Value of Branding for B2B Executives

Highlights from the Silicon Valley Brand Forum at Symantec

On October 12, 2010, a group of seasoned brand professionals gathered at Symantec Corporation in Mountain View, CA to discuss ways in which B2B companies are leveraging consumer brand marketing techniques in their own brand management.

John Maver of Maver Management Group began the event with a presentation about the challenges of getting B2B management to adopt a B2C view of brand marketing based on his 30+ years with Procter & Gamble and his current consulting with B2B companies.

John talks about key things you can do to sell the value of branding to B2B executives:



Contact John if we can help you and your company.

Thanks

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561

Maver Management

Marketing in Today’s Economic Climate

Companies today are very careful about how they spend their cash. They have just experienced severe cut backs in almost every phase of their operations. Credit is extremely tight and with reduced personnel, the resources both in human and financial capital are scarce. Many companies have continued to invest in product development knowing that without it, tomorrow’s business opportunities will be suspect. Investments have also been made in process improvements to help offset the loss of personnel. Technology too has generally been upgraded, at least in some small way. All affect the internal workings of the company.

But what about the external aspect? What is being done to increase revenue instead of solely focusing on reducing costs and driving efficiencies?

Has your company upgraded the sales operation?

Has your company retuned the marketing plan so that it identifies customer or client needs more specifically and them brings your products and services directly in line with those needs?

We see too many companies that have neglected the revenue generation aspects of their business.

Here are some simple ways to help you drive revenue in support of sales:

Start with the customer. This almost goes without saying. Yet so many companies seem to almost ignore the customer and just generate programs. Go to your best customers and ask them to identify their greatest challenges. Find out how your offerings can best fit their needs and what they have valued most in doing business with you in the past. Getting new customers is VERY expensive. Keep and cherish existing customers and find out how you can provide even greater support to them. They will appreciate your efforts and will remember it at ordering time.

Retool the marketing plan. If indeed a written plan exists, it has to cascade from the company’s overall plan. The old plan is no longer viable in today’s economic climate. Build a new dynamic plan that focuses resources on the greatest leverage points. The old 80/20 rule holds true. Find the few elements that will maximize the return on your marketing investment and support them aggressively.

Brand, Brand, Brand. Take your focused positioning and drive the branding of your company and products in every aspect of your marketing and company operations. This is the single best way to increase the profitability of your efforts. Branded products or services have higher margins and well branded products or services are worth their weight in gold. Make sure that all of the company employees understand the importance of branding and the specifics of the branding you are creating.

Brand your competition. This may seem counterintuitive but it makes a lot of sense. By saying complimentary things about your competition and focusing on only certain aspects of their value, you can brand them into a place that has limited appeal to your customers or clients. For example, you could brand them as being the low price alternative. That can leave you the higher margin premium price business. It also defines the difference in quality. Of course, you need to be certain that the branding you are creating for both your offerings and those of competition are true.

Invest in yourself. If you do not provide sufficient resources to support your plan, it will fail. Many superb plans are still in the files of companies that have gone out of business because they were never supported.

Take advantage of social media. If you do not have a social media resource, get one. This is the best and most economical way of marketing these days and if you do it right, you can create a huge competitive advantage.

Don’t let the economy undermine your revenue generation. Build the right plans to capitalize on today’s economy and be successful. Let us know if we can help.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Peace of mind

How is your piece of mind these days?

The pace of business is getting faster and faster. Customers and clients are becoming more demanding and lead times are getting shorter and shorter. Unfortunately payments are stretching out which causes financial stress to many companies. This financial stress is compounded by the business increases and the inventory and accounts receivable builds that go along with it. Cash flow is under pressure. Priorities are shifting and today’s top project may be gone tomorrow. The cutbacks in personnel have caused process problems and often times those employees who remain are handling multiple responsibilities, some of which are outside their personal core competencies.

Are you experiencing any or all of this in your company?

It can make you feel like you are out of control. We have written often about the importance of a written business plan that identifies for the company and all of the employees the direction you want to go and how you expect to get there. Having this game plan significantly reduces the stress. While it may not solve all of the pressures outlined above, it can put you more in control and that changes the entire outlook for you and the business.

You do have a written business plan, right???

How is it working for you? If you are having problems, perhaps either you have the wrong plan or it requires a tune up. Let us know if we can assist you in this.

A related question is, what do you have as your “security blanket”. As I watch our children over the years and our grandchildren today, I realize that all of them have a “security blanket” of some form. It can actually be a blanket or a stuffed animal or something comforting. But they all have one. They turn to it to reduce stress and give them peace of mind.

You may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with me? I am a mature adult and I have no need for something this childlike.” In part, you are correct. You probably don’t want a real blanket or stuffed animal. But you do need something or someone toward which you can turn to help ease the stress and provide peace of mind. Take a look at pro athletes. They all have personal coaches, attitude coaches, motivators etc.

Most senior executives do not have anything like a “security blanket” and would never admit that they needed one. However, we encourage you to reflect on that issue for a moment. When times are stressful or you are having difficulty working through thorny issues with the business or an employee, to whom can you turn for help? You can’t go to your subordinates. They would sense weakness and really just want solutions not problems. You can’t go to the Board or to your boss. They too want solutions. After all, that’s for what they hired you. Spouses are loving but generally not involved enough in the business or its intricacies to provide unbiased help.

So to whom can you turn?

We recommend, hiring on retainer a senior, experienced professional who has been where you are and can provide solid, unbiased feedback, guidance, motivation and even training to you. This person can serve as a sounding board to let you explore alternatives as you work through challenges and opportunities. This trusted advisor, who keeps all of your interactions confidential, can be your “security blanket”.

You may not think this idea would work for you. Let me suggest that you take a look at some children and see how relaxed they are when they have their security blanket. What are you missing?

Contact us if we can be of assistance. We have been providing “security blankets” for many clients for years.

Thanks

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

The New Business Model – More Support

Recently, I wrote about a new business model that can accelerate business progress and is also extremely cost effective. This is the link to the article: The Cost Effective Way to Drive Business. Essentially, it makes use of experienced consultants who do the strategic and planning work, capitalizing on their knowledge, supported by lower level workers who are responsible for the execution of the tasks.

There are a number of staffing companies starting to provide this service of experienced consultants. Executive recruiters, for example, are finding short term opportunities for the talent in their data bases to the benefit of their clients, the candidates and of course themselves. This capitalizes on the new economy where companies are reluctant to commit to larger personnel expenditures or realize that there are significant unproductive periods in the executive week. This trend is spreading with other staffing companies offering the service of C level consultants on a short term or part time basis.

As a CEO or President you might consider this model and make use of the significant talent pool that is available to you at a relatively low cost. The great news is that you can test the model out in your business with no downside, as you can terminate it immediately in the unlikely event it doesn’t pay out.

To be clear, I am not recommending the use of large consulting firms for this model like McKinsey or Bain. No! Rather I am recommending experienced single or partnerships of very experienced executives who have the specific talents and track records required for your particular situation. You don’t want to trade one set of substantial overhead internally for another externally, all which impact your bottom line. Get lean and hire lean.

You may perceive this to be a very biased point of view since the Maver Management Group is a successful consulting company to C level individuals. While there is definitely a benefit to us from this model, it also reflects my long experience at the executive level with very large established companies, Procter & Gamble and Clorox, who operate with extensive executive staffs and generally promote from within. I have seen both sides of this opportunity. Hence, I am recommending it to my clients, whether they are well established or in the start up mode.

Please contact us if we can help you either create the plans for your company or set this model in operation to accelerate your business.

Thanks

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management