Facebook's Stand-up Meeting; More Sales Channels Win; Grew 350%; Feb 16th Webcast

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES:   What's the impact of making the right decisions every day? Successful growth companies do not lack ideas or options - what they lack is the time and resources to do them all. One of the biggest problems is their ability to pick the right one. Attend the webcast - 2 Tests to Know You Are Making the Right Decisions to Achieve Your 2012 Plan by Patrick Thean, CEO of Gazelles Systems and author of Execute Without Drama, to gain access to simple tools that will help your team choose the right decisions. You will move faster to achieve your 90 Day, Annual and 3-5 Year Plans with the right priorities. February 16th @ 1:00 EST Click here to register. PLEASE NOTE: this is a Private Webcast for companies with revenue at least $10 million annually Facebook's Stand-up Meeting -- check out today's WSJ for an article on daily stand-up meetings - they continue to go mainstream as small and large firms find the power and time savings of a short meeting to get aligned. Even Facebook is using them (big IPO news this week). Thanks to Josh Yudin, President of The Academy of Marketing, for bringing this to my attention. More Sales Channels, More Sales -- if you face a question of channel conflict, let it go. The research is clear - the more distribution channels you have (that reach your core customer), the more sales. It's why Dell is now selling through Wal-Mart; and Apple opened retail stores. I was surprised by the number of Growth Summit registrations generated by our LinkedIn efforts. Here's a link to my latest syndicated "Growth Guy" column on the topic. The New Experts -- Bob Bloom, retired US CEO of Publicis Worldwide and author of The New Experts, points out that today's customer has three lethal weapons: Instant access to information, immense choice, and the capability to make real-time price comparisons. Result: Customers are calling the shots in today's marketplace. They want products and services available when and where it's convenient for them. Again, this is why you must be in ALL channels that reach your core customer. Core Customer -- so you don't go broke opening additional channels, it's critical you know who your core customer is - the "juicy red center" of your market as Bob Bloom refers to it - so you can target your channel strategy. Bob's book Inside Advantage is the best how-to book for figuring this out. More specifically, there are four critical decisions - decisions he helped Southwest Airlines, Perrier, T.G.I. Friday's, and hundreds of other leading brands determine when he was CEO of the third largest ad agency in the world: WHO -- Who is the core customer of the enterprise. This defines the potential customers most likely to buy the product or service in the quantity required for optimal profit. WHAT -- What is the inside offering that the business will own and leverage. This tangible and emotional customer benefit is the company's inside advantage. HOW -- How becomes the persuasive strategy that will convince the core customer to buy the firm's uncommon offering vs. all competitive offerings. This sells WHAT to WHO. OWN IT! -- is the series of imaginative acts that will celebrate the company's uncommon offering and make it well known to its core customer. Through these acts, the company or brand becomes what its uncommon offering says it is. It's the fun and magical part of the Growth Discovery Process. Grew 350% in Difficult Market -- since retiring, Bob Bloom has been helping growth firms nail these four decisions in a process that costs a fraction of what big firms paid (it's his passion!). Notes Paul Taylor, CEO and Founder, Webmarketing123: "Bob's Inside Advantage process helped us bring a laser focus to who our customer sweet spot is. Today, our metrics-driven Inside Advantage is an integral part of the language we and our clients benefit from, so it's no coincidence that our revenue grew 350% in a difficult economy." Email Bob and have someone who figures this stuff out in his sleep help you nail down these four decisions bob@robert-bloom.com. His website is www.insideadvantage.org. Bob helped us at Gazelles with similar results - his approach works - and it's why I've integrated his approach into our new 7 Strata of Strategy framework.