Savvy's Resolute Adventures

How to Maintain an Intimate Culture?

"Culture" was the core theme of the presentations at the Inc. 500|5000 conference. Small Giants devotes chapter five to the intimate culture.  The challenge can be how to maintain that after getting over a certain headcount.  The leader sets the stage for the rest to follow.

1. Get the right people on the bus - those who are motivated by more than money.
2. Keep the bus in good running condition: e.g. good internal communications, good follow through on decisions, the 1001 basics that just must get done. As Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman's stated well about the foundation of enabling a good culture - " It takes well designed, appropriate, and values-driven systems and processes to support and create the kind of cultures we're all going after."
3. Create a culture that is not only intellectually challenging but unifying.
4. Keep management tools elegantly simple.
5. Attract people who delight in providing extraordinary customer service - brings them happiness.
6. Make the connection that having a great business is one way of making a better world.
7. Remind people in unexpected ways how much the company cares about them.
8. Promote collegiality.
   

I've often heard the CEO of a client say that rebuilding the culture of his company after a turnaround that required enormous change (e.g. layoffs, change in business model, a take private) is what he is most proud of accomplishing. Inheriting a culture and then molding it to a new, positive state is an incredible challenge.  Congratulations!

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What is positive about your culture today?  What would you like to improve and what steps will you  take this coming month to do so?

 

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Ask the Right Questions

Having worked with public, venture funded, as well as self funded ventures, I have seen the dynamics that drive each of these different business situations.

Upon being referred in to meet the founder of one self funded venture, I was told "you seem to work with the 'fast-money' companies - I just need to let you know I want to run this company until I die."  I assured the founder that we also worked with self funded companies. He hired Savvy as he wanted to figure out how to take his firm to its next level of growth by entering new verticals.  Interestingly enough, this company had a successful exit to a multibillion dollar global company a few years later.

But that was clearly not the initial goal.  I always ask clients "what do you want out of your venture"?  "What do you see as an exit if any?" I seek to understand what their goals are in life, what is their passion.

Small Giants goes up close and personal with several companies that reach forks in the road - acquisition, public offering, and after soul searching do not necessarily choose the road most traveled. Though some do.  But only after careful consideration of all the implications.

We can help you ask the right questions  www.resoluteventures.com.

What is "mojo"?

A serial entrepreneur, who traveled with us to the Inc. 500|5000 conference,  kept asking  "just what is mojo?" In reading Small Giants, here are some ideas:

• an elusive quality that needs to be tended carefully
• 'you got that engine running baby and the sky is the limit'

What are common threads amongst companies that have mojo?

1. Founders and leaders imagine possibilities other than the usual definitions of success in business.
2. The people in charge remained in control or regained control in often a challenging manner.
3. Each has an extraordinarily intimate relationship with the local community.
4. Leaders lead in cultivating exceptionally intimate relationships with customers and suppliers.
5. Companies have unusually initimate workplaces - "caring for people in the totality of their lives".
6. They possess a wide variety of management systems and practices - each does what is best for their situation.
7. The leaders have passion for what the company does - they have deep emotional attachments to the business, to the people who worked in it, and to its customers and suppliers. They are professional business people, not professional management.

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Do you and your company have mojo?

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What is a Small Giant?

Attended the launch event for the Small Giants Community www.gotmojo.org  at the Inc. 500|5000 conference.  Bo Burlingham, of Inc. Magazine discusses "companies that choose to be great instead of big".  Many entrepreneurs, myself at times included, have simply assumed the mantra of growth for growth's sake. Bo reminds readers that "big does not equal great, and great does not equal big."

Small Giants are companies that focus on a passionate dedication to becoming the absolute best, which may or may not necessarily mean big.

Let us help you be the absolute best  Savvy Marketing Group.

 

How to learn from "Detractors"?

Identify the detractors from your research.  Assign individual(s) to follow up to probe further for key insights.  Meet as team to discuss ways to improve.

Ask what it would take for them to become a promoter!

 

We design actionable research Savvy Marketing Group.

 

How to gather NPS data?

Use email methodologies since research shows negative feedback is

easier to give online than face to face or by phone. Go through a

third party so that your promise of confidentiality is more credible.

 

One client "sought truth, not comfort"

Another considers "feedback is a gift" 

 

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What feedback have you gained lately?

 

We love gathering actionable data  Savvy Marketing Group.

How to win Promoters?

Two things have to happen before customers make a personal referral:

 

They must believe that the firm offers superior value (rational).

 

They must also feel good about that relationship (emotional). 

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Engage the customer’s head and heart.

 

 We can help you win nore promoters Savvy Marketing Group.

What is considered a highly efficient "growth engine"?

Analysis shows that, on average, increasing the Net Promoter Score

(NPS) by a dozen points versus competitors can double a company's

growth rate.

 

Companies with the most efficient growth engines - Amazon.com, eBay,

and Southwest Airlines operate at efficiency rates of ~ 50-80%. 

 

The average firm only rates 5 - 10%.

 

How does your efficiency rate?

 

 

We can help improve your efficiency Savvy Marketing Group.

How to calculate Net Promoter Score (NPS)?

Using a scale of 1-10 for responses to ultimate question,

 

P - D = NPS

 

Promoters are those who respond to the ultimate question: 9 or 10
Promoters are loyal enthusiasts who continue to purchase from the company and serve as evangelists

 

Detractors are those who respond 0 - 6

Detractors are unhappy customers who feel caught in a bad situation.

 

What do you think Reicheld's extensive research revealed as to how leading and typical companies stacked up on this measurement?

 

 

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Why ask "The Ultimate Question"?

I am a fan of Fred Reichheld's  book The Ultimate Question.  Not because I was assigned to be on one of his Bain case teams over two decades ago, but because the answer to this question yields a good metric, that can be easily measured and benchmarked on regular intervals. 

 

"How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?"

 

Have a goal for annual improvement and a plan to get there. Remember "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail"

 

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