I recently sat down with Scott Alexander from Jairus Marketing for another insightful discussion about a topic that resonates deeply with both of us: shifting from a founder-led business to more sustainable business models. This is especially relevant for early-stage companies, particularly those in the healthcare sector where the CEO is vital as both the visionary and primary salesperson.
Tue, Aug 15, 2017 — Transitioning Your Business Model to Grow Your Business-as-a-Service More and more companies are realizing that transitioning their businesses to as-a-Service models is the answer to driving higher growth, more profitable, and stable revenue streams. Welcome to the fourth and final part of this series: In Part 1 of this series, you learned how to know if it's time to think about embracing an as-a-Service model In Part 2 we dove deeper into what an as-a-Service model is and discovered how ready your company is to transition to one In Part 3 we touched on how to define strategic goals, position, and create a go-to-market plan that is most relevant to an as-a-Service offering. If you haven’t read the previous parts, you might want to take a quick look before returning here. In this installment, we will discuss the key metrics to track and capabilities to nurture to ensure you execute this transition successfully – along with a few tips and tricks I have learned (often the hard way) over the years.
Thu, Aug 3, 2017 — It’s been many years since I learned what a “lead” customer is and how to build lead customer relationships to build confidence and reduce risks of new product or service launches. The concept of a lead customer, or lead user, is probably one of the most beneficial best practices I’ve used in marketing and product management roles. Want to design and launch a breakthrough product? The lead customer approach is absolutely a winner. The lead user methodology was originally developed by Dr. Eric von Hippel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and first described in the July 1986 issue of Management Science. You can read a revised version of the original article here.
Fri, Jul 28, 2017 — In my last post I shared a process for companies to consider using when evaluating new products for new markets. The core idea is to test “customer readiness” before making significant investments in Marketing and Sales. And the vehicle for testing is to use a cross-functional Customer Development team to reach out to prospects to create and expedite learning moments. Uncover the facts, test your assumptions, and iterate on the product, if absolutely required, before executing the big launch. In this post, I’ll share an experience I’ve had when using this approach.
Tue, Jul 11, 2017 — Lessons from UPS, Campbell’s Soup, Amazon, and Others In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy for CEOs and other executives to get mired in day-to-day fire-fighting, only to find that growth has stalled. Below are 7 things successful CEOs from companies big and small do to build momentum, create and keep a strong culture, and grow their business.
Fri, Jul 7, 2017 — Transitioning Your Business Model to Grow Your Business-as-a-Service More and more companies are realizing that transitioning their business to an as-a-Service model is the answer to driving higher growth and more profitable and stable revenue streams. In Part 1 of this article series, you learned how to know if it's time to think about embracing an as-a-Service model.
Thu, Jul 6, 2017 — This is a guest post from Mark Rosenman of Newport Board Group. There is a wide range of circumstances that lead companies to bring in a fractional CMO. The immediate need to strengthen marketing might be a response to an important development in the business: a growth spurt or a downturn, new capital or a change in management team or strategy. Some companies bring in a fractional CMO as part of an “asset light” business model that leans against bringing on permanent C-level executives at least for the foreseeable future.
Wed, Jun 21, 2017 — Peer Advisory Group Helps CEO Focus on His Business Versus Working in His Business A Chief Outsiders Fractional CMO has a conversation with Vistage Member and CEO of Seattle Fish Company, James Iacino, about his experience with Vistage, an executive coaching organization that provides leadership training and business coaching to CEOs and Executives.
Thu, Jun 15, 2017 — Transitioning Your Business Model to Grow Your Business-as-a-Service If you are the CEO of a company selling products or services to other businesses, you are probably constantly looking for new sources of growth. It’s frustrating when your company is not able to realize its growth potential. Sometimes the issue involves understanding customers or markets better. In other cases it’s about changes to a marketing strategy or execution plan. But sometimes the solution involves changing the core business model of your product or service (or completing a change that you already began).
Wed, Jun 14, 2017 — If you buy into the old corollary that the “future is now,” be prepared to be blown away by what tomorrow’s future holds. If you thought that today’s wave of marketing analytics tools represented a bold new frontier in how enterprises can track and nurture consumers through the buying cycle, well, in the words of Bachmann Turner Overdrive – “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” And, if you believed that the kind of brain-reading technology that served up personalized advertisements to Tom Cruise in the movie “Minority Report” was the stuff of fiction, it may be closer to reality than you ever thought.