Celebrate the Now!!

The last couple of weeks have been absolutely beautiful in central Indiana. The maples are brilliant yellow and orange, the burning bush is a bright red, the corn is gold and ready for harvest. I was driving east to work one morning last week under a canopy of tall maples. As I came to a clearing the sun was just beginning to rise, the wispy clouds in the sky caught the reds, oranges and white of the upcoming day. The gold leaves on the trees glowed. I felt like pulling over to the side of the road and just watching the spectacle. By the time I got to work 15 minutes later the sun was higher on the horizon and the fireworks in the sky were gone. As I glance out my window today, many of the trees that were so stunning last week are now bare. Time flies, moments pass saved to memory only or at least until next fall.

I was in an exercise class last weekend. The instructor had just moved here from Israel. He had never seen a Midwestern Fall. There was one tree that was bare along with a number that were in full color. He made the comment, “do they all get like that (the bare one), that’s depressing.” I was thinking yes they all lose their leaves. That’s why we need to appreciate them now while they are in full color. We may need to go a bit slower to take in the full effect. It will be different tomorrow.

How many times have you wished things were like the way they were yesterday, or a year ago? How much time are you spending worrying about what may be in the future? You can't change the past or control the future. The only thing we can control is what is happening right now. How much time have you set aside to enjoy the “now?”

I took a few minutes last week, sat in my back yard and just watched the leaves fall off the trees. I heard sounds I hadn’t heard before; I watched birds and animals I did not know were there. I was in the “now" and if felt refreshing.

A priest recommended to me a long time ago to "listen to the whispers". The only way you can hear a whisper is to slow down and take the time to listen and observe.

Take some time and celebrate the “now” this week. You’ll be glad you did.

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB

Don’t build an El Camino

Remember the El Camino. The 60’s - 70’s era automobile that looked like a small pickup truck. Turned out it was too small to haul many things around and many said the engine was too small to haul around what it had. This, made for all, car/truck turned out to not be very useful for many.

The reason I bring this up is that a successful product must meet customer needs, be priced competitively and be fundamentally different that other products on the market. People need to be able to remember your product and be passionate enough to tell others about it.

As a marketer we are charged with creating big ideas to make our customers aware of what we have to offer and encourage them to try it. Seth Godin refers to this as a “Purple Cow”, Guy Kawasaki writes about it in “Rules For Revolutionaries”.

But people are fundamentally risk averse. When times get tough they go back to what you know, the status quo. It used to be said, until a few years ago, that no one would ever be fired for buying an IBM.

So this is the marketer’s (and the product developer’s) dilemma. How to implement a plan to significantly differentiate your product or service from the competition while at the same time attracting support and funding from a risk averse management team.

What is a significant change? Like lessons in history change is usually measured well after the product was implemented. A color change, an added feature, a line extension often isn’t enough to change the game and draw customers to your product. On the other hand Apple changed the game in personal computing with the introduction of the Macintosh and then did it again years later with the iPod and the iPhone.

These examples are well documented. Numerous individuals have received millions in consulting fees touting a different way to think about business, to create game changing ideas, and them to implement them. My guess is that most companies have had off site retreats to come up with strategy to make this happen. Still few game changing ideas in established companies are coming to market. If we are going to be a world player and compete with growing economies in Europe and Asia we need to do better.

So why can’t we implement? My hunch is that it may have something to do with an overload of data. We have so much data at our fingertips, available 24/7, that we over react. The teams providing the funding want real time information updated continuously. Investments in programs that in the past needed months to grow are now given weeks or days before funding is reanalyzed.

Marketers and product developers want to (in the words of Gene Roddenberry) boldly go where no man has gone before. CFO’s and others in management many times want to maintain the status quo because that is what everyone is comfortable with. Management (rightfully so in this time of recession) is conservative with their capital and wants assurances we are moving on the correct track.

So how do you go for the fences while keeping the guys with the funding supportive? Times have changed since Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez landed in what is now Mexico and ordered his troop to burn the boats they came in. The only way they were going to get home is to use their opponent’s boats! Now that is a motivator. I wonder what the king of Spain would have done if he received the following tweet, “Burning the boats, Cortez is nuts!!” Would he have pulled the plug and sent ships over to bring everyone back?

Some possible solutions

The parallel path approach
First off I think you need to find a way to take risks while keeping the risk adverse members of management at bay. When I was at Eli Lilly we were tasked with developing an insulin pen. Our work became what is now the HumaPen. We found out through our market research that many of our customers were having trouble holding a traditional insulin pen. It was slipping out of their hands. It was rolling on the floor. Our answer was to develop a “pen” that was ergonomically shaped to fit the contour of the hand. Our competitor made a pen out of stainless steel. Ours was made out of two different types of plastic. Our pen would fit the hand and be “soft” to the touch.

Trouble was – it didn’t look like an insulin pen. Our testing with users was positive but the leaders of the affiliates in Europe were skeptical. We got around the objection by designing a more traditional pen design ALONG WITH THE ERGONOMIC DESIGN. Moving both along in parallel cost more money but kept our “jewel” moving forward. If it didn’t work we could always fall back on the traditional model.

Well the product was introduced and everyone loved the ergonomically shaped pen. I don’t know if any of the affiliates ordered the traditional version. We now had something that was totally different than the competition and it was significantly more cost effective for us to make.

The bridge strategy
Another example comes from the US Navy. The steam ship was invented in the early 1800’s. It allowed man to travel independent of the wind. It was a game changer but the status quo at the time was sail. The Navy would not build steam ships. “Management” has succeeded with sails. What if the steam plant broke? Everyone would be stranded. But a few committed individuals convinced the Navy to build ships with both steam and sail. This bridge strategy served well until steam could be proven.

Market segmentation
A third approach could be to segment the market and try your innovative strategy in a smaller, controlled market first. Once your approach is proven then expand it to a national launch.

Dream big, find a way to implement any way you can to prove the concept, satisfy the skeptics, then expand and conquer. Don’t dilute your concept. Don’t make an El Camino.

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB

Why I am a member of the AMA.

The Indianapolis chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) recently asked me to contribute to their newsletter. They wanted to know why I was a member and what I got out of the organization. I got to thinking why do I invest my time in an organization like AMA and what are the payoffs for me both professionally and personally? The following are my answers;

1) Why you chose the AMA?
The AMA gathers marketers from many industries (products and services, B to B and B to C) to discuss strategies and tactics that work. Whatever business we are in, mine happens to be pharmaceuticals, we are all trying to determine our customers’ needs and designing unique products and services to meet those needs in a cost effective way.

2) What do you get out of the Indy AMA?
I am meeting some very interesting people. Everyone has a unique story. Many people have similar business challenges that are keeping them up at night. The Indy AMA is a place to meet people to network and pick up nuggets which can save a tremendous amount of time and money.

Every gathering is different. Some have been more valuable to me than others. For example I attended a lunch a couple of years ago where Andy Sernovitz, the author of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, gave a talk. As a result of that one lunch I started a started a blog and launched a digital communication strategy at ParaPRO that encourages our customers to talk to us.

3) What you love most about the AMA?
I really like the events. The monthly lunches, the quarterly get together at watering holes around town, the opportunity to meet energetic, exciting people that love marketing.

4) More about your professional background?
Well I have been involved with starting and growing entrepreneurial companies for about 10 years now. ParaPRO is the fourth company I have directly worked with. If everything goes well and the FDA approves we will be launching a new chemical entity to treat head lice next year. Before that I spent 11 years with Eli Lilly in finance, business development, process improvement engineering, and global marketing. Before that I was a submarine officer in the US Navy. I earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BCE (Bachelor of Civil Engineering) from Minnesota.

I love the outdoors. This picture was taken in 2008 when my wife and I visited Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior.

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The editors must have liked my responses. They included them in the newsletter.

Bottom line. We learn from our experiences. Time spent in a good networking organization like AMA is well worth the investment.

Until next time - all the best!

RolandB