Economists should come with a health warning

People that know me well know I like to share my economic views.  Those that know me really well, know those views probably aren’t up to much.

The mainstream broadcast media and tabloids go to extraordinary lengths to explain why important economic situations are happening, and in certain print media opining who is to blame. However, they don’t assert some important health warnings.

Putting aside my opinion that the economics of the UK aren’t as bad as the media would have us think, I believe these health warnings are an important omission that should be articulated explicitly with every major market movement.

Firstly, all economists look at a situation through their own etymological lens. There is never a consensus on what will happen next; which means a fair few are right or wrong, some or all of the time. And like all investments, past performance is no indication of the future. You only have to look at the splits on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee for first hand evidence.

Secondly, the models used to generate the statistics that are moving markets that can contain spurious data, are open to manipulation, calculated differently by nations, given different levels of importance according the economist and are most importantly, definitely laggard indicators to what is really happening.

Media has an obligation for balance, which they deliver with varying degrees of success. While they succeed in covering these different views, they should also point out that the views of all economic experts and their data should be taken with a considerable pinch of salt.

Play Nicely

I read the incredible story in Fortune this month about how a CEO of a global company that allegedly played favourites, second guessed decisions, micro managed, humiliated colleagues and was a workaholic that eventually brought the organisation to its needs.

I highly recommend the article as a lesson on how important team working skills are in every leader.

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/28/pfizer-jeff-kindler-shakeup/


The kind of behaviours described in the article are what we would expect a new line manager or a junior operational team leader under immense pressure to exhibit; not in a team led by someone that has been in the executive team of successive public companies

All of my working experience has helped me to understand the importance of personal relationships in getting things done. In fact, I attribute most of my success in delivering projects and campaigns within large organisations to building consensus across different teams with often conflicting objectives. I call this approach “play nicely.”

Playing nicely means show respect and be transparent in your decision making as none of us get it right and deliver 100% all the time. There is no "perfect". If we judge ourselves against this benchmark we will never be happy. Equally, if we judge everyone else in this way, they will only ever disappoint us.

The kind of products that are offered by learning development teams that help people to become practitioners of all the competencies that help people to "play nicely” have been thin on the ground in most companies in these lean times. I’m sure there is lots of evidence based academic studies to support the case either way, but having read the Fortune story, and from own experience, this is one cost that should never be compromised on.

A tale of marketing without thinking.

Marketing activity without strategy is like intrusive surgery without a diagnosis. Strategy without insight is like a diagnosis without asking the patient what the symptoms are.

Picture the situation; your strategy team has identified a discrete European market that consumes your product in a way almost identical to your principal domestic market at a similar price point. Your sales division is investing in feet on the ground in the form of a sales person with dedicated pre and post sales support.

The total addressable market is 1,500 business clients. Prospects that match your target profile in terms of size and ability to influence is about a sixth of this. The customers that are most susceptible to the product to the product you have already had success with in this market is a fifth again. Therefore you have a target prospect list of around 50 clients to sell to over the next 12 to 18 months.

It goes without saying you won’t ignore sales opportunities outside this target list, but they will have to be qualified as winnable in order to justify spending scarce sales resource on them. The point of the target list is focus those limited resources firstly where you are most likely to win and secondly where you can and grow your business profitably over a defined time period.

Metrics and sales targets can be aligned to ensure every part of the business focuses on closing as much business as possible with this target market. The strategy team could even be more precise about those targets by researching average order value compared to the organisations average order value. Even a half decent B2B marketing team can turn a market entry strategy such as this into an effective campaign almost regardless of budget.

All sound, all rationale. So why the blog? Well a friend in a technology services business presented with just this scenario has been instructed by his Marketing Director to plan a €100k campaign featuring above the line for print and radio. Why? The local new sales guy says the brand is unknown and a massive brand awareness campaign is essential before he can do his work.

This approach is so counter to an intelligent led campaign I have been bursting to write about it. In fact I could write a book on why this is wrong, but to hone in on just one issue, it’s leadership.

Sales success comes from identifying your target market, developing a proposition that is better than your competitors and going after it. In order to do this harness every skill in your business sales, marketing, product, strategy etc., you must start with leadership. Leaders that can combine an ability to listen to those on the ground and knowledge of what good looks like.

Don’t ask a marker to sell, and don’t ask a sales person to see the whole picture, get all the skills in the business to collaborate, and certainly don’t ask him to plan a campaign.

Retailers: We’re worried about our jobs, give us a warm feeling please

A few weeks ago, the current Mrs Ryan finally wore me down on yet another of agenda priorities. We started planning and procuring a replacement for the dark and dingy chip board panels that represent our kitchen.

As excited as I am about the prospect of having a nice new kitchen, like over half of full time employees in the UK, and an even higher percentage in financial services I would wager, I have concerns about my medium term job prospects. I have held back on all large purchases quite simply due to fear of redundancy.

So parting with my rainy day funds meant I needed a supplier that could assure me I was getting the best deal, could show me a durable product and above all would give me a warm feeling from their service.

So as soon as the credits began to roll on Saturday’s Glee rerun I reached for the phone to call the safest pair of hands of all, John Lewis Partnership. Sadly, there kitchen team were too busy to take my call, so the switchboard operator took my details and promised me a call that day. I am still waiting.

Next to Homebase, a large DIY retailer with a reputation for discounting. But they were too busy to even answer the phone, not once, but twice.

So to the market leader DIY retailer, B and Q, who according to the newspaper had a sale on. The guy answering the phone affirmed he could help us with our enquiry and there was no need for me to speak to a kitchen specialist. I thought we had hit gold. However, he wouldn’t arrange a site visit for measurements to be taken and a plan to be drawn up.

“Why would we do that when you haven’t been into the store to choose a style?” he quizzed.

“Why would I drive to your store to choose a style when you don’t even have my measurements?” I retorted.

“Well go online then.” He suggested. So I moved on.

And to Wickes. The builder’s pal and the first port of call for my seriously DIY capable family and friends. And what a surprise; the young lady that took the call new exactly what to do and what to ask. Within minutes she had booked and confirmed an appointment for a trained consultant to visit to measure up after the school run on Monday and a provisional visit the store to discuss the design.

John from our local store came to visit and over the past few weeks walked us through the precarious road f domestic compromise to select our new kitchen. But above all, he did what his competitors failed to do; give me a warm feeling.