If you aren’t happy with your business, or you want to stretch to the next level of revenue or profile, you’re ready to re-position your company. Let’s drill down to the specifics of the positioning process. First, know that it will take you about two months if you are starting from scratch. The marketing team needs to own this process, and you can outsource a fair chunk of the research work. Here are the steps:
- Determine emerging trends to capitalize on — this will yield your Vision viability assessment;
- Determine core competencies — this will yield your competitive threat assessment;
- Clarify the problem/pain you are solving — this will yield your target markets and analysis of them;
- Articulate the benefits/drivers/impacts – this will clarify how your customers buy and who they listen to/are influenced by.
From the above analysis you’ll be able to synthesize your opportunities plus understand the value chains in your target markets. The result of combining these two outcomes will yield your differentiating attributes, which forms your positioning strategy and statement. The net-net of your positioning statement is filling in the following statement:
“For ______________________[customer segment] (which was derived from your target markets), __________________ [product/service] (your vision and offering) is _____________________ [2-3 most important benefits and reasons to buy] (your incentive value chain and core competencies). Because compared to _________________ [primary competitor/alternative], ______________________ [key reasons for differentiation] (these are your differentiating attributes).
Here’s an example:
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Positioning is best done with a blend of internal marketing staff, outsourced researchers, and an outside marketing consultant versed in positioning practices. It’s tricky to clearly see how we are perceived and what specifically we need to change.
To uncover your hidden and most powerful points of leverage, request a 45 minute complimentary coaching call by clicking here: http://christinecomaford.com/contact/
Challenge: Many emerging growth companies struggle with the positioning of their firms, and the communication of what they stand for. Without properly communicating your position, the market doesn’t know whether to buy from you, whether you have the know-how they seek, and whether you’ll follow through and meet their needs.
Client Scenario:
Our client Susan* (name changed) has a company that sells bedding and towels. Not much differentiation there, eh? Sheets are sheets, as long as they’re soft, and towels are towels, as long as they’re absorbent. Sales were lackluster. The consumer, the press, the investors, the suppliers, the distribution network didn’t really know why Susan’s products were so great. Only Susan and her executive team did…
We worked with Susan and explained that people don’t buy products or services… they buy experiences. What was the experience she was offering? After some soul-searching she realized it was a return to nature, a deep feeling of connection to the Earth, a sanctuary away from the busy world.
Action/Prescription:
Here are my five steps to clarifying your company’s positioning:
1. Assess where you are right now. Start with this exercise. Ask a customer, competitor, and journalist for the three adjectives they would they use to describe your company, products, and overall image. Then ask yourself the following questions: What’s working with my current position? What isn’t? Do I want to change my position in order to increase sales? Secure a new or different customer profile? Revamp my product line?
2. Determine how you want to be perceived. This is an intentional act. When you determine the specific position you want to occupy in your target customer’s mind, you can then craft your products, marketing messages, and image to convey and reinforce it. What are the meaningful differences between you and your competition? Take the time to do this right, as significant expenses will result when you optimize your Web site, marketing collateral, product packaging, as well as if you overhaul your staff training process.
3. Get emotional. People don’t buy products or services… they buy experiences. What experience are you offering your clients? Safety? Trust? Belonging? Reliability? Adventure? The promise of a glorious future? Your messaging must transport the prospect into this emotional experience.
4. Factor in current trends. You’ve probably heard the expression that if you want to be a market leader, find a parade and jump in front of it. Countless companies are jumping in front of the environmental/sustainability movement with “green” products and services and touting socially-conscious business practices. What trends are on the way in with which you could identify your company? Which should you distance yourself from, since they are on the way out?
5. Formulate your four levels. Your business objective drives your business strategy which drives your market strategy which drives your positioning strategy. Your market strategy will be how to find those new customers and how to communicate with them. The positioning strategy you create will determine the messages you communicate to your target customer to drive sales of your more costly product line.
Result:
Now Susan’s product and company position actually transports you into nature. Her images show bedrooms actually in outdoor natural settings. When viewing these images people audibly sigh, and feel relaxed and comforted. With the new positioning Susan’s revenue is now on a solid ramp upward. She has acquired one company with a complimentary product line that fits well into her brand message. More acquisitions are on the horizon. The future is bright.
What experience are you offering your clients? Safety? Trust? Belonging? Reliability? Adventure? The promise of a glorious future?
To uncover your hidden and most powerful points of leverage, request a 45 minute complimentary coaching call by clicking here: http://christinecomaford.com/contact/
A company culture is like metal… we heat it up with coaching and training and it becomes 
pliable. We help the CEO set it in a new shape and then it hardens. In time it will need to be heated it and evolved into a new shape again.
The most dynamic and high performance cultures are always “warm” so as to never harden. The people in these cultures in time become comfortable with this state, support it, thrive in it, and even demand it. They become so emotionally invested in protecting this precious culture that in time the CEO and exec team barely have to reinforce the culture… because everyone is living it. They are it.
Here are 5 ways to keep your culture warm (or hot!):
1) Provide coaching for the CEO and top level executives: this will enable them to identify and overcome their blind spots and shift their challenging/unprogressive behaviors.
2) Create a culture of constant learning and growth: start with a Cultural Assessment so you truly know where your culture stands. From there the tribal customs, rituals, rewards and consequences, containers can be shaped to fully engage your team.
3) Identify and groom your Emerging Leaders: for a culture to remain warm it must have energy bubbling up from all levels. Who are your unsung heroes? Team members who rally others and/or bring the most innovation to your firm? Emerging Leader coaching helps them to shift their limiting beliefs and take on new more impactful identities—which will help enhance your culture.
4) Get clear on Company Effectiveness: it all begins with your mission, vision, values
5) Get clear on Leadership Effectiveness: to be most present, accountable, clear, powerful, sustainable
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For help with your business needs, contact Christine Comaford, The Executive Coach
Influence is a core pillar of leadership. A leader has to be influential – which to us means: be able to change the hearts and minds of others. In other words, as a leader you need to be able to communicate and interact with others in a way that not only influences them to do things, be in action and create results, but also has them think differently, and leaves them feeling empowered. So one could say influence is about causing another to think, feel and act differently, or in alignment with the results you are looking for. Influence without leaving people feeling empowered is an unsustainable way to be a leader.
A notable trait of top leaders is to lead while building Emotional Equity – this means that top leaders lead while continuing to leave others feeling like they are making deposits into their emotionally positive bank accounts. They are giving, giving, giving, while others are empowered to achieve the results that need to get created. This elevates others, and achieves accelerated results. Leaders elevate others—this is key. We elevate them emotionally so they can achieve more, we elevate them intellectually, so they can see new ways to solve problems and take ownership, and we elevate them positionally—we like team members to envision what their next promotion or two could be and trust that we are helping them get there.
So under the pillar of influence, we will look at things like communication techniques, how we show up to others, our ability to make requests and promises, designing sustainable relationships and agreements, and so forth. Without the ability to influence, there is no leadership.
For help with your business needs, contact Christine Comaford, The Executive Coach
How effective leadership is key in establishing accountability
The last two posts discussed the importance of defining Needle Movers and breaking Needle Movers down into specific actions to bring about desired results. So why is this important? Defining your needle movers is important to establishing accountability in business which is an important aspect of its success. In turn, accountability is key in empowering your employees to become high performers, to demonstrate initiative, and to support the goals of the organization. When a climate of accountability exists, the company’s operations work more effectively and efficiently; and when it is absent, procedures begin to fail and policies are ignored.
What is Accountability?
There are various definitions for accountability. Essentially, most definitions incorporate the idea of personal responsibility to obtain desired results. The notion of accountability evokes both positive and negative reactions from people because it is often synonymous with responsibility, and in many cases blame and guilt. Sometimes there is resistance to being held accountable because of the negative feelings that can sometimes associated with it.
Accountability and Leadership
Accountability begins at the top. Successful leaders have a clear vision for their organization. As a result, their actions are focused on making that vision a reality. This is why clearly defining your Needle Movers are important. Leaders serve as a model for the employees within their organization. As a result, they should be held to the same standards that they expect of their employees. In addition, it is essential for leaders to clearly communicate their expectations to their employees. Clear communication and “practicing what you preach” are influential in employees following in the footsteps of their leaders.
One of the reasons why companies fail is due to the inability of leadership to establish and enforce accountability. When your employees are not held accountable for their behavior, they will often lower their performance just to barely meet expectations. As a result, it is key to reinforce positive behaviors through positive feedback or rewards and inappropriate behavior with coaching or discipline. When this is done appropriately and consistently, it creates a climate of accountability and performance will inevitably increase.
The bottom line is that it is imperative for executives to create and implement an accountability system. Having a system in place that is consistently practiced by people at all levels will help the company move towards its vision and ultimately its success.
Contact Christine Comaford, The Executive Coach today for help with your business needs.
Once you have defined your Needle Movers, you have to take them further by outlining how you will exactly achieve them. Otherwise, you may have just set goals which tend to simply be vague, unaccountable desires.
You may want to begin by setting some annual Needle Movers. Once set, then you can lay out your monthly Needle Movers to track your progress. See how the process starts this way? First you determine what RESULTS will dramatically change your business and life. Then you list what some ideas are to achieve each result.
Drilling Down Into Details
As you start to drill down on your Needle Movers you start understanding how to distribute the work over the coming months, and across your various team members.
Here’s a template to use to identify and track your needle moving RESULTS. Grab a piece of paper and place it lengthwise (or in “landscape” mode if you’re on a PC). Now make 4 columns. The first column is labeled RESULT (this is one of your needle movers), the second column is labeled ACTIONS (these are the actions to take to achieve the specific needle moving RESULT), the third column is labeled OWNER (this is the person who is accountable for a given ACTION) and the fourth column is RESOURCES (these are the resources such as web sites, software and other tools or people to help an OWNER complete a given ACTION.)
A given RESULT will have usually 3-10 ACTIONS, which may have different OWNERS for each ACTION. There may or may not be RESOURCES for a given ACTION.
Get the idea? It’s all about determining the key results that you want to achieve and then listing all the actions that must take place to achieve that result. Assigning an owner and offering resources will of course help too.
The next time overwhelm or lack of focus creep up, count on your Needle Movers to shed light on where your energy and time must be allocated. As a result you’ll see a significant increase in your own productivity and focus, as well as that of your team. And you know how GREAT that feels!
CCA has developed a proprietary “Needle Mover” training and “Motivated Accountability System” to set execution at the highest bar possible. To learn more, contact Christine Comaford, The Executive Coach
In my experience helping build businesses, one of the main reasons why business leaders become overwhelmed and unfocused is because they aren’t defining their “needle movers” and exclusively working on them.
What is a “Needle Mover”?
I prefer the term Needle Mover as opposed to Goal. Goals are binary—you achieve them and feel great or you don’t and feel lousy. You won’t always achieve the exact result you want. This doesn’t mean you have failed! A result is a result, and it will move your business forward.
Now a Needle Mover is a given RESULT that will have a significant impact on the success of your business. You can break down this RESULT into ACTIONS. Once you determine your Needle Movers and create and follow a plan to achieve them you’ll see daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual results. Tangible results keep you excited, they build and maintain your MOMENTUM
What Will Move The Needle?
We all need help identifying the 3 activities to focus on RIGHT NOW that “move the needle” – meaning that move your business forward from zero to 10 miles per hour, or from 10 to 40 mph, or from 40 to 90 mph. Distilling your business to its essence is key here. Maybe to move your business forward you need to: generate more sales leads, close more sales, train up your team to be self-managed. At any given time, everyone on your team should have needle movers they are focusing on and reporting on. The reason I encourage you to distill your needle movers to only 3 is because each of these 3 activities will have sub-activities beneath them, and 3 key goals is plenty to focus on.
For now, I want us to focus on the specific RESULTS you want, and how to set a TARGET, MINIMUM and MIND BLOWER for each Needle Mover. The TARGET is what you want, the MINIMUM is what you are willing to accept, the MIND BLOWER is what would absolutely Rock Your World!
You will have annual Needle Movers, and you’ll have monthly and quarterly ones to help you achieve your annual ones.
CCA has developed a proprietary “Needle Mover” training and “Motivated Accountability System” to set execution at the highest bar possible. This ensures each strategic initiative is being implemented thoroughly throughout the culture, receiving the highest-level attention possible and allows management to immediately determine any effectiveness leaks in the system. Contact Christine Comaford and Associates today to help with your answers and your questions, Christine Comaford, The Executive Coach
How jumping ship too quickly may do more harm than good and what to do when you are feeling the urge to do so.
One of the hardest things to do is to choose a strategic direction, not see the results you want, and still continue to stay the course. Of course, your first instinct may be to jump ship quickly before the ship goes down. However, the problem may not lie with the strategy but the tactical execution of it.
Top leaders often weigh the pros and cons before choosing a particular strategy. Despite this, there are an infinite number of outcomes that can occur with any given strategy. A world class CEO will focus on execution and readjustment before abandoning ship. It is uncommon for execs to choose wildly off-target initiatives and strategies. More often than not the solution is in the discipline to continue the course correction process, particularly through the ability to ask probing questions. Thus, we solve problems that are actually being presented versus solving problems that are an extrapolation of a probable outcome.
To avoid this mistake: Consider the best case, worst case and possible unexpected forks in the road ahead of time. Work with your team to create the expectation of long-term commitment to a strategy – even through tough times. Focus on the execution of a strategy chosen and not on going back to the drawing board.
To help our clients avoid this blindspot, CCA has developed a proprietary “Needle Mover” training and “Motivated Accountability System” to set execution at the highest bar possible. This ensures each strategic initiative is being implemented thoroughly throughout the culture, receiving the highest-level attention possible and allows management to immediately determine any effectiveness leaks in the system.
How One Common Executive Mistake May Be Sabotaging Your Effectiveness as a Leader and What You Can Do About It
One of the most common mistakes that can compromise a high performance CEO is lack of consistency and conformity. Consistency and conformity are frequently listed as top priorities for growth and scaling by top executives. However, in practice, this is not always applied, and sometimes, a completely different message altogether, is conveyed. Conformity is usually a paradox in growing corporations, where thinking outside the box is often encouraged. And consistency can go out the window depending on how rapidly the organization is growing. It is not uncommon for a trend of “fire fighting” to take hold as the company culture.
In the 1970’s Steven Covey introduced the 2×2 matrix of prioritization, teaching us how easy we can slip from what’s “Urgent and Important” to things that are “Urgent and Not Important,” simply because the human energetic experience of “Urgency” is similar. As companies go through periods of rapid growth, the experience within the organization is similar to the “Urgency” experience and as a result, maintaining consistency and conformity can go by the wayside.
To avoid this mistake: Routinely communicate to your team the importance of following systems and procedures especially during periods of rapid growth. Systems and procedures maintain brand, product, customer service and other departmental consistency to the customer. Internal attention to having growth spurts be individual stages that get gelled back into the corporate structure will pay huge dividends. Reviewing values and vision on a monthly and quarterly basis will support a culture of consistency as well.
To learn about other common pitfalls to avoid, register to receive the “CEO Special Report”. It’s filled with valuable information, based on research and best practices, of some of the most frequent mistakes made by high performance CEO’s and how to avoid them.
At CCA our clients are trained in a unique process to design Standard Operating Procedures that drive high accountability and productivity in your team. We also teach how to have highly effective meetings that maintain team cohesion, a consistent leadership experience of executives and managers and consistent “results driven” conversations.
I recently had the great good fortune to attend a seminar with Wayne Dyer in Maui. Throughout it he talked about the shift that people go through when they see life in a new way, change their values as a result, and ultimately become far more fulfilled.
This shift is an inner action, it includes an expanded feeling of purpose, an awareness that there’s more to life than we had previously thought or assumed.
Here’s the net-net:
What struck me as fascinating was that after shifting, how one felt became more important than physical stuff and outer accomplishment. As Byron Katie says “You can never have enough of things that you don’t need.” Love that.
Are you shifting? Have you shifted? If you’ve experienced an increased interest in spirituality, personal growth, feeling happy and peaceful then yes, you’re on your way. If you want to/are more inner focused for answers and peace as opposed to outer focused, then yes, you’re shifting/have shifted.
Here’s the best part. Shifting results in better leads, happier teams, more productive companies, higher revenue and greater profit. And the very best part? People are happier, more peaceful, more fulfilled in their work.
You can learn more about shifting by watching Wayne’s movie entitled The Shift, which is available on NetFlix.com.
Enjoy.
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