Tuned In: Uncover the extraordinary opportunities that lead to business breakthroughs.

Why we wrote the book

When Craig, David and I came together to talk about the ideas that came to be this book, we thought we were going to write a book about Pragmatic Marketing … what it was and why it worked. But, being the curious types that we are, we started asking ourselves deeper and tougher questions. Did you ever wonder: Why Starbucks and not Peets? Why the iPod and not Zune?  Why American Idol and not Star Search? Or, why the Wii and not Playstation?  Were these ‘hits’ just created by people smarter, luckier, or born with more talent than the rest of us?

As we began to dig a little deeper behind the scenes, we started finding some answers to these questions that opened up a whole new picture for us of what it was we really did for businesses and what we really  needed to write about. So, we started a research project that searched deeply into methods that winners used to build products, lead their businesses and market their solutions.  We talked to hundreds of CEO’s and interviewed thousands of companies and found some fascinating things that formed the core of what we wrote about in Tuned In.   

On the plus side, we found dozens of companies that had a different perspective about why they were in business. They focused their time and energy not on ‘creating an innovative new solution to profit from’ but on building ‘real and deep connections to the things their buyers valued most’. They were winning and winning big in their marketplaces. 

But, we also found far too many businesses who struggled to answer some very basic questions like:

• What business are we in?
• What businesses are we not in?
• Who are our buyers?
• What’s unique about our offering?
• What’s our positioning strategy?
• How can we compete? 
• Why do the other guys seem to win more often? 
• How can we turn a profit? 

The differences in performance were stunning. But, here’s the part that really surprised us. When we hit the walls that we did with business leaders, we asked ourselves why. How could they not have good answers to these fundamental questions? What we’ve come to realize is that the majority of business professionals just aren’t spending enough time tuning in.

It’s a cultural disconnect at the core of far too many companies today. And, it’s crippling in a tough economy. Instead of going out into the marketplace to try to understand people’s problems and then bringing this information back to the company to build products that people want to buy, tuned out companies ‘guess’ at what the market wants and use their own opinions to make investment decisions because  they ‘know better’. Then they build something awful and try all sorts of gimmicks to try to ‘tell’ buyers why they need it, often using expensive advertising to ‘push’ dissonant ideas out into an unreceptive mass market. This tuned out approach is much more likely to lead to failure—and to struggles with questions like those above.

Tuned In companies took the opposite approach, one that works from the market back in to the company. These businesses spent their time mastering a six step process:

1. Find Unresolved Problems - that their buyers had that were urgent, pervasive and they were willling to pay money to solve them.
2. Understand Buyer Personas – to identify specifically who had the problem and which audiences were the best targets for change.
3. Quantify the Impact – the incremental benefit that buyers would get by switching from what they do today to a new approach. 
4. Create Breakthrough Experiences – that the market appreciates and identifies as a competitive advantage that lasts. 
5. Articulate Powerful Ideas – to establish memorable concepts that cause buyers to act.
6. Establish Authentic Connections – that speak directly to your buyer’s problems in a language and medium they can trust. 

What is so fascinating about the tuned in approach is that it works so amazingly well for all kinds of organizations. We identified nonprofits, business-to-business enterprises, e-commerce companies, independent consultants, churches, and even dentists and lawyers who have created resonators and built growing and profitable businesses. Although they serve a wide variety of markets, these different types of organizations all used the same approach to discovering and launching their resonator. They listened intently, embraced buyer needs passionately, and worked diligently to create the best possible customer experience.

Tuned In is not a book on a new business theory. It’s a proven process for building and sustaining success. We wrote the book to provide a roadmap that others can follow easily … to create the kind of business everyone wants. 

Don't make your problem my problem!

Nothing infuriates buyers more than being 'nickeled and dimed' when they are trying to do business with someone. This week, I came face-to-face with two examples of this. The landscapers at the office submitted their bill and we noticed a $20 increase.  We wondered why until we looked down at the bottom of the page and noticed a new line item for a fuel charge. I guess the drive to get to our offices is our problem now. Then there's the furor that has sprung up around American Airline's $15 a bag charge that's causing flyers all over to re-evaluate how they can drag everything with them as a carry-on.

When are businesses ever going to learn?  When you pass your problems on to the customer all you do is start a self-fulfilling death spiral. You think that creating small 'poor, poor, pitiful me' charges based on something you have no control over and adding them to everyone's bill is the fair thing to do but in actuality, three things almost always happen and all of them are bad:

1. You tell your customers your business is in trouble and make them wary. 
2. You let them know that you care more about your costs than their service. 
3. You make them mad and they say nasty things about you, today on blogs that reach millions. 

And, then they walk away, sometimes silently. But, walk they do and you're left with a smaller business, the same high costs and now a bad reputation. Nice. Want to try this again? 

Like it or not, we have to acknowledge a baseline premise here. Your buyers don't care about you and your problems; you're supposed to care enough about theirs to create an experience that they want to buy. When bad things happen, like out-of-control fuel costs (not our fault we're at $133 a barrel is it?), they affect everyone. When you put a nickel and dime surcharge around it though, you're pricing based on your costs vs. the value of what you do for your customer. And that's just tuned out.

The tuned in approach is stay focused on the complete experience and relationship you have with your customers. Identify areas that are not viewed as critical and reduce your costs there if your profits are being squeezed. Consider narrowing your focus to fewer persona's that you can satisfy better within the cost constraints that you have. Or, maybe even take advantage of the competitive landscape being challenged by adding new services to the experience that support an increased price.  Above all, whatever you do, communicate it in advance to your customers through a lens of why you are doing this to better serve them.   

We're going to look at alternatives for landscaping services and I'm giving up completely on American Airlines. When businesses start tuning out like this, my experience is that the miserable service and new surcharges just seem to keep on coming. I'll leave them for the other guys this time. 

 

When your product is a resonator, make it easy for customers to spread the word

I live in the Boston suburbs, in a place where being green - paying attention to the environment - is very important to many people. In my neighborhood, people out for an afternoon walk scrutinize recycling bins and make a mental checklist of who does the right thing. The most common car in these parts is a Toyota Prius hybrid.

Many people in my area don't have lawns, instead they "go natural" with woods and ground cover instead. However for those like me with grass, I've always found it interesting that the same people who carefully sort trash into neat categories and plan their shopping trips to use as little gasoline as possible, happily run loud and noisy lawnmowers that many consider even worse for the environment than cars, due to the lack of pollution and noise controls. (Incidentally, in puritanical New England it is a badge of honor to avoid paying a lawn service and instead do the job yourself.)

So I was excited when I discovered the Neuton battery-powered lawnmower. I immediately ordered one and was pleased that I earned mega green points in the neighborhood as the first homeowner to have one.

The Neuton runs on battery power and to be honest I was skeptical that it would have the power to do the job right. No need to worry, it is just as effective as my Honda gas powered model. It runs for 45 minutes on a charge, perfect for my small lawn. And boy is it quiet. I could cut the grass at 8:00AM on a weekend and not get the evil eye from the people next door.

Now I've got the new status symbol. People stop by as I'm mowing and want to know about the Neuton. And what's remarkable is that the pros at Neuton understand this. They know they have a resonator. And they help people like me to spread the word through small "pass it on" cards that they supply with the mower. The business card sized handouts store in the mower's battery compartment so they're always handy to give to a curious neighbor. Each one has a motivational message on one side and company information on the other.

Cool.

If you have a resonator, make it easy for your fans to spread the word.

How do you manage your time?

We started our road shows for Tuned In last week. I enjoyed the opportunity to keynote at the Software Marketing Perspectives conference in Santa Clara and the Sage Business Partner Insights conference in Washington DC. This Wednesday, I'm honored to be on a panel with Michael Port to talk about his new book, Beyond Booked Solid. Michael will be speaking about a subject we're passionate about here ... growing your business without complicating your life. You can still sign up to this free event at Author Teleseminars.   

I couldn't be more excited to get out and share Tuned In with everyone as it launches. But, as my own personal activity levels have begun to spike, it got me to begin thinking again about how and where we spend our time.  This morning, I think I got hit right between the eyes with the enemy on this. As I was sitting at my daughters gymnastics meet browsing through recent blog feeds, I hit on one from Jackie Huba at the Church of the Customer blog asking Are You Hyperconnected? 

Wow. Stopped me right in my tracks for two reasons. One because obviously I was. And second, because it was running smack into the issue we found that differentiated leaders from being tuned in to tuned out. Turns out, Jackie's question is interesting but at the end of the day largely irrelevant ... we're all hyperconnected. We get information feeds verbally, through voice messages, cell phone calls, e-mails, blog feeds, Facebook, YouTube videos, Twitter, text messages, TV and oh I don't know ... maybe 100 other sources a day! Whether we want them or not usually.

Jackie says that about 16% of us pass the test of hyperconnectivity. If you have more than 7 devices or feeds, you're hooked. And you know, it's almost expected that you do these days ... even a badge of honor. I had to laugh last week when I read an online ad that ended with the phrase:

"you can contact us through our MySpace page or Facebook or you can contact us the old fashioned way via e-mail."

All of this connectivity is supposed to be a good thing right?  Well, yes and no. Our research found that the most successful leaders and businesses were very tuned in to the signals that come from the market but that they had also developed great filters to decide which ones were important enough to spend time and which ones should just be ignored.  We found many people who fell into the tuned out trap though ... correlating hyperconnectivity with a need to be hyperresponsive in the belief that busyness would drive success. Wrong!  It's the fastest path to failure it turns out because you become totally reactive vs. proactive. 

Here's an interesting question for you. Are you more effective in the office or on the road?  I find that on average I accomplish much more on the road than at home because I filter better.  My days are divided almost by force between quality time with customers, strategic activities and the normal response to the many messages I get. But because they are compartmentalized better, I accomplish more and Tune In better.  This is really what our book is all about.  If you can develop the right perspective about what you are in business for and then spend your time wisely, tuning in becomes as natural as following traffic signals. When you allow the activities of the day and the plethora of inbound messages to consume you, you're Tuned Out and missing opportunities to improve.

Wish us luck as we venture out with Tuned In. We'll try to stay connected ... and relevant.   

A Tuned In camcorder, The Flip

A friend was raving yesterday about a relatively new product called The Flip which has been compared to the Ipod for video.  The New York Times on March 20th called it “One of the most significant electronics products of the year”

Why is everyone "flipping" over The Flip?  It solves a problem that we have all experienced.  Sure we all want to capture that special moment on video, but who wants to lug a camcorder around all the time?  The Flip is only about 4" by 2" by 1.25" so it easily fits in your pocket.  It records up to sixty minutes of full action audio/video to memory.  To download, you simply "flip" the USB connector out the side and plug in to your computer.

Most importantly, it is simple  If you can operate an Ipod, you are over-qualified to run a Flip.  Controls include a Play button, a Record button, and a Delete button.  If you really want to go crazy, there is also a 2x zoom control.  It is available in five colors.  And the price for the fully featured model tops out at $149 list.  They even offer a complete assortment of accessories including an underwater case and a "action mount" for attaching the Flip to a handlebar or helmet.

We think The Flip will be a big success because they appear to fully understand the problems of their target market.  They also have made an authentic connection with their buyers through the various "sightings" including photos of users including Paris Hilton at a fashion show, David Arquette at the Sundance Film Festival, and fans using their Flips at an Obama rally and the NCAA finals celebration.

47 days and counting ... what have we learned?

Tuned In will hit the bookstores on June 27. It's been doing very well in pre-orders, hitting the top ten lists of Amazon and Barnes and Noble a couple of times in the 30 days since our first preview in The Pragmatic Marketer. Craig, David and I are just starting to hit the road with a full event calendar of keynotes, briefings and online interviews. You can keep up with all of the progress at www.tunedinbook.com and maybe connect in with some associates.   

One of the activities we like to do during any launch of a new product is to be careful not to go completely in to 'tell' mode but reserve some time for listening. As most of you know by now, a major key to success for tuned in businesses was the time they spent observing the market and discovering unresolved problems. We've got some early indicators of a trend I wanted to share with you this week and get your feedback. 

Tuned In seems to be developing an affinity with small business owners as a philosophy for managing their business through the current recessionary climate. 

We're taking a step back and wondering what to make of this. We wrote the book to be a foundation for any business in any industry and in any situation. We found companies following the process and succeeding in horrifically down markets -- like the current real estate market -- and in hot, competitive markets -- like wireless technologies. Following the process enabled their businesses to grow faster, become more profitable and develop strong customer loyalty.  The question we're asking now is whether or not this is particularly true if you're small and the economy is weak. 

Kristin Zhivago has been writing a multi-part analysis of how to transform your company ("recession proofing") in her RevenueJournal blog. It seems to me that the things she is writing about (and in reality what we putting forth in Tuned In) is that the foundation had best be solid when times get tough. I've always said about the people I've worked with that "you never know what you have and who they are until you get into a crisis situation with them".  It is only when times are tough that their true colors show through. People (and businesses) seem to always return quickly to their core under pressure.

So, perhaps our timing is perfect with the launch of Tuned In as the market might be more receptive to a focus on building a solid foundation that will enable them to survive this downturn. Certainly, many of the stories in the book are about businesses that created a dominant position out of situation where the market was less than receptive. We're convinced that you can as well. 

What do you think?  Does Tuned In resonate best with small businesses in tough times?   

It's The Experience Stupid!

"Some people make money on the screen, but we decided to spend ours on the gaming experience. It's an investment ... not simply to improve the market, but to disrupt it."
-  Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo

Nintendo reported its fiscal year results last week. Ho hum. $3.3B in profit and a nice tidy growth of 142% year-over-year. Sales of its new star product offering, the Wii soared, beating expectations by more than 53%. They expect to sell 25M units in the upcoming year. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Sony posted disappointing results in their competing offerings. Microsoft's gaming division lost $228m and Sony's Playstation continues to languish behind in sales. Why is Nintendo winning?

We think they're great example of tuning in to create a breakthrough experience.

Far too many companies limit themselves in development to producing a product that solves only one component of the problem they've observed in the market. There is another level to get to these days and it involves tapping into the perspectives that your buyers build about the 'experience' of doing business with you. We're seeing the trend time and time again.The key to a product that breaks through in today's market is not how clever it is or a unique capability that it offers vs. the competition.  It's much more aligned to how simple it is to create an enjoyable experience.

The Wii is remarkably simple. Easy to setup and use and provides an environment for a whole family to play and be entertained.  Two weekends ago, I thoroughly enjoyed an evening at home with my 8 year old daughter, 19 year-old daughter and her boyfriend, my wife and my parents (ages withheld due to privacy concerns). We spent hours playing golf, tennis, bowling and baseball with my 8 year old's Wii. Not a one of us had any issues learning how to use the device (no weird joysticks or some other device to master a complicated game). It was as simple as simple could be.    

Simple is smart!

So how do you create simple? Interestingly enough, the behavior we studied in Tuned In that is driving these companies is the opposite of what you think. It's not as much about understanding the nuances of the technology to be developed or what the competitors are doing, it's much more about tapping into what we call the marketplace of 'potentials'--people who have yet to buy anything in the product category--and figuring out how to provide an experience that will attract them. It's what Scott Anthony calls the growing market of "nonconsumers" and it's fueling a whole new generation of breakthrough products. 

When you study the potentials, really study them, you'll develop a much more complete picture of all the little things that are barriers to adoption. Breaking down those barriers is the single most important thing to focus on if you want to create resonators like the Wii. And once you do it, the key is to keep focusing on the next level of barriers and the next wave of potentials. Just this month, Nintendo announced an extension called the Wii Fit, a "Balance Board" that enables you to use your Wii for things like Yoga. Wow. This has the potential to capture a casual user (maybe Mom and Dad) and turn them into passionate daily users. 

It IS the experience that you should focus on. The title of this post is a rip-off from Jim Carville's famous mantra for Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign (It's the Economy Stupid). I apologize for that but in today's environment with so many competing visions for what you should be focusing on, we felt like the analogy was an appropriate one. Forget about the many things wasting your time and focus on the one that matters ... create a simple experience that new buyers will embrace!