November 4, 2010

BE DiFFERENT Quiz

Is often the SIMPLE, FUN tools that provide the most insight. Try this.

If you want to see how your organization rates on the BE DiFFERENT or be dead scale, check out my BE DiFFERENT Quiz available on the home page of my site.

Rate yourself in each of the success categories of Strategy Creation, Marketing, Sales and Service Customers to see how effectively you are applying BE DiFFERENT Practises to separate your organization from the competitive BLUR in the marketplace.

And have fun doing it. No one in your company is watching!

The tool is not complicated. The point is to determine which category is a priority for you to work on in terms of navigating your organization along the BE DiFFERENT journey. The category with the lowest score needs attention.

And if you need any help or if you would like any suggestions on how you could improve, Ask Roy and tell me your story.

Cheers,
Roy



Remember to follow me on Twitter

Recent Articles
Strategic Facilitation: Stand out
Today’s Marketing Doesn’t Cut it
How to Execute Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing
Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing: A BIG Idea
The Purpose of Business is NOT to Create a Customer

Posted 11.4.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 1, 2010

Strategic Facilitation: Stand-out From the Herd

What is the role of the Facilitator in business today?

A couple of definitions:
“An individual who enables groups and organizations to work more effectively; to collaborate and achieve synergy. She or he is a ‘content neutral’ party who by not taking sides or expressing or advocating a point of view during the meeting, can advocate for fair, open, and inclusive procedures to accomplish the group’s work” - Michael Doyle. Another… “One who contributes structure and process to interactions so groups are able to function effectively and make high-quality decisions. A helper and enabler whose goal is to support others as they achieve exceptional performance” - Bens

I think this is a rather limiting view; there should be more VALUE expected from the role. How do you establish Remarkability as a Facilitator that sets you apart from everyone else?

Change the Facilitation game. Expand beyond the passive attribute associated with the function. Add an active dimension that is so desperately needed by teams struggling to “make high-quality decisions”. The value-added element is CONTENT. A good facilitator should be experienced enough in the subject matter in play to contribute to the decision-making process. To contribute to the direction being developed. Not be content-muted and restricted to process and structure only.

Organizations should insist the Facilitator has the depth of knowledge that could help determine direction. If a Marketing Strategy is the desired outcome, why not engage a professional who has not only credentials at process and structure, but also is a recognized expert in marketing? Someone who would not willingly let the group go down a deadly path. Someone who could transfer his knowledge to the participants? Wouldn’t that make sense? Wouldn’t that make the process and outcome more effective? Of course! Doesn’t make any sense to me to engage a contractor who is really efficient at allowing you to fail!

I never take an assignment that restricts my ability to be a content-contributor. My background is rich and varied in strategy creation, marketing, sales and customer service. I want to help people by leveraging my learnings in what they are trying to achieve. What has worked. What hasn’t. To rob them of that would serve no useful purpose.

Furthermore, it’s the content piece that sets me apart from the herd. When you hire Roy you get not only effective process and structure that yields productive group dynamics (the herd promise), but also experience and knowledge that will guide the group to create a successful conclusion. Seems to resonate with folks. Seems to be a helpful role.

Makes me DiFFERENT.

Cheers,
Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter
Take the BE DiFFERENT Quiz: Are you DiFFERENT or are you dead?

Recent Articles
Today’s Marketing Doesn’t Cut it
How to Execute Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing
Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing: A BIG Idea
The Purpose of Business is NOT to Create a Customer
Wanted: Chief Serving Officer

Posted 11.1.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 28, 2010

Today’s Marketing Doesn’t Cut it!

Words tell the story. Here’s how marketing is being described today:
> BORING—little product and service innovation. Incremental features produced. Discounted bundling. Pricing deals. Zzzzzzzzzzzz
> LAZY —focus on pushing product capabilities not value creation. Mass market oriented. Few breakthrough distinguishing innovations. Ho Hum. Same old. Same old.
> UNDIFFERENTIATION —more intense competition but fewer degrees of separation among the players.
> PRODUCT EUPHORIA —product flogging continues to be mainstream. Not much energy is being spent on creating VALUE for people.
> PROLIFERATION OF SAMENESS —the more competition in the market, the less differentiation is occurring. The herd has no prime bull.
> BENCHMARKING TO COPY —best in class comparisons lead to catch-up; not distinctiveness and separation.
> GET BETTER NOT DIFFERENT —competitive improvements are achieved but little WOW POWER to separate.
> PRODUCT AUGMENTATION —the primary innovation approach is to incrementally enhance the product line based on what others have done and what the technology can do. Where the hell is the customer?
> ROUND-THE-CORNERS —product compromise to cater to the ‘average’ person. Bland. Serving the lowest common denominator. The marketers take ‘the edge’ off to try and satisfy everyone.
> MASS MARKET OBSESSION —flog stuff at as many average people as you can. Superficial unimaginative segmentation. All things to all people mentality. No remarkability for anyone.
> TECHNO MYOPIA —technical capabilities push marketing. Technical capabilities impress marketers. Where the hell is the customer?
> BLUR—numerous competitors. Sameness abounds. Few individual organizations get noticed. Customer choice is difficult. Can’t spot uniqueness.

This is a glass-is-half-full opportunity for those who want to break away from the pack.

The breakthrough prescription is to THINK:
> BE DiFFERENT as the lens to view marketing possibilities.
> The ONLY Position to express your distinctiveness.
> Creating VALUE for WHO you choose to SERVE. A product is simply a means to the VALUE end.
> Creating Happiness Through Experience. BE Memorable to your customers by helping them engage in delightful experiences, the conduit to Happiness. Happy people tend to be more loyal than the product based transients.
> Small customer groups of interested, turned-on, connected people who will sneeze you to their friends and colleagues.
> Beyond the individual product or service to a holistic value proposition reflecting the broad lifestyle needs of your customer.
> Discovering the deep hidden desires of people. Their secrets will provide the marketing opportunities to shine.
> Customer learning as a core competency. Marker Research is passe. Your organization needs to function like a sponge in every nook and cranny to absorb every bit of customer intelligence possible. Separation from the herd DEMANDS that you know more about your customer than anyone else. You can’t create DISTINCTIVE VALUE if you don’t.

Start the journey of change. Marketing is critical to an organization’s success. Step up.

Cheers,
Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter
Take the BE DiFFERENT Quiz: Are you DiFFERENT or are you dead?

Recent Articles
How to Execute Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing
Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing: A BIG Idea
The Purpose of Business is NOT to Create a Customer
Wanted: Chief Serving Officer

Posted 10.28.10 at 06:59 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 25, 2010

Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing: How to EXECUTE

In my last Blog Article I introduced the notion of marketing making a right-angled turn from flogging products at people to creating Happiness-Through-Experience Moments for their Fan Tribes. Hell of a shift required for most organizations who are stuck in the product-features-and-benefit-world. But the shift is necessary if you want to distinguish yourself from every other undifferentiated competitor out there who has no other choice but to try and compete on price… no where to go but down!

Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing. It’s about creating EUPHORIA. It’s about stimulating EMOTION. It’s about evoking FEELINGS.

Yes, damn it FEELNGS ARE STRATEGIC!

So how do you go about it?
> You REALLY need to know your Tribe of faithful, dedicated and maniacal fans. Their SECRETS. Their innermost DESIRES. If you don’t know them at a deep level how can you create an Experience that will blow them away?
> What is their Experience End Game? EXACTLY what climax will leave them breathless? What will a successful Experience look like when it is over? Is the Tribe member exhausted? Do they ‘FEEL like a cigarette’? If not you have missed the mark.
> The above points describe the DESIGN Phase. Secrets + End Game = Happiness-Through-Experience Design.
> Assemble the Experience Value Elements to meet your design criteria. The targeted Experience can only be created through the appropriate triggers working in harmony with each other and seamlessly. I call them Value Elements, and they typically are individual products and services. Products and services in this context is ok - in fact they are essential - as they are the vital components that are used to deliver a higher order benefit - the Experience. The emphasis is NOT on what each product o service can do individually but rather what they do collectively to deliver the desired response.
> Start out with your Core product. Use it as the nucleus of the Experience design. Think ADDITIVEand paste additional elements on to your core product based on the value proposition you are delivering. Remember: choose elements that IN SUM will work together to deliver the Experience you are trying to create. A confused arrangement of product elements that don’t work in harmony to deliver a uniform Experience will miss the mark.
> Build Experience partnerships with other organizations who have the products you need to fulfill your Experience design. If you need a travel product, build a relationship with an airline.
> Brand the Experience as something new. NEVER call it a BUNDLE. Bundling is lazy marketing and really is another way of trying to compete on price by discounting.
> Measure your Experience results. It’s not just about how many were sold; rather did you hit your FEELINGS TARGET? Follow up with your Tribe and get their perceptions and also whether or not they intended to sneeze it to their friends.,

Any business can get into the Happiness-Through-Experience Marketing game. Hotels can add local activities to their room and food core products. Retailers can add beverage products. Smartphone suppliers can add numerous applications. Moving companies can add furniture deals and welcome packages. Restaurants can add special occasion celebratory packages. Ski resorts can add summer golf.

You are limited ONLY by your knowledge of Tribe Secrets and your imagination. Oh ya, AND a desire to separate yourself from the confusing undifferentaited herd….

Cheers,
Roy
Remember to follow me on Twitter
Take the BE DiFFERENT Quiz: Are you DiFFERENT or are you dead?

Posted 10.25.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)