Which future do YOU want?

Welcome Back!

2008-07-06T13:10:00.002-04:00

It's been a year since I last posted. Somewhat intentional. For a while, I was thinking that blogging is sort of a waste of time...who actually reads them? But, since I'm now writing a book on how business must react to the transition from BabyBoomer dominated to GenX dominated, I thought this was as good a venue for capturing ideas and sharing my own so here we are.

I'm open to hearing from you in the areas of demographics, the so-called "coming labor shortage", outsourcing, global commerce and general business thinking. Please feel free to email me or simply post here. I will reply as needed.

TTFN

Greg

Are you Linked In?

2007-05-10T01:02:00.000-04:00

I've been telling my students that in this era of business, many companies have very stringent Intellectual Property protections--as they should. But the ONE thing they haven't figured out how to capture is your personal network. If you are not spending some time each week (or day) building and nurturing your personal connections you are missing an important opportunity.

With that said, let me recommend LinkedIN...www.linkedin.com. I've been using it for a few years and it is a great tool for keeping track of your network of colleagues and for finding new ones. Additionally, it has some features that are not easily replicated anywhere else.

Recently, in support of my research interest in the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP)--more on that in a future post--I posed a question in the ANSWERS forum seeking contacts or information on people doing interesting work in that area. Within 24 hours I had been contact by a dozen people around the world ALL with useful information I couldn't have collected in months. It's like asking the world a question and having the world answer you.

Basic membership is free.

Why aren't YOU linked in?

Greg

PS feel free to see my LinkedIn profile at www.linkedin.com/in/sparzo

What color is YOUR ocean?

2007-03-30T20:26:00.000-04:00

I'm writing to recommend a book that is well worth reading. It's called BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, to professors at France's INSEAD. The basic idea is that the business world is comprised of red oceans and blue oceans. Red Oceans are crowded, hyper-competitive and can only be profitable with relentless cost-cutting and disciplined execution. Blue Oceans have no real competitors and offer enormous growth potential.

One way to get to Blue Oceans is to look at NON-customers and find a way to change your offerings to attract them to become customers...Cirque du Soleil did it by blending the best of the circus with theatre; YellowTail wines attracted non-wine-drinkers to become a leading wine seller in a crowded field, Southwest did it in the airline industry.

Since all Blue Oceans eventually turn Red, it's important to spend a portion of your time continually on the alert for the next blue ocean. Are YOU?

Of Barnacles and True Friends

2007-01-30T11:05:00.000-05:00

Some of you know that I am an Adjunct Professor at Rensselaer's MBA program in Hartford, CT. This semester I'm teaching several sections of Marketing and Product Management. Last night we talked about the link between customer loyalty and customer profitability. While the conventional wisdom is that loyal customers cost less to serve, pay higher prices and spread positive word-of-mouth the evidence points in the other direction.

Our discussions focused on 4 distinct types of customers: Butterflies (customers that flit and and out, profitable but ethereal); True Friends (the kind of customers we all want to keep); Strangers (new, unproven, untested...don't invest anything in them until they prove themselves) and my favorite name, "BARNACLES." These are the customers who often consume more resources than they're worth, picking, demanding, low margin...we all have clients/customers like this.

In my business, I try to scrape off the barnacles as soon I as can. If you're in a volume based business, like my dear friend Tom Zotter at Allstar Supply, you might put up with them to keep your volume up. Higher volumes mean lower unit costs for all your customers.

Either way, the point is, spend some time identifying what profile fits each of your customers and develop a customer-management strategy appropriate to each group. Call me if you want to talk about it.

GMS

Happy New Year

2006-12-26T16:55:00.000-05:00

I'd like to wish all our clients a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. 2006 certainly flew by and I suspect 2007 won't be any slower. Take a few moments this week to reflect on the successes and challenges of this year and how you will take action to impact 2007 for the better. Also, be sure to take some time to enjoy friends, family, health and home...Afterall, that's what we work for.

Best Regards,
GMS

US Edge is Slipping.

2006-11-13T16:04:00.000-05:00

As a nation we are losing our edge in science and technology. From my perspective as a business school professor (in an MBA program) I think we're also losing our edge in simple communication skills like writing and speaking.

Many organizations and institutions are calling for more "basic training" in things like math and science. A recent article in CEO Magazine suggests that young people need to have a more international perspective. I agree.

When I was a graduate business student in the late '80s my class mates were primarily "white guys" will similar backgrounds. Today, my students are men and women; black, brown, white, asian; straight, gay; left, right; and whatever other catagory you choose to name. That diversity tells the story of today's business needs--to remain competitive we need people who have critical thinking skills, communications skills, LANGUAGE SKILLS and the the ability to add value regardless of the surrounds.

Are you thinking globally? If not, please know your competitors are.

GMS

Heroes are in Short Supply

2006-10-25T23:06:00.000-04:00

In August I wrote about the difficulties in finding QUALITY employees. With unemployment rates hovering around what we used to call "full employment" it's difficult to find the kind of talent that can change the balance of power in your industry.

Today, the DOW closed at another record high, over 12,000. The economy remains strong. I recently wrote a white paper talking about how employee turnover, especially in the sales area, increases during prosperous times. (Send me an email, and I'll send you a copy.) With turnover approaching 40% in sales forces, you cannot afford to wait, nor can you afford to hire badly...it's expensive.

The way around this problem is to CODIFY and DOCUMENT your sales process so that "mere mortals" can be productive and effective. Heroes are hard to come by and expensive.

Think about how you might capture the "best practices" of your best sales people and document your sales process in a way that leverages that experience.

The Coming Labor SHORTAGE

2006-08-28T16:40:00.000-04:00

September's IndustryWeek magazine mentions some interesting facts. While the common wisdom is that manufacturing jobs are no longer available in the U.S, some 14 MILLION people remain in the U.S. manufactufing work force. While many jobs have gone overseas, the biggest concern growing now is that there is a gap between the numbers of jobs that will be available the the QUALITY of the potential future employees.

I recently met with the CEO of a technology provider about adding to his sales force. His concern was being able to find good, quality talent for the coming year. He had recently let a sales person go after about 4 months. After tallying up the salary paid, the benefits, the recruiting costs and the management time it added up to nearly $100,000. That doesn't even count the sales that didn't happen during that time!

After some analysis and cogitation I told him that the key to successfully scaling his sales force is to develop a VALIDATED and well-developed SALES ROAD MAP. What I mean is a deliberate, written analysis of HOW CUSTOMERS BUY, verified discussions with potential customers to fully understand the pains the customers are experiencing and TRUE ALIGNMENT of your product/service offerings and the customer's pains. Sounds pretty basic, but it's not often done.

With plans to add 6-8 sales reps I asked him if he can afford to make a $800,000 mistake? The answer is obvious. Can you? Do you spend as much time at CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT as you do PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT? It's time worth taking.

GMS

Plant Seeds Now

2006-08-08T14:28:00.000-04:00

Last week's 100+ degree weather and suffocating humidity left no doubt that we are in the "dog days" of summer. Even hiding in an air conditioned office it's easy to know it's summer...phone calls don't get answered, deals slow down, people are unavailable.

While it's easy to just "chuck it" and join the wave of vacationers, I recommend doing a little strategic "seed planting" in advance of the "unofficial" end of summer--Labor Day.

Take some time off, no doubt, but also take some time to catch up on those annoying little tasks you've been putting of until "some day." Some day is here and it's in the form of slower phones, fewer meetings and more people unavailable. I've been slowing chipping away at my "someday" list for the last few weeks, and I'm starting to get excited about a clear desk and a clear mission come September. You'll get some psychic rewards if you do the same.

Oh, and by the way, I'll be on vacation all next week...sometimes if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Regards, GMS

Did You Hear a "BOOM?"

2006-05-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

With soaring gas prices, rising interest rates and dire reports from the U.S. auto industry you might be forgiven for assuming the U. S. economy is on shaky ground.

You'd be wrong.

We are within days of breaking the Dow Jones Industrial Average record set during the internet-mania days of 2000. According to the Wall Street Journal, corporate profits are in their 11th straight quater of double digit gains--the longest streak since the 1950s. Consumer demand is up both here and abroad. Just yesterday economists noted a continuted rise in housing sales.

So, what are you doing to capitalize on these economically robust times? I recommend you "make hay while the sun shines." Redouble your sales efforts, seek new partners, make new investments, launch new initiatives--the market is ripe.

If not now, when?

GMS

Speak the Truth

2006-05-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

I just got off the phone with a colleague and friend of mine who recently rejoined the corporate world. After just 3 days on the job he's having doubts about his decision. His boss, who was friendly, encouraging and excited during the interview process is beginning to show his true personality--autocratic, unreasonable, and disingenuous.

This gets me to the point of this posting...truth. I'm not a philosopher and I'm sometime too pragmatic for my own good, but it seems to me that much more can be accomplished and more satisfaction gained if we dare to be truthful.

I advised my friend to be truthful with his new boss. Ask direct questions, challenge any false premises, and discover what is truly going on here. While it seems possible that his new boss has multiple personalities, something else may be going on. Admit there is a dead horse in the living room and candidly discuss how to get rid of it.

I'd advise the boss to have the courage to be truthful. It may not be as admired as it once was, but a society, a culture, a relationship, and a business cannot be ultimately successful without it.

I'd also advise my friend that if the boss will not behave truthfully, to get away from this organization and seek one with more integrity.

Professionalism = Repeatability

2006-04-06T13:40:00.000-04:00

The dictionary defines the word professional as one conforming to the standards of a profession or a skilled practitioner; an expert. I'd like to add my two cents to that definition:

A professional is one who can REPEAT excellence.

As a sales guy at heart and one with decades of experience, I can certainly tell you tales of sales reps who "got lucky" a few times and somehow thought they'd found the keys to the kingdom, only to find out when times got tough, they couldn't reproduce thier miracle results.

Over the years I have seen only one thing successfully predict consistent performance...disciplined adherence to proven processes. What I'm talking about is taking steps every day to follow a plan and work it. Nothing else will create the consistent productivity required to be considered a "pro."

One such company I've recently come across is ADVENTACE.COM...They've boiled down effective sales processes and tailored them to the universe of the sales function--sales reps, sales managers and senior management...giving each of them role to play and an process to follow to achieve strong REPEATABLE RESULTS...

What processes are you following?

Give me a call and I can tell you more. Regards, GMS

Who's With You?

2006-03-07T14:24:00.000-05:00

Today's markets are more competitive than ever. In many organizations, people wear many hats and are working on multiple projects at once. Every organization has to deal with the allocation of resources and determining which approaches to take to accomplish a goal or strategy.

Unless you live in a cave, you have to interact with people. Managing the galaxy of people necessary to accomplish your goals can be a daunting task.

I have a client who has developed a QUANTITATIVE way to measure the alignment of various groups and use that measure to predict the likelihood of success of various initiatives, goals and strategies. This can yield powerful and compelling results.

When charged with managing/leading a group to accomplish a goal, wouldn't you like to know who's WITH YOU and who's NOT?

I've seen it in action and find the results impressive and potentially very useful to any organization. Contact me and I'll tell you more.

Regards, GMS

Don't Put Things Off

2006-03-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

My friend, Chris Loudon, our local Police Chief died unexpectedly Monday. He was 54. Chris was a good man; an asset to his community, to his organization, and to his family. He had just recently been made Chief, and he had begun to put his stamp on the police department. At 54 he had every reason to believe that he'd have the time to convert his vision into reality. Unfortunately, fate intervened.

Take a moment to think about your goals and visions. Focus on the imporant, discard the trivial, calm down, stay focused and savor the moments.

And when you get home tonight, hug your family.

Lessons from Katrina

2006-02-27T14:54:00.000-05:00

My friend and colleague, Henry Osborne, CEO of online backup provider, DCSBackups (www.dcsbackups.com) and I were talking recently about how the Katrina disaster is still impacting people in the New Orleans area. The conversation came around to businesses and how they did or did NOT recover from the disaster. Henry's company does online backup for businesses. Not to sound too much like a commercial, but this is a service that EVERY BUSINESS MUST HAVE. We use it here.

It's easy to get distracted from important things like backing up your data. Every day brings a whole new list of fire drills and crises that take our time and attention. But, think about it. More and more of our businesses are founded on access to important information.

What are you doing about backing up your critical business information? Have you ever actually tested your data recovery procedures? If you had a fire, or your sprinkler system went off would you be out of business?

Make an appointment with yourself and get this taken care of. You have life insurance to protect your family. Get "life insurance" for your business.

Shoot for Sustainability

2006-02-20T14:51:00.000-05:00

Professor David Rainey, the Dean at the Lally School of Business at Rensselaer Polytechnic in Hartford, CT is working on a book on sustainable business development. After a recent conversation with him, I got to thinking about sustainability as it pertains to managing a consulting business (or even a sales territory).

Many consultants, (and sales exectives) live in a world of "feast or famine" where they are either workign flat out to close sales/process transactions/deliver services OR they are in a slump where they are working hard to scratch out that next sale. This results in the sterotypical "roller coaster" of revenues or commissions that makes life frustrating, trying, painful and draining.

A professional is someone who recognizes this pattern and takes steps to at least lower the amplitude of the wave. One way to do this is to manage your time is such a way as to always leave some time for filling the hopper with new opportunities. I do that by scheduling time each week to new business development, regardless of how "busy" I am.

By booking time in Outlook, when someone calls, I can schedule around that critical time. My customers get time and I get time to make sure I keep having customers!

What are you doing to make sure your pipeline is always full?

CEO Confidence Reaches New High

2006-02-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

Led by four consecutive bullish months, the Chief Executive CEO Confidence Index hit its highest level of all time in January. The leading economic indicator currently stands at 182.4, up 9.8 points this month and 31.5 points since October. The Employment, Investment, and Business Conditions indices also reached historical highs this month.

Chief Executive magazine has the ear of many executives nationwide. This news bodes well for those of us who sell our products and services to the business community. What are you going to do about it?

Now is the time to capitalize on this sentiment. Stretch yourself. Enter new markets. Try new approaches, new product offerings and make new connections. Spending the time now will pay big dividends NOW and in the future when the market inevitably softens.

The Art of the Start

2006-01-23T15:48:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope 2005 finished strong for you and you're excited about the upcoming year. Here at Alternate Futures, we have been very busy and are trying to respond as rapidly as possible to our customers. We're also looking at new ways to bring value to our clients and customers. With that said, I want to strongly recommend several books I read over the holidays.

First, Steven Gary Blank's "Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win." It's a straight-forward hands-on approach to building a new product or new business. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

The second is Guy Kawasaki's, "The Art of the Start: A Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything." Guy is clever, a bit tongue-in-cheek and right on the money. It's primarily for start-ups, but it will work for anything.

What new things are you planning in 2006?

2004-12-21T14:32:00.000-05:00

Thoughts on the Close of the Year

It's been a while since we posted a new entry in the blog. That's both good and bad...Bad because we're not being as timely as we should be in communicating with our clients and prospects in this forum...Good, because the delay was caused by a very busy 4th quarter.

My anecdotal observations are that the economy is continuing to grow and position itself for a solid 2005. It's not the breathless explosion of frenetic activity we saw in the late '90s, but it sure feels more sustainable.

My clients are seeing steady business flow in their core businesses and much more interest in new projects and ideas for next year. Many organizations are coming to the realization that you cannot contract your way to success. No amount of cost cutting will grow your business in meaningful ways...that requires measured risk taking and a determination to move forward.

What are you planning on doing next quarter that will position your firm to win?

GMS

PS Best Wishes for peaceful and happy holidays and a prosperous 2005.

The Role of CEOs in Innovation

2004-10-21T18:07:00.000-04:00

Recently, Joe Tucci, CEO of EMC Corp. the $6B info storage and management firm wrote a worthwhile piece in the October issue of Chief Executive magazine. Titled, The Role of CEOs in Innovation, Tucci's points are these:

U.S. dominance in technological innovation is not destiny. Manchester, England was the 18th century center of technology, capitalists, skilled labor and interdependent suppliers and competitors, but lost its dominance to India and the Far East when they stopped innovating. Sound familiar?

Innovation is more than R&D and generating “new” products. Equally important is generating new ways of doing business, of managing the tension between the impulse to avoid risk and the payoff associated with rational risk-taking. It's avoiding “group think” and encouraging (sometimes forcing) colleagues to ask, How is our market changing? Are we changing with it? Or even better, how can we reshape the market to our advantage?

Innovation comes from increasing your company's exposure to unconventional thinking.

Admittedly, many companies are still smarting from the tech bubble crash of several years ago, but ultimately if you force your company to think and ACT differently from the rest, the market will reward you handsomely.

So, what is your company doing to break out of the pack? Are you creating your future, or running as fast as you can to react to someone else's ideas? What's the last “unconventional” thing YOU did?

GMS

My visit with Henry Kissinger

2004-10-11T15:01:00.000-04:00

Henry and Me

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to meet former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. In addition to telling him about when I was 14 in the early 1970's and wondered how old he'd be when I was President, (so he could be my Sec'y State), I got to hear him speak on the state of the world in 2004.

Leaving out the political intrique of the Presidential elections, I'll focus on his thoughts about China. Dr. Kissinger has known every Chinese leader since Mao, and he believes that relations between our countries has never been better. He marveled at how fast that country has grown over the last 20 years, and how dynamic their economy has become. Chinese leader Hu Jintao is a technocrat who understands China's place in the world economy.

Dr. Kissinger suggested that the "center of the world will soon shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

That got me thinking. How are YOU preparing to take advantage of that opportunity?

GMS

2004-10-07T14:00:00.000-04:00

Disappointed Customers & Frustrated Consultants: An Observation

Yesterday, I was in NYC meeting with several large customers who have been using the "big guys" of IT consulting on large-scale projects. I also had a cup of coffee with a senior project executive of one of the "majors" who told me about the frustrations of trying to deliver the services their sales people sold. Here's what I concluded:

--Large customers are getting more sophisticated and are sometimes manipulating the account executives of competing firms to "race to the bottom" in terms of price. In some cases they are being less than forthright in estimated volumes, workloads, etc. Given the past history of some of these service providers, one might be tempted to call it a case of "what goes around, comes around..."

--Even with this new found leverage, clients are frustrated that these projects are not nearly as "seemless" as promised. User satisfaction is falling. I'm hearing that the Morgan Stanley debacle is just the tip of the iceberg.

--The consultants on the ground at various customer sites are increasingly frustrated trying to keep high quality staff engaged on projects, trying to actually deliver what sales promised in the face of fixed cost budgets, large internal bureaucracies and suffocating overhead costs.

It seems apparent that there is something seriously wrong with the enterprise outsourcing delivery model. Customers are demanding more services at lower cost (don't they always do that?), but the vendors appear to be offering prices that do not allow for profitable exectution. Like a drug user addicted to crack, they need larger and larger "hits" to feel the same effect. Unfortunately, the only options open will become death or rehab. Which will they choose?

2004-10-05T14:19:00.000-04:00

Lack of Alignment Costs Dollars and Careers

A number of studies have shown that as much as 30% of all IT investment dollars are wasted to some degree due to a lack of "alignment" among the particpants. We believe the same holds true up and down the organization. Any project or group effort that requires more than 1 human being is going to need to be sure eveyone understands the mission and the goals--and is "bought in" to the process.

The literature suggests that positive alignment means success and poor alignment predicts failure.

Most of measurements of alignment are "soft" or "qualitative." We've found one that is QUANTITATIVE and seems to successfully predict the likelihood of success of a project/task/venture/strategy. Give us a call and we'll tell you more.

2004-10-01T13:11:00.000-04:00

Your Humble Servant

Welcome to Alternate Futures' web log "BLOG"

2004-10-01T10:53:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Alternate Futures's Weblog.

We've added this feature as a link to our website, www.alternatefutures.com so that we could provide current updates, factoids and general discussion as they occur in a more realtime environment.