focus: describe your company in one sentence

How to take the complexity

out of your business and focus in

on your greatest offering

Sharpening your

Business target & image

Source: The Inside Advantage, Robert Bloom, McGraw-Hill, 2008

The Focused Company, Mark Gottfredson, Bain & Company

1

Sharpening your

Strategy focus

A company’s core business is its most valued customers, its unique and most differentiated assets and capabilities, and its most important products and channels. There should be a clear image of what that core business is.

Source: The Focused Company, Mark Gottfredson, Bain & Company

Average company: Invests to win in every

element of its business.

Focused company: Invests to identify and

strengthen core capabilities.

2

Sharpening your

Customer focus

Average company: Has plenty of data about its customers but struggles to find insights it can act on.


Focused company: Knows its core customers’ sweet spotsand designs its business around those customers’ needs.

We have many customers and have no idea who is important.

We all agree who our major customer target is.

3

Sharpening your

Product concept focus

Focused company: Gives its core customers exactly what matters most to them. Is equally disciplined in releasing new products and in trimming those that customers no longer value.


This is exactly what

you need. Nothing

else is necessary!

Customers confused with too many product choices

Average company: Tries to appeal to everyone. Pushes supply driven innovations on the market.

4

Sharpening your focus by

Reducing complexity


When companies attack complexity, they nearly always begin by focusing on a specific problem.

What they find, often, is that they don’t want to stop there as they have learned how to focus which leads them to the next complex issue.

Your

target may

be too

vague!

5

Sharpening your

Customer focus


Define who your company serves in one sentence.

If your company’s customer was one person, what would he look like? What would he worry about? What would he be most interested in? What would his preferences be? What would his prejudices, habits, goals or desires be?

6

Sharpening your

Customer focus


Discuss and agree on “WHO” your customer ideal is:

Discuss and agree

7

Determining

Customer focus


1. Gather all the key people that have the most experience in working with the company’s current customers in a room for discussion.

2. Ask them to write down all their current customers (as many as possible)3. Ask why these customers do business with us.4. Have them close their eyes and imagine the ideal customer among the list.5. It must be a single image of a person.6. From the list, have the group decide who are the top three to five customers.7. Get agreement that these are the top customers.8. Ask the group to individually make a sentence in less than 15 words what they all

have in common.9. Put all the sentences on the board and ask everyone what is similar with all the

sentences. Are there key concerns of all of them? What do they all want from us?10. After much discussion of all the sentences, make one sentence that all can agree

represents the most important customer.

Who?Form image

8

Ideal customer

Determining

Customer focus


Example of a worldwide cutting tool supplier

Their main customer is….“A very active professional cutting tool accessory national distributor that desires quick response and good communication with suppliers”

Who?

9

Ideal customer

Sharpening your

Focus on your offering


Define “What” you offer that other companies do not? In one sentence why does your company exist? What is their broad experience of working with your company, not just your products?

What is the uncommon thing that your customers want that you supply? What differentiates you from others?

10


In terms of what the customer hears, sees, senses, receives and experiences from you, discuss and agree on “WHAT” your company has to offer that others do not.

Discuss and agree

Sharpening the


11


1. You have a sentence describing your customer, his problems, concerns, situation needs and desires.

2. What do you offer that he most desires?3. What can you offer that no one else can?4. If you have a group of 12 people or more separate them into four groups.5. Have them discuss what their best customers like about working with

them.6. Once they learn the main things they like, ask them to make a sentence

of 15 words of what they like.7. Bring all four groups together and compare the sentences.8. Look for similarities and make a combined sentences of what they offer.9. Get confirmation that all agree this is their greatest offer.

What? Sharpening the


12

Ideal customer


What? Sharpening the



Core Customer WHAT Statement

“We closely interact with distributors to supply quality cutting tool accessories at the right time, quality, quantity and price.”

13

Everyone in our

company offers far

more detailed

product explanations

than anyone else.


What?Sharpening the


14

You can control every customer experience

or just let it happen.

“How to persuade”How do we convince them what we have is what they need? It is the action you will take on the customers behalf.

Sharpening your

Customer interaction

How?

What we offer will greatly

benefit you in many ways!

15

Ideal customer

“How to persuade”There is physical value and emotional value. You must act on both to persuade customers and make your company special.

Sharpening your

Offering value

Tangible &Emotional

I purchase based on product functions.

I purchase based on style, image and excitement.

16

How? Sharpening the

Contact impression


Core Customer HOW Statement“We build trust through regular discussion with distributors on order status, do joint promotional activities and provide sales promotion materials, train their sales people on product features and selling skills.“

17

Ideal customer


Discuss “HOW” you will convince customers that you are different from others.

Sharpening your

Contact impression

How?

Discuss and agree

18

Ideal customer


1. You now have sentences of who your main customer is and what he wants. You also know what you offer him.

2. Now, discuss how you are different.3. Again, if you have a group of 12 people or more separate them into four

groups.4. Have them discuss what special offering do they have that no one else has.5. Once they learn the main things they offer that is different, ask them to

make a sentence of 15 words of what they are.6. Bring all for groups together and compare the sentences.7. Look for similarities and make a combined sentences of what makes them

different.8. Last, get agreement that all agree this is their greatest offer.

Sharpening your

Contact impression

How?

19

Ideal customer


Sharpening your

Contact impression

How?


Core Customer HOW Statement

“We earn the customers’ trust by regularly announcing what we have in stock and what is quickly available. Then, the customer need not stock too much but still will get items to service his customers.”

20


“Separating us from them” is a strategy to make you exclusive, a company with a one-of-a-kind offering.

Sharpening your

Separation activities

CreativeActs?

21

In the way we act, look,

perform, we are different,

so no one can copy us!

Sharpening your


CreativeActs?

Nothing surprising

22

“How to separate” us from everyone else, but do it in a way that creates and magnifies the company image

you want.

Ideal customer

Sharpening your



Procedures for finding “SEPARATION” from others over the long-term in everything we do and say. Creating imaginative acts over time.

1. Make your uncommon offering well known to your core customer. Don’t waste resources trying to become well known to everyone.

2. Create imaginative acts to be well known for your uncommon offering.3. Next, every time there a customer contact (customer touch point), make

sure your uncommon offering is presented.4. Don’t create imaginative acts just to be well known in general.5. There are two types of creative acts, “small impression acts” and “explosive

dynamic acts”.6. Create small low-cost imaginative acts that reinforce your uncommon

offering. Execute them with frequency, consistency and uniformity.7. Invent a few explosive promotions. These should be done only one – four

times a year. They should be within your budget and administrative ability.

23

CreativeActs?

Ideal customer

Sharpening your



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Discuss “SEPARATION ACTIVITIES” that can be achieved in your company. Remember, there are two types of creative acts, …..“small low or no cost impression acts” that must occur every time the customer comes in contact with the company and “explosive dynamic acts” that must be budgeted for the year.

Discuss and agree

CreativeActs?

Ideal customer


1. You now have sentences of who your main customer is and what he wants. You also know what you offer him and how you will persuade him.

2. Now, discuss how to separate yourself from others over the long-term.

3. Again, if you have a group of 12 people or more separate them into four groups.

4. First discuss both small low or no cost impression acts”. Make a list.5. Second, discuss “explosive dynamic acts” for the next 12 months.6. Last, get confirmation that all agree these are the best activities over

the year to spread the message and make you different that others.

Sharpening your


Creative acts

25

Ideal customer

Sharpening your

Business target & image

To sharpen your business target gatheryour top 5 – 10 company executives or outside advisors to discuss these issues

and put in an action plan.

Sharpened

focus

&

image

26

Thank you

focus: describe your company in one sentence

Marketing