As a result of this column you and your organization will: Understand that Capitalism, unlike some businesses, assumes that “only best value will enjoy continued success” Learn why less than 25% of today’s major corporations will survive the next quarter century. Know that a business follows the same stages of emotional growth as a person and how to react in each stage. In today’s business atmosphere, even the world’s most admired companies have been unable to sustain staying on top of the market for more than 10 to 15 years. The first Standard & Poor’s index, published in the 1920’s, included 90 companies who remained on the list for an average of 65 years. In 1998, their average life span shrank to a decade. Since then, the margin is getting smaller and smaller. Capitalism and free markets encourage the creation of new organizations and destroy the old when they stop performing. The market doesn’t agonize over firing 3 people or 30,000. It is infinitely generous in starting a company and just as infinitely ruthless in ending it. Performance is the only criterion.

Far too often, many of today’s successful organizations are run by people who have thoughts, opinions, feelings but, worst of all, the assumption of “continued success.” Generally, the more successful an organization becomes the more unsuccessful it becomes at making changes in order to stay ahead of the competition.

In Repositioning, Marketing in an Era of Competition,Change,and Crisis, McGraw-Hill, 2010, authors Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin say,” With size comes a large degree of inflexibility, ego, vested interests, and other bad things that hamstring a company in this age of the unpre­dictable. Just look around you at the wreckages of our largest institutions, such as AIG, GM, Merrill Lynch, Citicorp, and others.

In the 21^st century, advances in technology, management methods, information technology, a shift from goods to services, and a rise in labor productivity, all led to declining costs and greater efficiency. The MIT Sloan Management Review cautions that by not fully understanding the new concepts and practices, less than 25% of today’s major corporations will survive the next 25 years.

Mature business organizations can flourish only if they avoid the “continued success” syndrome. That was how Johnson & Johnson overtook Bayer with Tylenol. Sterling Drug owned the Bayer brand and had 50 years of success. However, Sterling Drug showed typical signs of the mature corporation. It steadfastly refused to introduce its own non-aspirin pain reliever because it would compete with its Bayer brand. Sterling Drug had all the same information that Johnson & Johnson had about the market changing, but it didn’t act.

Another example lies in the computer hardware industry where IBM dominated the market in the 1960’s and early 70’s. However, at the same time, IBM was leaving large segments of the marketplace under-served. That attracted entrepreneurs, who brought so many new entrants to life that the market was flooded, and by 1982, margins throughout the industry were eroding.

You must understand that a business follows the same stages of emotional growth as a person.

• The early years are passionate with decisions made from the gut.
• As organizations mature, rational decision-making is born, more data gathered, and analysis performed.
• This analysis may eventually slow the company’s present course leading to a bleak future.

During the analysis stage, unlike Sterling Drug and IBM, mature business organizations must act on new information and change. Most “mature” organizations deny it and move to protect existing business. They set up defenses against new ideas, and kill all bearers of bad news. Instead of destroying the old business and creating the new, they concentrate on execution and incremental improvement.

Predictable results? Every business owner and manager must learn that over performance and high profits always attracts new entrants who are frequently able to do it faster, cheaper and better. Unless the myth of “continued success” is overcome the current leader is always replaced by someone else because of its own complacency.

John Sterman of MIT, studied the ability of mature companies to learn. His research found that those companies seem to panic in complex situations and do everything wrong. The more experience they have, the worse it is.

The twenty first century offers great opportunities for every business regardless of its size. But those opportunities are extended only to those organizations that are willing to accept change as a natural part of sustained growth.

Questions for discussion:

If we are large, how can we, like Johnson & Johnson capture market leadership from a competitor? If we are small and nimble, what opportunities can we exploit from larger and more complacent companies?

Regardless of our current size, what phase of the business cycle is our organization in now and how can we increase our level of passion and rapidness of decision-making? No one has an exclusive on good ideas. Please share your thoughts by posting at the bottom of our blog. Click here This article is provided by Joe Murtagh, “The DreamSpeaker^TM” www.TheDreamSpeaker.com. For keynotes, facilitation, workshops, consulting and questions or or a free report on The 3 Most Common Mistakes Organizations Make, email us at Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com or call 800-239-0058.

If you enjoyed this column you’ll love our Books (click here) and Training Programs (click here). Each is filled with hundreds of leading edge profit enhancing ideas from the best business thinkers in the world. This is one of over 300 columns published and part of the reason why The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have called The DreamSpeaker^TM about Business Planning Issues. To receive future bi-weekly issues of Business Journal Columns™.

As a result of this column you and your Real Estate organization will: Understand that Capitalism, unlike some businesses, assumes that “only best value will enjoy continued success” Learn why less than 25% of today’s major corporations will survive the next quarter century. Know that a Real Estate businesses and Realtors follow the same stages of emotional growth as a person and how to act in each stage. In today’s business atmosphere, even the world’s most admired companies have been unable to sustain staying on top of the market for more than 10 to 15 years. The first Standard & Poor’s index, published in the 1920’s, included 90 companies who remained on the list for an average of 65 years. In 1998, their average life span shrank to a decade. Since then, the margin is getting smaller and smaller. Capitalism and free markets encourage the creation of new organizations and destroy the old when they stop performing. The market doesn’t agonize over firing 3 people or 30,000. It is infinitely generous in starting a company and just as infinitely ruthless in killing it. Performance is the only criterion.

In the 21^st century, advances in technology, management methods, information technology, a shift from goods to services, and a rise in labor productivity, all led to declining costs and greater efficiency. The MIT Sloan Management Review cautions that by not fully understanding the new concepts and practices, less than 25% of today’s major corporations will survive the next quarter century.

Mature Real Estate organizations and Realtors can flourish only if they avoid the “continued success” syndrome. That was how Johnson & Johnson overtook Bayer with Tylenol. Sterling Drug owned the Bayer brand and had 50 years of success. However, Sterling Drug showed typical signs of the mature corporation. It steadfastly refused to introduce Drug had all the same information that Johnson & Johnson had about the market changing, but it didn’t act.

Another example lies in the computer hardware industry where IBM dominated the market in the 1960’s and early 70’s. However, at the same time, IBM was leaving large segments of the marketplace under-served. That attracted entrepreneurs, who brought so many new entrants to life that the market was flooded, and by 1982, margins throughout the industry were eroding.

You must understand that a Real Estate organization or individual Realtor follow the same stages of emotional growth as a person.

• The early years are passionate with decisions made from the gut.
• As organizations or Realtors mature, rational decision-making is born, more data gathered, and analysis performed.
• This analysis may eventually slow the companies or Realtors present course leading to a bleak future.

During the analysis stage, unlike Sterling Drug and IBM, mature organizations and individuals must act on new information and change. Most “mature” organizations deny it and move to protect existing business. They set up defenses against new ideas, and kill all bearers of bad news. Instead of destroying the old business and creating the new, they concentrate on execution and incremental improvement.

Predictable results? Every Real Estate business owner and Realtor must learn that over performance and high profits always attracts new entrants who are frequently able to do it faster, cheaper and better. Unless the myth of “continued success” is overcome the current leader is always replaced by someone else because of its own complacency.

John Sterman of MIT, studied the ability of mature companies to learn. His research found that those companies seem to panic in complex situations and do everything wrong. The more experience they have, the worse it is.

The twenty first century offers great opportunities for every Real Estate organization and Realtor regardless of size or years in the business. But those opportunities are extended only to those organizations and people that are willing to accept change as a natural part of sustained growth.

Questions for discussion:

If we are large, how can we, like Johnson & Johnson capture market leadership from a competitor? If we are small and nimble, what opportunities can we exploit from larger and more complacent companies?

Regardless of our current size, what phase of the business cycle is our organization in now and how can we increase our level of passion and rapidness of decision-making? This article is provided by Joe Murtagh, The DreamSpeaker^TM, an expert in solving Realtor challenges. For keynotes, consulting and questions or a free report titled The Three Biggest Mistakes Realtors Make, email us at Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com or call 800-239-0058.

If you enjoyed this column you’ll love our Books (click here) and Training Programs (click here). Each is filled with hundreds of leading edge profit enhancing ideas from the best business thinkers in the world. This is one of over 300 columns published and part of the reason why The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have called The DreamSpeaker^TM about Business Planning Issues. To receive future monthly issues of Realtors Business Journal™

Far too often, many of today’s successful Meeting Industry organizations are run by people who have thoughts, opinions, feelings but, worst of all, the assumption of “continued success.” Generally, the more successful an organization becomes the more unsuccessful it becomes at making changes in order to stay ahead of the competition.

In Repositioning, Marketing in an Era of Competition,Change,and Crisis, McGraw-Hill, 2010, authors Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin say,” With size comes a large degree of inflexibility, ego, vested interests, and other bad things that hamstring a company in this age of the unpre­dictable. Just look around you at the wreckage of our largest institutions, such as AIG, GM, Merrill Lynch, Citicorp, and others.

In the 21^st century, advances in technology, management methods, information technology, a shift from goods to services, and a rise in labor productivity, all led to declining costs and greater efficiency. The MIT Sloan Management Review cautions that by not fully understanding the new concepts and practices, less than 25% of today’s major corporations will survive the next quarter century.

Mature Meeting Industry organizations and professionals can flourish only if they avoid the “continued success” syndrome. That was how Johnson & Johnson overtook Bayer with Tylenol. Sterling Drug owned the Bayer brand and had 50 years of success. However, Sterling Drug showed typical signs of the mature corporation. It steadfastly refused to introduce its own non-aspirin pain reliever because it would compete with its Bayer brand. Sterling Drug had all the same information that Johnson & Johnson had about the market changing, but it didn’t act.

Another example lies in the computer hardware industry where IBM dominated the market in the 1960’s and early 70’s. However, at the same time, IBM was leaving large segments of the marketplace under-served. That attracted entrepreneurs, who brought so many new entrants to life that the market was flooded, and by 1982, margins throughout the industry were eroding.

You must understand that the Meeting Industry businesses and professionals follow the same stages of emotional growth as a person.

• The early years are passionate with decisions made from the gut.
• As organizations and people mature, rational decision-making is born, more data gathered, and analysis performed.
• This analysis may eventually slow the companies and individuals present course leading to a bleak future.

During the analysis stage, unlike Sterling Drug and IBM, mature business organizations and individuals must act on new information and change. Most “mature” organizations deny it and move to protect existing business. They set up defenses against new ideas, and kill all bearers of bad news. Instead of destroying the old business and creating the new, they concentrate on execution and incremental improvement.

Predictable results? Every business owner and manager must learn that over performance and high profits always attracts new entrants who are frequently able to do it faster, cheaper and better. Unless the myth of “continued success” is overcome the current leader is always replaced by someone else because of its own complacency.

John Sterman of MIT, studied the ability of mature companies to learn. His research found that those companies seem to panic in complex situations and do everything wrong. The more experience they have, the worse it is.

The twenty first century offers great opportunities for every Meeting Industry business regardless of its size. But those opportunities are extended only to those organizations that are willing to accept change as a natural part of sustained growth.

Questions for discussion:

If we are large, how can we, like Johnson & Johnson capture market leadership from a competitor? If we are small and nimble, what opportunities can we exploit from larger and more complacent companies?

Regardless of our current size, what phase of the business cycle is our organization in now and how can we increase our level of passion and rapidness of decision-making? This article is provided by Joe Murtagh, “The DreamSpeaker” www.TheDreamSpeaker.com an MPI member and an expert at solving industry challenges. For keynotes, workshops, consulting and questions or a free report on The 3 Most Common Mistakes MPI Members Make email Joe Murtagh at Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com or call 800-239-0058.

If you enjoyed this column you’ll love our Books (click here) and Training Programs (click here). Each is filled with hundreds of leading edge profit enhancing ideas from the best business thinkers in the world.This is one of over 300 columns published and part of the reason why The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have called The DreamSpeaker^TM about Business Planning Issues.

To receive future monthly issues of Meeting Industry Journal™

In Repositioning, Marketing in an Era of Competition,Change,and Crisis, McGraw-Hill, 2010, authors Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin say,” With size comes a large degree of inflexibility, ego, vested interests, and other bad things that hamstring a company in this age of the unpre­dictable. Just look around you at the wreckages of our largest institutions, such as AIG, GM, Merrill Lynch, Citicorp, and others.

In the 21^st century, advances in technology, management methods, information technology, a shift from goods to services, and a rise in labor productivity, all led to declining costs and greater efficiency. The MIT Sloan Management Review cautions that by not fully understanding the new concepts and practices, less than 25% of today’s major corporations will survive the next quarter century.

Mature Financial Service organizations and producers can flourish only if they avoid the “continued success” syndrome. That was how Johnson & Johnson overtook Bayer with Tylenol. Sterling Drug owned the Bayer brand and had 50 years of success. However, Sterling Drug showed typical signs of the mature corporation. It steadfastly refused to introduce its own non-aspirin pain reliever because it would compete with its Bayer brand. Sterling Drug had all the same information that Johnson & Johnson had about the market changing, but it didn’t act.

Another example lies in the computer hardware industry where IBM dominated the market in the 1960’s and early 70’s. However, at the same time, IBM was leaving large segments of the marketplace under-served. That attracted entrepreneurs, who brought so many new entrants to life that the market was flooded, and by 1982, margins throughout the industry were eroding.

You must understand that a Financial Service business or producer follows the same stages of emotional growth as a person.

• The early years are passionate with decisions made from the gut.
• As organizations and individuals mature, rational decision-making is born, more data gathered, and analysis performed.
• This analysis may eventually slow the companies and producers present course leading to a bleak future.

During the analysis stage, unlike Sterling Drug and IBM, mature Financial Service organizations must act on new information and change. Most “mature” organizations deny it and move to protect existing business. They set up defenses against new ideas, and kill all bearers of bad news. Instead of destroying the old business and creating the new, they concentrate on execution and incremental improvement.

Predictable results? Every Financial Service organization and producer must learn that over performance and high profits always attracts new entrants who are frequently able to do it faster, cheaper and better. Unless the myth of “continued success” is overcome the current leader is always replaced by someone else because of their own complacency.

John Sterman of MIT, studied the ability of mature companies to learn. His research found that those companies seem to panic in complex situations and do everything wrong. The more experience they have, the worse it is.

The twenty first century offers great opportunities for every Financial Service business and producer regardless of their current success level. But those opportunities are extended only to those that are willing to accept change as a natural part of sustained growth.

Questions for discussion:

If we are large, how can we, like Johnson & Johnson capture market leadership from a competitor? If we are small and nimble, what opportunities can we exploit from larger and more complacent companies?

Regardless of our current size, what phase of the business cycle is our organization in now and how can we increase our level of passion and rapidness of decision-making? This article is provided by Joe Murtagh CLU, ChFC, CFP, “The DreamSpeaker” www.TheDreamSpeaker.com a 37 year veteran and past top producer in the Financial Service. For keynotes, workshops, consulting, facilitation and questions…or a free report titled The Three Biggest Mistakes Financial Service Professionals Make, email us at email us at Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com or call 800-239-0058.

If you enjoyed this column you’ll love our Books (click here) and Training Programs (click here). Each is filled with hundreds of leading edge profit enhancing ideas from the best business thinkers in the world. This is one of over 300 columns published and part of the reason why The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have called The DreamSpeaker^TM about Business Planning Issues.

To receive future monthly issues of Financial Service Journal™.

As a result of this column you and your organization will: Understand what emotions motivate the customer to buy. Have customers wanting the products and services you offer. Have customers telling their friends how wonderful you are. According to the Marketing Science Institute, four out of every five new products or services fail or fall well short of forecasted profits within six months. The reason is that too many marketers don’t understand how their own and their consumers’ minds work. Purchasing a high-performance sports car is not just buying a device to take you from one place to another. In other words, organizations should understand that consumers’ survey responses often contradict what they really feel or do. Desiring to be perceived as health conscious, people may report on a survey or in a focus group that they do not consume much junk food and may give negative ratings to brands in that category. That may or may not be the truth.

• Purchases are often so tangled up in emotions of joy and guilt that the consumer may not even understand the truth at a conscious level.
• All they know is that the sight of the car or the smell of the chocolate triggers a desire to buy.

In the last 5 years, researchers have discovered more truths about the brain than they had revealed during the entire history of psychology and neuroscience. Historically, marketers have gained knowledge about consumer decision making through such means as telephone interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires.

Although this traditional market research formula relies on consciousness, rationality and economic logic, the researchers found that in consumers’ purchasing choices, 95 percent of the decision-making process takes place below the conscious level.

Research also shows that consumers are not always savvy shoppers who operate rationally.

• The difference between a product costing $10 and one costing $9.99 is a mere penny, but consumers treat it like a huge bargain.
• The typical consumer realizes that generic medications are as good as expensive national brands, but they often pay the higher price for the comfort of the brand name.

The unconscious mind clearly represents a significant frontier. We always knew you don’t experience a cake by sampling a sequence of its raw ingredients. You experience the fully baked cake.

One of the greatest product failures of all time was the sinking of the Titanic. Several disastrous assumptions were made including that the ship was unsinkable and was navigating in waters clear of icebergs.

What assumptions have you and your marketing people made about your customers’ submerged thoughts and feelings about your product or service? Is “The Titanic Effect” causing you to pour your marketing and advertising dollars into the ocean?

Questions for discussion:

What emotions do our customers experience when using our product or service and how can our marketing use the awareness of them and generate more business?

What mistaken assumptions have we and our marketing people made about our customers’ submerged thoughts and feelings regarding our product or service? No one has an exclusive on good ideas. Please share your thoughts by posting at the bottom of our blog. Click here This article is provided by Joe Murtagh, “The DreamSpeaker^TM” www.TheDreamSpeaker.com. For keynotes, facilitation, workshops, consulting and questions or or a free report on The 3 Most Common Mistakes Organizations Make, email us at Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com or call 800-239-0058.

If you enjoyed this column you’ll love our Books (click here) and Training Programs (click here). Each is filled with hundreds of leading edge profit enhancing ideas from the best business thinkers in the world.This is one of over 300 columns published and part of the reason why The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have called The DreamSpeaker^TM about Business Planning Issues. To receive future bi-weekly issues of Business Journal Columns™.

As a result of this column you and your organization will: Develop strategies to become better while also becoming different. Seek and develop new opportunities waiting to be exploited. Maintain and grow current markets while developing the markets of tomorrow. The world isn’t standing still. In the 1960’s, variety retailer Kresge transformed into Kmart, which, before collapsing into and then repeatedly reemerging from bankruptcy, became the largest discount store in the U.S. By questioning our own strategic position, businesses will realize that if a position is shrinking, there is opportunity to stake out a new one…just waiting to be exploited. To be strategic innovators, we must focus on improving our existing position while also identifying needs of customers that no competitor is addressing. We have to become better while also becoming different. Howard Schultz, the president of Starbucks, realized his company wasn’t in the coffee business. “Starbucks is in the business of creating a consumption experience, in which coffee is just a part, along with romance, theatrics, and community.”

To define your business, begin by thinking of how it could be defined by…

• Product or service

• Customer

• Core Competency

BMW could have seen itself as being in the car business…of serving yuppie customers. Or, BMW could visualize itself as a company with the core competence in engineering.

Next, ask who would my customers be, and what would they need? Can I satisfy those needs better than my competitors? Is the market likely to grow in the future, and is it difficult for others to enter?

Ask the same questions for each definition, what business, what customers, and what core competency? Once you have been able to choose the one that gives you the best competitive advantage, you have now defined why the company will invest in certain products and markets, and not in others.

Most companies would never turn down profitable customers because they’re “not right” for their business…that would be considered as lunacy.

• However, the process of selecting customers is similar to the process of defining your business.

• After identifying all possible customer groups, you need to select which ones to serve and which ones are better served elsewhere.

The reality is that you cannot be everything to everybody. The small Danish bank of Lan & Spar asked it’s corporate customers to do their banking elsewhere. Lan & Spar had made a decision to serve only white-collar workers. Lan & Spar is now the most profitable bank in Denmark. Behind the decision was a shrewd strategic analysis.

The fastest growing companies are those that identify and serve untapped customer segments. Yet most companies never really choose their customers consciously. To do that, you have to look at what your company offers that is unique, and where you can do more for a selected customer group than any competitor.

List all of your possible customers and decide which ones to target. Develop a list of criteria that you can use to define your “ideal customer,” and then apply those criteria to existing and potential customers. Get rid of those who “don’t fit,” and pour all efforts into those present or future customers who meet your criteria.

The final choice is never really final. Just as organizations must continually ask what is our core competency; and what business are we in, we must ask what customer should we be serving?

In the end, all successful businesses have found “one thing” they can deliver to “one customer segment” better than anyone in their competitive environment. Now that’s customer service at its best.

Questions for discussion:

What ideas do I, my teammates, strategic partners, vendors or suppliers have about the one thing we can do better than anyone else?

What unmet, underserved, or new and emerging needs do our customers have that we are capable of or could become capable of filling in an extraordinary way? No one has an exclusive on good ideas. Please share your thoughts by posting at the bottom of our blog. Click here This article is provided by Joe Murtagh, “The DreamSpeaker^TM” www.TheDreamSpeaker.com. For keynotes, facilitation, workshops, consulting and questions or or a free report on The 3 Most Common Mistakes Organizations Make, email us at Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com or call 800-239-0058.

If you enjoyed this column you’ll love our Books (click here) and Training Programs (click here). Each is filled with hundreds of leading edge profit enhancing ideas from the best business thinkers in the world.This is one of over 300 columns published and part of the reason why The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have called The DreamSpeaker^TM about Business Planning Issues. To receive future bi-weekly issues of Business Journal Columns™.