by Elizabeth Hines | Sep 5, 2016 | Blog, Leadership, Strategy, Talent
Some companies include failure as a performance metric, but establishing a culture of innovation is a better inflection point for success.
Media executive Jason Seiken is known for taking the Washington Post online and for turning PBS into a digital media powerhouse. Several years ago, he wrote an article, How I Got My Team To Fail More, which described his efforts at PBS to create an entrepreneurial culture by requiring members of the digital team to fail. Seiken wrote:
“Soon after arriving at PBS, I called the digital team into a conference room and announced we were ripping up everyone’s annual performance goals and adding a new metric. Failure. With a twist: ‘If you don’t fail enough times during the coming year,’ I told every staffer, ‘you’ll be downgraded.’ Because if you’re not failing enough, you’re playing it safe. The idea was to deliver a clear message: Move fast. Iterate fast. Be entrepreneurial. Don’t be afraid that if you stretch and sprint you might break things. Executive leadership has your back.”
Five years after introducing the failure metric to PBS, unique visitors to PBS.org doubled, and in each of the first seven months of 2013, PBS.org was the most-visited network TV site (beating out ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox). Additionally, video views on PBS.org and PBS.org’s mobile platforms rose 11,200%.
Was requiring failure the key to success? Not all those who read the post believed so. Rather, many readers suggested that the creation of a culture of innovation, one supported by executive leadership, was the inflection point for success.
The idea that innovation in business or an entrepreneurial culture is brought about by leadership is one put forth by many, including Robert J. Herbold. In his book What’s Holding You Back: 10 Bold Steps that Define Gutsy Leaders, Herbold submits that it is the responsibility of a leader to establish a culture of innovation. That is, a leader must communicate a goal of innovation to his/her employees; encourage employees to aspire to innovation; reward innovation; and instill a sense of urgency.
I see innovation and entrepreneurism as the goal and not failure. For this reason I believe the focus should not be on failure, but instead should be establishing a culture which supports innovation. Yes risk-taking and failure are likely components of innovation, but they are just that — components. “Requiring failure” may be sexy, but I believe supporting innovation is more likely to be the game changer.
What do you think? Is failure a requirement for success? Should leadership focus on encouraging failure?
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by Fronetics | Sep 1, 2016 | Blog, Strategy, Talent
Try these four networking tips to stop feeling guilty about developing relationships to advance professional goals.
Does networking make you feel dirty? Research published in Administrative Science Quarterly confirms you are not alone. The authors suggest that acting in self-interest in pursuit of our career goals can affect our sense of morality.
But, as we know, professional connections are essential to advancing your career, pursuing new opportunities, and earning new business. But how can we get past our distaste for networking?
An aversion to networking can be overcome, according to research by Tiziana Casciaro, associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management; Francesca Gino, professor at Harvard Business School; and Maryam Kouchaki, assistant professor at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. The team identified four strategies for learning to love networking, and published their findings in a recent Harvard Business Review article.
1) Focus on learning
People who approach networking as a necessary evil do it less often and consequently underperform in certain aspects of their jobs. Instead of viewing the next work outing as a chore, shift your mindset to focus on the possible positive outcomes — like gaining knowledge or skills that will help you do your job better.
2) Identify common interests
How do your interests and goals align with the people you meet? People establish the longest-lasting connections when working together on tasks that require contributions from both parties. When you identify mutual interests or objectives with networking contacts, your relationship is more likely to be authentic and to stand the test of time.
3) Think broadly about what you can give
When you don’t have an obvious mutual interest, try offering some kind of value to the relationship. Even junior-level employees, who don’t have company stature or connections to extend, have more networking capital than they may realize. Less tangible things — such as gratitude, recognition, and enhanced reputation — can be highly valuable, the authors suggest.
4) Find a higher purpose
Rather than focusing on the personal benefits, consider the collective value of forming professional connections. Will building relationships help your clients? Will more visibility in professional circles or at industry events enhance your company’s reputation? Framing networking in terms of a larger goal can make the activity more palatable, even helping you to see it as a beneficial opportunity.
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by Fronetics | Aug 31, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Targeted content can help convince high-level decision-makers and executives to accept your sales meeting request.
There are many benefits to content marketing, but did you know it can help you land that next impossible-to-get sales meeting?
According to expert marketer Stu Heinecke’s new book, How to Get a Meeting with Anyone, top sales professionals use personalized content to target high-level relationships in what he calls “a shadow practice,” which has been extremely effective at reaching critical, hard-to-reach contacts.
In these campaigns, content is targeted to make the connection with the right people — without any obvious pursuit — and secure those hard-to-get meetings. This can be a game-changer for your business.
Heinecke’s book pools the advice of the top 100 sales thought leaders in the world. He recently shared some of his findings with Harvard Business Review.
Here are some key takeaways:
- You can use content marketing to combine marketing and selling, employing specific campaigns to connect with high-level decision-makers and specific C-level executives. Finding a few dozen of the correct high-level relationships can quickly elevate the scale of your business.
- When approaching connections derived from content, Heinecke found that response rates averaged from 60% to 80%, with some campaigns actually hitting 100%.
- The greatest success is associated with content that delivers something of value. Share the personality of your brand, but offer no sales pitch. “Your first mission is simply to create a connection, to establish yourself as someone they’ll want to listen to,” Heinecke states.
- You should offer something more, to be delivered at the meeting. The point is to continue to add value to the relationship. For example, offer to bring relevant research, a white paper, or a free audit of the executive’s business to the first meeting.
- Once face to face, continue to engage in conversation that provides insight to what the contact’s business challenges are. Refrain from a sales pitch, but share examples of other companies with similar challenges, which have benefited from your specific product or solution. Tell a story — similar to what your content marketing does.
Content can help you make important connections — just ask NoWait
The same HBR article also shares the story of the founders of NoWait, a mobile application which allows diners to put their name on the waitlist of a restaurant from a remote location.
With a minuscule budget, the NoWait founders used targeted content as the basis for their entire launch strategy. They sent personalized videos on iPads in custom packaging to the CEOs of the 30 top restaurant chains. Their highly targeted approach allowed the company to focus on the exact people who could do them the most good — the decision-makers of the biggest brands in the industry. The app is already used by more than half of their targeted companies.
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by Fronetics | Aug 30, 2016 | Blog, Internet of Things, Logistics, Strategy, Supply Chain
New research shows how supply chain and logistics companies currently are using the Internet of Things and how they plan to expand use in the future.
The Internet of Things is already here — monitoring our footsteps, heartbeats, lighting, home temperature, and environment. And it will continue to expand at a rapid rate. Frost & Sullivan estimates that connected objects will total more than 50 billion by 2020. Morgan Stanley says 75 billion. Either way, it’s clear that the number of internet-connected devices is growing exponentially.
For the supply chain and logistics industries, this is exciting news The transparency and end-to-end visibility afforded by the IoT creates new opportunities that businesses can leverage in order to optimize supply chains and generate value.
Eft, a logistics and supply chain solutions provider, recently polled 600 supply chain decision-makers to understand their “existing and future plans for leveraging the IoT within their operations.” The results offer an interesting picture of the changing relationship between supply chain and logistics and the Internet of Things.
Key findings include:
- 41% have an IoT solution in place.
- 87% plan to expand use of the IoT.
- 61% are analyzing less than half of their IoT data.
What kind of information are companies looking to gain with the IoT?
- Location
- Security
- Temperature
- Speed
What are companies hoping to achieve?
- To improve customer service with better information
- To provide customers with more frequent updates on shipment pick-up or delivery
- To improve speed, delivery timeframes
What types of solutions are companies using?
- Bar codes
- Data logger
- IoT sensor and monitoring technology
In which area are you hoping to improve operational visibility the most?
- 80% land shipments
- 50% air shipments
- 33% sea shipments
What level of threat is cyber security to your IoT strategy?
- 17% major threat
- 47% moderate threat
- 32% minor threat
- 5% non threat
What is the primary purpose of your IoT network?
- 59% alarms and real-time monitoring
- 41% optimization and prediction
Read the full report to get even more insight into how the supply chain and logistics industries are engaging with the IoT.
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by Fronetics | Aug 29, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Strategy, Supply Chain, Warehousing & Materials Handling
Fronetics designed a content marketing strategy that helped the logistics software company realize increases in new business and sales revenue.
Your company is doing pretty well. You have a nice website and a social media account or two. And you’ve experienced year-over-year growth. Why would you do anything differently?
Just ask TotalTrax, a provider of real-time vehicle, driver, and inventory tracking technologies for manufacturing and warehouse operations. Despite a decade of positive growth, the company realized there were many untapped opportunities for new business. So the TotalTrax team hired Fronetics Strategic Advisors to create and implement a new, data-driven marketing strategy that could increase web traffic, lead generation, and brand awareness.
After a comprehensive audit of TotalTrax’s digital assets, Fronetics was able to recommend a course of action and implement a multi-channel content marketing program. The program included such steps as:
- Creating a blog and posting regular targeted content
- Consistently posting on TotalTrax’s social media accounts
- Implementing paid search, email marketing, and other strategies
After just 24 months, TotalTrax realized significant gains in web traffic, lead generation and nurturing, and — most importantly — new business and sales revenue.
To learn more about how content marketing helped TotalTrax grow business, download our case study below.
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by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 25, 2016 | Blog, Data/Analytics, Leadership, Strategy
Forget tracking traditional metrics and focus on decision-quality data that helps front-line managers do their jobs.
It’s safe to say that the clients I engage with fall into two categories when it comes to business data: those that are drowning in it, and those that ignore it altogether.
The ones that are drowning in data know all the relevant facts that keep them out of trouble with their boards or their senior executives, but struggle to tell you what really drives their business costs or profits. The ones that ignore the data are the savvy veterans that rely on their historical win/loss records in their business, but ask them to change course or innovate, and they are like fish out of water.
Chances are you’ll fall somewhere close to those two camps, and for some time, I did as well. Then that I realized that tracking data for the sake of “tracking” was a waste of time for me and for my teams.
There is data, however, that should be tracked relentlessly and used in all of your decision processes. I call this “decision-quality” data. These are the numbers that drive your business strategy and execution.
What is decision-quality data?
Decision-quality data goes beyond the traditional profit/loss packages that are churned out every quarter and disseminated to your business chieftains. Decision-quality data sets are the building blocks and the levers of your business. Examples include areas of your business that can be affected by the execution of your employees.
Put simply, your sales employees may not be able to directly affect your finance treasury function, but working together with your finance team, they can affect cash flow by selling credit-worthy customers, cutting better financial deals, and, when necessary, helping in the collection process.
The same can be said of your purchasing professionals teaming with distribution leaders and finance team. This team can coordinate at the front line to cut costs and reduce inventory spend by developing inventory and financial metrics that matter to them and the company overall. By working in concert, they have the ability to solve the problems that arise and avoid pitfalls in real time instead of reacting when the quarterly metrics come out.
Quite frankly, if you are collecting and looking at data, but not taking action as the result of it, STOP. You won’t miss a thing, and your team will thank you for saving them time to spend on more productive activities.
Don’t fall into the data-cycle-trap dictated by data tracked on a calendar basis for the sake of tracking. Ask your teams what data they need to be effective, and simplify the way for them to get it in near real time.
Once this type of data is in the hands of a cross-functional team of front-line managers, task them with the needed improvement, and watch them make dramatic impacts in your overall business performance and customer experience and, in turn, your profits. The results will be better and more sustained than if you drove them with a mandate from the top because these managers live and breathe in the environment that created the data in the first place. Their cross-functional nature and familiarity with the issues are a winning combination.
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