Movin' On

Yesterday 12/31/09 was my last official day as Director of Marketing for ParaPRO. Next week I start a new chapter with EYP Advisors. That story is for a future post. Today I’d like to say thanks to a few people that have helped me in 2009.

1. Social media expertise. One of my goals for 2009 was to increase my understanding how social media can be used to initiate and grow relationships with key customers. James Burnes, Don Schlinder, Shayna Martin and the team at MediaSauce did a great job helping us understand how our customers were using social media and what we could do to make a real impact. Together we created a living lab and had the opportunity to experiment and figure out what worked, what needed improvement, and how to maximize the opportunities we were seeing. Dr. Itchy and the disease awareness site at http://www.dritchy.com/ are properties other companies will be using as benchmarks for years to come.




2. A quality article. Another one of my goals was to publish an article on our clinical trial results in a peer-reviewed journal. Julie Aker, Leslie Schuh and the team at Concentrics did a tremendous job assisting Dr. Dow Stough to get the paper published in the journal Pediatrics.




3. Public relations. Ed West and Debbie Davis taught me a lot about how the media works and how to create win/win opportunities to get our message out.




4. The team at ParaPRO. No one can get big picture things done if the small things don’t get done. A big thanks to my admin team. I wrote about them in an earlier post.




5. The ownership of SePRO. In 2002 SePRO, the parent company of ParaPRO decided to take a gamble and invest to license the active Spinosad from Eli Lilly and Company for the treatment of human head lice. Since that time the company has invested considerable resources to complete clinical trials and bring a product to market that will change way head lice are treated. Without management willing to take considerable risk and think like an entrepreneur this opportunity never would have happened.
   
   May 2010 bring you much happiness and success.
   
   Until next time – all the best!
   
   RolandB
   

Explode Your Box!!

There has been a lot written and said recently about thinking outside the box, thinking outside the lines, and expanding your horizons. Steve Coats and Tim Heuer wrote a very good book titled “There is No Box” with compelling ideas about why and how companies and their executives need to think differently.

Marketers know that the way to bring attention to a product or service is to stand out from the crowd, do something differently, and deliver a compelling message in a unique way. During a recession when others are pulling back one line of thought is to increase investment in advertising. In many cases not only will you stand out from the crowd but you may be able to buy market share more economically than in times of economic growth. Unfortunately in many companies it does not happen. Opportunities are lost.

Why is it so hard to change?

My hunch is that each of us has a box we carry with us. For some of us the box is bigger than others. When times are rough, such as in this recession, human nature is to go where we are safe. Go hide in our box. Maintain the status quo. Ride it out until things get better.

We are missing a big opportunity. It is time to explode the box. It is time to explode your box and think creatively about the future.

When I was in the Navy we regularly prepared for our job by participating in “war games.” The crew of the submarine would simulate a situation where we would attack the enemy, accomplish our mission and hopefully live to fight another day. We learned a lot about our decision-making ability as a team, about the way we communicated with each other under stress, and about what tactics work and which ones didn’t. Our payoff was the confidence that we would know what to do if and when we ever needed to play the game for real. So why can’t we do this in business? Rather than retreat to our box lets explode the box!

What are the “givens” in your business?

The givens are the absolutes, the critical assumptions that if upset would be game changing. How would you compete if your givens suddenly changed?

What if you lost the patent protection on your best product? What if your best product received a failing grade in Consumer Reports? What if your competitor lowered the price on their product by 50%? What if your competitor figured out how to reach your customer in a new, cost effective way that made your current sales force obsolete?

These examples ask what would you do if your competitor moved first. Another way to look at the exercise is to ask what game changing moves can and should you consider to put your competitor on the defensive and build a sustainable advantage?

How do you get started?

The first rule is to perform the exercise proactively, before you need to in real life. That way you can make mistakes and learn from them. The second rule is to take the exercise seriously, consider performing it off site with few distractions (i.e. leave the Blackberry at the door). Gather your team together and ask yourself what you would do if a game changing event occurred to you and your business? How would you respond? How would you make lemonade out of lemons?

In this day when so many are running scared explode your box, change the rules of the game and have fun!

Until next time – All the best!

RolandB

This article was first published in the Inside Indiana e-newsletter December 15, 2009.

Do it with passion!

I was having lunch with a friend of mine last week. She and her team had written an article documenting a clinical trial we had sponsored. We succeeded in getting the piece published in a reputable peer reviewed journal. The response was positive and one of the authors was invited to present the paper at the annual meeting of a key doctor group. Both events have generated considerable press coverage. All-in-all a very successful project.

We were talking about things we did right. At one point she said many people in her office were impressed by the passion I had for the project. She said it was contagious. They performed better which got others to perform better.

I paused, smiled and thanked her for the comment. Afterward I got to thinking our project succeeded where others had not been as successful. If having a positive attitude was one small piece in its overall success I’ll take it.

I choose to wake up on most days and be excited about what I’m doing. I also like to work with others that feel the same way. Unfortunately there are lots of people out there that don’t feel the same way. I recently came across an article that summarized a survey of over 7,500 employees and interviews with 40 HR and line managers on employee engagement. The report found that 19% of those interviewed are completely disengaged, and 13% are disillusioned and at risk for becoming disengaged. A disengaged employee is an energy “taker” who uses energy and takes motivation down with them. If these statistics are correct and you have a team of 6 members there is a good chance that 2 of them may be dragging you and your team down.

Surround yourself with “Tiggers”
So what do you do? Mindy Grossman, Chief Executive of HSN Inc. was profiled in an article in the NY Times recently. In the article she said
“There are a number of things that are really important to me. One … is that you only hire Tiggers. You don’t hire Eeyores. It doesn’t mean they have to be loud, but I need energy-givers and I have to get a feeling that this person is going to be able to inspire people. Are they going to be optimistic about where they’re going? Are they going to attract people who are like that?”

Unfortunately most of the time we may not get to choose the members or our team. We make the best with what we have.

Make a difference
We do choose every day how we look at challenges and how we treat others. If we treat each other with respect, if we have passion about what we are doing and what our team can achieve my feeling is that the energy spreads. We create “Tiggers” around us.

Leadership begins with you. You choose how you will be perceived by your team. Are you concentrating on the positive? Are you shooting for the stars?

Do everything with passion! You may be surprised with what your team will come up with.

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB




Image: Tigger photo

Measure Everything!!

I went to a Business Marketing Association (BMA) meeting sponsored by the Indianapolis chapter recently. Jill Snyder (Schneider) and Shawn Herring (Harlan) gave a very good talk on “Revenue Driven Marketing.” According to the presenters in order to defend a marketing budget from cuts all dollars spent must be tied to top line business revenue. If you can’t relate it back to sales don’t do the tactic. The more directly the correlation the easier it is to defend. We as marketers need to be able to say to management “If my budget is cut by $X, revenue will decrease by $Y” and have the data to prove it.

How do you start?

You need to ask before the process begins what is the revenue objective for the year? Then work backwards to determine the number of leads that needs to enter your funnel to make the objective. Remember marketing is in charge of attracting and cultivating leads. Sales closes them.

For example if your company’s revenue objective is $10 Million & the average contract is $10,000 your company will need 1,000 closed contracts to meet target. If on average 1 in 5 proposals close your sales team will need to prepare 5,000 proposals. If 25% of prospects get proposals you will need 20,000 prospects. If 1 in 5 leads are qualified as prospects you will need 100,000 leads. Your marketing team now needs to create a plan that will attract 100,000 leads.

Take your plan and break it down by tactic (i.e. trade show 1, trade show 2, advertising, public relations, email marketing, referral programs, SEO, social media). What is the cost of each? How many leads are expected? What is the cost/lead?

Prioritize your tactics based on cost/lead. What is the most cost effective way to attract 100,000 leads? Which tactics can be expanded? Where are the gaps?

Fund the things that are effective and cut the tactics that are not. A key part of the model is your sales and marketing team needs to accurately track where leads are coming from. Otherwise valuable sources of information will get dropped from the mix.

It is not an exact science!

Nothing is easy especially when it comes to money. The presenters said that this is not an exact science. Many variables are hard to measure. For example what is the value of brand equity? If a current customer orders again or increases a purchase how is that tracked? What is the negative value of NOT attending a trade show or industry event?

Get started

The first time you do this you won’t know the answers. You can track on line with complicated analogs, you can compute on your PC on an Excel spreadsheet or pick something in between. The most important thing is to start. The more Marketing is seen as a strategic partner for revenue generation instead of a cost center the better it is for all of us.

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB

What is your Mission?

I was meeting with my communications team a couple of weeks ago. We were discussing the various initiatives we were implementing and the success of each. A topic that generated a lot of discussion was how we determined success. Some things are relatively easy. Success of an advertising campaign can be measured directly by the number of individuals driven to a website. Others are more difficult. For example how do you measure the success of a social media program?

As we discussed tactics and metrics we gradually got into team goals. Each of us, no matter who we were or what role we had, was critical to the overall success of the team. We each had individual goals that would help the team meet a much larger outcome. The more each of us understood the overall goal and how each of us was interdependent with others in the group the better it would be for all. We could help each other. Another example of the sum of the parts is bigger than the whole. 1+1=3.

Many of us have professional goals that are a requirement of the job we have. Many of us have personal goals and have a plan to meet them. Often these can be relatively short term in nature spanning weeks to months.

How many of us have a personal mission that will help guide us personally and professionally for years to come?

Back in 1993 I read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. One of his habits is “Begin with the end in mind.” In his words clearly envision the destination and then use a compass to help you get there.

A tool that Covey strongly recommends is for each of us to write a personal mission statement. This paragraph, poem, document will help us determine what is important to each of us. It will help us as we try to decide what to say “yes” to and what projects or opportunities to decline as we proceed through life. It will help us stay true to our inner self.

Covey recommends taking time to reflect and putting yourself in a setting where you can think creatively and write spontaneously. I was in San Diego and took myself for a few hours to the Torrey Pines Glider Port. I spent a very nice afternoon sitting at the top of a cliff staring out at the Pacific Ocean with Torrey Pines golf course to my right, Black’s Beach below and the occasional hang glider soaring overhead. It is one of the most beautiful spots on the West Coast.

My goal was to trust the process. I really did not know how it would come out but committed to myself to try. At the end of the afternoon as I watched the sun set I had written a passage that I still reflect on and let guide me today over 15 years later. It helps me understand who I am and how I would like to relate to the people that I love and trust. I’ve include it at the end of this passage for a couple of reasons; first so I can find it whenever I need to pull myself back to my basics not letting success or failure derail me from my ultimate goal and second so my family and friends can keep me honest.

Let me know what you think.

Until next time – All the best!

RolandB

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PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT

I Roland Bydlon value the freedom
to make decisions,
to take on or turn down responsibilities,
to be creative,
to do things differently, to change.

I value the relationships in my life;
my relationship with Sue, my wife and best friend,
with Tim and Kyle my sons,
with my sisters (and all my extended family),
and with my friends both personal and professional.

I value nature and my relationship with it.

I value my faith and my relationship with God.

With these values in mind I commit myself
to be honest in all dealings,
to smile,
to always strive to be my best and do my best without respect to past situations or future considerations,
to take on new challenges willingly and happily,
to continually strive to increase my knowledge and skill base,
to actively listen and attempt to understand others before acting,
to accept divergent thoughts and actions,
to encourage others to be their best,
and to always strive for a win/win solution.

In order to achieve this mission I pledge to
respect my body, eat sensibly and exercise regularly,
take time to think,
take time to pray,
take time to love,
take time to say “thank you”,
take time to stop and listen to the “whispers”,
take time to plan,
and to avoid boasting to others, for recognition of a mission accomplished comes from within.

My overriding goal is to enjoy the day and to enjoy and appreciate life which is limited in length but is always dynamic and limitless in possibility.

From The Serenity Prayer
“Lord give me the courage to change the things which can and ought to be changed, the serenity to accept the things which cannot and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Roland J. Bydlon
Originally written 9/10/93
Updated 6/18/94 & 9/1/02

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