Weekend Reading

Digital Business Ecosystem Under The Hood 

In an ecosystem, we typically see three types of horizontal business models emerge - Aggregators, Integrators, and Infrastructures - which may be distinguished based on their position in the value chain. Additionally, firms may specialise and act as capability providers.

Five Anxieties of Tech CEO

• The first is dealing with increasing individual and team performance. Technology moves at such a rapid pace that is challenging to keep up with evolving new concepts. 
• The second is with doing more with less – either with resources (people and budgets) or time to meet the company goals. 
•  Most technology organisations have developed specializations over the years and the CEO experiences the third anxiety of leveraging with partner organisations as specializations are all over. 
• Often, either the organization, the investors or the board has a new vision, and the CEO now needs to deal with the fourth anxiety of how to synchronize one’s execution with a new vision. 
•  Finally, the technology world has grown global and technology teams take the job to where the talent is. This now means managing and leading the global workforce, the fifth anxiety.

Want More Deals - Teach your Sales Rep to Write

Why B2B Marketers Must Stop using the Jargon

“Don’t hope to impress customers with the language they won’t understand. Instead, impress them with how much you understand them,” the post said. “The reality is that jargon varies so much from organization to organization – and even from department to department inside of an organization – that it’s always better to speak in plain terms than to risk fanciful obscurity.”

Replacing the Sales Funnel with Flywheel 
Using a flywheel to describe a business allows us to focus on how to capture, store and release our own energy, as measured in traffic and leads, free sign-ups, new customers, and the enthusiasm of existing customers. It’s got a sense of leverage and momentum. 

The metaphor also accounts for the loss of energy, where lost users and customers work against our momentum and slow our growth. 

The two dynamics that make our flywheel spin fast: are force and friction.  

Why Inflation is Rising - Macro and Geo Political View

 

Future of Cloud - Upcoming Talk 2022

 Sharing the Agenda and Summary from my Upcoming Talk on,  "Future of Cloud - 2022"

Distributed Cloud Battle - AWS vs Google

 Distributed Cloud Battle - AWS vs Google

Evolution of Cloud Migration Strategy for IT and Business Application

 Evolution of Cloud Migration Strategy for IT and Business Application  

Source: Gartner, BCG, CCF, Forrester

Weekend Reading

 

• Key to Building a Great Company
• Do the hard things. To build a great startup, you have to move fast. But you shouldn’t let urgency distract you from tackling big, thorny problems. Doing the hard things is one of the most effective ways to build true defensibility. 
• Protect your principles. Having clear company principles helps your team make faster, better decisions. It’s easier to act autonomously when you have a clear framework to follow. Failing to protect these values can shift your company towards an “exception-based” culture. 
• Pay your debts. Every time you make a sub-optimal corporate decision, you create a “debt” that must be paid. This is true across engineering, product, and marketing teams. To avoid debts spiraling, keep track of them and proactively pay them down. 
• Build a brand. If you’re building a good business, you’ll inevitably attract competition. For consumer companies, it’s essential to create an impactful, differentiated brand. If you do it well, you’ll outcompete better-capitalized opponents.”
• Career Advice
• Try to be the best at what you do. The money will take care of itself…In business, persistence pays off…Others may have more advantages than you, but no one has more hours in the day than you. No one can outwork you unless you let it happen…Find your workplace tribe…No one cares about your disadvantages. Overcome them…Managers must be managed.
• Action for Sales Leader When Inflation is Rising
• Actions - Once you and your peers have assessed the market landscape and your ecosystem, take action. Incorporate immediate actions into existing sales plans and future required actions into your B2B sales strategy. 
•  Leadership Actions 
• As with all changes that affect our teams, we must take a leadership role. For example, we must treat economic downturns and the changes that we have to make as a comprehensive change program. As usual, this starts and continues with communication. 
•  Communication. When economics impacts our business, our teams and those within our partner ecosystems need reassurance about the future of the company. In addition, they need reassurance of their personal futures. Share executive team views on the market. Communicate the results of any assessments that have been made and actions that are planned. 
• Care for your team. Managers must ensure that open and transparent communications are available. Continue to appreciate and recognize employee efforts during what could be a challenging time. A culture of appreciation drives employee engagement and productivity. 
• Budget. Although sales does not have tremendous discretionary budget, it goes without saying that leaders must reduce all unnecessary spending, including travel, and consider hiring freezes where appropriate. 
• Go-To-Market Actions 
• Position resources toward the market priorities that will drive the best current and future results. For example, some industries such as healthcare may be more recession-proof than others. 
•  Demand engine changes. Shift marketing spend to appropriately drive demand in target segments and nurture those that will be poised to act when recovery occurs. Share Six Tips Marketing Operations Leaders Can Use To Prepare For A Potential Recession with your marketing partners. 
• Digital routes to market. Consider how buyers may be changing their purchasing behavior. If, for example, they desire self-service, consider if now is the time to invest in digital selling capabilities. Doing so can meet buyer needs and reduce human sales expense. 
• Seller enablement. Educate direct and partner sellers on new messaging, offerings, packages, etc. In addition, coach them to ensure that they can effectively leverage these resources. 
• Coverage and quota. Shift coverage to ensure that existing and targeted priorities are effectively covered. Consider changes to quota or incentives to drive action to the highest-potential opportunities and clients. Also, consider how quota or incentives may have to be adjusted if existing targets are no longer achievable. 

• Define ROI from Digital Transformation 
• Example - Insurance 
• Once the link between digital capabilities and customer and business metrics has been established, begin to map these digital capabilities to the customer lifecycle, the insurance value chain, and a technology stack. 
•  Demonstrate how digital technologies: Improve product design, marketing and sales, service, and engagement. 
• Lower the costs of underwriting, acquisition, service, and compliance.
• 12 Best Sales Methodologies & The Key to Customer-Centric Selling
• SPIN Selling 
• N.E.A.T. Selling™ 
• Conceptual Selling 
• SNAP Selling 
• Challenger Sale 
• The Sandler System 
• MEDDIC 
• Solution Selling 
• Inbound Selling 
• Target Account Selling 
• Command of the Sale 
• Gap Selling

Global Financial Crisis to Global Inflation Crisis Spectrum

 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) to Global Inflation Crisis (GIC) Spectrum

Inflation Impact - CIO and CFO Ask and Priorities in 2022

CIO Priority for OPEX Relief by Reducing Spend on 

• Collaboration software 
• Data centre build-out 
• Consulting 
• Infrastructure hardware 
• ERP applications

CIO Priority for driving Growth by Increasing Spend on 

• Digital transformation 
• Cloud, AI, ML, RPA
• Cost Arbitrage levers like Outsourcing and Offshoring
• Data warehouse, Business intelligence, Analytics
• Security software 

IT Spending and Market Trends 2022

 

Source Gartner IT Spending Trends 2022

Elon Musk Effect on Twitters Business and Brand Equity

 

Effect on Share Price, Twitter Business, Employees, CEO and Exec Team

• Elon Musk who leads Tesla and Space X announced buying Twitter for $44 Bn supported by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, the crypto exchange  Binance, and Oracles CEO Larry Ellison. This helped the falling share price to rise again. 
• On July 10 he announces to pull out because of a lack of clarity on users (primarily bots) and financials and since then the price has fallen back to the same price of $33 when the deal was announced to acquire.
• Prior to this deal, the share price was in decline from early 2021.
• It is likely that it now goes into litigation and worst for Musk will be to pay $1Bn in the penalty, but it has a detrimental effect on Twitter's business, employees (morale), and more importantly, its brand equity will take a severe hit, resulting in further decline.
• Twitter CEO and his executive team will not survive this fiasco.

Trends from AT&T about Fibre Economics and Data Growth

Key Trends and Message from AT&T Results from Mar 2022

• Monthly consumption is accelerating from 900 gigabytes to nearly a terabyte today.
• We are consuming roughly 30x more data in our homes than we are on the go with our smartphones. 
• Homes are getting smarter, and they're becoming more demanding environments where flawless, high-quality broadband is required. Our home has become a work environment.
• The average household today has 13 devices, and that's expected to triple by 2025.
• Enterprises are managing a multi-cloud environment they require more low-latency and secure bandwidth.
• Fibre is economical and superior; therefore, consumption over wireless is used for high-value mobile applications. 
•  IoT connectivity is growing 18% year-over-year. The next wave of digital transformation is being driven by cloud, AI and connected sensors.
• Data growth is exploding post covid driven by hybrid arrangements, pent-up demand and everything digital.
• Fibre is not only economical with data demand but is superior, reliable and secure. 

Suggestions for the Federal Govt on NBN.

• Make 250/100 Mbps the minimum speed requirement on the network. Currently, Avg speed in Australia is around <60/20Mbps
• Waive off the outstanding debt of $27Bn, and that will enable NBN to reduce the wholesale price to around $20-$25/month per user
• Make FTTP to all areas (>93%) where it can be served.
• These 3 suggestions will drive the green economy and innovation, reduce carbon footprint, reduce pressure on the city's infrastructure, drive growth in country areas and drive SMB growth and reach outside Australia. 

 

Persona Mapping - Sellers from Mars and Buyers from Venus - Elements of Nature Meet B2B Sales

Excerpt from my upcoming book at amazon.com - "Sellers from Mars and Buyers from Venus - Elements of Nature Meet B2B Sales" 

How a Sponsoring Executive of Action Centric (Fire) Persona and Calm and Stable Persona (Earth) will engage with others. 

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Sponsoring Executive

An executive sponsor is a person in the management or an executive team responsible for driving the outcome of a proposed solution to resolve a business problem. In business-to-business sales, an executive sponsor can be on either side, at the buyer's or the seller's end. 

At the buyer's end, it is primarily someone who has a keen interest in resolving a business problem or is a decision-maker and strongly influences the outcome of a sales transaction. 

At the seller's end, it is primarily someone keen on growing the business by investing capital and resources.

  

Following are the key responsibilities of an executive sponsor at the buyer's end:

• Prepare and own the business case

• Engage and work with other sponsors and stakeholders in positioning and selling the business case internally and externally with suppliers

• Recommend or assist in the go-to-market approach

• Govern the communication with stakeholders

• Govern the risks and the outcome of the business case 

Let us explore how a sponsoring executive at the buyer's end engages with the internal and external stakeholders by applying the elemental attributes learned in previous sections.

Fire – Action 

Sponsoring Executive

• Business Case Preparation

o they are seeking a futuristic and innovative roadmap or a solution, preferably for short and mid-term 

o a lot of data points are provided for analysis and problem definition

o budget allocation will be generous and is eager to allocate work   

• Go to Market Approach 

o fond of an audience and connecting with higher authorities means they employ a top-down strategy

o being time-consuming, a mechanism like RFP is least appealing 

o they reach out to innovative and agile (swift in delivery) suppliers, or internal teams for selling the business case

    

• Positioning 

o growth-oriented – being passionate for innovation and driven by future trends with the intent of growing the business, their initiatives are positioned as growth-oriented

• Engagement

o being open and honest, they interact with honesty and transparency, loses cool if the opposite side is not transparent

o the sharpness of fire is reflected in their sharpshooting style of conversation, and they have no hidden agenda

o they are competitive and use charm to impress upon stakeholders 

• Communication  

o timely, quick and action-oriented

o they lack depth in conversation, like to take control of the conversation 

o they use data-driven insights and visuals to communicate  

• Governance   

o they exert pressure on stakeholders by repeatedly chasing activity progress 

o they seek action and quick wins 

o they are tolerant and considerate but will have failures or lapses in execution provided the information for the root cause is shared transparently

The book is on promotion for a limited time only.

Sellers from Mars and Buyers from Venus - V

Excerpt from my upcoming book at amazon.com - "Sellers from Mars and Buyers from Venus - Elements of Nature Meet B2B Sales" 

How a Marketing Manager will engage with others 

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B2B Sales Stakeholders and Their Activities

The sales team or a sales representative, engages various internal and external stakeholders, with the intent of growing the business underpinned by positioning a compelling product or a service. The following list gives a good view of various stakeholders engaged by the sales team or a representative.

● the internal marketing and corporate strategy team for research, positioning, and pricing 

● internal product engineering or service design team 

● internal legal service team for defining contractual agreements, terms, and conditions

● procurement at the buyer’s end

● sponsoring C-level executives like CEO, CFO, CIO, CDO and their team members at buyer’s end

● internal HR, legal, quality, security and sales team  

● and others like a third-party product or service partner 

These stakeholders will vary with vertical, geography, type and size of a prospective buyer like an SME or a global player. This is not an exhaustive list but highlights the magnitude of complexity and multiplicity involved in executing sales and business development activity. 

With the intent of supporting a sales team or a representative, different activities at each stage of the value chain are executed by various stakeholders, some in parallel and some in sequence. 

Let’s explore how a Marketing Manager will engage in various activities with its stakeholders at the seller's or buyers' end by applying the lens of five elemental attributes.  

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Next: Coming up 

• Cheat Sheet for Sales Planning and Execution using Five Elements   
• How a Procurement Executive will Engage
• How B2B Sales are different in Service vs Product 

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Previous articles can be read here

• Part 4 on How a Sponsoring Executive will engage can be read here
• Part 3 on Negotiation Styles in B2B Sales can be read here 
• Part 2 on Persona Mapping in B2B Sales can be read here 
• Part 1 on Marrying Elements of Nature with B2B Sales can be read here

Market Your Way to Growth

Template for driving growth.

• Grow by Building Market Share 
• Grow through Developing Committed Customers and Stakeholders 
• Grow by Developing a Powerful Brand 
• Grow by Innovating New Products, Services, and Experiences 
• Grow by International Expansion 
• Grow by Mergers, Acquisitions, Alliances, and Joint Ventures 
• Grow by Building an Outstanding Reputation for Social Responsibility 
• Grow by Partnering with Government and NGOs

Source: Market Your Way to Growth by Philip and Milton Kotler

Characteristics of Creative People

Personal Characteristics 

According to Gilda Waisburd, a specialist in creativity, the traits of creative people are as follows:3 

• Flexible (they go beyond the obvious) 

• Fluid (they generate many ideas about a problem) 

• Elaborative (they expand the task in detail) 

• Tolerant of ambiguity (they stand up well to conflict) 

• Able to see the whole (they take a systemic approach) 

• Inquiring (interest in many disciplines) 

• Sensitive to the interests of others (they understand others’ needs) 

• Curious (interested in “playing” with things) 

• Independent (they come up with ideas of their own) 

• Reflective (they think about what they see and hear) • Action-oriented (they go beyond thinking and the idea to act) 

• Able to concentrate (they work in a consistent manner) 

• Persistent (they don’t give up easily) • Committed (they get involved with things) 

• Sense of humor (they are able to laugh and use humor to put things in perspective) 

Personal Qualities Frank Barron, Howard Gardner, Calvin Taylor, Robert Sternberg, E. Paul Torrance, and Robert Weisberg, all distinguished theorists on creativity, generally concur that creative people exhibit the following qualities 

 • Verbal fluency 

• High IQ 

• Imagination 

• Ability to influence others’ and one’s environment 

• Ability and propensity to take risks 

• Interest in properly defining the problem to be solved 

 Common Resources of Creative People 

• Use metaphors 

• Use images 

• Use logic 

• Usually ask themselves the “why” in what they observe