Asking the “Right” People

Marketing Research is Simple…

Asking the “Right” People

In my last article, as part of my series on conducting “good” Marketing Research, I discussed the importance of asking the “Right” Questions, and some of the perils of not doing so.

In this article, I’m going to delve more deeply into the importance of choosing the “Right” people to include in your survey.

Since it is usually impossible (or impractical) to survey ALL of the people in a population, the critical issue in selecting the “Right” people is the sample design. When designing a sample for research, it is critical to watch for and avoid 5 types of errors.

Sampling Error – Sampling error is unavoidable. Whenever you take a sample of observations from a population to estimate that population, you will grapple with sampling error. The sample is never exactly the same as the entire population. However, the good news is that statistical theory provides a method to estimate and minimize the degree of sampling error.

Sampling error is affected primarily by the size of the sample drawn from the population. The larger the sample, the lower the sampling error. Designing an effective sample for a study is balancing the size of the sample with the budget you have for the study.

For example, a random sample of 400 from a large population will yield an estimated sampling error of +/- 4.8% at the 5% level of confidence. This means that you can be 95% sure that the data you generate from your survey will be within +/-4.8% of the population parameter. Of course, a sample of 500 would reduce the sampling error to +/-4.3%. Conversely, a sample of 300 would be less costly but would increase the sampling error to +/-5.6%. Considering sample error only, the sample size decision is based on your budget and your tolerance for error. Does a 0.5% reduction in sampling error justify the additional cost for a sample of 500? Can you accept a 0.8% increase in sampling error with a less costly sample of 300?

You also need to account for any sub-groups that you wish to analyze in your sample. A total sample size of 400 may be adequate for total sample analysis, but if you want to compare results by particular market segments, you may need to increase the total sample size to provide enough observations by segment.

The other four errors are referred to as Non-Sampling Errors. Unfortunately, these errors cannot be measured statistically, but they can be mitigated through careful sample design and selection.

Population Specification Error occurs when the population from which the sample is to be drawn does not match the objectives of the study. For example, I once managed a project to identify the key factors driving the purchase decision of a type of industrial equipment. We interviewed a sample of Purchasing Managers from our target industries who were thought to be the decision-makers for this category. But when we completed the study, the results were inconclusive. Price emerged as the only attribute that was perceived to be important. Further investigation revealed that while the final purchase decision was indeed made by a Purchasing Manager, it was the Plant Engineer who determined the specifications and vendors. The Purchasing Managers only negotiated prices and contract terms and executed the transaction. Repeating the study among Plant Engineers, the more relevant population, identified the key technical specifications that were driving the purchase decision.

Sample Frame Error is similar to Population Specification Error. However, instead of choosing the wrong population, you choose the wrong subgroup or groups from within the population. This error is commonly encountered when a survey is conducted without any quota controls. For example, very often women are more willing to answer consumer surveys than men. Without any controls, your data may be improperly skewed toward women. Setting a minimum quota for men in you sample plan can limit this error. Likewise, if a key constituency of your research is the Latino segment and your survey is programmed only in English, you will likely under-represent the Latino segment.

Self-Selection Error occurs because you can’t force people to answer your surveys; people have the option to respond or not. The results may become biased if those who do select to respond differ substantively from those who do not. This happens a lot in customer satisfaction surveys. People who tend to be dissatisfied are more likely to respond to such a survey to voice their complaints about poor service, introducing a negative bias to your results.

Non-Response Error occurs when there is a practical difference between people who respond and those who fail to respond to your survey. For example, if you are conducting a political poll and the members of one party generally refuse to participate in the survey, your results will be skewed to the opinions of only one party.

Self-selection and Non-response errors are extremely common in almost every type of marketing research. You can’t measure these errors and therefore don’t know the impact on the data you collect. There are ways that you can reduce the impact of these errors by encouraging a higher, more random participation rate by:

- Offering incentives (cash, coupons, prize drawings, information) for completed interviews
- Utilization of respondent panels made up of people who opt-in to surveys
- Short, simple, neat, and clean survey design that encourages participation
- A distinct and credible promise of confidentiality and anonymity
- A clear description of the purpose of the survey and assurance that it is not a sales pitch
- Follow-up with reminder invitations to non-responders

In summary, to interview the “Right” people:

- Keep focused on the objectives of the research!
- Make sure that you clearly know the identity of your target respondent
- Optimize the size of your sample within your budget to minimize sampling error
- Clearly identify the Population and Subgroups that define your target respondent
- Mitigate self-selection and non-response biases by providing incentives, using opt-in panels, good survey planning, and survey design, assuring confidentiality and anonymity, clearly describing your purpose, and sending reminders

Look for the final installment in this series, Asking at the “Right” Time, next week.

For more on this and other Marketing Research topics, follow me on LinkedIn or reach out to me at carl_fusco@yahoo.com if I can help you in any way.

Carl Fusco is an accomplished Marketing Research Consultant who helps businesses more effectively solve problems by applying research techniques and data-based insights.

Thank you for visiting our Blog!

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

April 19, 2021April 19, 2021

Jim Weber Completes Two Search Assignments

New Century Dynamics Announces the completion of Two Search Assignments!

Jim Weber, President of New Century Dynamics Executive Search, and Managing Partner of ITB Partners has completed two searches for Restaurant Operations Managers.

These placements are for separate clients, both small but growing restaurant chains based in Northeastern Ohio.

During these Searches, Jim Weber vetted many outstanding candidates who may be suitable for your needs.

For More information, contact Jim Weber at:

JimWeber@NewCenturyDynamics.com

(770) 354-2817

April 17, 2021April 17, 2021

Foreigners

“I want to know what love is.” Foreigner

I have what is called the tea-tip theory. This theory was established by me in 1985. It helps determine food server gratuity. The theory works as follows:

Keep my tea glass filled, and there will be a tip. Otherwise, the tip remains a theory and no reality.

This theory was formed based on my realization I must not have held the same belief system as the food servers of my past who were unable to understand my consuming a beverage during my meal is what I meant when I asked them to keep my tea glass filled during my meal. I did not want further misunderstandings to occur between seller and buyer by way of a foreign concept. So, I take action since then to assure there is no doubt present in how I ask to be served.

This theory helped lead me over the years to learning there is only one of me. Furthermore, there is only one of each person. We are each one-of-a-kind. Now, I am a big fan of uniformity. There are times when it is both fitting and necessary in life. Over the years, I have come to realize there does not have to be uniformity among all things with people to get what I want in life. So, living with my being a foreigner who lives with foreigners is fine with me. This acceptance is nice since this is the way it is for all of us one-of-a-kind creatures.

We have talked at length about your strategic planning work not being accomplished as you prefer. We know it is not a skills problem, nor is it a workspace problem. We know we have a people problem. We have looked at diversity along with inclusion in researching who you need to consider joining your organization to do your strategic planning work. We are not sold yet either some or all of the people doing the work now need to either stop doing the work or leave your organization. All we know for certain now is you need more people to join your organization as full members, not on loan by way of matrix-supplied labor.

Uniformity seems to be multiplying in the cultures of the world. I see it is driven by the Internet interconnecting us to each other through smartphones. We are forming into groups of binary viewpoints of right and wrong on almost every topic imaginable. It is a combination of groups with clear formations in ideologies and structures. These groups have those who consider themselves right by their members, while those who do not hold the same view are considered wrong. I addressed some of this topic last week and also recently. I am talking much more than global workers, immigration, and refugees. I am talking about our neighbor next door and our towns, regardless of their citizenship and work permit. I wonder if we can have a culture anywhere that does not harm one another based on the justification attempts for right and wrong. I am not sure this is possible much longer, as I am watching many in this world become quite angry and hedge on the edge of great violence.

WHO CARES?

Claudia Fontes’s work caught my eye with how she views the concept of foreigners. I have never met her, but her viewpoint resonates with me to encapsulate how this people problem you are facing can be resolved effectively by consideration of diversity and inclusion. The term foreigners seems to be used more and more as a pejorative. Meaning, it is bad to be a foreigner. You are looking for new people to join your organization so you can pay them to do work for you. Do you want them to feel any form of discrimination as they are a part of your organization? If not, then they must either be a good foreigner or not a foreigner at all. Allowing them to be harmed by either discrimination or as a pejorative target are examples of the evil I spoke of last week.

SO WHAT?

I doubt anyone today will have a job until they die. I hold this belief because of how fast technology is changing the world. You, as a leader, will also most likely need to change jobs at some point in your career. What if your culture’s political system changes to the point where you either decide you need to leave or are asked to leave? Dr. Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago went through this exact scenario. I encourage you to learn about his story if you have not already. It is a story of a nation about a century ago that decided they would discard many things about their nation to form a new culture based on force. This learning should also help prepare you for the discussion we need to have soon on the topic of love. Besides, a local person who feels like they have to obtain either a literal or metaphorical work permit to be a part of your organization is already feeling like a foreigner. Leave the difficulties of encouraging people to join your organization aside, but focus on the skills the candidates hold and how those skills match your organization’s needs.

David Daniels wrote an article about bias occurring during the hiring process. Dave shared recently with me, “Most companies today are using some form of an assessment in the selection process. How most are using this tool is often illegal but more importantly, fraught with potential bias.” Dave and I agree about requisite skills being present among organization members based on their role in the organization. Dave went on to say to me during our recent conversation about diversity and inclusion, “No D & I expert worth their salt would ever suggest hiring and/or promoting a person who is not the most qualified person for the position.” It is reasonable to say there are no viable means to know skill levels without conducting an objective measurement process.

WHAT IS NEXT?

Rebecca Knight shared all candidates are imperfect. I add all candidates are also foreigners. Getting comfortable with the fact there is no applicant having all you need for any role is a good move at this point. The best next move I recommend to you is understanding differentiation. The new member or members of your organization most likely will want to fit into the organization, but they are coming to help change the organization for the better. They may want to look the same as others, but they will not. They will stand out and be in the limelight for a good while. They will either be liked or disliked by your organization’s members. Positioning them for success means helping your existing organization members understand why the new members are needed. Then, you are able to begin the work of differentiating your strategic planning work to accomplish both new and more significant outcomes. It is at this point you are giving to your people what they are craving to receive from you: love.

Remember, our initial meeting started with you asking why your strategic planning work is not going as you prefer. The work of leading an organization successfully requires a servant’s mindset to be held by the leader. Leadership is not about achieving fame or fortune. Those outcomes may arrive after success in a leadership role, but doing the work of a leader day after day is what you are faced with now. This work never ends until the day arrives when you stop leading. Perhaps you should stop leading this organization where you cannot plan your strategy. I brought up this point for you to consider a few weeks back. Rest assured, the larger the role, the larger the work required to accomplish the role. The opportunity you have now to move people around in your organization is a key component of leading. Needing to move some people around is not a direct sign of failure. Not doing whatever it is you need to do both is and always will be a clear sign of leadership failure.

I encourage you to spend time this week working on more of your research to determine who you need to remove from your strategic planning work, what you need in terms of skills to do the remaining work, and see who you have for qualified candidates. Next week, we will begin the work to look at those candidates. Next week starts the part where most leaders quit on the servant part of leading. I will wait until next week to show you why this is the case.

So, I ask you: where do you want to go? I hope your answer is to develop the plans necessary to accomplish the strategy you know you need to achieve to arrive at your desired destination. If this is the case, then let’s get to work. If not, then I wish you the best of everything.

I hope we will see each other here next week. Email me if you need to talk before then.

Dr. Stephen H. Dawson, DSL

Executive Strategy Consultant

Stephen Dawson is an executive consultant of technology and business strategy, serving significant international organizations by providing leadership consulting, strategic planning, and executive communications. He has more than thirty years of service and consulting experience in delivering successful international business development and program management outcomes in the US and SE Asia. His weekly column, “Where Do You Want To Go?,” appears on Thursdays.

Dr. Dawson has served in the technology, banking, and hospitality industries. He is a noted strategic planning visionary. His pursuit of music has been matched with his efforts to lead by service to followers. He holds the clear understanding a leader without followers is a person taking a long walk alone.

Stephen has lived his life in the eastern United States, visiting most of the United States and several countries. He is a graduate of the Regent University School of Business & Leadership. Contact him at service@shdawson.com.

Thank you for visiting our Blog!

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

April 17, 2021

48 Local Marketing Strategies

Local Marketing – 48 Proven Strategies

Doug Reifschneider

Download the eBook to learn about the 48 proven strategies for success for local marketing. For example, the eBook can be used as a reference manual.

In other words, it can be useful for CEOs, CMOs, franchisees, operators, and “Mom & Pop” owners of brick & mortar operations. Several of the 48 proven strategies for success are useful for service area operations such as home services.

How to use this eBook

As the CEO of a multi-unit operation, you could download the eBook and give it to your operations and marketing teams.

For example, if you are the head of marketing for a multi-unit brick & mortar business, you could use it for ideas and ways to challenge your team.

And most importantly. if you own a brick & mortar business or are the franchisee of any retail or restaurant chain, use the 48 proven strategies for success to augment the marketing tactics your franchisor provides.

What is local marketing?

Local marketing is marketing to the people who live and work in your trade area and have a propensity to buy your services and/or offerings.

Local marketing used to be simple. To market your business in a local area, business owners used to join the local chamber, send direct mail postcards, buy a yellow-pages ad or perhaps even walk the trade area to introduce themselves to other local businesses, schools, banks, etc. in the neighborhood.

One of my favorite stories is about a small business owner who had the misfortune of being located in a strip center with two other businesses that sold the same wares. The store on the right advertised that they were having a sale, and everything was 10% off. The store on the left followed suit and put up a banner that said everything was 15% off. What was our owner to do?

He also put a banner over his front door that said:

MAIN ENTRANCE

Which door would you enter?

Examples:

- #2 is how to optimize your Google My Business (GMB) page
- #8 explains the importance of email marketing
- #22 how to use local service ads for service-area businesses
- #31 about how direct mail still works
- #37 explains how to deal with the constant request for donations
- #40 on how to use various kinds of signage to promote your business

Click on the link to download the eBook.

https://contact.chiefoutsiders.com/local-marketing-ebook?_ga=2.267839182.1160848343.1617814085-1667217537.1617814085

Doug Reifschneider is a partner with ITB Partners and a CMO with Chief Outsiders.

ITB Partners is a consortium of seasoned professionals. whose business is your success. To see Doug’s ITB Partners profile, click the link below.

https://www.itbpartners.com/partners/the-team/doug-reifschneider/

In addition to ITB Partners, Doug works as a fractional CMO with Chief Outsiders. Chief Outsiders is the largest fractional CMO firm in the USA. As a result, Chief Outsiders is home to 75+ chief marketing officers who specialize in helping small to mid-sized companies grow.

https://www.chiefoutsiders.com/profile/doug-reifschneider

April 10, 2021

Reifschneider Completes PE Firm Engagement

Doug Reifschneider, Member of ITB Partners, and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Chief Outsiders, recently completed an extensive PE firm engagement. The PE firm’s project was compressed into 45 days, and because of the need for speed, Reifschneider partnered with a colleague from Chief Outsiders to complete the project on time. The PE firm employed the two CMOs to develop a 100-day plan for a household services firm they plan to acquire.

The pair from Chief Outsiders complimented each other because the project included:

- Digital Marketing Assessment
  - Digital SWOT
  - Scorecard for the website, digital marketing, and social media
  - recommendations
- Gathering insights about the customers, competitors, and company
- Develop a growth strategy
  - Activated SWOT analysis
  - Brand positioning workshop
  - Brand house exercise
  - From here to there exercise
- Developed a marketing plan for the balance of 2021, including 14 “Game-changing” ideas
- Prepare a go-to-market plan if invited to continue work with the new portfolio company

About Doug Reifsc hneider

Doug Reifschneider is a dynamic marketing leader with 30+ years of experience in the restaurant industry. He has a history of driving growth through the creation and delivery of unique, creative brand strategies enhancing customer affinity and market position. While at Firehouse Subs, Mr. Reifschneider helped achieve a 4X increase in locations, to 1,030 restaurants generating $684M in revenues and 19.4% average annual sales.

During his foodservice career, he navigated the ever-changing marketing/advertising environment. The advertising menu proliferated from a relatively short list of tactics (TV, radio, print [direct mail, magazines, newspaper, etc. ], OOH, POP, and direct selling) 20 years ago to thousands of online options which included but was not limited to display, native, SEO, SEM/PPC, web sites, landing pages, mobile and others. Doug has experience with all of it and is always looking for new technologies to exploit such as Blockchain.

Throughout his career, he consistently strengthened brand equity, grew the customer base, and boosted revenues through the development of innovative marketing campaigns.

Contact Doug at reif78@gmail.com

April 10, 2021April 10, 2021

Ask the Right Questions!

Marketing Research is Simple…

Asking the “Right” Questions

In my previous blog, I reviewed the three steps necessary to conduct “good” Marketing Research:

- - Ask the “Right” Questions,
  - Ask the “Right” People,
  - Ask at the “Right” Time

However, simple these steps may seem, getting all the steps “Right” is a challenge. In this blog, I’m going to probe more deeply into the topic of asking the “Right” questions.

Over the course of my career, I’ve seen numerous badly worded questions and poorly constructed questionnaires (yes, I’ve written many myself). There are three basic ways to fail in asking the “Right” questions:

- Asking the “Wrong” questions
- Failing to ask all the “Right” questions
- Asking the “Right” questions in the “Wrong” way

First, to avoid asking the “Wrong” questions, it is important to keep a laser focus on the objectives of the research. Losing sight of your objectives can cause you to stray off into topics and issues that are not relevant. This is especially true when there are many levels of people providing input to the questionnaire design. One solution is to design a mock report or outline before you start writing the questionnaire. Knowing the key components of the report will define the information that you need to include in the questionnaire.

A more insidious problem is when you “think” that you are asking the “Right” questions, but you wind up leaving some key questions out. A classic example is the case of New Coke. Coca-Cola introduced a new formulation of its flagship brand in 1985. Extensive marketing research had shown decisively in blind taste tests that the taste of the new formulation was preferred over the current Coke formulation and over Pepsi. The Coke marketing team thought they had a winner, and the new formulation was launched with heavy advertising and public relations. But, soon after the launch, the company began receiving letters and telephone calls from people all over the country expressing anger and disappointment about the “new” Coke. What happened? One issue was that in the marketing research, consumers were asked blindly whether they liked the taste of the new formulation relative to Coke and Pepsi. They were not asked, either directly or indirectly, whether they would be in favor of replacing the Coke brand with a new formulation. Loyal Coke drinkers couldn’t accept that their beloved Coke brand had been changed. Aside from taste, there were strong emotional connections that people had with the brand that were not fully considered in the research. They neglected to ask all the “Right” questions, such as “how would you feel if this new formulation replaced the current Coke formulation?”. Perhaps the negative consumer reaction may have been predicted or mitigated if they had these insights developed from the research.

Finally, to avoid asking questions in the “Wrong” way, there are 6 errors to avoid:

1. Leading or Loaded questions:

Perhaps the most common way to bias a question is to lead the respondent toward an answer that you’d like them to make. For example, if you wish to get positive answers to a satisfaction question, you could ask “How excellent is the customer service you receive?”. An unbiased alternative is “Please rate your level of satisfaction with the customer service you receive.”.

1. Loaded questions:

Loaded questions are similar to leading questions in that they subtly (or not so subtly) push the user toward a particular response. Here you are making an assumption about the respondent that is included implicitly in the question. An example is, “What do you love about shopping online?” This presumes that a person loves shopping online and will bias their response.

1. Unbalanced scales:

One way to lead questions is by using an answer scale that is unbalanced. Asking, “please rate your satisfaction with the service on your last transaction” is unbiased. But, you can bias the answers with an unbalanced scale, that provides more positive than negative choices, such as:

Extremely Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Somewhat Satisfied

Satisfied

Dissatisfied

1. Double-barreled questions:

Double-barreled questions attempt to ask about two constructs in the same question. “Please rate your satisfaction with the courtesy and competence of your customer service rep”. The customer service rep may be perceived as very courteous, but not very competent. Or vice versa. Therefore, the answer to a double-barreled question is not clear. To solve the issue, you need to break the two constructs into separate questions.

1. Unclear questions:

Questions that are too long, grammatically incorrect, using acronyms or jargon, or written above the heads of the target respondent will either be skipped or answered invalidly. Keeping the reading level slightly below what you think is the average reading level of your target respondent.

1. Unanswerable questions:

You can get skewed results to survey questions when you are asking something that the respondent can’t easily answer. Perhaps it is information that is obscure, that they would have to look up, that happened too long ago, or that is just unknowable. An example is, “Please tell me how much you paid for Title Insurance when you purchased your first home?” Unless a respondent closed on their first home very recently or has easy access to their records, you are probably going to get inaccurate answers to this question.

In summary, to assure that you are asking the “Right” questions:

- Keep focused on the objectives of the research. If a question doesn’t contribute to answering the key questions in the objectives, eliminate it.
- Are there questions that you are missing? Look at your report outline. Do you have all the key information covered?
- Be aware of and avoid the common question bias pitfalls.
- Have a colleague read the questionnaire over and make sure they understand it and it is free of spelling and grammatical errors.

The time you spend upfront to get the questions “Right” will save you the embarrassment of having to explain why you don’t have the insights that were expected.

Look for my next article next week that will probe more deeply into how to “Ask” questions of the “Right” people.

Carl Fusco is a Marketing Research and Consulting Executive skilled at directing the application of research techniques and insights to solve problems and support data-based business decisions. Over his 35-year career, Carl has built a reputation for quality, integrity, and creativity by establishing trust, credibility, and acceptance with clients and associates. He has built a proven track record of success in organizational management and leadership, research design and implementation, and analytic rigor and impact.

Contact Carl at:

carl_fusco@yahoo.com

770-364-7160

Thank you for visiting our Blog!

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

April 8, 2021June 22, 2021

You Are Destroying Business Value, Just Pay the %^$*^R and Move On!

Business owners working on exit planning and maximizing the value of their company for sale often take a wrong turn. Litigation is a nightmare. When we work with owners to sell their companies and advise on the value-building process, we find they are sometimes destroying business value without realizing the extent of it.

We are human beings – we get into disputes. This is America – people sue people. If you have been through business litigation of any sort, you know it is not pretty. In the end, it’s rarely worth it. You may be in the right, there may be real damages or loss of money, and darn it, they should pay!

Certainly, there are situations in which you cannot avoid the dispute dragging on. It may be a substantial amount of damages or it may be a more complex situation tied to other potential liability. Often, however, the relentless, unending fighting – especially going all the way to court – can reduce the value of your company. If each year over a few years you are paying $100,000 in legal fees and your net income takes a hit of $100,000, the reduction in business value can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

- Revenue Decline: There is no question that you will be distracted by the process. Even with your attorneys handling much of the work, it will always be on your mind. Stress grows and you will have a less-than-100% focus on growing your business, exit planning, and building value for a sale. Revenue will suffer.
- Bad Decisions: You will – consciously or subconsciously – adjust the decisions you make away from your best course of action because of the ongoing dispute and its implications.
- Attorney Fees: They add up very quickly – quite possibly ending in more money than it would have taken to just pay the *$*&* and get it behind you to focus on value growth.
- Brand Damage: The longer the fight continues, the more likely this will get out to hurt your brand and image, even if you are right!

36 to 53 percent of small businesses are sued in a given year.

~4 Small Business Statistics About Lawsuits – SmallBizDaily

So just forget it?? Well, sometimes, yes, as much as it pains you. Work with your attorney to make a fair offer, even go a little higher to get it settled! The investment can be worth it!

There are great attorneys who know that doing right by their client is to quickly come to an agreement. Make sure your attorney is not encouraging you to fight without considering all options, the financial implications, and the effect on business value. Consider the options, despite your frustration. You may be on the right side of the dispute but don’t reduce the value of your business any further.

Don’t let one of these issues delay or derail your exit planning, value-building, and the sale of your company. Resolving these issues quickly will help you maximize value and move through the business transaction process more smoothly and quickly.

Call if we can help you think through your specific situation. Always happy to have a conversation to provide some guidance on the business sale process, business value, exit planning or building value for sale.

David Shavzin, CMC, Exit Strategist

Transactions, Value Growth, Exit Planning, Succession Planning

Founder and President, The Value Track, Atlanta, Georgia
Co-Founder and President, Exit Planning Exchange Atlanta

770-329-5224

david@GetOnTheValueTrack.com

Our BLOG // LinkedIn // www.GetOnTheValueTrack.com

April 6, 2021April 6, 2021

Director of Customer Experience – New Search Assignment

Our Client, a subscription-based meal delivery service, is looking to expand its Marketing & Development team. Although our kitchen is in the Northeast, this opportunity is remote–the east coast time zone is a must.

The meals are packed into food-safe, recyclable pouches to lock in the freshness, flavors, and nutrients of the ingredients. We are seeking enthusiastic talent interested in working in a fast-paced and rapidly growing environment.

We are looking for a Leader of our Customer Experience team — moving us from a service center to a sales and retention center. We want someone who has no desire to go along with the status quo and, instead, pushes themselves and others to challenge, reimagine, optimize and innovate. This is the ideal position for someone ready to move to the next level in their career …. build the position into a critical part of the business operation.

What the Role Involves

- Manage, scale and empower your team of Customer Experience professionals.
- Own the expansion and retention of our client base throughout the customer lifecycle
- Oversee continued development of our success strategy and its execution
- Manage all customer success activities including onboarding, training/education, renewals, and customer advocacy
- Interface collaboratively with Marketing, Product, and Development leaders
- Develop Customer Experience playbooks & touchpoints
- Measure and improve Customer Experience effectiveness by defining and executing on operational metrics
- Define and monitor successful client adoption and usage of our product

Ideally, You Have

- 4+ years experience leading, scaling, and mentoring a customer experience team in a high growth subscription environment
- Proven track record of coaching and mentoring high-performance teams
- You are obsessed with client value delivery, retention, onboarding, and activation
- Demonstrated desire for continuous learning and improvement
- Analytical and process-oriented mindset
- Experience in working with development teams to automate reporting, analysis, and data capture
- Comfortable working with CRM tools such as ZenDesk or Zoho
- Expert in the use of Excel or Google Sheets
- Success in managing remote teammates

This is an “At Will” full-time salaried, exempt position. Medical, dental, and other benefits at a competitive cost. 401k available after 90 days. Sick time and unlimited vacation plan.

Our Client is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, disability, and veteran status.

For More information contact Jim Weber at: JimWeber@NewCenturyDynamics.com

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

April 3, 2021April 4, 2021

Evil

“War is a grim, cruel business, a business justified only as a means of sustaining the forces of good against those of evil.” Dwight Eisenhower

My maternal grandfather came over from Germany to the United States in 1926. He saw what was shaping up in Germany, concluded it was not good and decided it best he leave. He died when I was in grade school. I heard him often say, loudly, he was an American. I asked him how he knew things were going to go bad for Germany at such an early point in the events. He told me he saw people standing on others. This response is all he would share with me for his answer. I knew he was not talking about a cheering squad standing on shoulders. I liked him, but he was a stern man at times. He was nice to me. I miss him. I have learned over the years standing on others always goes bad. Standing on anyone is called oppression. A more accurate term for oppression is evil.

Dwight Eisenhower never served a day in combat. I am not sure how he rose to be the head of the effort to win World War II. Eisenhower worked for Douglas MacArthur about a decade earlier, but he ended up being MacArthur’s peer and boss even though Eisenhower was much junior in tenure to MacArthur. Life has no shortage of surprises when it comes to work promotions, demotions, and terminations. Eisenhower traveled across much of Europe after World War I to observe the terrain of the battles that occurred there. This first-hand information served him well in his role as leader. It seems to me he knew he would one day need this information gained by direct observation. It turned out to be part of his research for the strategic planning he did not know he would be forming in his near future. I wonder if he knew during his walks across the European terrain then how many people from such a diverse group would want to be included to help eradicate evil at Normandy.

We have found your effort to accomplish your strategic planning work is not going well for you. We determined you have a people problem causing your work not to be accomplished as you prefer. We are considering if this problem can be fixed and, if so, how to best fix it. You are looking to swap out some of your people by either changing their work assignments or having them leave your organization. You are looking for some new faces to do the work you need to be accomplished. Let’s see if working to keep evil out of your organization will help you find new faces to work for you.

EVIL

The definition of evil is simple: death. Evil always causes the result of death. There are times when death is welcome, necessary, even good. It is a matter of how each death occurs. I am saying evil is not good, and good is not evil. If I cause death to help my organization, then I am doing evil. Destruction is not death. I could raze a building to put up another building at the same site. If I harm anyone, then I hurt the organization I lead. This anyone list includes those who work for me, any matrix-supplied folks involved in doing work with my people, my customers, my strategic partners, and my supply chain network.

HOW MUCH HARM?

Anger is a prelude to violence. Violence is a prelude to conflict. Conflict is a prelude to war. I talked about abuse last week. It has been my experience strategic planning work that is behind schedule in any organization does not help form tranquil conditions in either those organizations or for anyone external to the organization who needs the strategic planning work accomplished. Tension among work relationships is often high when work is behind schedule, to the point of anger being more frequent among members of the organization. If these attributes are not the case, then the workers do not care about doing the work. The answer to resolving this condition is simple: get rid of those who do not care about doing their assigned work. They may pretend to care about their work, but what evidence do they provide to you to prove their assertion? They have contributed to the work delay by hiding their work values from you as their leader. They have enabled the conditions to happen in your organization. There is neither a viable reason nor means for them to continue to be a member of your organization. Reassignment is not an option. Their actions are an example of evil. It is best for the organization to end their membership, and do so promptly. Then, you have to consider how you let this happen in the first place.

Separating a worker from your organization.

THAT BAD?

If evil is bad, then how much bad do you want in your organization? Can you afford to have any form of evil occurring in your organization? How can you stop all evil? The answer is you cannot. What you can do is not allow it to continue once it is realized. I shared recently people conditions change, so they must be measured frequently. Frequently can be a matter of seconds.

The events of US Airways Flight 1549 ending up in the Hudson River show a good example of the work progress matter we are discussing. There was a clear plan: fly from New York to Charlotte. An in-flight accident occurred. The pilots landed the aircraft on the water where the aircraft would float. The flight crew then had the passengers disembark the aircraft by standing on the wings in an orchestrated manner. Boats arrived at the aircraft, taking the passengers onto their boats. Here is the key to the success of their collective efforts: no one panicked. The aircraft captain made it clear within seconds of landing what will happen next. If panic would have occurred, then it is probable at least one death would have occurred. It is also probable the aircraft would have sunk within seconds. I encourage you to watch the film Sully to gain a deeper understanding of these events.

How about you? How do you foresee you would have responded to these events as a passenger, as a member of the flight crew, or as captain of the aircraft? I will go out on a limb here and say I do not see evil occurred by either the flight crew or the passengers. I make this statement because I do not see evidence of it. I cannot imagine how anyone on that plane felt during that experience. I can say, for certain, a leader must be ready to handle such events in the minutia of their work. Planning, training, scenario concepts, and…here it comes…a strategy for what to do in your planning, training, and conceptualizing efforts. Meaning, you must live as a leader performing continuous strategy development to stay out of whatever conditions you define as bad.

David Daniels and I discussed the best practices of inclusion in the concept of diversity. Dave shared, “Tangible mission statements and values allow successful organizations to align diverse ideas while creating an environment that allows everyone to bring their best by inclusion. Inclusion, bringing the best out of everyone, is one of the critical strategic imperatives in any successful organization.” My experience with successful organizations shows those organizations determine how to achieve inclusion well before they face difficult circumstances. They overcome the difficulties by having their people placed in roles that suit them well, thereby structuring the organization to be focused on the same mission by living what they value.

CODA

I am averse to conflict. I am no longer into violence. I, for many years now, would much rather walk away from being ill-treated than to respond with like-kind behavior. Having made these statements, I both have fought and will fight tooth-and-nail to defend those who I love. I will define the term love to you in a forthcoming column. I speak in both the literal and metaphorical for the term fight. I would rather suffer harm defending them than have them suffer harm. I am fortunate I have only had a few life-threatening events in my life. I hope you never have one in your life.

You as a leader are asking your people to trust you in many ways with each second you serve them as their leader. I have no interest in risking either harm or experiencing any form of evil if I can avoid it. Any leader I chose to follow must have a good reason as to why they would need to subject me to harm in my followership of them. I will not, repeat…will not…allow any leader to expose me to any form of evil by their choice, whether their choice is planned or unplanned. The point here is their choice. We, they as my leader and I as their follower may face evil on the journey we are taking together. It is then a matter of what we allow to continue.

How about you? What are you asking your people to do for you? What conditions are you asking them to experience as they do whatever it is you have asked them to do for you? How much productive work output do you expect your people to accomplish as they work either with or in any form of evil you allow to exist in your organization? What is the quality level estimate you foresee for the work output your people deliver to you while working either with or in any form of evil you allow to exist in your organization?

Read the letter from Eisenhower to his people dated June 1944 to see if you have the same level of commitment to your followers. Then, decide for yourself if Eisenhower was serious about his commitment to his people. Then, read the radio announcement from Roosevelt to the United States to decide for yourself if Eisenhower had the support he needed to execute the planned strategy. Finally, read the note Eisenhower wrote to Roosevelt a few hours before the execution of the planned strategy. “If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.” These words are evidence of a leader.

If you view your job where you serve as a leader as too small to come close to the colossal events experienced by Eisenhower, then you would not be alone. I suspect your followers view your role as their leader as quite important to them. Lead them by serving them as their leader, holding the scale of your leadership work to give it the respect it is due. Then, see how fast things improve for your strategic planning efforts.

Please spend time this week watching the Sully film to see how Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger III, Eisenhower, Roosevelt, and you line up in your work today as a leader. Think about the present status of your strategy work effort. If the result of evil is always death, then what form of evil do you see in the midst of your organization?

I hope we will see each other here next week. Email me if you need to talk before then.

Dr. Stephen H. Dawson, DSL

Executive Strategy Consultant

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

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EVIL

HOW MUCH HARM?

THAT BAD?

CODA

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