"...keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
Business Owners in Pittsburgh, Morgantown, Charlottesville,
Houston, and Arlington/Alexandria -- Fortune Small Business is
working on their annual Best Places to Live and Launch issue and would like to
speak with small business owners who have a story about why they chose to launch
their business in the cities listed above. Please only respond if you or the
person you know is a small business owner who is currently running a business in
one of the above cities, and include specifics when possible. Email Megan_Erickson@timeinc.com
Four Large Companies Playing to Win -- entitled
"The New (Recovery) Playbook", take five minutes to read this excellent Fortune
article about how GE, Nalco, Avon, and others are adapting their companies
to the new realities. It started with Jeffrey Emmelt, CEO of GE, commanding his
divisions to find ways to win rather than detail why they were losing! And
Nalco's "Big Bang" meeting is the kind of deep pruning all companies must face
-- especially stopping unprofitable products and services. And the most
interesting statistic came from Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon, who shared research
that says only 13% of those trading down will go back to their old spending
habits. We all have short memories so we'll see.
Close to the
Customer Using Skype Video -- Lora Stevenson with Nashville-based Randa Solutions was in my
Las Vegas CompTIA presentation last week and shared how she uses Skype Video
Chat to communicate "face-to-face" with customers. Notes Stevenson "I've sent
cameras to customers and team members who were global and found that a $20.00
camera and 30 minute install of this free software makes not only my business
relationships and teams stronger, but improve the lives of my customers (who
doesn't have a grandchild, friend, or associate at a great distance these
days)." These are great tools to bridge the generation gap between those who are
accustomed to one on one conversation and those (perhaps younger) folks who hope
to make technology a more frequently used tool.
"Hidden
Champions" are Closer to the Customer and Command Higher Prices --
Robbin Phillips with Brains On Fire took my note
about Hermann Simon's new book on Hidden Champions (Simon is keynoting the Growth Summit) and wrote an excellent blog. To excerpt: http://brainsonfire.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/07/is-closeness-to-customer-a-new-measure-of-success/
It
seems that of the Hidden Champions Simon has studied, 88.7% of them have this
characteristic in common: Five times as many employees (25-50%) have regular
customer contact. This is compared to larger companies who typically have only
5-10% of their employees who have regular customer
contact.
Hmmm.
Number One or Number Two In the
World -- continues Phillips "It is probably important to note that
Hidden Champions are number one or two in world market share, less than 1
billion in revenues with low visibility and public awareness. An interesting
(and some might argue odd) bunch for those of us involved in social media to
learn from for sure. But I love studying the less obvious.
So what is the value of customer closeness? According to Simon, by staying close to your most demanding customers, these companies drive performance and innovation. Their strategies become value driven, not price driven, so they can charge 10-15% more for their product or services. (I would bet money that employees are more engaged if they are closer to the customers. It's always a signal of corporate health and profitability in my opinion.)" I'm reading Simon's new book now and looking forward to hearing this global guru keynote our Growth Summit along with Jim Collins.