Be Different or be dead

August 28, 2017

2 easy questions every startup should ask to survive

Source: Unsplash

2 easy questions every startup should ask to survive.

Some say 9 out of 10 new businesses fail; others say 50% will not make it 5 years.

Ignore the precision of the numbers and you are left with the inescapable conclusion that when you start a business there is a very good chance you will fail.

Why is the mortality rate so high for startups?

These four explanations are typically used to explain failure.

1. They don’t have sufficient financial resources; they run out of money. They are unable to attract enough investors who believe in their idea. The founder is no longer able to continue at zero salary or benefits.

2. They don’t have people with the marketing competencies required to turn their new brave idea into a market reality. They are unable to communicate a value proposition that captures the attention of their audience and entices them to support it.

3. Their product doesn’t address a compelling market need; the problem it is solving is not easy to explain. It doesn’t resonate with anyone. People have to think too much.

4. Their solution is basically the same as their competition. There is no differentiation; it’s not distinctive or unique. Cover your eyes and the solution provider could be any one of a number of players in the market.

All choices are contributing factors to be sure, but the main culprits are first, a product that doesn’t capture the imagination of the target market and second, the absence of clear competitive differentiation.

Without a compelling solution and value proposition that stands out from the competition you will undoubtedly fall victim to the grim reaper sooner or later.

Two questions that startup leaders should ask themselves:

1. “What common problem (i.e. virtually everyone is aware of it) does my product solution solve?”

How easy is it to explain? Do people get it right away? Is it intended for a large segment of the market, or a small specialized group?
If it takes an hour to describe how your solution “talks to” the problem, and if it is targeted to a small specialized niche, you could be in trouble.

People are attracted to products that have broad social appeal. It doesn’t take long to explain, for example, why a solution to distracted driving would be valuable to have.

2. “Why should a potential customer do business with you and no one else?”

The world is full of hungry competitors; what makes you special enough to have potential customers consider you and ONLY you for the solution you provide?

If you can’t clearly separate your solution from the competitive herd, you will be invisible and go unnoticed - and your money will most likely run out.

If you offer a no brainer solution to a problem that the world understands and if you are the ONLY ones who offer it the way you do, you will have a long and rewarding business life.

If not, join the statistics.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 8.28.17 at 12:54 am by Roy Osing
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July 17, 2017

How to build a great business plan in 3 simple steps

Source: Pexels

Unfortunately, many organizations don’t develop a strategy to guide them into an unpredictable future; they rationalize the current planning process to be too complicated, time consuming and expensive.

And they’re right.

Numerous people gather in a room for a strategic planning session. Subject matter experts descend of the group and try to impress everyone with their detailed knowledge of the many governing factors that need consideration in the strategy building process, and many days are consumed — in my experience wasted — to get the strategy perfect.

Normally the services of a third party firm are used to both facilitate the session and provide expert content to the plan direction and efficacy. This is a clever way of avoiding having the people responsible for the strategy’s success taking ownership of the direction taken by applying their own opinions and good judgement.
The planning team is presented with material, they ask questions about various aspects of it and in the end most of the time they agree with the results of the analysis and direction proposed.

But at the end of the day, the traditional planning process takes so much time and energy, there is insufficient time left to develop how the plan will be executed in the trenches by real people. And the planning team is left with a strategy that may make sense on paper, but can’t be executed effectively because there was insufficient time devoted to implementation.

Get insanely focused on execution

Given that eventually any strategy or plan must result in action, the best planning process is predicated on the premise: keep it simple, get to the gut issues quickly and ACT.

Minimize the strategy direction setting time; maximize the implementation action planning time.

Loosen up on strategy development; tighten up on execution.

The strategy-building process I developed was necessary because although the field of experts who could help me develop a theoretically pristine direction was wide and deep, the number who actually could help in plan execution was close to zero.

The process I developed was simple, fast and time efficient. And unlike its brethren, it used the knowledge and experience of the planning team members rather than going with a third party planning expert — added benefit was the team building that went on during the process.

My process — the strategic game plan — was based on discovering the answers to 3 questions; the answers defined the strategy.

Growth — HOW BIG do you want to be?
Most planning processes end with financial results. They calculate the growth results of executing the strategic direction chosen.
My process starts with your growth intentions, and builds the strategy from HOW BIG you want to be. The reason is simple: more aggressive growth goals require a more aggressive — and risky — strategy, and more moderate growth goals need a more incremental — and less risky — strategy.

The traditional planning approach forgets that there is an extremely tight relationship between revenue growth and strategic intent; my strategic game plan doesn’t and that’s what makes my approach DiFFERENT than others.

Customers — WHO do you want to SERVE?
You have a goal to grow revenue 25% annually over the next 36 months. The next question is where are you going to get it? Where are you going to invest your scarce resources of time and money.

It boils down to selecting a group of customers who collectively have the potential to generate the revenue you have decided to go after.
To get the right answer to this question requires an intimate understanding of the various customers you serve. You can’t choose the customer group to generate the revenue you covet if you don’t understand the propensity of your various customer segments to buy from you — discover their secrets and success will follow.

Competitors — HOW will you compete and WIN?
It would be nice if you were the only provider of products and services to the customer group you’ve chosen, but that’s not likely to be the case. There is likely to be healthy aggressive competitors targeting the same customers you want to target, so the challenge you face is to determine how you will differentiate your organization from all others you will be competing with.

Why should people choose your organization when they have other choices available? What makes your team special in view of the alternatives available?
HOW will you compete is intended to explore the competencies of your organization that you can exploit to gain competitive advantage, with emphasis on how you can be positioned in the customer group you’ve chosen as the ONLY one that does what you do.

By answering these 3 questions using the expertise of those in the room you will have your strategy quickly (less than 3 days) and inexpensively (a personalized experience for your team). And it will be owned by every person who has contributed to it which means execution will follow.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 7.17.17 at 04:10 am by Roy Osing
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June 5, 2017

Why the downside is really an exciting upside in disguise

Source: Unsplash

Many people I associated with over my career were ‘one-timers’ when they ran into an unforeseen problem.

They would typically shout their displeasure - “Awe sh*t” - and make excuses to their boss for why they were unable to deliver the expected result.

They were victimized by the assault of a random event.

They reached back for the ‘Things happened that were beyond my control’ to explain why they were unable to succeed.

Like it’s ok to fail because things didn’t go as planned.

It’s nonsense of course.

There are ALWAYS unforeseen and unexpected events that reveal themselves to challenge the successful attainment of a goal. It is rare that a plan plays out according to its original script; only the naive and inexperienced believe that the plan is immune to the randomness of the marketplace.

That’s not the way the real world works despite school teachings.

Success-driven people are different than the ‘excuse artists’

They are naturals at looking at a potentially negative situation and finding the pony; they are magnets for an opportunity buried in the excrement.

When confronted with a setback over which they have no control, they deploy these actions to recover.

1. They emphatically declare to one and all their intention to NOT accept they bad hand they have been dealt and that they will find a way to get back on track. They want everyone to know that THEIR brand is all about coming back not giving in.

2. They study the forces that caused their plan to go awry; the detailed characteristics of the intervention at play. They work hard to get the facts that caused the problem rather than succumbing to emotion.

3. They evaluate the specific impacts created on the current course of action. They calculate the new plan vector from the old plan + interruptive force. With no counter initiatives where is the original plan likely to go given the unexpected disruption?

4. They look for nuggets; opportunities disguised as a body blow. Given the new force at play how can its energy be harnessed to create an intervention of your own? And a new direction? “This is how it might work” replaces “Damn it didn’t work”.

5. They don’t stop. They continue to iterate through possible adaptations until they find one that will work. Not a perfect solution (for that could only happen with a return to the original plan) but a good “imperfect” one.

Forces in the environment can’t be predicted but successful people can make the best of a bad lot in remarkable fashion.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.5.17 at 04:30 am by Roy Osing
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May 29, 2017

The first time leader must take these 7 actions to win

The first time leader must take these 7 actions to win.

You have always reported to another manager or leader. Your life up to now has always been doing stuff; delivering what your job description dictated and your boss demanded.

Suddenly you find that your life has changed. You have competed and won the contest to assume a leadership position.

It may be a promotion or it may not be; what’s important, however, is that the existence you have known in the organization is gone forever.

My advice to you is..

▪️Don’t assume that what got you here will serve you well going forward. Proficiency in your past endeavours foreshadows very little in terms of what you will achieve going forward.

Past success is simply that - the past. Leave it there and learn what it takes to achieve today and tomorrow.

▪️Ask yourself The Magic Question to let go of the past and focus on the things you must do to be successful in your new position.

It’s a simple question: “Now that I am in this new position, what do I have to do differently?”. Being a member of a team is not very helpful in telling you what you need to do when you are a team leader.

▪️Never forget your roots. You are leaving a history where executing direction supplied from leadership above you played a critical role in what you were responsible for and probably consumed over 90% of your time.
As a leader, your performance will continue to be judged by what you get done, not what you plan to do — remarkable leaders execute brilliantly.

▪️Find a mentor immediately! Yes you can figure some of it out on your own, but to increase your chances of success ask someone who has been there and done it.

When you walk through a new door, best have someone on the other side who can show you the way. And don’t look for someone who is a friend or colleague; they are of little use to you because they are part of your past. Search for someone who you think can play a role in helping you discover your future.

▪️Spend your first 100 days learning the issues of your team. Ask them “If you were me, what single action would you take to make it easier to get the job done?” Don’t accept a grocery list of items; make them think about priorities since you won’t be able to do everything.
You want to boil it down to the critical few things that concern most people in your organization.

▪️Get intimate with the business plan of the organization. Learn it at the most granular level you can; translate it to what it means for your team. What exactly does your team have to do in order to “serve” the strategy? The connection between what the strategy says and what your team members do be clear and direct.

▪️Ask your internal customer how your team is performing; use their input along with your team members to decide what to focus on to improve.
This builds your currency with your internal network and will prove invaluable in getting stuff done as you move forward.

The tipping point in everyone’s career is caused by motion; moving from one position to another.

Make sure you do the right new thing.

Let go of what defined you in the past; discover what will define you tomorrow.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 5.29.17 at 05:49 am by Roy Osing
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