We get asked often how leaders measure their progress towards being tuned in. One of the interesting things we found was that only three factors really mattered -- unit sales growth, customer satisfaction and profitability. The best don't obsess over the details (there were plenty gathered but they largely ignore them all). Instead, they focused on the results that were the true indicators of success.
This knowledge still begged the question for us though of 'how do you get there?' So, we dug a little deeper and found some characteristics that we ended up calling a Resonator Index.
A Resonator Index is your measurement of how tuned in or tuned out you are based on the factors that are the best indicators of whether you (or your company) work from an outside-in perspective or an inside-out perspective. They identify how likely it is that you will create products or services that the market will view as breakthrough (perfect solutions to a problem that is urgent). Five areas of competency emerged in determining this:
- Market Sensing - how effective are you at uncovering extraordinary opportunities?
* Tuned in companies are active at searching for and evaluating market problems.
* Tuned out companies are relying on their own intuition and experience of internal teams. - Target Personas -- do you understand and map unique buyers?
* Tuned In companies identify dozens of unique profiles and establish speciality channels.
* Tuned Out companies generalize and communicate through network-style broadcasts. - Experience Creation -- how sophisticated are you at addressing all customer touch points?
* Tuned In companies offer personalized solutions for discovery, buying, using & servicing.
* Tuned Out companies focus only on delivery of a product and ask the buyer to fill in the gaps. - Positioning -- is your association in the marketplace valued?
* Tuned In companies establish authentic links that buyers trust as thought leading.
* Tuned Out companies push promotions that are noisy to solicit sales interactions. - Market Adoption -- can you quickly create market pull?
* Tuned In companies grow rapidly through referrals from existing customers.
* Tuned Out companies grow slowly based only on direct connections to create awareness.
You can score yourself on a normal 1-10 scale across these factors, with 10 rating how close you are to the tuned in dial and 1 signifying your nearness to being tuned out.
There are lots of underlying reasons why this Index works but the simple justification for it is that best-in-class businesses that lead their industries will almost always be able to rate themselves at 80% or above with most in the 90% range. For those companies, these characteristics are ingrained in the culture and daily operating styles. This foundation enables them to turn their full attention to programs and activities that will achieve higher growth, satisfaction and profit rates because they have the confidence that they are 'doing things right' at the core.
What's your Resonator Index? A great way to end 2007 and prepare for 2008 is to measure it. When you find gaps that you'd rather not have, you've identified an area for improvement that will have a sustainable impact on your success.
