November Atlanta BENG Meeting featuring Richard Kirby: November 13
“Networking to Supercharge Your Career”
Date and Time
Tue, November 13, 2018
7:30 AM – 9:30 AM EST
Your Elevator Pitch, Part Two
Two weeks ago, I wrote about my preparations for our October monthly Members meeting and my plan for a contest to recognize the best elevator pitch. My objective was two-fold; to support our main speaker and put a spotlight on one of my pet peeves. I wanted to ensure that it was fun, interesting, and productive for our members. If they fail to see value in the meeting, attendance will suffer, and our Mission will be compromised. I was also interested in providing an effective introduction to support our speaker, Leslie Kuban, whose presentation was about selling to entrepreneurs.
I am pleased to report that the meeting was a great success! The contest for the best elevator pitch was well received and executed. Creating score sheets and ballots prior to the meeting saved time and improved the outcome of the contest.
The winner of the contest was Leslie Kuban, the guest speaker. The attendees noted that her pitch was focused and interesting. The discussion that followed was energetic, as the room was completely focused on the issue. They understood the value of her message. Winning the contest gave Leslie instant credibility in advance of her presentation.
At least one member suggested that every meeting should include a contest for the best elevator pitch. That is something to consider. I am pleased that I’m getting through to the folks, but I don’t know that a contest every meeting would have the desired effect. Possibly once a quarter would be a better compromise.
Leslie was energized when she began her presentation. Later that afternoon she called me to debrief. I told her I thought she had done an excellent job. The presentation was well received, and the meeting was one of our best. She was pleased with my assessment and volunteered to participate further with our BENG Chapter. Also, she indicated an interest in an affiliation with ITB Partners. A twofer!
In the days following our meeting, I received an email from a member who was unable to attend the meeting. She is interested in crafting an effective elevator pitch, sending me a draft for my review and feedback. Frankly, she made an excellent start. The following day I provided her with my thoughts and suggested that we schedule a face-to-face meeting to work on a final product. We agreed to meet for coffee on Halloween.
In my earlier post, I discussed the difference between a positioning statement for a resume, and for an elevator pitch. The positioning statement on a resume, or a business plan, should be written in jargon relevant to the reader. However, jargon for a target audience, may not be relevant for one-on-one personal discourse, especially for someone unfamiliar with your line of work. An elevator pitch must be easily understood by anyone.
An effective elevator pitch goes together with networking activities. It helps recruit evangelists for one’s business, capturing their imagination so that they will spread the word. As I mentioned in the prior post, a good elevator pitch is memorable, believable, and interesting. It must make a lasting impression, which means it must make an emotional connection. It is a conversation starter, not the result.
As I consider adding value to our meetings, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the subject matter and the type of presentation that will be best received. In pursuit of this goal, I’ve been spending a lot of time on YouTube, listening to speakers talk about the value of storytelling for more effective presentations. This seems to be the preferred style, for brand building, as well as speeches and business presentations. I like the concept, as stories tend to be more effective especially when they make an emotional connection with the audience.
In December I have a speaker scheduled for the Atlanta Chapter of BENG about developing more effective speeches. I am confident that we are on the same wavelength with respect to story-telling, but I plan to have a conversation with him to ensure that we are in sync.
Thank you for visiting our blog.
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.
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Jim Weber, Managing Partner
ITB PARTNERS
Craft an Effective Elevator Pitch!
Networking meetings can become stale and boring over time. When this happens attendance will decrease and the networking group risks becoming irrelevant. This point was on my mind as I planned our ITB Partners monthly Members meeting for Friday, October 19. We have an excellent speaker scheduled to talk about selling skills for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Her presentation is highly relevant to our members. So, I saw an opportunity to build on that theme and address one of my pet peeves. I decided to modify our standard agenda to accommodate a contest to reward the best elevator pitch. My thinking is two-fold; first to support salesmanship as the theme of the meeting, and secondly, to reinforce the importance of an effective elevator pitch.
Helping our members understand the importance of a well-crafted elevator pitch is important. Also, its an opportunity to have some fun at our meeting, while ensuring that it’s informative and productive. So what is an elevator pitch? The name itself is a metaphor for a short but highly effective positioning statement. The analogy is that if you’re sharing an elevator ride with someone, say for 30 seconds, how would you respond if asked “what do you do?” An elevator pitch is similar to a positioning statement, also known as an Executive Summary at the beginning of a resume. It should be memorable, believable, and interesting enough to generate a follow-up discussion or meeting.
I’m a big believer in positioning statements; whether it’s for a brand, a resume, or especially as an elevator pitch. This goes back to my days in corporate planning where I learned the value of a coherent positioning statement. One should never underestimate the ability of a positioning statement to focus the organization on its strategic goals. It is difficult for me to get past a poorly constructed Executive Summary on a resume. I have my doubts that job seekers fully appreciate the importance of this paragraph. It’s the candidate’s personal positioning statement, indicating their career interest and unique selling proposition. If the Executive Summary is compelling, the reader will have a greater interest in a closer examination of the resume. If not, it may wind up in the circular file.
When I provide resume coaching advice, I always begin with the Executive Summary. My counsel is to define yourself in the first sentence by stating your career level, your functional discipline, and your principal industry experience. The follow-on sentences can provide additional detail to address one’s particular skill sets. For example, if you are proficient at bringing new products to market, or revitalizing legacy brands, those strengths would be important follow-on statements.
So, why is an elevator pitch so important? If you are engaged in networking as a means of landing a great job or to generate more sales, you need an effective sales pitch. When meeting strangers, your elevator pitch is an effective way to establish a connection. It is a tool to help you recruit evangelists for your brand. Evangelists become a force multiplier, leveraging your business development efforts. They can connect you with people looking for your services. It is meant to capture the imagination of a prospective client, and to establish you as a viable referral for people in your network. If your elevator pitch is memorable, you will be remembered! Your elevator pitch communicates a rationale to consider you as a potential employee or service provider. The quality of your sales pitch is a vital component closing the deal. It should be memorable, so the construction of your elevator pitch must be clear, easy to understand.
At the most fundamental level, an elevator pitch describes who you are, who you help, and why your services are needed. Your elevator pitch is your personal positioning statement. It is short and to the point, and hopefully interesting. In some respects, it is a conversation starter, intended to generate requests for more information. A good elevator pitch will identify your target market, the prospective client’s problem, and how your company solves those problems. Your elevator pitch is important, so make an effort to develop an effective pitch. Practice your pitch! Use it! Refine it!
Hello, I am Jim Weber. I connect good people with great job opportunities! My clients are leaders of mid-cap companies who need C-level professionals to achieve their goals.
Thank you for visiting our blog.
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.
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Jim Weber, Managing Partner
ITB PARTNERS
ITB Partners Networking Meeting; Oct. 19, 2018
Please join us for next Friday’s ITB Partners Members meeting. Be sure to RSVP by clicking HERE.
Our featured Speaker is Leslie Kuban, owner/operator of FranNet-Atlanta. Leslie will be speaking on entrepreneurship and selling skills. Leslie is a Subject Matter Expert on entrepreneurship, business ownership, franchise ownership, who has been interviewed by business publications on the radio, and television.
Leslie is a Guest lecturer for MBA, EMBA, and undergraduate business programs at Emory University, Georgia Tech, and Kennesaw State University. Founding member of the Georgia State University Franchise Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.
To put us in the proper frame of mind for Leslie’s presentation, our Agenda has been modified to accommodate a contest to determine the best elevator pitch. 1st and 2nd place prizes will be awarded. I know that will be fun! So, practice your elevator pitch and become a winner.
For more information, please contact Jim Weber: Jim.Weber@ITBPartners.com
Cigars With Eric
Anyone who’s followed my blog knows that I have a real affinity for fine cigars. I am constantly looking for opportunities to indulge my passion. Fortunately, I was able to satisfy that interest several times this week with friends and business associates. It was my meeting with Eric on Monday that was most enjoyable and therefore memorable.
For the past few months, we have been trying to schedule time for a cigar and a beer at his favorite neighborhood cigar bar, Highland Cigar Company. I enjoyed our first meeting there and have been looking forward to a return visit. I was pleased that we were able to schedule time Monday afternoon.
The first thing I noticed when I entered Highland Cigar was that it was much larger than my last visit. They’re obviously doing well as they expanded into an adjacent space, increasing their footprint by half. Clearly, Highland Cigar is a popular place that’s doing well.
Eric arrived first and secured a couple of comfortable chairs. After a friendly greeting, I headed for the humidor to make my cigar selection. However, Eric stopped me and said that he brought a couple of his favorites for me to try. That was nice. One was a Rocky Patel, and the other, a Perdomo. Both featured Maduro wraps.
We did not have an agenda to discuss business issues. It was meant to be a way to ease into the week with a relaxing conversation and to get to know one another better. Even so, there was one issue that I wanted to discuss with Eric; a follow-up to a brief conversation from Friday’s monthly ITB Partners Members meeting. Before the meeting, I told Eric and two other colleagues about the prior days “lunch with four interesting people.” I began our meeting by embellishing on Friday’s set-up. I told him I was most impressed by our host and the concept of the lunch. I went on to say that I planned to refer him and our other colleagues to John, (not his real name) so that they would have an opportunity to meet him as well.
Eric, on the other hand, wanted to talk about options for a permanent office space, where we could gather more easily, even spontaneously to conduct business. He was thinking of a virtual office, co-working space. Our options include WeWork, Intelligent office, Regus, Industrious, Liquidspace, and Servecorp. Having recently spent time in an Intelligent office location, I was excited about our conversation as well. I was totally engaged with Eric. He went on to say that his son and daughter-in-law conduct their business from a WeWork office in Philadelphia. When Eric mentioned his son and daughter-in-law, I saw an opportunity to steer the conversation away from our business interests.
At that point, I redirected the conversation toward a personal discussion beginning with Eric’s background. You could say that I went into an executive recruiting mode. My executive search experience has helped me refine my listening skills. I have learned that getting to know someone requires patience to listen to them and ask follow up questions for clarification. Asking questions serves to keep the conversation moving and demonstrates a genuine interest in the other. It is how bonds of trust are created.
I remembered that Eric was originally from the Philadelphia area, however, I did not recall much about his education and early career experience. I learned that Eric was a music major in college, a classical guitarist. He went on to say that by the age of 27 he was the Music Director for Hart college. He told me how he met his wife, and his decision to change careers from music to project management, and later, earning a master’s degree from George Washington University. I asked if he still plays the guitar. He said he does and showed me a promotional photo of his trio. He performs with another guitarist and a vocalist. They had a gig scheduled for Friday night. One question led to another and before long he was showing the work of an artist friend, Max Zorn. Max creates incredible images using brown packing tape. We talked about his travel through Spain with his wife: The walk of northern Spain also known as the Way of Saint James, then a more recent visit to Scotland.
The cigars and beers with Eric were enjoyable and relaxing. Getting to know and understand Eric on a more personal level was, as the commercial goes, “priceless.”
Thank you for visiting our blog.
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 important to me so; please leave a comment.
Jim Weber, Managing Partner
ITB PARTNERS
Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com
On Coaching Independent Consultants
I don’t mind an early morning drive to Canton Georgia to meet with one of my coaching clients. Actually, I’m happy to make the trek. So, I made my obligatory visit to have breakfast with Tom on Friday morning. Of all the consultants I coach, Tom seems to struggle the most. This is the sixth time I’ve met with him in the past year and I must say that I am frustrated too.
Prior to our meeting, I gave considerable thought to my strategy for this coaching session. I have known Tom for almost 15 years, and I consider him a friend. I needed to find the proper mix of listening and inquiry to understand his problem and offer suggestions for possible solutions. I knew that active listening would occupy the bulk of our meeting.
Tom arrived and got right to get to the point. We hadn’t even ordered our breakfast when he told me that he needed to find a small group to ensure his success. Although I didn’t react to his comment, I recognized the irony as he is part of a small group. I pushed that thought into the back my mind for further consideration.
Naturally, given his opening salvo, I asked him for more clarification to better understand his thinking. Having had a lot of coaching experience, I know that the initial problem statement is seldom ever the real issue. It is usually a conversation starter, otherwise, he would’ve been a position to solve his own issues. To be fair, Tom’s opening statement was really one of the symptoms of the problem to be addressed. I knew it would take me a while to get to the actual problem.
He went on to say that through his work with his primary client he met a commercial real estate developer who engaged him in a conversation about doing business development work on their behalf. He also mentioned that he had received an inquiry about writing a training program for a restaurant company based in New York. That opportunity was as a referral from a friend. He then mentioned the need to have other contacts who could take on some of his workload so that he could become more productive and solicit other projects. It was at this point that Tom told me that his real strength and interest is project execution. The significance of that revelation was better understood later in our conversation.
When Tom finished his opening statement, I asked him for an update on his primary contract. He said that his client is having a banner year, on track to generate three times the revenue of 2017. Their recovery is creating stress, however as they are having difficulty finding reliable subcontractors to perform their work. Some of what he spoke about relates to the principal’s lack of executive skills, which we had previously discussed. This is a recurring theme in our discussions as there is a clear opportunity to expand his engagement into more strategic issues. Naturally, I inquired about his ability to expand the conversation in that direction.
I learned that Tom’s role with this client is a lot more tactical than strategic. I thought he was a project manager, with multiple projects under his supervision. I was surprised to learn that he is a site manager, one of many, reporting to a project manager. Reflecting on his earlier point about his strength in project execution, I began to gain clarity about the fundamental problem. Finally, we were closing in on the real issue. Tom is stuck in a situation where he has little influence and is underpaid compared to his potential. In some ways, this came as a surprise to me, but overall, not so much. His frustration is understandable.
Tom’s consulting project has turned into a low-level supervisory job. This is a bad place to be for an independent consultant. The question is how to recover? Clearly, the client doesn’t have enough confidence in Tom to work with him at a strategic level. We need to find a way to re-introduce Tom to the owners.
One possible solution is an indirect approach whereby he encourages the principal to engage in one of our networking groups. This would give him an opportunity to meet other professionals, gain exposure for his business, and identify ways to develop his professional skills. This might be a useful solution to help Tom develop greater strategic awareness as well.
Thank you for visiting our blog.
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.
Jim Weber, Managing Partner
ITB PARTNERS
Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com
Covergence
Do you ever wonder why a series of related events seem to converge at about the same time? It is funny how life can unfold. I experienced one of those convergences this week.
I can’t remember the exact date when I last saw Tom. I know it’s been at least three years, maybe more. I remember that it was a networking event over scotch and cigars at Prohibition, a popular watering hole in Buckhead. As I’ve said before, my favorite way to conduct business is in a relaxed atmosphere, with a fine cigar and a cocktail. Indeed, Tom and I have that in common.
I first came to know Tom someplace around 2005. We were both members of the Marietta Chamber of Commerce and the Georgian Club. He owned a business that supported network systems and all things IT related. He’s always been an active net-worker, facilitating multiple groups, and participating in others.
Fortunately, I have remained on Tom‘s mailing list, following his activities even if I haven’t been able to participate. We are connected on LinkedIn, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when he reached out to me this week. I was delighted to hear from him as he was on my call list too. We agreed to meet on Thursday evening at Cigar City Club in Sandy Springs.
Cigar City is another of my favorite places because of its location and ambiance. Even though I visit Cigar City just a few times each year, I am never disappointed. On the other hand, Tom is a regular. In fact, he has his own perch. He knows everyone at the club and they know him. That comes as no surprise as Tom knows everyone in Atlanta. At least it seems that he does. He’s just that kinda guy, smart, affable, and very engaging.
We arrived at the same time, chose our cigars, ordered drinks, and planted ourselves in Tom‘s favorite spot on the patio. As one could imagine we had a lot of catching up to do, beginning with an update on our businesses. Tom said that business was good but could always be better. I said, “I can relate to that.” He went on to say that he’s concerned that he may lose his largest account due to its acquisition. That would be a big blow to his business. He told me about some personal issues which required him to dial back his networking activities and that his groups had run their course. Now he is motivated to re-engage. Well, I knew had the solution to his situation.
I thanked Tom for reaching out to me, as I had a lot of news for him as well. I began with the expansion of my business to support freelance consultants and that I was facilitating the Atlanta Chapter of the Business Executives Networking Group (BENG). It was about that time that Tom‘s girlfriend arrived, adding a whole new dynamic to the discussion.
She is also in the IT field, doing project management work for a large global manufacturer with offices in Atlanta. After she made her introduction, Tom told her that she needed to hear about ITB Partners. That led to a very productive and interesting exchange, so much so that it even peaked Tom‘s interest.
When the business updates were behind us, the evening turned to talk about personal interests and opportunities. Before I knew it, it was past 8 o’clock, time to make my exit. If I had any less discipline I could easily have fired up another cigar and ordered my third cocktail. If I had done so, I probably would have needed an Uber driver to take me home, resulting in a wasted Friday. As I had a 9:00 a.m. coffee meeting, which was rescheduled from the original meeting last week, self-control was required.
Thanks to my timely departure I was able to make Friday’s coffee meeting. My appointment was with a gentleman I met at the August BENG meeting. A Scrum Master with impeccable credentials, he has been in job search since the beginning of the year. As we talked about his career interests and how I might be helpful, I reflected on the prior evening with Tom and his girlfriend. Everything came together. They would be excellent contacts! Convergence.
The older I become, the less I believe in coincidences.
Thank you for visiting our blog.
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.
Jim Weber, Managing Partner
ITB PARTNERS
Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com
Current Assignments
- COO- Northeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – Completed
- VP Operations – Southeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – New
- CEO- Northeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – Completed
- Corporate R&D Chef, Atlanta-based Home Meal Replacement Company – Complete
- Area Supervisor – Legacy Pizza Chain, Carolinas – Completed
- Controller – Atlanta-based Consumer Products – Digital Company – Completed
- Sr. Staff Accountant – Atlanta-based Not-for-profit – Completed
Join Us for the September 11th BENG Meeting featuring Stan Stout
Join Us for the September Atlanta BENG Chapter Meeting at our NEW BENG MEETING LOCATION featuring Stan Stout who will present:
“Stupid Things We Encounter in Job Search”
Stan Stout: an Experienced leader with a unique blend of strategic focus / forward thinking, strategic focus and the ability to lead and manage execution. Linkedin
To Register click here…
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Every Game Is An Away Game! By John Tapley, ITB Partners
Ugh, walking into another meeting to advance your new business venture or propose a new idea and you know the audience is hostile. This is Corporate America. Not that they are inherently mean and vicious but the climb to success in a corporate environment can elevate single-mindedness over team play. Get noticed, show you’re smarter than that person at the podium and keep things as they are with the “if it ain’t broke” mentality, those are the daily challenges you face as a corporate entrepreneur.
So why? Why go through that? Because beneath the surface, you know this is the right thing to do and you know these are good people at heart and once you break through, they will support you and ride the wave to success together.
And that’s my story, building a new business from scratch inside a large global organization was my challenge. And one day, after a tough session and what felt like a beat down, one of my co-workers who’d been through similar experiences made the statement, around here it feels like “every game is an away game”. I connected instantly with those words and felt relief I wasn’t alone in the challenge. I concluded this was really just a rite of passage and conditioning for the stamina to make things happen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really proud of my company and all the success over the years and the wonderful people that I’ve come to know as friends and co-workers. It’s been a blessing and I’m a better person for having worked there.
So, from that experience and many others like it, I have advice for my fellow corporate entrepreneurs and those aspiring to make a change inside a complex matrix organization:
- Challenge the status quo but know your boundaries; understand the degree of assertiveness to apply based on who is impacted and strength of your reputation
- Make friends and network constantly, spread out and make friends regionally and globally, with the right people
- Understand what you’re up against, learn how things work; when systems and processes are a roadblock, study them and find ways you can navigate through or around them
- Get out and look around, be curious, show interest in others and what they do; build relationships and explore all functions of the organization
- Discover your mentor; be a mentor any chance you get
- Be genuine
- Be respectful
- Be kind
In summary, take action, be resourceful, welcome change and embrace the challenge. And by the way, I’m proud to say we were successful, the new business is off and running.
My thoughts…
The thesis of this article, “Every Game is an Away Game,” is a metaphor for the challenges faced by athletic teams who must travel to play on their opponent’s home turf. Playing in unfamiliar territory is a disadvantage which requires work to overcome.
In his first paragraph, John speaks to the need to understand one’s audience so as to craft a message that will be received most favorably. To embellish on his primary point, John mentions the need to understand the company culture and management style, the importance of building a team to ensure success; to be a team player; and to build consensus. Stated another way, one must know their company’s management style, its culture, to be successful.
There’s no question that a corporate environment is very competitive, both externally and internally. Although new models speak to the benefits of collaboration and teamwork, corporations are still hierarchical organizations with intense competition to move up the ladder. As with any product, competition is ultimately a positive force. It makes one work harder and smarter, to become better prepared to find solutions to vexing issues.
At the same time, corporations are social organizations. People are not only expected to do their best work through healthy competition, they are expected to be friendly and to get along with one another. After all, people want to work with other people who are enjoyable to be around. A toxic, dysfunctional work environment is not optimal for maximum effectiveness.
John packed a lot of wisdom into this article. My overall takeaway is that the modern corporation is a crucible to sharpen one’s skills. I couldn’t agree more!
Thank you for visiting our blog.
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.
Jim Weber, Managing Partner
ITB PARTNERS
Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com
Current Assignments
- COO- Northeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – Completed
- VP Operations – Southeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – New
- CEO- Northeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – Completed
- Corporate R&D Chef, Atlanta-based Home Meal Replacement Company – Complete
- Area Supervisor – Legacy Pizza Chain, Carolinas – Completed
- Operating Partners – Legacy Pizza Chain – New
- Controller – Atlanta-based Consumer Products – Digital Company – Completed
- Sr. Staff Accountant – Atlanta-based Not-for-profit – Completed
THE NEXT BIG THING!
A Guest Post By Mark Grace, President, BeyondVia
Changes may come and go away, but some big changes stay a long time. Big changes may become part of the basic fabric of life. It is a safe bet that the big changes of the internet and related online activities like shopping and video watching are here to stay. Almost every person has a cell phone. The changes brought about by the Internet and cell phones are relatively new. So, what is the NEXT big change to stay?
The NEXT big change is that consumers will buy entire experiences, and fewer stand-alone, single products. Just as society moved from agricultural to industrial products, we are moving to an experience economy. Consumers are growing more befuddled each day with the millions of products to choose from, and no one to help them integrate all these choices together in their complex and time-crunched lives. Consumers just do the “best they can” to assemble a life. To reduce the complexity, many consumers just follow routine habits and do less. Companies are beginning to realize that the more they require customers to do, the less they will buy and use.
Some companies are implementing the NEXT big thing buy selling entire experiences of all required products and actions. Examples include experiences like getting from here to there (i.e. Uber) or overnight living experiences in a community (i.e. Airbnb). Consumers will be able to economically buy entire experiences with multiple products and services all at once, at the time of need. I call this type of buying – Experidigm™ purchases. Consumers will be able to buy experidigms like Better Health Care, where traditional medicine is easily partnered with eastern medicine like acupuncture and with Better Food Experidigms. Better Food experidigms may focus on natural and fresh, prepared for immediate delivery, car traffic willing or by flying delivery drones. Specific experidigm related community centers may spring up to assist consumers in designing and living their NEXT experidigms while using the internet on their phones – big changes work together.
As with all big changes, some short-term impediments stand in the way. So far, the biggest impediment to selling and delivering entire experiences is the “silo” structure of companies. In the current product world, companies tend to build a “profit” silo for each product and have that product silo compete internally for resources, bonuses, and customers. “Silos” sell their product, leaving it up to the customer to figure out how to integrate the single product into their life. Company attempts at “cross-selling” multiple individual products to serve customers rarely work, as the trust between “silos” is low when performance bonuses may be compromised. To deliver entire experiences, some silo companies build marshaling and logistics experience organizations that deliver the entire customer experience. These experience organizations can source products from internal silos and external partners to ensure customer satisfaction. The goal is to be part of the ongoing customer experience. Products are being commoditized by ultra-efficient supply chains. Experiences are value added.
Experidigm delivery is proving successful in certain industries. For example, for energy utilities, suppliers offer hundreds of products and software solutions working together as the Smart Grid experience. The goal of the experience is to have maximum uptime for the energy to flow to consumers. In commercial construction, owners are requiring structures to be more flexible and responsive to changing needs and lifestyles. Buildings are becoming Alive Space experiences adapting real time to the changing experiences of users.
The word “experience” is being used a lot these days. In most cases, the word is used to focus on efficiently and digitally delivering all the transactions a customer may experience in the buying process, sometimes called journey mapping. This transaction mapping is a good thing, but it is still deeply rooted in the product world. The shift to the experidigm world focuses on integrating all the products and associated activities of the entire customer usage experience, not just the transactions.
The future for this NEXT big experidigm thing looks bright. The world is shifting from a product-based world to an experience based world. Enjoy your purchased experidigm. For more details, send questions to markgrace@beyondvia.com.
Thank you for visiting our blog.
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.
Jim Weber, Managing Partner
ITB PARTNERS
Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com
Current Assignments
- COO- Northeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – Completed
2. VP Operations – Southeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – New - CEO- Northeast-based Casual Dining Restaurant Company – Completed
- Corporate R&D Chef, Atlanta-based Home Meal Replacement Company – Complete
- Area Supervisor – Legacy Pizza Chain, Carolinas – Completed
- Operating Partners – Legacy Pizza Chain – New
- Controller – Atlanta-based Consumer Products – Digital Company – Completed
- Sr. Staff Accountant – Atlanta-based Not-for-profit – New