August 14, 2010

“GM Deal Helps Bad-Credit Buyers”

The facts:
- GM fails. Heads for bankruptcy as a result of years and years of failed leadership and inability to create inspiration for their customers.
- They file for protection.
- Enter President Obama with $45 Billion in financial help in return for a 60% equity position in the company.
- GM is reported to have $30 Billion in cash at the moment. Hmmmmm what to do?
- GM buys Americredit for $3.5 Billion cash. Why? To offer financing for “sub-prime” car buyers. (Seriously, this is a critical piece of their growth strategy!)
- The winners: Americredit and credit risky car buyers
- The losers: taxpayers, GM employees and the few loyal customers GM has left.

What is the CEO Mr. Whitacre thinking? What are the new owners thinking? Take taxpayers money and enter the financial risk business? Too much cash creating illusionary thinking. Too much cash looking for a place to park.

If you need a financing capability for the sub-prime buyers (making the stretch assumption that this segment is worth chasing), why not partner with someone to share the risk? Or sub-contract it out to another company who is already in the business and let them take ALL the risk? In fact I don’t understand why target this segment at all.

Are these the people Ford and others don’t want to serve? How do credit risky people contribute to the Company’s bottom line as compared to “good” customers? How big is the segment relative to the other less credit-risky groups? How fast is it growing? How much Shareholder Value does it add? Does it give a better return on investment that taking the $3.5 Billion and investing it in other customer segments? I just don’t get it.

An Industry pundit is quoted to say “If managed properly, lending to non-prime and sub-prime customers can be a source of profitability for automakers, retailers and lenders.” The operative words here are ”... If managed properly…”Isn’t mis-management what got GM into the mess in the first place? Why should I believe they will get it right this time? Oh ya, I forgot. A new CEO and lots of cash.

Heads up people. I smell another fiasco on its way. This could be a good case study for the importance of WHO to SERVE.

Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter

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Posted 8.14.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 11, 2010

Broadcasting: A Fertile Ground to BE DiFFERENT

I recently spoke to the Annual Conference of the BC Association of Broadcaster in Victoria BC. The topic of my presentation was “BE DiFFERENT: The Key to Stayin’ Alive”.

This was my advice:
- embrace the digital revolution. Opportunities abound if you are open to them.
- ignore the competitor hordes at your door. Spend your time focusing on how you intend to keep your audience from leaving as opposed to keeping the competitors from entering. Create Barriers to Audience Exit.
- stop thinking that you need to ‘reach ears’. It assumes that a specific advertising message will appeal to everyone. Not the case. Everyone is DiFFERENT with special tastes and interests. The challenge is to define small audience clusters of interested maniacal raving fans and target the appropriate message to them.
- mass markets are gone. In fact they have never existed.
- long live the emergence (in our minds) of differentiated customer clusters of interested, caring and connected people.
- advertisers are moving away from traditional media for two reasons: one, they look at ‘old’ media spend as an expense. Difficult to measure the ROI. Second, many are moving to on-line advertising. On-line ad expenditures will grow from $17 Billion in 2006 to $70 Billion in 2011. Reason? On-line advertising results be measured. On-line allows advertisers to treat their spend as a investment and justify it.
- if you can’t measure the ROI why are you spending the money? Traditional media needs to get on the ‘measure-the-results’ bandwagon.
- the ‘passive’ media product is under attack! Interactivity is more in demand. The Oscars this past year were actually viewed more than in prior years because viewers were watching with their computer in their lap. Exchanging Tweets with their friends. Reading live blogs from Entertainment experts. Using mobile devices.
- interactivity creates a DiFFERENT experience for media consumers. They like Experiences. Experiences require interaction.
- interaction should be the strategic theme of any media plan going forward.
- move from flogging passive programs to producing personalized Packages of Interactive Experiences. Target them to the raving fans that covet them. They are NOT for the mass of ears.
- covet the competencies you need to deliver the above. Many are going to on-line. If you don’t have the right people you don’t have a business.
- SEGMENT your audience. SEGMENT it again, and again and again until you are able to define audiences with special unique interests. Demographics don’t cut it. Discover the Secrets of people; use them to define your marketing approach.

The parallels between the challenges facing traditional media and the Telecom business (I spent 30+ years in it) some 20 years ago are staggering. I trust they will learn from our successes and mistakes.

Click here to view my presentation

Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter

Posted 8.11.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 9, 2010

Absolutes of The ONLY

Quick Review: The ONLY Statement is THE way to stake your distinctive competitive position in the market. If you can declare yourself as “We are the ONLY ones that…..” the blur of non-unique competitve claims will fade away and your organization will stand clearly in focus to thrive and survive!

Your checklist to being the ONE and ONLY.

Your ONLY Statement Absolutely MUST:
> Address the HIGH PRIORITY needs, interests, desires, secrets of your FANS. Being the Only one on something that doesn’t matter to your FANS will achieve nothing. If it doesn’t matter to your FANS you will talk about it at your own peril.
> BE TRUE. Claiming you are the ONLY one at something that your FANS don’t believe is deadly. The sneezers will tell everyone, remember? Make sure you test your ONLY with your FANS. In addition to getting feedback on it’s believability you are likely to get input to bake your Statement even better.
> Express VALUE CREATION. Product flogging has a limited life. Unique value creation has longevity that is difficult to copy by others in the herd. Focus on the solution that is being provided and you are getting closer to the element of value.
> BE BRIEF. If it takes you 10 floors on an elevator to declare your ONLY Position you’ve missed it. It’s a Nano-Statement that shouldn’t require you to take a second breath.
> BE COMPELLING. It has to have some WOW emotional appeal to capture the hearts of your customers. Avoid being pedantic and terribly intellectual.
> GET EMPLOYEE JUICES FLOWING. ONLY is a war-rallying-cry of sorts. It defines the hill you are claiming and dares the herd to climb it. Your employees have to FEEL (there’s that key strategic concept again) what it says. What it requires of each and every one of them to win the battle.

Here’s an ONLY I like. Lets test it against the Absolutes:
“Queen’s Full-Time MBA is one of the world’s premier MBA programs, renowned for its leading-edge curriculum and innovative approaches to learning. But what really sets it apart is its focus on you. Only Queen’s provides personal development coaching to build on your individual strengths, as well as specialized electives tailored to your specific career aspirations, in order to help you achieve the greatest personal and professional growth.”
> Students need a more personal approach to business education; feedback states that they believe Queens delivers it consistently.
> Queen’s ONLY talks about Student Value, not specific courses or programs being supplied.
> Their ONLY is more that Godin’s eight-word Rule, but it is to the point and clear.
> Compelling? Oh Ya! An educational institution that actually focuses on personalized education for the unique requirements of each student. Brilliant. Outstanding. Remarkable. Gaspworthy.
> Don’t know if Queen’s faculty gets an adrenalin rush from their ONLY. I do. They should. Anyone could explain it. It’s exciting to be The ONLY at what they are.

The ONLY journey. You need to be on it.
Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter

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Posted 8.9.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 7, 2010

Perfect or DiFFERENT?

Linchpin by Seth Godin has this nugget on Perfection. It resonates so well with BE DiFFERENT. Seth declares that “Asymptotes are sort of boring” and asserts that successive improvements made in an organization get less and less noticed as they approach the state of perfection. Makes sense.
The first 50% is noticeable and maybe even the next 25%. But as the improvement process continues over months (and probably years) you will eventually get to the stage where 1% improvements are made. Who notices 1%? Very few if any. Certainly not enough people to warrant the investment to achieve the 1%.

BE DiFFERENT implications:
> If you’re not NOTICEABLE you will be IGNORED. Being ignored in a hungry herd of competitors is a deadly place to be.
> How do you get NOTICED? Make BIG Change in your organization that capture the imagination of your Fans.
> Beware of Benchmarking. By its very nature, Benchmarking encourages incremental change over time. Noticeability Factor = LOW; BE DiFFERENT Factor = LOW
> Focus on creating Remarkable and Gaspworthy change that distinguishes your organization from the competitive blur. The quest for Zero Defects is laudable but who notices things that actually work the way they are suppose to?
> Maybe we are going to have to get more comfortable with making the odd mistake. Seth argues that creating anything Remarkable is an Art Form, and “Art is never defect-free”. The reality is that organizations will NEVER eradicate mistakes and defects; people and technology aren’t capable of it. So why covet error-free if it is the impossible dream? And no one notices your progress along the way!
> Why not put our energy into getting BE DiFFERENT, Distinctive, Unique, Remarkable, Unbelievable and Take-their-breath-away stuff “almost right”? Appeal to the emotions of your Fans with services and solutions that blow them away. If you do, do you think they will be ok with the odd mistake or error? Apple’s iPod 4 antenna problem is a good example. Apple Fans. Addicts. Relentless followers. FORGIVING. Apple has earned the right to be forgiven.

Remember: You don’t have to be better, best or perfect but you have to be Incredible and DiFFERENT. Spend your time seeking Noteworthy change rather than increments of improvement.

Cheers, Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter
Take the BE DiFFERENT Quiz

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Posted 8.7.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)