A Big Thank You!!

There is no “I” in “team”. We have all heard it said and it is true. The magic of a team is the sum of its parts. When a team works well the sum is greater than that of any individual piece. Yes 1 plus 1 does equal 3 in many teams.

I have had the honor throughout my career to work with many gifted individuals. I try whenever possible to surround myself with the best people and set goals that will challenge current paradigms and thinking to introduce products into the marketplace in innovative ways.

At ParaPRO the marketing team is charged with some heavy lifting. After the overall strategy is approved the team is tasked with refining it and then developing and implementing tactics to carry it out. Around that team are many other individuals that often are not directly noticed but whose contribution to the success of an effort is enormous. For example we have a group of dedicated assistants that make all of our travel arrangements and handle any and all of our logistics issues. I remember very well a trade show where everything was delivered except one to the pieces of the booth. FEDEX had delivered 5 of 6 cases. Turned out case number 6 was about ready to be loaded on a plane back to Indianapolis. A very capable and valuable assistant turned a near catastrophe into a good story by getting the case rerouted and returned to the exhibition hall in time for the show. Checks have been cut and delivered on short notice when someone forgot to sign an invoice. Laptops have been resurrected when they decided to crash 30 minutes before a crucial presentation. Graphics to support critical efforts and been designed, produced and delivered in short order. Posters, books and correspondence have been distributed to customers as promised like clockwork.

It doesn’t happen by itself. Kelley, Robin, Cathy, Faye, Amy, Joanne, Cory, Bobby and Steve M. just want you to know that I appreciate everything you do. Great job!

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB

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

Introducing Dr. Itchy

I took a break from blogging for the past few months not from lack of interest. In fact my team at ParaPRO has been working on a number of innovative tactics designed to help us dip our toes in the pool of social networking. As an example we released Dr. Itchy to the world a couple of weeks ago. Dr. Itchy is designed to help school nurses teach their students and their student’s parents about head lice. We found that the “average” elementary school nurse sees in excess of 35 cases of head lice each year. Parents, after finding that their child has head lice, are often emotional. Nurses told us they needed a tool to help them explain to parents what lice are, how to get rid of them and, most importantly, not to blame themselves. Kids get lice. It is not the fault of the kid or of the parent.

Dr. Itchy contains a presentation that the nurse can customize and use to explain what lice are. It contains a letter that the nurse can customize and send home with the child. The nurse can send for and receive a Dr. Itchy poster to help them educate their students about lice. We also created a game that parents and students can play to remove lice and nits. If a few nits are left on the head they will hatch into lice that will lay more eggs and create more lice etc. Try it out if/when you get a chance. My 15 year old son played with it for 10 minutes before conquering level 3. I’m still trying to get there.

Question - What should we offer players that conquer level 3? Plz give me your comments.

We also created a companion site at MyHeadLiceTreatment that contains actual photographs of lice, a section on facts and myths about lice and videos to instruct parents how to identify lice and comb for nits. The site also has a tool that will allow a parent to send a message to the parents of their children’s friends (anonymously if they want) to alert them to check their children for lice if an outbreak occurs.

So why are we doing this? Will it help us sell a product? I don’t know. We don’t have a product yet. What we can tell you is that we want to create quality tools that nurses and parents will appreciate and use. If they like what we have hopefully they will tell their friends/peers. We would like for them to tell us what they think so we can improve the tools we do have. Hopefully we can start and maintain a dialog which will lead to less misleading information and better treatment options for patients with head lice.

Isn’t that what social networking is all about. We think so.

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB

BTW – I’m still looking for a backhoe for my friends in Honduras. If you have one laying around in the back yard let me know. :)

I'm looking for a good back hoe!!

I’m looking for a good used back hoe. Well not for me. The equipment is for Sister Maria Rosa Leggol and her children. Sister is head of Sociedad Amigos de los Ninos (SAN) in Tegucigalpa Honduras. She runs two orphanages that care for children that have been abandoned or have parents that are incarcerated. She runs a farm for teenage boys to help them learn life and trade skills. She runs a vocational school for girls that helps them complete their GED and teaches them computer, sewing and secretarial skills. She also sponsors a number of micro businesses that employ local help and generate revenue for SAN and its mission. She is known throughout the region as the “Mother Teresa” of Honduras.



Sister and her boys.

I had the opportunity to travel to Honduras about a month ago. A group of us from our church helped refurbish bathrooms, install water tanks to insure a constant supply of clean water, deliver books and school materials for the children and help wherever we could to make life a bit easier for the staff and children.

There are so many needs.
Over 70% of the population of Honduras lives below the poverty line. About 30% of the population is unemployed. The average wage for a worker is only $10 per day. That said the people we met were filled with hope and willing to work to create a better life for themselves and the children they support

The brick factory
One of the ways SAN is teaching the community to fish is by running a brick factory to provide bricks for construction and employment to the local community. Cielos de Honduras is a for-profit enterprise that currently manufactures over 2 million bricks per year. The bricks are used to build houses on Sociedad’s property and also to sell into the local economy. Sister is providing an engine to teach local residents how to fish and provide for themselves.

The manufacturing process is extremely labor intensive. Soil (a mixture of sand and clay) is dug by hand, transported to a central facility and mixed to achieve the desired consistency. The soil is then poured (again by hand) into an auger and mixed with water. The slurry is pressed through a form, cut with piano wire (again by hand) into bricks, placed on a cart and then carried to an area under a shade where the bricks will dry for up to three weeks. (More pics) They are stacked into a kiln, fired for 24 hours and then after they cool are ready for sale.

The price of a finished brick is less than 10 cents each.

A back hoe
The primary bottleneck in the process is the first step. Workers are only able to dig down about 36” due to the hardness of the soil. This means that much more land needs to be purchased to acquire raw material. It is more difficult to stockpile material. The entire process often comes to a halt during the rainy season because it is impossible to get into the fields to dig soil.

A back hoe would enable the workers to dig down 6 – 8 feet and create stockpiles of material that would keep production going year round. The cost of a used one is about $25,000. The team has an excellent work ethic and mechanical skills and a passion to grow the business for their children and their community but they don’t currently have the financial resources to buy a back hoe.

What we need
What we are looking for is a foundation partner that would be willing to provide the funds for SAN to acquire a back hoe. (Picture of a suitable machine) An ideal situation would be working with a foundation at Caterpillar or John Deere to provide internal funding for a dealership in Honduras or here in the states to donate a machine. (I am trying to find a contact) An alternative approach would be to work with a non affiliated foundation or group that would be willing to provide cash funding for us to purchase a used machine that we can transport to SAN.


Potential Tax Savings
Contributions can be directed to Friends of Honduran Children, a 501 c(3) organization (authorization letter). Therefor any contribution or donation of equipment may be eligible for a tax deduction.


Lets create a win/win and help the children!

Sister and her team have an incredible, heartwarming story. I am sure with a bit of positive public relations this will be a win/win for the donor and SAN. Please let me know if you have any ideas for how to get this done.

The children will thank you.

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB

Ipods and responsibility

I was at the gym this morning, doing some sit-ups when I thought I heard music. At first I thought I must be working out too hard but I definitely heard music. Stopping I looked around. There was a girl about 30 feet away from me lifting weights listening to an Ipod. She was jamming to the music oblivious to everyone around her.

A bit later I was in the steam room. I had my eyes closed, in my own world and I began hearing music again. Sure enough there was a guy on the other side of the room listening to an Ipod in the steam. I don’t know how smart it is for anyone to strap a battery to his body, put a transducer in his ear and complete the circuit with a bit of water.

The inner ear contains the smallest bones in the body and is the core to balance. The human ear can hear sounds as soft as a pin dropping from several feet away. I’m not a doctor but if I can hear music 30 feet away it can’t be good for the listener’s inner ear.

I wonder if someone will sue Apple someday because they lost their hearing or maybe sue a manufacturer someday because they shocked themselves in a steam room, disrupted their inner ear and now cannot function normally because they are dizzy. A lawyer will argue that the manufacturer should have put a label on the product to warn the consumer “playing at maximum volume may cause permanent damage to the ear” and “do not use this product in a steam room”. The last lawnmower I purchased had a sticker on the casing that said “do not use this mower while barefoot” - duh!!

I wish a defense could be the user of the product should have some common sense and take responsibility for their actions. Caveat emptor – let the buyer beware.

Insurance against lawsuits is big business. We could be using the money we are spending for insurance to protect us against these actions for better things like inventing and bringing to market new products.

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB