Be Different or be dead

January 1, 2021

How marketing can improve and survive in an unpredictable world

How marketing can improve and survive in an unpredictable world.

How can your marketing strategy survive the storm in today’s world? Marketing is in serious trouble! Its effectiveness is extremely limited.

If you are practising traditional text book marketing, this book is your wake-up call. You are subjecting your organization to enormous risk.

Why? The playground for organizations today is not what it used to be.

Today’s environment is NOT relatively stable, predictable, and slow changing, where a handful of competitors tussle for business.

It is NOT a marketplace where customers dutifully accept what organizations produce with little recourse if they object and are dissatisfied.

It’s anything but.

The Storm is today’s world: turbulent, chaotic, powerful, violent and life-threatening. Where a plethora of hungry and aggressive competitors fight to live or die; where people are connected, well informed and engaging.

Storm consumers wield their power and punish companies who don’t live up to their expectations; they change their minds in a heartbeat and move to greater value and a better deal.

The Storm denies traditional marketing which is risky in current market dynamics. Doing more of the same-old, same-old marketing practices in destroys value and kills businesses.

Companies need a completely fresh and different approach. One that is completely in synch with new world realities.

One that is a shocking change from where we are in marketing today as opposed to a more lethargic shift in thinking which really doesn’t result in much change at all.

Storm marketing throws out the old and creates the new. It asks “What does marketing have to look like to thrive on and survive The Storm”? not “How can present marketing practices be modified and adapted to changes in our operating environment?”

The Storm demands disruptive and audacious thinking.

In this book, discover a new platform for Storm marketing; the essential marketing competencies organizations must take on and consistently demonstrate if they are to weather the maelstrom.

Key concepts

Here are only a few unbelievable concepts in the book you won’t find elsewhere:

— Serve people; stop flogging products and services at them. Respond to their agenda not yours.
— Learn about individual people; stop studying mass markets because they don’t exist.
— Dig for what people crave; merely satisfying their needs won’t give you a differential competitive advantage.
— Create customer experiences to build customer loyalty.
— Be the ONLY organization that does what you do; better and best don’t describe a long term winner.
— Be a premium priced in the markets you serve. Add extra value to your offerings and charge premium prices. Competing on price is insane marketing.

— Shed the strategy of being a fast follower; you’ll still be a copycat.
— Build barriers to customer exit; don’t fuss with competitive entry.
— Target to earn 100% of each customer’s business. Corollary: measure share of customer more than share of market.
— Shun benchmarking; it is a the tool of sameness. Copying lowers the bar it doesn’t raise it. Corollary: benchmarking has no strategic value.
— Focus on your loyal customers to grow your business; leave new customer acquisition to the second rate players.
— Stop product bundling. It’s price discounting in disguise.

— Build a customer learning competency to be able to shift with customer change.
— Grow revenue fast-and-easy during chaos.
— if you say you’re customer focused, choose your words very carefully.

What some of my readers say…

“Roy nails it again! Marketing in the Storm discusses the unusual disturbance of the once normal conditions of the business atmosphere, manifesting itself by winds of unusual force or direction. Today’s business is often accompanied by a rebellious climate of uncertainty, new rules, procurement, trust and lack of client know how. He’s scary correct with his insights. Read it and maybe survive.”—Frank Palmer, CEO DDB Canada

“Osing shouts out a convincing argument for smart marketers to heed: Take the time to respect your customers’ uniqueness, or get tuned out.”—Lori Leavitt Evans, Serial Entrepreneur and President, Lori Leavitt Evans Consulting

“I just love Roy’s books. Short, crisp, relevant, focussed and hard-hitting. Marketing in the Storm is 45 pages of dynamite to help marketeers understand what is important for today’s customers and what keeps them coming for more. He is right….it is about “experiences”, not “products”.
This book is highly recommended not just for new marketeers but also seasoned ones who still play by yesterday’s rules. The quote from Nelson Jackson, ” I do not think you can do today’s job using yesterday’s methods and be in business tomorrow” is the essence of Roy’s book. Loved reading it.”—Nerio Vakil, President Total Business Solutions, Mumbai India

Check out Marketing in the Storm at retailers here.

Cheers,
Roy
For all of my books, check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 1.1.21 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing
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January 1, 2021

How a business plan can be implemented for outstanding results

How a business plan can be implemented for outstanding results.

It’s getting tougher to develop a winning formula in today’s business world.

Competition is fierce.

Customers are demanding, fickle and unpredictable and employees are looking for insightful and caring leadership.

In response, extreme energy in most organizations is spent on trying to develop the perfect business plan that, due to its superb strategic essence, is viewed by all as a slam dunk to succeed. 

Unfortunately, the plan, regardless of how pristine or intellectually clever it is, does not guarantee a win. It may look good on paper, but that’s about as far as it goes.

Results are not achieved on paper. Results are achieved out there in the trenches where stuff is delivered to people; competitors do battle.

Winning is messy, inelegant and, yes, painful.

Winning is achieved by people doing things, not thinking things and not talking about things.

Winning is a function of brilliant execution, not what’s on paper. Yes, you need a roadmap to guide you, but that’s all it is - a guide.

A different perspective on planning is needed. Get the business plan just about right and put in the time to perfect execution.

Mind-blowing execution separates the winners from the mediocre ones.

Execution is the real competitive advantage; action not words.

Execute First; Plan Second offers a proven roadmap to establish execution as a core competency of any organization.

Discover my Strategic Game Plan; a playbook to create an effective business plan based on the gut issues facing an organization and the essentials to execute it.

This eBook draws on my 33+ years as an entrepreneur and executive leader. You will learn what i did to build execution into the DNA of organizations I successfully led.

The practices in this book are simple, practical and more important, proven. They work in the real world!

Key concepts

Here are only a few sound-bites from my book:

— Create your business plan - Strategic Game Plan (SGP) - in 3 days or less and execute on the 4th.
— The SGP is an execution plan with a strategic purpose.
— A growth target is a declaration of intent and is based on “I don’t know”.
— Beware of ’Yummy Incoming’.
— Tread lightly with ‘The irresistible Hook’.
— Special promotions and deals to attract new customers encourage 1-Night Stands.

— The ONLY Statement beats being #1, better or best.
— Craft your ‘Promise to Serve’ to DAZZLE your customers and create amazing experiences for them.
— The more tries you make, the more successful you become.
— Don’t use boilerplates for anything. They suck.
— The true source of innovation.
— Direct line of sight makes executing awesome.

— Overkill aids the execution process.
— Take care of your frontline If you want amazing execution.
— You need a Strategy Hawk to stay on your strategic course.
— You can’t execute well if you have CRAP In your way all around you.
— Imperfection feeds brilliant execution.
— To execute well you must plan on the run.

If you are excited about truly making a difference in your organization, study Execute First; Plan Second and venture where few have gone before.

What my Readers say…

“It’s a razor-sharp, focussed advice on building strategy in times when we don’t have full information. All questions that need to be asked are given.
No other book on strategy can condense all you need to do in 28 pages. It’s a masterclass for those fighting for time. Thanks for sharing it.” — Nerio Vakil, President Total Business Solutions, Mumbai, India

“I like the reference to financial targets and annual budget as well as creating separate growth plans for each WHO segment—combines,execution, strategy and metrics—all needed to reach goals. I also really liked the “Price Leader” concept—“lead prices up; follow prices down” (great strategy)”.— Bart Zych, MBA, The Strategy Doctor

“For today’s business Leader, ‘action’ trumps a beautiful 30 page business plan that never gets implemented. Roy’s formula for Strategic Game Planning is based on one simple concept:  Execution…. What you can implement NOW. This ebook is like his business philosophy… short and to the point; a quick read. Make your Plan composed of three very basic steps and EXECUTE on it.” — Michael Nott, Branch Principle, DWM Securities

“In his latest book BE DiFFERENT or be dead: EXECUTE First; Plan Second, Roy not only explains why execution trumps the Plan, he teaches the reader the fundamentals of HOW to flawlessly execute strategy.This book is an absolute necessity for anyone who wants to blow away their Plan and realize amazing results.” — Sandy Chernoff, Owner, Soft Skills for Success

Check out Execute First; Plan second at retailers here.

Cheers,
Roy
For all of my books, check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 1.1.21 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing
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