Breaking new ground in business

In my last post, I spoke about using trade shows as a centerpiece event for securing new business and deepening relations with current clients.  In this post, I will talk about how you can use a trade show event as an opportunity to get client feedback on new product or business initiatives. This piece focuses on three elements:

·         How to distill a vision or concept into a clear visual that can be validated by customers

·         Engaging company executives as active participants in concept-testing with customers

·         Facilitating an ideation session where executives pool their observations to form a go-forward plan

The year was 1996.  I was working for TRW in the real estate information business, and we were eyeing the mortgage industry segment as a growth segment. Our thinking was that we managed databases that cataloged consumer credit, property valuation and title, so we were in an ideal position to automate the underwriting component of mortgage origination. Our question was not, “Can we do this,” but “Will the market embrace TRW as a company repositioning itself as more than a data vendor?” In 1996 the mortgage industry was made up of numerous companies jockeying for the role as “automation enabler” in mortgage origination. We were one of many.

TRW was a big ship and to steer 90 degrees right-rudder, we needed buy-in from all hands.  Our division president was on board, but we had a dozen or so executives who needed to understand and embrace the vision.  We chose the 1996 Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Conference as our research venue and retained Grant Thornton to help us set up interviews with industry thought-leaders.

We reserved a suite in a nearby hotel and began setting interviews with ratings agency, GSE, mortgage banking and bank executives, and primary dealers issuing mortgage-related securities.  We paired our managers into interviewing teams, gave them crash courses in the mortgage finance industry, and matched them to interviewees. 

We whittled our vision down to a single page; a pictograph that represented the mortgage finance segment as a hierarchy.  At the bottom were the primary sources of information needed to underwrite a loan: credit, collateral and title.  Above that was a line separating content from “the deciders”: the underwriters who used the information to give a thumbs-up or –down on a loan deal.  At the top of the pictograph were the banks who provided the funds and the buy and sell sides of the secondary market.  The operative questions were twofold: can the role of underwriting be automated, and would the market embrace TRW as an “above the line” provider of more than content… could it become “the decider”?

This visual allowed us to cover a lot of ground in the interview.  Which segments would drive change in mortgage underwriting? What was each segment’s proper role in the change process? What were the limitations in automated underwriting? What were the risks and who would assume them?

We conducted thirty or so executive interviews in the course of two-and-a-half days.  We interviewed in pairs so one person could lead the discussion while the other took notes. Using company executives to conduct the interviews helped everyone internalize the opportunity and uncover new information from a multi-disciplinary perspective, while advancing the company’s understanding of the mortgage finance industry.

The conference ended Wednesday morning, but we stayed for an additional day to debrief as a team.  We hired a moderator to keep us on track and ensure that we had a detailed list of action items.  The meeting ended with a consensus and a mandate: we had identified a valid strategic opportunity and we must concentrate our efforts to make it a reality.

There are many ways to conduct research that identifies or validates business opportunities.  I am particularly fond of this method.  As a team we rolled up our sleeves, got our hands dirty and, by doing so, made the information real.  It gave us a sense of ownership in the discovery process.  And it generated momentum for the change process.

The show must go on

I distinctly remember the 1998 Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Convention held in Chicago.  I was a Vice President of Sales and Marketing for First American Real Estate Solutions and with an odd-hour to kill, I was working the booth.  In strode a diminutive, but unmistakably familiar man: Franklin Delano Raines, the Chairman of Fannie Mae.  No badge, just quietly cruising the floor, getting a feel for things.

Frank was fresh off of a gig with the Clinton administration where he served as Director of OMB.  He was the first OMB director in recent history to preside over a balanced federal budget. I had met Frank in 1995, when I accompanied Van Skilling, head of TRW Information Systems, on a courtesy call to Washington.

“Frank,” I said, grabbing his hand like we were golfing buddies, “on behalf of the American people, I want to say ‘thank you for the balanced budget'.”  We spent a few minutes chatting and I was able to introduce him to my boss, Dennis Gilmore.

For a brief moment, I was somebody, as Marlon Brando said in the movie “On the Waterfront.”

That’s the thing about trade shows:  moments of success are, in part, a matter of luck.  But, as the saying goes, luck is what happens when fortune meets preparation.

The Big Dance

The MBA National Convention was our prom.  It was where we unveiled new products, made major announcements and signed big deals we had been working all year.  The accountants may orient around a fiscal year, but our sales year began and ended with the MBA conference.

We would spend more than six figures on registrations, travel and entertainment expenses, promotions and a hospitality suite where we conferred with major clients.  We invested far too much coin to set up shop and fish off the end of the pier.  In the weeks leading up to the conference, we worked the phones to fill our meeting agendas, what we called our "dance cards.”  We timed contract negotiations so we could hold signing parties at the convention, where our president would ink deals and establish executive alliances. 

The cardinal sin was taking a co-worker out for dinner.  Those were special times reserved for special clients.

When is your prom?

You must have one major trade show event that dominates your industry.  Where anybody who is anybody is in attendance.  There is probably no more convenient and efficient way to touch your customers and prospects than by working that show. Make it the centerpiece of your marketing plan.

What’s your plan?

There are a million details to attend to in a major trade show if you’re planning for success.  You must define roles and responsibilities, drive to clearly-stated objectives and plan for contingencies (what happens if the booth doesn’t arrive?). It’s the kind of event that begs for a plan.

Everyone who attends has a role to play and must have their own set of objectives – or they don’t attend.  If you’re displaying or demonstrating products, everyone from the president on down must be checked out and capable of speaking to features and benefits. 

Your trade show budget (an all-up budget, including travel and people-cost) should be offset by revenue targets for new sales or renewals. If the return isn’t clear or realistic, cut the budget.

These events are not slapped together in the last week; they are scripted months in advance. Plan for success and create a sense of urgency. It’s exhausting, but worth the effort. 

Your brand cuts deeper than your logo

In the old West, a brand was a cheap and effective way to mark cattle to signify ownership.  The brand was a symbol representing the cattle rancher or the ranch itself. Remember the Ponderosa from the TV series Bonanza? That’s the brand shown above.

Today, the word “brand” is often used instead of the word “logo” when referring to a company’s mark.  In reality your brand cuts much deeper. Your brand is the sum of your many interactions with your customers: how you treat them; the quality of the products or services you provide; how easy you are to do business with, and yes, what you claim in your advertising.

Arguably that was true in the old West.  A man’s brand symbolized his character, for good or for ill.

If you work for an airline that is habitually late on arrival and loses luggage, and whose employees are generally surly, your brand is “Hostile Airlines,” never mind what the ads and the signs say.

In our business we say that “90% of your brand is what you do, 10% is what you say.”

The way to build a successful brand is to cultivate excellence in your customer experience.  If you perfect that, you’re much farther along than a company with a stylized logo and good advertising, but with a mediocre offering.

When we’re called upon to help a company develop or evolve a brand, we begin by studying the company: how it behaves; its culture; how it prioritizes things and how it treats its customers.  We’re looking for patterns of behavior that represent its vision and character.  On occasion, we come across a company that understands its customers’ needs and earnestly strives to meet those needs through business practices and policies that provide clear direction across the enterprise.

When we discover that, magic happens.

We are able to formulate a brand platform that clearly articulates the company’s vision, brand byline, brand attributes and value proposition, which is easily summarized in a tag line.  This leads to creative that clearly distinguishes the company from the rest of the herd (back to the cattle metaphor).

Most importantly, the talk matches the walk.  The brand messaging is in lock-step with brand behavior.  Customer experiences reinforce what is expressed in advertising and promotion.  The company builds credibility and brand equity. 

As you refer to your company’s brand, reflect not only on what you say, but what you do.

The beginning

In the late nineties, I listened to an interview with Kurt Vonnegut Jr.  Asked to explain why he said that Timequake would be his final novel, he replied: "It is said that, if you sat a million monkeys before a million typewriters, eventually they would type the works of Shakespeare.  Well, the Web disproves that."

Wow... what a way to start a blog... by insulting anyone with a keyboard.

Henceforth, this will be my place to weigh in on communication, advertising, branding, and other issues of social import.  Not that I occupy the chair of wisdom... on the contrary.  I'm just a guy with an opinion, a keyboard and the fervent intention to take a few minutes out of his day to write down a few sentences on something I feel strongly about.

Since clients pay me to help them develop communications materials, maybe there's a shred of truth to what I say.  Here's hoping that it's more than a shred.

Fact is, I like to write.  I spend most of my days doing it.  E-mails, articles, instructions, proposals... if you believe that writing is like exercising a muscle (and I do), it has become easier for me to do over the years.  Here are some lessons I've learned about writing over the years:

- There are times of the day when you are in peak writing condition. Words fly off your fingertips and writing seems effortless. My time of the day is early morning.... like 5:30 a.m.  I think it's because my mind is unencumbered and I am not fatigued.

- Write in the idiom.  To me, that means two things: write as you would  speak, using language and terminology you're comfortable with.  Too many people agonize about writing because they ascribe to write at a level higher than they would normally communicate and get hung up on selecting just the right word, or trying to impress the reader with flowery language.  Relax,  Write as you would speak.

Secondly, it's OK to break some of the rules of grammar as you write.  Like using staccato sentences. And beginning a sentence with the word "and".  Hell, even the New York Times does it. Just be sure your meaning is not lost on your reader when you bend the Associated Press Style Guide around a tree. Or the stem of a wine glass.

- Good writing is good editing.  If you can find someone who will edit your work (and you trust and respect them), engage them.  It will elevate the quality of your writing by a factor of two.  (This blog is unedited... just me and Google, helping me spell words like "staccato").

- Write from the heart.  A phrase written with passion and conviction is worth ten times a phrase written just because you have to fill a space. It may be grammatically correct, but it's lifeless. Don't be afraid to spill your guts or display your emotions.  It usually makes for a better read.

I'm going to pause here, as I don't want to blow my wad on the first couple of passages.

Stay together, America.