Day Two - General Session: Execute or Be Executed: Moving Strategic Thinking to Strategic Doing
Day two drew to a close with a general session led by Sam Geist of Geist & Associates Inc. Sam’s key message, execution of ideas is key. Sam said, “I’ll give you dime for a good idea, but I’ll give you a dollar for good and execution.”
Organizations need to move from strategic thinking to strategic doing. There is a direct correlation between strategic execution and loss prevention. Sam asked the audience to rate their own firms on ‘execution’. Take a realistic look at your organization.
Execution doesn’t sit by itself, related items are: people, distribution channel, resources, customer and the company. All of these items must execute on their own for the organization to execute properly. To learn, step back from what you know.
Dimensions of Change
There is a structural change going on in business. The business model is changing, however our organizations often don’t change enough to keep pace.
Too often companies use price as a key differentiator, 8 out of 10 marketers use price to drive their market. This price erosion seriously cuts to gross margins. In the past 80% of a companies assets were tangible, today 80% is intangible. The business is not selling lemonade, it’s about ‘how to sell lemonade’.
Another key factor is value-chain deconstruction. Organizations are bypassing traditional channels to save money. Think ATM/bank tellers. Related to this is the power of customer. Changing is tough, not changing is terminal.
How well do you know your customer? What’s a primary motivating factor for many? It’s time. Time is the key currency today.
How are you and your organization creating value for customers? It’s not about selling more stuff. Think about lettuce. A standard head of lettuce is less than a dollar. Now, people are buying bags of pre-cut lettuce for $3-$4. People are paying to the time savings and the perceive value.
Breaking the Code
How can you break-through for change? Sam thinks the big issue with retailers is over-promising and under-delivering. Often customer service is the reason a customer leaves.
Customerizing is in, that is each customer is unique. A great example is Dell, they developed their entire system to serve a customer of one. Compaq and HP initially lost out to Dell, but they have resurged. Why? Execution.
One way to break the code is listening to your customers and developing your value propositions based upon their input. Most savvy companies are doing this now.
A brand is a promise. Price is what you pay, value is what you get. There is a big difference.
The challenge is how do you get your people to execute. Every brand is nothing more than the sum total of the actions of its people.
There is a vicious cycle: Underachieving -> Underperforming -> Low Morale -> Becomes the Norm
Breaking down the barriers for execution has to start with breaking down the barriers of communication. Does your staff know what percentage of profit is lost to LP? What’s the cost of turnover? Associates need to know this information.
Taking Charge
Ownership of the process is key to taking charge. Sam quoted a Japanese proverb, “Vision without action is a daydream, action without vision is a nightmare.”
Don’t think outside the box, stay in your box. Think about your box…how can you make your box better?
What’s important is to move from management to leadership. Many people struggle with this. Leadership is not just a position, but a process.
One of the stumbling blocks of execution is accountability, or more importantly the lack of accountability. We can use all the tools and consultants to ‘learn’ and ‘know’ but the key differentiator is the ‘doing’.
That’s it for day two….off to the reception!
