Westfall

Higher Achievement: Supporting 100,000 College Graduations

2011-04-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

I'm on the Board of a fledgling non-profit organization called Topplers. We're expanding our community service initiatives and the following blog post describes the initiative that I'm leading. Until we launch our new website and community site for Topplers, if you want to get involved please contact me at chris@topplers.org.

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In simple, factual, somewhat dry terms, Higher Achievement is an initiative supported by Topplers, where we’ll use the Topplers community and the Topplers ‘pay it forward’ online tracking system to build support and track progress. The substance of Higher Achievement is supporting 100,000 college graduations, which is a personal goal where I hope myself and many others can positively impact students at various stages of their college careers, giving each a foundational set of skills and knowledge at the front-end of a lifetime of learning. But as I said, this is the somewhat dry, simple, factual stuff.

To the people we will impact with the efforts of Higher Achievement, an entirely different picture will emerge—one rich in personal growth for every student we support, and jammed full of hard work, fun, excitement, exhaustion, and ultimately the achievement of a credential that marks the first major accomplishment of many peoples’ adult lives. This is important to the people we will support, because a college degree not only marks the achievement of a valued credential, but because it signifies a skill-set, a body of knowledge, and an accomplishment based on hard work and determination.

For each person we support, they’ll also likely achieve $1,000,000 in additional income over their professional lives. In fact some analysis by smart people at Arizona State University revealed that, based on year 2000 census data, average annual earnings of individuals with a bachelor’s degree was from 74 to 87 percent higher (depending on age) than the earnings of individuals whose maximum educational attainment was a high school diploma.

Not only do employers need these people, and pay them well, but so do governments, who need these people and deploy them on critical missions around the world. And we—yes, you and me—need these people in our communities solving the tough problems we encounter at both the local and global level—from cleaning up the environment to solving massive problems like hunger and global warming.

So how do we get there? How do we support 100,000 college graduations?

It is at the individual level where our efforts will focus, because it takes a massive, concerted effort of time, energy and money—along with some highly targeted advice and prodding—for any individual to both enter and graduate from college.
We need to work together to identify the events and influences that make college graduation happen. Certainly students have to respond. But we, as a supportive community, have to build the expectations and support systems.

Junior High and High School curricula have to be interesting and challenging. According to some of the experts, it is the academic intensity of students’ high school curriculum that counts more than anything else in providing the momentum a student needs to complete a bachelor’s degree. So how can you support the teachers, administrators and students at a school?

We need to set the expectation that student should be prepared for tough courses, and that participation in tough courses paves the way for handling life’s tough challenges. Simple public dialog, sharing examples and setting high expectations contributes significantly to preparedness.

What else? Curriculum is one key element of supporting students, but we can’t ignore attendance and performance. Looking at performance, as measured by grades, it’s clear that higher grades equate to higher academic momentum and graduation rates. Relative to attendance, repeating or dropping courses is bad. Also, the longer students wait, the less likely they will finish. The year a student graduates from high school is the year they should enter college. Help make that happen for someone that might not otherwise.

How can we help 100,000 students graduate from college? Here are a few ideas.
•Help a student with college readiness:
o Mentor a student or get involved in a support program for first generation college students—focusing on Jr. and Sr. high school students both
o Help someone with their college application
o Contribute to an endowment or scholarship fund
•Help a student with college persistence:
o Find an opportunity for in-university mentorship and personal support; you might also find a way to get involved with the career services office, including career planning and networking support through your alumni organization.
•Support students with a STEM focus (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). These types of tough academic programs get students to really excel in college and after graduation.
•Support a foreign exchange student. Cultural fluency is a powerful asset.
•Get involved in a University 101 program at a university, which supports student success and retention. These programs tend to focus on getting students launched into successful college careers by focusing on the early steps they take at an institution.
•Get involved in cooperative community/university organizations—social cohesion is huge in helping students achieve in school.
•Get involved in learning communities – academic clubs, or even social clubs like fraternities and sororities—because a strong college community supports academic achievement.
•Support student groups that are involved in peer mentoring, which also equates strongly with college graduation rates.

There are certainly many other ways to support a student in moving into and through college. Our efforts with Higher Achievement and Topplers will try to communicate more ideas, and take a range of specific actions ourselves; I hope you will also contribute to this community with ideas, and most importantly, I hope that you’ll decide to take an action that supports a student.

Tell someone else what we’re doing. Take action yourself and ‘pay it forward.’

Growth-As-A-Service

2010-06-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Service projects resulting from hardware and software sales to enterprise customers represent an often uneven revenue stream. While VARs, Distributors, SIs, and OEMs all participate in the B2B mass market IT channel, it’s VARs that play the central role in selling and delivering hardware, software and services in combination. In this context an enormous opportunity exists for Professional Service Executives to create recurring, non-project revenue by developing subscription or annual service packages.

Service organizations that develop a robust portfolio of non-project services also benefit from creating customers-for-life, which enables not only involvement in a larger percentage of client IT portfolios on average, but also ensuring that the VAR’s business is well-positioned for follow-on hardware and software sales due to client intimacy.

There are two primary objectives that need to be achieved to growing services with enterprise customers:

• Increase the number of your customers who have a service relationship with you.
• Increase the total amount your customers spend annually on services.

In support of these primary objectives, an organization can achieve significant progress by focusing on three characteristics of expert service delivery:

• Sales excellence. Services sales are different from product sales—they’re longer, more strategic, and if done successfully contribute to long-term, durable relationships. It is services sales that allow enterprises to purchase a total solution.

• Customer relationship excellence. Customers can be retained for longer and spend more when relationships are invested in. Durable customer relationships also provide strategic feedback that enables a business to refine its “solutions” to the specific needs of customers, ultimately shortening sales cycles and improving profit margins.

• Delivery excellence. Substantive expertise in architecting, implementing and monitoring critical enterprise systems and infrastructure immediately establishes trust and credibility. Delivery excellence also produces real results for clients in the form of tangible business value.

A significant number of VARs are attempting “managed services,” the latest buzz term, which are intended to provide a high value service for client companies where IT operations aren’t the core of their business. Additionally, managed services provide a constant connection to each client, which allows a higher degree of engagement in solving IT problems for each client enterprise. “One big area of investment in 2010 will be managed services, where VARs plan to increase their already growing business. In 2009 (sic), managed services accounted for an average of 9.5 percent of revenue, up from 8.6 percent in 2008. That percentage is expected to jump to 11.4 percent next year.” (CRN Study: By Scott Campbell, ChannelWeb, Dec. 14, 2009)

While it can be fairly straight-forward to package and market services, the sales process is generally longer. Additionally, service packages that don’t have significant substance behind them are less likely to create significant revenue. The sophistication of processes, controls, reporting and ongoing improvement all of these elements, aligns with the level of strategic fit and budget allocation at each client.

Strategic importance. More budget. This is the substance, and reward, of being a true value added reseller.

Entering A New Market

2009-12-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

I was recently preparing for a meeting were I expected to spend significant time on the topic of entering a new market. Gaining access to a new market for a business can obviously drive significant growth. It can also be a phenomenal waste of time and money for a business that’s not ready to enter the market. So as I prepared for my meeting, I made some notes that I thought were worth sharing here. Also, these notes anticipate either entry into a new industry market or a new geographic market.

So how do you prepare to enter a new market to grow a business? Ask some questions and plan carefully:

1) Walk in customer shoes--meet with them, don't necessarily sell to them, but connect with them and their peers.
• How do they work? Why?
• Who do they work with? Why?
• What are their business processes or behaviors of the market/audience in the area of business you're interested in?
• How do they buy products/services? Why?
• How are the answers to these questions any different today than they were 5 or 10 years ago? Why?
• Who are role-models for customers? Do they emulate customers you know from your ‘home’ market? How? Why?

2) Walk in partners' shoes--meet with them, don't necessarily sell to them, network with them and their peers.
• What is the scope of product/service they provide? Why?
• What is their growth strategy? Why?
• Who do prospective partners partner with? Why?
• How have they succeeded? Why?
• Where have they been successful? Why?
• What are the experiences and skills of their leaders? How do they make decisions?
• Build a case-study for something they were really excited about and very successful with. And build a case-study for something that they were really excited about and that failed.

3) For your product or service, understand expertly the perspective of target partners and customers.
• How do they talk about your product / service (categorically and specifically)?
• If you partner with companies in your home market, do those companies operate in your new market? How have they done it? If they offer different / variations on their solutions, how might that impact your product / service?
• What do competitors get paid for their solutions in the new market? Is it different than in the home market?
• If adoption of your product / service requires change on the part of your customer target, how can that be supported in the new target market?
• And critically, how can you demonstrate expertise and generate trust?

4) Evaluate your own business readiness.
• Based on what you’ve learned, what people do you need to enter the new market and make customers happy/successful? Can you get the right people?
• What advantages / disadvantages are there to partnering to enter the new market? How can your business maximize the advantages and mitigate the risks?
• What resources/systems do you need in the new market? What resources/systems do you need in your home market supporting you? Can you get them?
• What communication infrastructure and processes do you need to support entry and on-going operation of the business for the benefit of customers?
• Can the business make the sustained commitment to enter and grow in the market with the expected returns in year 1, year 2, year 3 and beyond? Can you build support for this? How?
• Is entry to the new market going to deliver results that are better than doing something else? Why?

This isn’t exhaustive, but is a decent start. If you have good answers to these questions, and can make the commitment—go for it! You have to be able to clearly shift from analysis mode to action mode to create the momentum to succeed.

Anything to add? Let me know.

The Formula for Business Alliances that Produce

2009-10-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

I was talking to a local CEO who runs an online services business the other day and he asked me about what makes partnerships really work. There are far too many, and he’d experienced this, that take a lot of time and don’t render a lot of results; particularly with channel sales where your own sales team has to be involved. There isn't one formula.

Here’s the gist of what I told him:

1) There are other structures to business alliances—and maybe reseller isn’t the right one. Fit the agreement to the opportunity, and existing business models of each company: Lead referral, OEM, JV, reseller, etc.

2) Focus on process. Line up the abilities of your company and make sure you’re ready; then run a diligent process for each partner; and bring on only high-quality partners in a very public, organized, accountable way.

3) Continue the honeymoon. Everyone’s happy once a signature happens, but you have to keep it going. Have someone that owns the relationship and have them publish a contract summary to everyone, and use it as the guide to driving action on everything that was committed to by both parties. If it was put in the contract, it has to have mattered and must have value to getting a return from the partnership. (Hint: only put things in the contract that matter.)

4) Be aggressive and enthusiastic. I think you can be more aggressive with partners than with customers. You have to be to get action in many cases; and because you’re not selling to them like an end-customer, you can push and persist more emphatically. And in the end, we all know that the squeaky wheel gets greased.

5) Focus on getting meaningful early wins with a champion from the partner company. A big early win can put a lot of support behind the partnership from both organizations. And get the CEO (or someone that’s well-respected on the exec team) to sponsor the partnership—this way you can go back to them and make some big noise about the win to gain more support and focus. Keep building on the early wins.

6) Hire good partners. This means being very selective. It is the quality of the organization and people assigned to your partnership that will have a huge impact on success. If their people aren’t cutting it, figure out how to make a change. Tricky, but possible, and worth the effort.

7) Build a partner-friendly culture, so every functional area of the business is pulling some partner weight.

8) Measure success. Take the time to figure out what margin you’re getting from partner deals compared to direct sales deals. It should be more/better; and knowing the numbers can help drive positive changes to increase volume and margin.

Extend the Honeymoon

2009-09-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

I think that a lot of people assess business development at the time a signature on a contract happens. And that assessment is often based on expected revenue or on how many deals get done on a particular calendar. But it is what happens after signature—integrating the deal into a business—that is a much better assessment of the value of business development. This means that project management and execution excellence are very important to business development deal success.

One habit that I highly recommend is communicating the contract:

1) Summarize the deal in plain language and communicate it to everyone that matters to the success of the deal.
2) And then use this summary (or better yet a copy of the actual agreement) as your constant guide to drive strong support and to drive your own priorities in the months that follow signature.

The spirit and intent of the agreement are captured in those pages and having everyone understand and act on this is central to the success of implementing the agreement, and realizing the revenue/opportunity associated with the agreement.

“Here's the thing: there isn't a shortage of ideas. There's a shortage of execution.” (Borrowed from Seth Godin’s blog) This is what I’m talking about. Love that contract and love its implementation or you’ll be doomed to waste all the effort that went into the courtship and negotiation. So commit to extending the honeymoon and you might just be surprised that it leads to new opportunities for the next…

Readiness, Reach, Revenue—A Business Development Framework

2009-08-10T16:00:00.000-07:00

My basic assumption about the business development role in a company is that it should be about developing the business. It’s not sales. Sales is about developing and working a pipeline, getting contracts signed, and invoicing customers for product/service. This is extremely valuable to a business, but business development is a different endeavor.

I believe that business development should be framed by reach, readiness and revenue.

Reach: If you want to develop a business, you need customers, so how can you reach them? If they’re on another continent or in another market where the business doesn’t operate today—or maybe a market where you can’t get to scale without some help—can you get there with an alliance, JV or other structured agreement? Business development is about reaching a market full of good customers, which entails a smart, thorough evaluation of the market and the opportunity associated with entering it.

Readiness: Are you ready to deliver great customer experiences? What resources do you need to be sure you deliver on your brand promise? Business development should drive the readiness of the company, which likely means collaboratively working across the organization so that the business can systematically drive happy customer outcomes in the market you’ve just reached. Businesses that have started with a direct sales approach often have capacity that could be used to support a new partner-oriented way of doing business, so you need to find that capacity and put it to good use. For example, does your co-lo facilities have CPUs and bandwidth that go unused during the night? Can they be put to use during that time? What about the people on the tech support team or trainers? And, as an aside, part of this process (earlier in the process) is also evaluating whether the business is ready to enter a market at all, or based on readiness, how else you may enter the market.

Revenue: Developing a business is also about attracting good talent and paying them. So any BD process—from early exploration and diligence until contract negotiation and ultimately partner enablement—has to produce revenue so good talented people can get paid for their hard work. Strategic alliances, OK, maybe they’re sometimes needed. But I’m not sure that’s business development. All the effort and investment of developing a business should result in predictable, significant, good-margin revenue.

Reach, readiness, revenue… that’s it.

Non-Core Growth Strategies

2009-06-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

There’s good reason to focus on the core of a business, to be sure a product delivers great value to customers, and cash can be generated consistently and at volume. But, I was reminded this week that there are both smart and un-smart ways to build around core to grow a business.

I’m currently vacationing in Holland and found some inspiration from a local farmer. His existing business is dairy farming. Cows graze his lush grassy fields, and he sells their milk. But he’s also found a way to build on his core. He leases long-term boat moorings along the canals that surround his property. So locals can enjoy fresh dairy products AND easily access their boats from the raised dykes surrounding his pastures. In addition, he offers Boer Golf (farmer golf), which is basically a larger scale version of croquet. Business teams or family gatherings have a lot of fun playing in a great pastoral scene, and yet again, Mr. Farmer has found another way to monetize his core asset—pasture land—at little cost, and in a way that doesn’t sacrifice the strength of his core.

The businesses that I’ve been part of have all found ways to build a great core. But some have been better than others at finding low cost compliments to their core. Services are the most obvious choice that are offered from a software business, but services aren’t low cost, and they’re often focused on filling gaps in core product. Not great. Requisite Technology’s catalog management software, eMerge, was a great compliment to the core product finding engine, BugsEye, and it helped the business sell into new markets on the coat tails of SAP and Oracle who bundled the finding engine. Better.

So if you’re looking to grow your business, one way to orient your thinking may be to look for non-core growth strategies.

• Criteria: Low cost and complimentary to core—but not filling gaps in core necessarily
• How: Can be found by looking at ways to meet an alternative market need

And don’t forget to have fun, since creativity is essential in finding the right complimentary growth strategy.

Focus on What Matters

2009-05-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

I’ve had the opportunity to be part of a few companies at various early stages of their corporate life. In the early stages I think a valuable lesson can be learned, which has value to more mature organizations as well, and which is difficult to appreciate if you haven’t been early in a business.

Focus on what matters. Get to cash.

In the earliest stages of a business a lot of things need handling, but first and foremost comes the strategy that produces income. Yes, other stuff needs attention, to set-up the basic efficient infrastructure to run the business, but what matters is getting to cash. Infrastructure – people, processes, websites, etc.—should serve this purpose.

For each individual contributor, it can be easy to get caught up in doing a job, and forgetting or confusing tasks that seem urgent, rather than stepping-back and focusing on getting to cash.

Land those first customers and make them really happy, and then build on that happiness.

In a larger organization, it helps a great deal to practice Jack Stack’s Open Book Management. If that isn’t part of your large organization, use your own deductive reasoning to find a clear line of sight between what you do and how you impact customer success and collection of cash.

Enough blogging… time to get back to what matters!

cw

Obama's Thought Bubbles

2009-01-20T09:54:00.001-08:00

Leximancer's Customer Insight Portal reveals Obama's inaugural thought bubbles.

And a summary with some examples from the inaugural speech:

THEME: man
(man, generations, father, journey)
man (Hits: 17)
And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest
capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America
is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a
future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just
with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring
convictions.

generations (Hits: 16) This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us
to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and
children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this
magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago
might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you
to take a most sacred oath.

father (Hits: 3) The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in
doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world.

journey (Hits: 3) Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this
journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes
fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great
gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

THEME: nation
(nation, spirit, world, words, history, forward, stronger)
nation (Hits: 11) We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and
non–believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from
every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of
civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and
more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday
pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows
smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; .

spirit (Hits: 5) We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come
to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring
spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift,
that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God–given
promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to
pursue their full measure of happiness.

world (Hits: 6) What is required of us now is a new era of
responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have
duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not
grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there
is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than
giving our all to a difficult task.
See the Best of the Obama Inaugural Merchandise.

words (Hits: 4) The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in
doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world.

history (Hits: 3) To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow
conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people
will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who
cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent,
know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a
hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

forward (Hits: 3) and that America must
play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest
and mutual respect.

stronger (Hits: 2) We will not
apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for
those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering
innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be
broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

THEME: America
(America, today, seek, peace, future)
America (Hits: 6)
Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and
raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because
of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People
have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our
founding documents.

today (Hits: 6) And so to
all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest
capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America
is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a
future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just
with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring
convictions.

seek (Hits: 4) and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest
and mutual respect.

peace (Hits: 4) We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard–earned peace in Afghanistan.
With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the
nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.

future (Hits: 3) Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this
journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes
fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great
gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

THEME: prosperity
(prosperity, common, power)
prosperity (Hits: 4) Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this
crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out
of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the
prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the
size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on
our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of
charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

common (Hits: 7) We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and
non–believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from
every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of
civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and
more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday
pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows
smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; .

power (Hits: 3) To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow
conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people
will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who
cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent,
know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a
hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

THEME: generation
(generation, things, time)
generation (Hits: 4) We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come
to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring
spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift,
that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God–given
promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to
pursue their full measure of happiness.

things (Hits: 3) Rather, it has been the risk–takers, the
doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women
obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path
towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across
oceans in search of a new life.

time (Hits: 3) Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting
narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has
surely passed.

THEME: people
(people, old)
people (Hits: 6) To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your
farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and
feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative
plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside
our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to
effect.

old (Hits: 3) We will begin to responsibly
leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard–earned peace in Afghanistan.
With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the
nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.

THEME: work
(work)
work (Hits: 6)
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and
non–believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from
every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of
civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and
more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday
pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows
smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; .

THEME: government
(government)
government (Hits: 4) What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath
them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long
no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is
too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find
jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is
dignified.

THEME: crisis
(crisis)
crisis (Hits: 4) Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this
crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out
of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the
prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the
size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on
our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of
charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

THEME: women
(women)
women (Hits: 4)
This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us
to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and
children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this
magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago
might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you
to take a most sacred oath.

Enterprise Social Media Analytics

2009-01-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

The Social Media Analytics group on LinkedIn received a set of questions from Kevin Dean of Manobyte this morning. He was sparking a conversation about the "Integration of Social Media into the Enterprise." His verbatim post was, "in order for organization to successfully leverage Social Media Data they need to integrate it into their BI Systems and CRM applications. How should this be done? What are the challenges? What are the actionable metrics/events?"

Assuming two possible paths (many more exist), here are a couple scenarios.

Path 1) you're an enterprise that is operating a social network for some reason--maybe a user-group. In this case measuring community growth--number of community members--is an obvious indicator of some success. Additionally tracking conversion from group membership to purchases of additional products / services would be a strong indicator of success. In these scenarios a CRM integration would make good sense; and a method for identifying unique individual customers would be necessary.

For the above scenario many of the community providers have APIs that would allow easy data portability. I'd recommend someone like Leverage Software.

Path 2) you're monitoring customer feedback that may be received directly by the enterprise, but also monitoring comments made in various UGC online. In this case metrics around number of posts/comments would be straight-forward to track on a key-word or topic basis. How many times did my product get mentioned in what places and with what general sentiment?

In this second case a monitoring services like Radian6 or filtrbox or Collective Intellect, or + + + would provide you with these metrics, which would be valuable to various brand or business managers.

And the last point I'd suggest, which is becoming an ever-more important and prevalent benchmark, is the area of comment analytics. This means listening to the community that matters to your business and analyzing what they're saying and why. Building a stronger link to consumers and customers in various online social communities requires a subtle and specific understanding of what they're actually talking about in UGC. And the trending of dialogue topics, and measurement of change over time, is essential to improving on either of the scenarios outlined above. The mechanics of this are similar to scenario 1 above; Leximancer (my business) supports a Web Service API.

Constant Evalutation

2009-01-07T06:57:00.000-08:00

Starting 2009, and as many others have, I’m spending time evaluating a few things; this happened last quarter with some planning for 2009 too. And will happen again as we work through the first quarter. My premise is that a regular discipline of evaluation is healthy—personally and professionally.

Certainly 'analysis paralysis' isn’t what I’m suggesting. But a go go go mentality – constantly trying to just go faster and do more (working more hours, sleeping less, etc.) – doesn’t translate to success necessarily. Rather, ‘thinking’ ahead of ‘doing’ makes for better, more predictable results.

Consider circumstances where everything is going great in a business. Spending time to evaluate how they could go even better is a great exercise. If you’re making progress, you need to protect that progress. This is sort of an Innovator’s Dilemma of course.

If you think you’re doing things right but not getting results, this is an obvious time to reevaluate. Should staff change? How and why? Should process change? How and why?

At my last company—Oxlo Systems—we spent a lot of time trying to perfect our professional services delivery. The repetitive stuff—certifying vendors to our integration hub—ended up taking years to get right. This was about making a very clean, technology-supported, expertly-staffed process work like a well-oiled machine. And admittedly it took a toll on staff and loads of process changes to get it just right. And for custom enterprise implementations we needed a method that was super-documented and constantly subjected to both cross-functional review and customer acceptance milestones to ensure we got it right for customers with high expectations. Constant evaluation served us well in achieving the right delivery method.

More recently we’ve been doing this at Leximancer as we look at our pipeline and our sales process. I’ve quantified the number of all prospects against those that made acceptable progress and closed. We’ve certainly quantified revenue against plan. We’re doing still more to refine the profile of specific targets we pursue based on how well our messaging resonates; our platform delivers real value; our length of sales cycle; and our likelihood of meaningful revenue.

Simply stated, as one of my mentors used to say—slow down to speed up; or as I’m saying—constantly evaluate.

Balance?

2008-11-21T06:11:00.001-08:00

My daughter, Morgan (age 10), while watching me on email tonight composed a brief vignette that seemed appropriate to share here: “Dad types quickly and works hard. His natural habitat is in an office or anywhere with a computer. Nothing distracts him. He seems to be focused yet confused. His hands move easily over the keyboard. He is always thinking. Dad is not tense or stressed. He rarely moves from his working spot, not even for his female mate or family. He has memorized where the keys are on the keyboard. He rarely speaks when absorbed by work."

"And that’s all I have so far,” she says.

Ugh. Time to put down the computer and go pay attention to my mate and family!

Picking the Next President with Leximancer

2008-10-28T13:57:00.001-07:00

I'm using Leximancer's platform to make my pick for the Presidential election. Actually, I'm using the hosted Customer Insight Portal.

So far I'm looking at each of their policy positions on the economy, foreign policy and energy, which are my top issues.

The sources of my information are all web--from McCain's web site and Obama's web site.

This concept map let me see the primary themes of the economy and energy and let me click into concepts as communicated by each of the candidates. What's handy is the text on the right, which give me some direct evidence of what each candidate is saying, and lets me link to the entire source to learn more.

Now go vote!

The Customer Insight Portal

2008-08-18T06:16:00.001-07:00

My company, Leximancer, just launched a new product at The Customer Insight Portal. Actually, the product is our Version 3 product, but for the first time it is available through a hosted service.

So far I've shown the site to quite a few people, and in almost every case I get "wow" reactions. While I've worked at some companies that have been quite successful, I don't know that I've received so many "wow" reactions so easily and frequently.

I think our growing success comes down to two factors. One is certainly the inginuity of our software product, which is due to Andrew Smith. No question. the words of some of our potential OEM partners say it best... "breakthrough" and "disruptive." The second element to our success is of course our team. We have smart, nice people who work hard and who work well together.

While I'm continually "wow-ed" by our product, a great product can fall into the abyss of super ideas without the right team. The second in combination with the first is really hard to come by. My last company is an example of talented people that couldn't get along.

So while it might sound cliche, I really think we've got a great team. For readers that have been through difficult team situations, you know the difference. And what's really nice? A great team that works well together--leaving the ego at the door--in turn creates more great, creative, marketable product.

Old School Protesting

2008-08-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

I've been away from blogging for a long time... and today I was inspired to start again. My inspiration? The Denver City Council. They have banned use of chains, urine and feces in an attempt to control protest behavior at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. My question is, are protesters really that medieval? Isn't this the year 2008? Aren't there more powerful ways to make a statement? I sure hope so. Let's show Denver and our democratic process as the great place/process it is.

Management Consulting in Japan

2008-04-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

I use LinkedIn for personal and professional networking. Recently I saw a question posed in the LinedIn Answers widget asking about the management consulting business in Japan. I thought my brief answer was worth sharing here:

“You will find all of the major management consultancies have practices in Japan—all in Tokyo. Major conglomerates in Japan—particularly the large trading companies like Mitsui, Marubeni and the like—tend to have their own in-house consultancies (or more likely in the form of a subsidiary). One particularly interesting consultancy that has started in Japan is Revamp . If you’re intending to establish your own consultancy, you'll obviously need people that are very familiar with the local market—so Japanese nationals are a must. Be careful not to get posers. Building a relationship with a reputable existing business is a great way to get to know the market before branching out.”

And thinking again about Revamp, I had the pleasure of having dinner last night with Hide Tsukakoshi, who’s a personal friend and an executive at Oracle Japan. He’s worked extensively with major firms in many industries in Japan during his Oracle stint, and his previous extensive SAP tenure; which is to say, Hide has worked closely with many of these firms, and he also commented that the talent and capabilities of Revamp are unique.

Blackboard

2008-02-28T09:01:00.000-08:00

From time to time I’ll profile remarkable companies in this blog... remarkable in terms of market leadership, profitability, business practice innovations and the like. Blackboard, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) is one such company.

Here’s some of what’s noteworthy:

• 32% increase in quarterly revenue in Q4 2007 over the same period in 2006
• Revenue growth came from licensing, professional services and hosting services—so nicely spread across the business
• Total revenue for 2007 was $239 million, which is 31% over 2006
• Income was $12.9 million, compared to a loss in 2006
• Higher-ed customers continue to grow nicely
• International and K-12 growth are both solid

Outside of the recent performance of the business, over the past several years they’ve built a remarkable leadership position in the US education market—particularly higher-ed. I don’t have all the numbers, but it’s been suggested to me that they may have upwards of 80% market share. Growth has come organically through sales performance and a product that has been improved. And growth has come inorganically through acquisitions; most recently Blackboard completed the acquisition of The NTI Group, Inc. Finally, it’s noteworthy that the founders are still running the business.

Innovating Sales in Mature Companies

2008-02-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

As a follow up to my previous post regarding sales’ connection to customer success, I’ve felt a follow-up was needed to address similar practices—sales and customer success—in mature companies.

Mature companies, as opposed to start-ups, have had an opportunity develop sophisticated means for ensuring that sales and customer success stay aligned—from standard contracts to myriad support teams. When it comes to building new customer relationships, mature companies and start-ups share the same two tenets of a) needing to urgently close business, and b) making customers wildly happy and successful.

In mature companies there are different reasons to connect closing business and customer success, but mostly these two principles can and should be connected to ensure near and long-term business growth.

The challenge in the mature company is to innovate in the area of sales/customer success.

The best mature companies start with ultra-smart pursuit teams—cross-functional teams that drawn on the expertise of people that have a deep knowledge and skill. A pursuit team crafts a powerful, concrete value proposition that is tightly tied to the company’s ability to deliver on that value prop. Product experts, service gurus, financial wizards, technical hot-shots — each draw on their expertise and connection with their area of the broader organization.

The results are remarkable—not only are great proposals delivered to prospects, but also each proposal is tightly in sync with what the company can stand behind. HP is a great example. While slightly dated, a great, very public example was their big win as part of the General Motors IT outsourcing bid process. My good friend Mike McGrorey is on a pursuit team at HP where he brings his deep experience at the company and his analytical skills developed in finance leadership roles over many years.

If you’re a big company that needs to innovate in the sales process or a small company that aspires to land bigger and bigger accounts, building an expert pursuit team should be on your 2008 to-do list.

Starting ... with sales' connection to customer success

2008-02-14T13:48:00.000-08:00

I've thought of starting to blog for some time now. So this is my start and we'll see where it goes.

Here are two assumptions in a start-up software/services company, which independently work great, but which take effort to make them work well in tandem.

One: It is always urgent for sales close business. Anything that gets in the way of a close should be eliminated. Hopefully a smart/motivated company will build a sales-oriented culture, where all functional areas are motivated to support the creation of new customers.

Two: New customers need to be made wildly successful and happy. Magically, this creates new opportunities for sales--both from existing customers and through existing customers. And a great by-product of this is a lower cost of sales and faster sales cycles.

Here's the rub between the two. When a contract is being negotiated, sales will often agree to terms that are important to the customer, but that may be different from norm and potentially difficult for the vendor/supplier to provide.

In short: The near-term need is to get the signature on the contract, which may come at a cost later. How do you fix this?

As part of creating a good sales culture, sales should work with functional managers to craft an agreement that makes the customer happy, but doesn't create unnatural pain when it comes time for delivery of the product/service. Now from a sales perspective you might say, 'forget it, just get it signed.' I beg to differ, and here's why.

1) Getting it signed is only the first step in what should be a many year relationship with the customer.

2) Sales performs better when they bring supporting expertise into the process; this establishes credibility and commitment, and often helps sales see other creative solutions.

3) Contract commitments that don't feel quite right at signing almost always feel much worse later.

4) Bookings aren't as valuable as revenue, and revenue doesn't get earned if customers leave because of bad experiences.

5) It is far cheaper to grow existing customers, and this sort of growth is super valuable to showing a nice revenue curve.

6) It is easier to charge a premium to happy customers, or at least not get beaten down to razor-thin margins.

There are certainly other good reasons to create a healthy sales culture... and doing it right can be very rewarding.