBLER.com

 

The High Cost of Fragmented Marketing

Does your marketing feel like a boat…a hole in the water into which you throw more and more money?

One client has decided that she should write a book.  They are in the financial services sector.  A book focused on important financial decisions faced by their target market makes sense.  They immediately ran into difficulties because (like healthcare) the field is now filled with specialists.  One vendor can help with editing, proofreading.  A second company can help with ISBN numbers, copyrights, etc.  Another company can help with graphics, printing, and binding.  A third company can help to promote the book launch but another vendor will be needed for the sustained promotion.  And they still have to thread the new book into the fabric of their overall marketing plan.

Another client has close to a dozen specialty vendors involved with their marketing.  A dozen! One does social media.  Another is great at public relations. Another handles book launches.  A fourth is great with websites. You get the idea. Surprisingly (at least to me) the owner of this business is reluctant to hire a marketing coordinator.  You have GOT to be kidding! The owner doesn’t have enough time or patience to oversee the minutia. Even motivated vendors don’t have enough incentive to collaborate with one another to the degree that is needed to prevent duplication of effort.

We’re running into similar challenges as my weekly on line radio show is moving quickly to video.  The number of people involved has increased exponentially.  If we aren’t careful, fragmented marketing will happen to us too. Will the social media piece be congruent with the website?  Will the published articles complement the association networking schedule? How does the direct mail campaign fuel media relations? Do the people who read the blog ever see the trade show display?

Marketing can quickly become a bottomless “to do” list of activities.  I know people who are busy busy busy with marketing tasks and no one is even measuring how many qualified leads are resulting from each piece of the marketing.

This is how marketing gets a “bad rap.”  We all know owners of midsized companies who actually refuse to invest a dime on marketing.  The truth is…marketing does require coordination.  And it does need to be monitored and held accountable.  Otherwise, smart sounding ideas just become a lot of effort and wasted money.  None of us can afford to write off marketing.  It is essential.  But none of us can afford to let the pieces of marketing just “run amuck.”

Aldonna R. Ambler, CMC, CSP has earned the right to be called THE GROWTH STRATEGIST™. She has won over 2 dozen national and statewide “entrepreneur of the year” awards for the resilient growth of her international businesses across 4 recessions.  Her midsized BtoB service, technology, and distribution clients get on…and then stay on…the published lists of the fastest growing privately held companies. All of her own service businesses (strategic planning, executive advisory, growth financing, radio show, speaking, search) help privately held midsized companies achieve accelerated growth with sustained profitability™.  Ambler is in her 7^th year hosting a weekly peer-to-peer-to-peer on line program at http://www.Business. VoiceAmerica. com and www.growthstrategistshow.com that features interviews with CEOs/Presidents of midsized companies (typically between $20 and 200 Mil/yr) sharing success tips about the growth strategy-of-the-week. Family owned businesses are being emphasized in 2011. Ambler can be reached toll free at 1-888-Aldonna or at Aldonna@AMBLER.com.

 

 

Are Plateaus Even More Stubborn for Family Owned Businesses?

Sometimes your business just hovers around the same size for several years.  Yes, the economy or increased competition could be factors, but, more often than not, a stubborn plateau can be traced to internal issues like executive leadership, the decision making process, or span of control.

Think back.  You remember that one classic plateau exists at around 5-7 employees.  The business is still defined around the career, skills, availability and preferences of one key person.  The next plateau often develops between 25 and 28 employees when those companies reach the limitations of their home grown management teams.

One approach to lift off of the stubborn 25-28 person plateau is to consider what the business would be like with 40 people.  Which new positions would exist at 40 people that would have undoubtedly helped the company grow from 25 to 40 people?  Often it is roles like Controller or Chief Financial Officer.  Sometimes it is a real Operations Officer or IT expert.  Sometimes it’s an experienced Marketing Director instead of continuing to rely on an overworked marketing coordinator.  The clear pattern is the introduction of new expertise.

A similar technique can help companies that have hit the 60-63 employee plateau.  Thinking through the roles at 100 employees tends to surface discussions about the role played by field supervisors, branch managers, trainers, product developers, etc.

Is bringing in new expertise difficult for your family business? If you are being honest with yourselves, the answer to that question may be YES.

– “We are in charge!  If we bring in a non-family member to be our CFO, how will our decision making be impacted?”

– “No one can understand our clients as well as we do.  We have generations of experience.  How would a marketing expert make us more money?”

– “That sounds expensive! We’re not large enough to hire someone to only focus on IT.  In our family, we all pitch in.  Hey, Dad is still proud of the fact thathe sometimes empties the trash.  Should we bring on people who view themselves as specialists?”

If any of these statements sound familiar to you, maybe it’s time to openly discuss what your business might be like 50-60% larger than it is today. Maybe a few of your young relatives will begin to perceive future career opportunities in the family business and consider higher education, more training or different careers as a result of that discussion.

 

Aldonna R. Ambler, CMC, CSP has earned the right to be called THE GROWTH STRATEGIST™. She has won over 2 dozen national and statewide “entrepreneur of the year” awards for the resilient growth of her international businesses across 4 recessions.  Her midsized BtoB service, technology, and distribution clients get on…and then stay on…the published lists of the fastest growing privately held companies. All of her own service businesses (strategic planning, executive advisory, growth financing, radio show, speaking, search) help privately held midsized companies achieve accelerated growth with sustained profitability.™ Ambler is in her 7^th year hosting a weekly peer-to-peer-to-peer on line radio program at www.Business.VoiceAmerica.com and www.growthstrategistradioshow.com that features interviews with CEOs/Presidents of midsized companies (typically between $20 and 200 Mil/yr) sharing success tips about the growth strategy-of-the-week. Family owned businesses will be emphasized in 2011. Ambler can be reached toll free at 1-888-Aldonna or at Aldonna@AMBLER.com

 

 

Thrive During Periods of Uncertainty

This year I was fortunate enough to interview several bright, accomplished executive leaders of midsized companies who were also generous and candid during my weekly radio show, THE GROWTH STRATEGIST™. (Feel free to download your favorite shows from www.GrowthStrategistRadioShow.com.)  I recorded a solo year end show and pulled out some of the gems these wonderful guests shared that seemed relevant to dealing with uncertainty.  Here’s a few:

Peter Colella is the Managing Partner of M&A specialists, The Colmen Group.  They started out in M&A and expanded into operational and turnaround consulting. Their competitors may have been seeing the same underlying problems in the business proposals submitted to them, but it was The Colemen Group that stepped up to improve success rates.  Are there problems that seem to be taken for granted in your industry?

Julie Levi, the President of Progressive Promotions, reminds all of us about the importance of going deep into large accounts.  They let “one offs” go about 10 years ago.  Progressive Promotions is also a good example of a commitment to complete change.  They hired. They changed the brand image. They invested in technology.  If you are too tired to even imagine dealing with rebranding, remember that a key team member may need the opportunity to lead that process, get it done while taking it off your plate!

Barbara Hemphill is the well known author of THE PAPER TIGER, and the leader of the ALMOST PAPERFREE movement.  Her interview reminded all of us that maintaining “a culture of innovation” can dramatically reduce the risks associated with uncertain economies. How much would it really cost you to build in time to turn customer complaints into new product ideas?

I enjoyed interviewing David Friedfeld, the CEO of ClearVision Optical.  He reminds all of us that there are good ways to stake a stand. During periods of challenge, it can feel like you are being held hostage by another. Taking a stand requires preparation, but it is important not to ever let a major vendor, customer, your employees, or your family OWN you.  Does it feel like anyone OWNS you and never paid to acquire?

Smith Yewell, the CEO of WELOCALIZE, Inc, exudes the commitment to running faster than your customers.  Think of what they need to do to provide instant wonderful translation of multiple languages for companies on their client list, like Google.  How fast are your customers moving?

 

The Journey from “Trying Not to Screw Things Up” to “Creating a Better Future”

It’s great to watch old black and white movies featuring Lionel Barrymore, and then look at the little girl in E.T.™ or the talented leading lady in movies like The Wedding Singer™ and Never Been Kissed™ or spot the lovely blonde spokesmodel in television advertisements for Cover Girl™ make up. Just imagine the pressure felt by Drew Barrymore when she was growing up. She comes from a long line of very talented famous actors. Or how about Michael, the son of Kirk Douglas? Or what about Nat King Cole’s daughter, Natalie?  The pressure of expectation, obligation, and legacy can be daunting.

This pressure isn’t just the purview of actors or singers. It happens in business as well. Imagine the pressure felt by Ivanka, Donald Trump’s daughter. She seems to be handling it fairly well, but “The Donald” casts a fairly large shadow. Actually that same pressure is felt by most second and third generation leaders in family businesses.  And it’s also felt by promoted-from-within Presidents/CEOs who aren’t blood relatives of the owners, but were long term loyal employees.

One might think that a newly promoted CEO will have a long list of pent up ideas he/she wants to implement right away.  Often, the first thing they do is implement cost savings measures.  That’s good, of course, but he/she probably could have done that as a Plant Manager or COO.

The newly promoted CEO sometimes knows a bit too much about the day to day operation. He/she will know the stories behind the last computer system upgrade. Memories about mistakes made during the last new product launch can be too fresh. The newly promoted CEO may like, trust, and value his/her co- workers/colleagues but often have difficulty envisioning greatness in these same people.

It takes concerted effort on the part of most promoted-from-within CEOs to look outside their companies for guidance about what is possible, how fast change should be paced, where the market is headed, and which products and innovations will be important.  The role of the CEO is not to maintain status quo.  The role is one of vision, discovery, and leading the way in the process of creating a better future.

 

Commit Fully to Vertical Integration – Or Don’t Do It

How many companies are investing BIG BUCKS in marketing campaigns to convince you and me that they are THE “place to start”, “one stop shop”, “top experts of our industry”?  Their marketing campaigns work. We contact them and give them a try…only to be disappointed.  They may have a core service or product that is fairly good, but the customer support stinks.  They may have a fairly good needs assessment process, but the second project doesn’t go anywhere near as well as the first one.

BEFORE you invest in making a huge brand promise to attract new customers, it pays to make sure you won’t be bleeding profitability from dissatisfied customers, reduced referrals, etc.

There certainly have been some mistakes made within the computer hardware and software industries over recent years, but corporations like Microsoft and IBM have taught us that vertical integration often starts with a strong licensing or certification program.  What would your company need to do to have tough tests? Strong contracts? Barriers to entry? A prestige certification program?  I know some executives who think they can simply acquire smaller companies to avoid the hassle of implementing a rigorous certification program.  But why would you want to invest money in a company that can’t deliver on your public promises?

Vertical integration strategies often involve a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.  Some of the best acquisitions increase the number of customers for one product/service line and represent an increase in qualified prospects for other products/services. The organic growth in vertically integrated companies is often focused on developing highly skilled managers who deliver on the company’s promise.

Successful vertical integration also involves an excellent needs assessment process.  Before you invest in an expensive marketing campaign to promise “one stop shop”, “everything you need”, etc. ask yourself if the needs assessment processes before service is provided, during a project, and following a project are equally elegant.  Many companies have a great initial process to tailor the first project only to leave the customer feeling taken for granted during service delivery and ignored after a project has been completed.  We all know that isn’t conducive to the creation of legacy accounts of a fully integrated company.

License/Certify.  Acquire customers and products.  Build skills and processes from within.  Excel at 3 kinds of needs assessments.  Then commit to a strong brand promise and marketing campaign for your vertically integrated company.

 

Stop Evaluating Marketing Investments Without Context

Should your company invest heavily in social media? Press releases to broadcast and print media? Tradeshow displays? Direct mail? Promotional items? Entertainment? You know the list.  It’s a long one and the decisions are getting tougher and tougher about where to invest limited funds.

One of our clients is a community bank that chose to participate in Arianna Huffington’s national “Move Your Money” campaign. That decision led to an investment in billboards, lapel buttons, new pages for their website, print advertising, collateral material, and direct mail.  And the most important investment was the training sessions for branch managers to more assertively encourage business owners to move their money from those huge financial institutions to a trusted community bank.  Asking questions without the context of a broader campaign might have incorrectly led to the conclusion that they shouldn’t consider billboard advertising (when they clearly should).

New England’s energetic baseball fans see the exciting image of Granite City Electric’s (GCE) NIGHT TRAIN™ coming out of the left field wall of the stadium because GCE is the official electrical distributor for the Red Sox.  GCE is an AMBLER client, too. The idea flowed from a strategic planning process. Then a marketing firm, Creative Marketing Alliance (CMA), helped translate the message into an exciting graphic image.  Without the context or strategic logic, would you have thought that an electrical wholesaler should invest money in the left field wall of a baseball park?  Hey…electrical contractors watch baseball games!

“Many businesses are spinning their wheels while they chase the latest trends, and in the process, they lose sight of their ultimate goals. Sometimes all they need to do is pay more attention to who their target audience is and what they care about to develop an effective marketing campaign,” says Jeff Barnhart, President and CEO of CMA.

Would you have thought that a fast food chain should construct large wooden animals to place in front of billboards? Perhaps you have noticed Chick-Fil-A’s very effective use of wooden cows encouraging people to eat more chicken.

These days, it seems like marketing is a bad game of Jeopardy™ where the answer has become social media.  But what was the question? What is the strategy? What is the goal?  It is highly likely that social media should be included in the mix, but if you don’t know why, it can also become a distraction.