Retiring This Blog

It's been more than 18 months since we started this blog by announcing we were writing a book. Since then, we have used this platform to review ideas, get feedback on concepts and to write about the many examples we have seen of being Tuned In or Tuned Out.

When the book was published in June, 2008, it became a best-seller on Amazon.com and 800ceoread.com, and we have been very pleased and proud that it resonated with so many people.

It's time for us to move on. New projects and opportunities are taking more and more of our time, so this will likely be our last blog post. We will keep the blog (and this site) up for historical reference and for those who discover the book in the future.

Thanks to the many, many people who provided guidance, inspiration and feedback as we took this journey from idea to best-seller.

Craig, Phil & David

World Wide Rave

When I talk to SMB owners and leaders of business, I find they almost always fall into one of two camps -- those that think too big and those that think too small.  The interesting part of both camps is that they also have one trait they share in common ... they're convinced that they are marketing experts!

Put this into context as you launch into your read of our friend and fellow Tuned In co-author David Meerman Scott's new book, World Wide Rave. His perspectives, stories and conclusions are an awesome display of focus. If you want to create a success, channel your energies to building the online equivalent of the 'wave' that reverberates around stadiums. One seed, authentically planted, creatively launched and passionately delivered can indeed create an overwhelming force ... even if it has nothing specifically to do with the job at hand. 

What I liked best about this latest edition in the Meerman Scott set of classics is that David hits directly at the core of a number of issues that are bottlenecking businesses today. 

1. What is the 'new marketing mix'?
2. How do you win in today's market when no one seems interested anymore? 
3. Is there any leverage for your business in social media, or is it just a fad to be ignored?
4. What do buyers really want and how will they respond?    

He then conveniently provides the antidotes all in one place. Like most thought leading concepts, it's the opposite of what you might think. World Wide doesn't necessarily mean a global phenomenon, although it could. It really means creating a Rave in your sphere of focus ... a local community, a geographic center, an industry and most definitely with a specific buyer persona. I loved the mix of stories from big companies like IBM's Art of the Sale, to Disney's Wizarding World of Harry Potter to SMB's like Girls Fight Back to Audit Trails to Stupid Cancer to independent consultants like Steve Chazm and new music artists like Bec Hollcroft ... all leveraging non-traditional mediums like YouTube, Facebook, blogs, e-books and creative thought leadership strategies to establish a desirable brand.

It's an easy read, a fun read and a thought provoking one. David does a great job of getting you to 'think different' about your business and how to make sense of this whole marketing mess. He even takes the time to work out all of the social media misconceptions that hold so many folks back. 

The important point of his book won't be lost on you, your friends, colleagues and superiors (buy one for each of them by the way .. it will make you look good).  Spending your valuable time and energies creating your own World Wide Rave just makes good sense.  In today's environment of budget cuts, negative noise, this really isn't just a nice to have weekend read ...  

it's a must have foundation to your business strategy. Your survival depends on it.   

Thanks David for doing what you do best. World Wide Rave has all the earmarks of it's own rave. 

Baseball's Bright Light

"It's the fans that need spring training.  You gotta get 'em interested. Wake 'em up and let 'em know their season is coming ... that good times are gonna roll." -- Harry Carey

Checkout the enclosed from CNNMoney.com on how Arizona Diamondback executives are battling the slump.  With spring training just beginning here in sunny Arizona, it's worth noting that this whole industry is now coming face-to-face with the issues of managing their business through the downturn. Most were tuning out when this all began in earnest in September and now they're tuning back in to a reality of shrinking sponsorships, losing season ticket buyers and uncertain outlooks for their main source of revenue ... TV.  

A bring light in all of this is the preparation that Diamondback's CEO Derek Hall has made to ensure that his team is doing the right things to maintain momentum going into the new season. His focus (in fact the focus of the team's entire front office) is remarkably tuned in.  Some of the highlights for those of who you who want the cliff notes from the article:

1. Service-first -- one of the hallmarks of Tuned In executives is that they prioritize customer service at the top of their lists. Hall and team are notorious for quick, personal responses to requests from customers and going out of their way to interact in the community. They solve the problems their customers need solving and don't get stuck in their own bureaucracy. 
2. Put your best talent on the front lines -- sounds simple but most of us keep it in the back office. The Diamondbacks put their best executives focused on player recruitment, player development, and customer service vs. business management. 
3. Ensure a great experience -- Hall hired a firm to ensure that every fan walking into the ballpark could experience the old time feel of going to a game, complete with unobstructed field views,  the smell of fresh grass and the sounds of hitting and catching. They eliminated the carnival like atmosphere that dominates most modern stadiums. 
4. Work early and often on long-term loyalty of stakeholders -- the Diamondbacks had an 83% renewal rate on season ticket sales (vs. 60% for some of their competitors) because they didn't wait until seasons-end to start the process. TV rights have been secured for the next 10 years. 
5. Know your market and adapt -- the team knows that Phoenix actually has the lowest per-capita income, $35,010 of any MLB city so they offered lots of incentives to entice lower and middle income families ... from $5 tickets to free tickets at local schools to special kids and family pricing on food and beverages. 

Being a Phoenix-native, I can speak to the quality of the experience and the high regard locals have for the organization. It's a sense of pride you don't see everywhere.  Best of all, the net of all of this is a well-aligned organization that is expecting a slight uptick in revenue in 2009 vs. 2008 while fielding a competitive team that can make a run at the World Series without a $200m payroll.

The Diamondbacks and Hall have done a great job of focusing on what matters most. By tuning in, they've got a big leg up on their competitors. 

Who runs your Marketing?

 "The problem with marketing is that everyone thinks they're an expert". -- Everyone outside of the marketing profession.  

Anyone notice that there is a new marketing expert in our midst? It's called the government and the related public opinions around where the stimulus funds should go and how that money should be spent. I'm not going to belabor the slippery slope we're traveling down here but it does warrant a conversation about who's now running marketing.

Just this week, we saw four examples of what the bailout 'golden handcuffs' look like:

1. Citigroup paid $400m for the naming rights to the new Mets stadium. The decision was a coupe for all parties involved when they won the rights but now not so much for anyone. This week, several US congressman are suggesting they sell these rights. 
   

2. Bank of America takes heat for sponsoring a $45m Super Bowl party for it's customers. While this has been a tradition for the company every year, the fact they just received bailout money draws into question whether or not they used public funds frivolously.  

3. Wells Fargo cancels partners club in Vegas. Many companies offer incentive trips and yearly business outings at resorts for top performing sales reps, partners or agents. Wells Fargo's 4 day junket was business as usual until it met a public outcry against it. 

4. Executive pay limits imposed by Obama administration. $18 billion in bonuses paid out to top executives in 2008 was a bit too much for the administration to bear given the need for a bailout to avoid bankruptcy. Now the maximum is $500,000 a year. 

The merits of each of these initiatives run the full gambit from debatable to stupid. There is so much tuned out behavior going on here that we've lost track. That's not really the point though.

What's important is that it surfaces an interesting perspective that I've always wanted to talk about with regards to marketing. One of the reasons  that marketing isn't trusted (and there are at least five others) is that it's motives are not pure. Far too often, we spend money on things that fall into this general category of 'awareness of the brand'. Hard to argue with the need but it creates an opening for programs that are ego-driven, notoriety-driven, personal fulfillment-driven, and creativity-driven.  

Whatever happened to being market-driven? 

I'd be truly concerned if I was a marketing executive on the back-end of a bail-out. Marketing strategies just got a whole new controlling interest group dictating the wisdom of any investment that doesn't contribute immediately to the bottom-line. This is in many ways even worse than the typical public company scrutiny. And it's liable to create the kind of self-fulfilling failure outcomes because of it. When cost is your only governor, revenues tend to follow them down. 

But, in truth this problem is of our own making. If our motives were pure from the start, there would never be the kind of programs in the public eye that everyone can point to as a non-essential waste of money. There are so many disciplines that are undergoing a transformation right now. This smells like the beginning of marketing's. And it starts with realizing that our motives need to be more authentic.    

Hide and Seek

 It's awful quiet out there isn't it? 

When I ask business leaders how things are going these days, the overwhelming response is that the new year has brought less (not more) activity. Any holiday goodwill or Q4 budget spend has quickly dissipated in favor of an environment of extreme caution. It almost feels like the old children's game of 'hide and seek' where everyone has searched for a safe place to hide while you close your eyes and imagine all the possibilities.

When are we going to get to twenty so the action can start? 

There are a lot of mistakes leaders can make during a crisis in their business. The worst and most unforgivable of all though is hiding. We identified a persona during our Winning in a Down Economy research that we called 'Denial Dan'. Dan has his head in the sand (or in this case his hands over his eyes) just waiting for this all to go away. He's not talking to anyone and he's not making any decisions. He's hoping he can somehow turn back the clock and have all of his prospects sitting right there in front of him ... begging to play the game vs. off hiding in places he has to go find them. 

Dan's situation is only going to get worse before it gets better. Yours doesn't have to though. If you want to win the game, it's time to open up your eyes and pursue ... in your case 'relevance'. Now is not the time to be timid. You can gain an advantage by initiating discovery conversations with your market and identifying needs your business can fulfill.  

1. Pick up the phone and call some of them to find out more about their current needs. 
2. Initiate internal dialogs with your team to identify problems you can engage your resources on solving. 
3. Market a 'single' solution option that is perfect for these times. 
4. Leverage your social network to identify relevant conversations you can have with buyers. 

In short, smoke em out! Far too many of us have developed business practices that work well in good times when the market is spending freely. Expecting them to work in today's market reminds me of all the .com salespeople I met in 2003 and 2004 who thought they could still sell technology products as business development projects for millions of dollars. Not only were they not as good as they thought they were, the market literally saw them coming from a mile away and hid from them. 

It's time to change the way you think and the way you work. Build up your energy, raise your voice and attack your market. Just like in hide and seek, your buyers will actually enjoy engaging.  

UNRELATED NOTE: Go Cardinals! Of all the things that have happened that surprised me in the last 120 days, nothing has shocked me more (nor given me more pleasure) than seeing the Arizona Cardinals make the Super Bowl. It reinforced my belief system that indeed ALL things are possible.     

Fencepost Management

"Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear." -- Anthony Robbins

Kristin Zhivago asked a question that really got me to thinking last week ... are you a blind CEO? Truth be told, we all feel like we're flying a little blind these days. Some much data is being produced that is contradictory that our future outlooks are at best mostly confused. Many leaders ARE letting the situation overwhelm them and retreating back into a viewpoint that they should fly at 30,000 feet through all of this. As Kristin rightly pointed out, it's a perspective that just might kill you and your company right now because it keeps you away from focusing your business on the things that really matter right now. 

1. The value of your product. 
2. The agility of your business to align to current customer needs.
3. The ability of your workforce to produce meaningful results.

 A good bit of value can get lost while you're looking at financial statements and figuring out how to keep the lights on in the building. A friend of mine and I got to talking about what perspective is needed today and he made a pretty perceptive comment. 

Just focus on the next fencepost!

Sounded like old Texas wisdom to me and it turned out it was. When you've got a 1000 acre ranch in Texas and you and a small crew decide it's time to build a new fence around the perimeter, it's a big job. But not necessarily an overwhelming one if you approach like the wise old ranch hand. He has no time schedule that he marches to, nor does he allow he and his crew to be driven by the vagaries of weather, the interruption of other events, or the magnitude of the effort. They simply focus on getting the next fencepost put in right and move forward on their journey to secure the property.

What is your next fencepost? Pick out the problem that is bottlenecking your organization more than any other focus your energies on it completely. Make it a priority for your team as well. Study how you can do it well and make sure that your fix is sustainable. Lay it in and celebrate your success. Your business has moved one step forward and done something meaningful.  

How much better off would we all be if we put our blinders on where the economy is concerned (cause that's really the weather) and took them off where it really matters most (the fundamental ingredients in our business that contribute to meaningful customer value)?  The process of tuning in isn't just a strategic focus, it's tactical and day-to-day issues as well.  

Focus on the next fencepost.    

There is no such thing as a bailout!

Are any of you as bothered by these bailouts as I am? It seems everyone is now in line for a government handout. First it was the banks, now it's the auto industry. Who's next? We've talked to business leaders in other industries who jokingly (we think) say this a perfect time to be forgiven for all the sins of the past and take advantage of a fearful government to load up on some cash and live to fight another day. No plan required. Just enough mass to create an environment of fear that your failure will lead to others. 

In nearly any other time, the kind of things that went on in Washington over the last month around the auto industry bailouts would have been laughed out of any rational financing discussion.  Let's see. My current business is a disaster. I don't make products people want to buy. My costs are high and future obligations substantial. I have no idea how to turn this around but what I would like is for you to give me a bunch of money to figure it out. And we're doing it!!! 

How tuned out is that?  

The cold, harsh realities is that these bailouts are going to have little to no impact because these businesses are flawed at the core. And nothing is being done in the process to change the fundamentals. This is the type of funding strategy has only been proven to fail about every time it's tried. How different are these bailouts than the typical corporate merger or acquisition? We know from experience that 9 out of 10 of those fail right? Why do they fail? Fundamentally, it's because there is a misalignment from the start. They're too often based on inside out views of market share math or financial statement math while the leaders putting together the merger ignore the fact that this is a living, breathing business that is supposed to create value. 

The misalignments are all over the map:

1. People and cultures don't fit together. 
2. Key strategies exist in each entity that can never work together. 
3. Execution philosophies and priorities are different.  
4. Financial objectives are made up and not based on reality.  

It's the misaligned expectations that kill mergers and acquisitions. And they occur despite months to years of deep due diligence. 

What makes us think that a merger of the government with banks, auto industry, real estate, maybe health care and others is going to work? Are we all nuts? What alignment do we expect the government to have with business practices in lending, building cars or buying homes? How long before the governance functions take on a whole new meaning and the basic strategy of the business is changed into something it was never designed to be and can't execute?   

This is not only a top-down perspective only we're talking about here. For a view of the bottom-up perspective from a GM supplier, checkout Knox Machinery's response to Tony Clark (President of GM North America) and his request for support of the bailout plan. They want no part of it either.  

What a mess. We're early in the game and for the most part and the relief of surviving a near death experience is overwhelming good sense. It won't be long though before reality sets in and the expectation that many have that we'll be OK will be replaced by a realization that all we've done is bail a little water out of a sinking ship. Nothing about the fundamental value that businesses create has changed since they got bailed out. It no doubt will get worse before it gets better.   

So, besides my ranting, what does all of this mean to you? Simply this. Stop treading water with your business and get focused on getting tuned in to a money making opportunity for today's market. This bailout nonsense will end soon and the businesses that build value will survive. Those that don't will die, no matter how much money naive investors throw at them.     

Tuned In Leaders Outlook for 2009

"Get busy living, or get busy dying." -- Andy Dufresne, Shawshank Redemption

2009 is here and it's time to make good on all of the resolutions we usually make. For most of us, the shock and awe of the downturn in 2008 is now squarely in the rear view mirror. Hopefully, you've been largely unaffected. For those who've experienced the downturn first hand, you've no doubt dealt with the reality of the situation and charted a new course for survival in 2009. From the companies we've talked to, it's clear that most of the core realignment has taken place. The question now is, how should we best  approach the coming year?

Never before have we entered a year with so much built-in uncertainty. The typical yearly planning process has always tried to define the most likely scenarios in which we can control the outcomes to ensure victory. In tough years, we add a hunker down mentality to make sure that the plans we're attempting to execute are things that we've done well in the past. Some leading analysts are suggesting that in this market we should go a step further and resort to a trench warfare mentality to win new business. All of these perspectives have value but the Tuned In Leader will take a simpler approach:

Focus each day on the things that matter most!

As you settle back in to your routine for the new year, its time to take hold of the old axiom to 'make each day count'. That means spending your valuable time and your organizations resources on the things that add sustainable value to your business and align it better to today's realities. Tuned In Leaders are constantly listening, learning, understanding, aligning and acting on information they gather in the marketplace. In 2009, they're focusing their attention on more controllable outcomes:  

1. Finding a down economy resonator -- that enables their business to become more relevant in solving the problems their customers have today.    
2. Embracing the new buying environment-- by understanding the criterion buyers have for purchase and aligning their sales & marketing efforts accordingly.  
3. Making their company easier to do business with -- through increased service levels and experiences that add meaningful value.
4. Developing a strong, passionate community -- of stakeholder advocates through their employees, partners, customers, influencers and investors.   

Tuned In Leaders aren't focused on the scoreboard, they're aligning to the activities that will have meaningful impact on the ultimate measurement of their business. The benefit of this approach is a simple one ... all of them will force you to remain focused on 'outside-in' objectives vs. 'inside-out' ones that tend to dominate in tough times. 

By upgrading both the delivery vehicles of what you provide and the way you do business, you'll naturally align to the realities of today's marketplace. Don't move forward blindly with the status quo. The products you bring into the new year might be the wrong horses tor ride. Upgrade them. The customers you have and seek to acquire have different expectations this year than last. Adapt to them. The alignment you had with thought leaders might be the wrong mouth pieces for your business (after all, most of them were wrong). Find the new ones that your buyers will trust today and align to them.    

Staying tuned in was never an event, it was always a process. The companies that mastered it became leaders and are well aligned to sustain their success in 2009. Their cultures and teams are always the same ... cautiously optimistic ... because they are always focused on the basics. Establish your outlook for 2009 with this grounded perspective. You and your business will be the better for it. 

The Year in Review

"There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask, "What happened?"
- Casey Stengel

2008 probably brought out all three of these people inside each of us. Many I've talked to would like to just tune it out and move on. Others are still struggling to discern what it is they saw. And a precious few are embracing it and moving forward. It's been fascinating for us to take a look back and see just how big a gap in expectations there has been from the beginning of this year to today. Two extremes standout to me right now: 

Sandhill's the Year in Review for Software cited that at the beginning of 2008, 59% of Venture Capitalists expected the IPO market to strengthen. So far this year, it's produced 6!  In a year of chasing the wrong outcome, this one may have topped the list for those pursuing the 'exit quest'. M&A alternatives haven't faired much better. And then there are those who refuse to look at alternatives at all, like Yahoo, and see their valuations fall 66%.

The financial analyst community is struggling to reshape forecasts that had the Dow growing to 15,000 by year-end and stifle pundits like Peter Schiff who was a lonely voice of reason for more than two years about the reality of the financial crisis looming. Discovering reality and embracing it is the hallmark of a tuned in leader. Schiff dealt with data vs. opinion and his customers are the better for it.   

Irrational exuberance and rational pessimism wrapped into both of these. Such is the nature of prognosticating. We all had Obama winning the Presidency and the Giants over the Patriots in the Super Bowl last year at this time, didn't we? 

When we waded in with Tuned In in July it was our intent to provide you with a fresh perspective about how to take all this nonsense of 'guessing what the future holds' out of the equation in any economy. We centered on six principles that had been proven to turn your business into a success by focusing on market alignment. The funny part about our book is that it focused on doing the opposite of what we've been told for decades. It's not the 'blue ocean' we should be looking for, it's 'the unresolved problems' that current buyers have. And slowly but surely, things have begun to change:   

1. We found some remarkable success stories (more than 60 of them) where following this simple premise created a product or service that so completely solved a problem that people had that it simply sold itself ... even in today's market.

2. We found that businesses who focus on creating breakthrough experiences around their products by adding service to each and every interaction their buyers had with them gained a compelling differentiator in their markets.

3. We identified the pitfalls of continuing to align to the old concepts of selling vs. supporting the new buying environment authentically. Making yourself 'easier to do business with' is the new key to gaining an execution advantage. 

4. We saw how powerful your social network has become as primary market marketing weapon that gives you leverage from a scale, cost and lead generation effectiveness perspective.  

5. We learned how pursuing relevance is your compass and strategic filter during this downturn.  It's not about you, it's about building real and deep connections to what your buyers value most.  

Thanks so much for your support. Our publishers tell us book sales passed 26,000 units through November. We're approaching 1000 subscribers to this blog. And, 100's of you have begun to tell us stories about how you are applying the Tuned In principles to win in a down economy. We look forward to telling everyone about your successes as we launch into the new year. 

See you all in 2009. Stay tuned in and you'll find your resonator! 

Winning in a Down Economy (Step 10 of 10)

On October 11th, we introduced the idea that Winning in a Down Economydoes not start with blindly cutting costs. Instead we outlined a strategy for 'tuning in' that market leaders have adopted. In the ten weeks that follow, we're covering the ten steps to getting your organization aligned quickly to a new market reality. This post is the tenth of ten. Steps 10 addresses how you can channel all of the learnings from Steps 1-9 into to winning gameplan for 2009.         

Step 10: Align to Win!
"There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it." -- Napoleon Hill

Great leaders and companies will emerge from this downturn. They will likely be different than the current leaders because they'll do a better job at the critical tenth step of our process ... aligning to win. How do you create the right environment for this? Think of it as a life and death mission and you'll have the right perspective of what needs to happen. It's the Apollo 13 mission control team springing into action. It's a military team preparing to attack a dangerous and unknown enemy coming together to ensure 'flawless execution'. It's an ER room and the patient is a loved one.   

It's all hands on deck time!

Thanks for hanging in there with us for all ten steps. If you've followed our recommendations, you've done the hard work of discovering a relevant pursuit for your business that is executable and valuable. Now turn your attention to making sure that it works not just in your head, but in the field as well. Your leadership mettle comes from being able to instill the belief, knowledge, understanding and tools for success to your team. Success depends on addressing all the issues of alignment including the tough ones that are actions that are difficult or unpopular. Check all the leadership boxes:

1. People -- does everyone know their role and the importance of the mission? 
2. Strategy -- has it been clearly articulated and bought into by the team?
3. Execution -- are the action steps clear and well supported?
4. Financing -- is the path to success measurable and sustainable? 

More than 50% of the teams we interviewed in our surveys of technology companies indicated that all of these were problem areas in their firms. The lack of clarity and poor communication made them hesitant to engage. There is no greater challenge for today's organizational leaders than to attack this issue head on and resolve it. 

The best leaders we talked to had the problem readily identified. They were building 2 year roadmaps for that very reason ... to ensure alignment on all four fronts.  They were also creating 90 day action plans to keep everyone centered on simple, incremental steps to the goal.  At a higher level, we found three primary ways leaders aligned their teams:

• To a transformation agenda -- like IBM did for e-business and Starbucks is launching now. 
• To an incremental impact agenda -- like RIM is doing with a new version of the Blackberry. 
• To a buyer focus -- like Amazon is doing with book publishers & buyers around the Kindle. 

Any strategy that is authentic internally and based on a meaningful connection to things your buyers value most will work. But, don't leave home with this!  Your gameplan may be a winner.  Make sure it's introduction instills the confidence in your team to follow it.