Climate change: Trouble creates opportunities, needs

Business must be opportunistic. It must also provide real value to its customers and stakeholders. At its best, it can be instrumental in making positive change.

For this reason, the increasingly clear impacts, present and future, of climate change, create important business opportunities.

For building products, systems and services companies, many opportunities are clear. To name just a few: Increased needs to control mold and mildew in areas with high temperatures and humidity, building exteriors and interiors designed to withstand severe weather, designs for resiliency and minimal disruption following serious storms, better ways to generate energy while reducing carbon footprint, systems to monitor both occupied and evacuated buildings and facilities in the worst conditions, and much more.

It's not just about buildings, of course. Climate change impacts virtually every aspect of life. Hot-weather maladies and insects are coming to new regions, so new vaccines and treatments are needed for Zika and other viruses. Allergy problems become more severe for some people as the changing climate can worsen symptoms. People need ways to prepare for serious storms and disruptions in many aspects of daily life. Power generation companies need to look ahead and develop and market lower-carbon, sustainable and even local solutions. Companies will seek new ways for people to conserve water as comfortably as possible. Inventive businesses will focus on new ways to "live local"  and to create more sustainable regions and communities. The next generation should and will be educated about climate change and ways to slow it. And so much more.

Climate change has its doubters, but there will be fewer doubters each year as evidence and experience mount. If climate-change-value products serve important missions now, they will be attractive even to those who doubt that the climates of the world are inexorably shifting. Meantime, for companies that best seize the opportunities to improve lives and make a difference, the rewards will be significant. The time to start is now.

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Launch and get leads

Are you ready to launch your next B2B product or service? Be sure you're also ready to extend the steady, lasting, often diversified, effort to generate sales leads.

-DON'T assume that one tactic alone, be it enhanced SEO or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or whatever, will meet your lead generation needs... that is not likely

-DO know that, for every message point you need to deliver, you should employ multiple media to reach more ears and wallets

-DO accordingly plan that you must make the most of every marketing dollar, which may drive some of the techniques you employ

-DO leverage every form of digital marketing appropriate – considering as well that digital marketing can be very cost-effective –  leveraging your own website (including the home page), creating an ongoing stream of relevant content marketing including a blog, issuing eblasts to your stakeholders, boosting both organic and paid SEO, and taking full advantage of social media relevant to your launch

-DON'T neglect more traditional venues, from trade shows and speaking engagements, to print and digital media relations, print and digital advertising, and direct mail to key decision-makers; being contrarian can separate you from the crowd

-DO encourage industry experts to vet and review your new offering, but not until you're confident it's ready

-DON'T stop. The old adage is still true: When you are sick and tired of delivering that same message, your intended audience may just be starting to pay attention

-DO get help. Launch marketing and lead generation is both science and art, and you will maximize your ROI by working with a strong, qualified launch marketing team.

Providing best value to the exceptionally busy client

Most days, the typical vSA client does not wake up thinking about marketing. vSA provides business-to-business (B2B) launch marketing, and our client is very often the VP of engineering or sales, a divisional manager, a product development guru, or perhaps the company president or CEO. The marketing role is a "bonus." And, in virtually every case (including when we deal with a full-time marketing executive) the vSA client is very, very busy.

Please note, we are not talking about the kind of "busy" where someone dashes about, creating a flurry of activity. No, we're referring to the productive person who travels weekly to work with multiple, distant customers; or who develops or reviews important engineering specs or new product prototypes; or answers daily to a board or parent company; or must assure a sales team meets its revenue numbers. (Sometimes this is "and" rather than "or.")

So, vSA deals with the exceptionally busy client, which means we play a role we truly relish. Often, vSA provides all the outside marketing for the company. Our client relies on us – trusts us – to meet important business goals, on time, on budget, and in a manner that makes the client company (and our client contact) shine.

Specifically, vSA must...

-Provide smart strategy and program implementation... as independently as warranted

-Assure very proactive forward movement on marketing, even when our client is devoting the lions' share of her time to other matters

-Do our homework, so that the questions we ask and the information we need isn't something we could have learned online or in the public record

-Ping the client efficiently for real needs – specific information, approvals at key junctures, etc.

-Keep the client in the loop when successes happen or milestones are achieved

-Alert the client for any challenges that require his attention, preferably also providing recommended solutions

-Supply the client with new opportunities and optimized ways to achieve business goals

-Meet and exceed the client's needs

B2B marketing – from launch marketing to social, media relations to inbound, and especially complex integrated programs – is a tremendous boon for the exceptionally busy client, assuming that client has a marketing partner who cares and knows how to make the right things happen. We do that.

 

Illustration © 2002 van Schouwen Associates, LLC, by Steve van Schouwen.

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Limited-budget quandary: Engage a marketing company or hire a marketing employee?

It's a question the van Schouwen Associates (vSA) team has heard many times over the years, and we understand the thinking behind it. Some small to midsize B2B companies have limited marketing budgets. The person "in charge of marketing" may be an owner, an engineer, a project manager, or a sales VP, all roles that leave limited time for marketing.

In such cases, the B2B company may debate the merits of the following either/or proposition: It could engage a company such as vSA to develop, implement and manage a marketing program. Or, it could hire a single marketing manager to do the job.

vSA, and other marketing companies of our caliber, are the best choice in such situations. Here's why:

-Good B2B marketing companies such as vSA are accustomed to taking full responsibility for proactively managing our clients' marketing. Our clients are often far too busy, so we make sure each program adheres to high standards of progress and ROI.

-A single entry- or mid-level marketing employee is not likely to have top-notch skills in all the areas you may require: strategic planning, writing, digital, video and print design, production management, and more. By contracting for integrated marketing with a good company, you access and leverage all those skills as well as the synergy of a team.

-Four-walls thinking avoided. Marketing companies like vSA can provide marketing that addresses your major needs while staying out of the weeds of the day-to-day trials and tribulations. We're your short-term, mid-range and futurist planners - something every company needs.

Of course, if your company can invest both in a marketing staffer and a marketing company, that's a good alternative. But if you must choose one or the other, go for the expertise, multiple complementary skills and powerful perspective of a marketing partner like vSA.

 

 

Business ethics in a not-so-ethical world

How many months or minutes has it been since you’ve been outraged by a business practice you’ve seen in the news or experienced in person?

If you have recently been alarmed, annoyed or upset by an incidence of price gouging, cheating on regulations, purchase of political favors, or other questionable business practices, you haven’t become numb yet. Congratulations.

Having been in business for three decades, and having witnessed both honor and decency and its inverse, I argue that being ethical beats the alternative. On the practical side, research indicates that good business ethics lead to better customer relationships, a stronger reputation and higher profit margins. Maintaining good ethics is also better for your conscience.

It helps to have guidelines, because it’s all too easy to get lost in the weeds of the daily struggle.

-Determine the mission and standards of your business. Decide in advance of crises what behaviors and methods are acceptable to you. How do you handle a cash crunch? How do you deal with problem employees? Difficult customers? Have standards to which you can stick in good times and bad.

-Ask yourself, in any interaction, the questions in this Arab proverb: “Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?”

-When dealing with unpleasant people, I’ve found the following technique helpful in making appropriate, ethical decisions about responses and action. I guess this is my own business proverb. “Listen to the message. Ignore the tone.”

-If ever you are asked to compromise your ethics for a customer or anyone else, remember that the bad taste of doing wrong lasts longer than the pleasure of winning a deal, making more money or evading responsibility.

And one more thing. I realize that these standards mean nothing to some people. If you have read this far, you are probably not one of them. Remember that the cheaters, corner-cutters and other dishonest types make poor employees, worse employers, bad partners, and terrible customers. Avoid them when you can, eliminate them from your circles when you must.

That last bit may not sound kind, but it is sometimes necessary.

This article, by Michelle van Schouwen, president of van Schouwen Associates, LLC, was first published in Succeeding in Small Business in July 2016.

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Learning from Goliath

Small business owners benefit from observing both strengths and weaknesses of large companies.

Fostering innovation

Innovation is everyone's responsibility. Innovation starts at the top, but unless it permeates the culture, a large company is not likely to optimize it.

The good: The tech sector is famous for creating conditions conducive to creativity and innovation. Google is a prime example. It hires the best people that money can buy, gives them time to investigate projects that interest them, feeds them to keep bellies full and brains hungry, and altogether creates an environment in which invention is prized.

The bad: Eastman Kodak neglected to encourage innovation when it needed to. Instead of using its deep resources to lead during the early digital photography revolution, the company clung to its core offerings for film-based imaging. It did not direct its team to go forth and "think digital" during the early years when other companies were making the leap. As a result, Eastman Kodak (formerly Kodak) has now been through bankruptcy, sold off many of its assets and shed lines of business. A 2015 New York Times article says, "Today [Eastman Kodak] has $2 billion in annual sales, compared with $19 billion in 1990 when consumer film was king. It now has 8,000 employees worldwide; it had 145,000 at its peak."

The takeaway: Innovators win. Companies that fail to foster innovation (or to adapt; see below) suffer. Innovation is not typically accidental; it is part of a culture, or it is not.

Becoming an adaptive company

Adaptability is related to innovation, but being an adaptive company is less about the whole team than about management, the board and the shareholders. An adaptive company must be adaptive at the top; otherwise, nothing changes.

The good: Just think of all the new invention you've seen in recent years. From the latest smartphone to Facebook, drones to new cancer-fighting drugs, time-saving apps to improved wind turbines for renewable energy, adaptive companies have brought a myriad of inventions to our lives, for better or worse. Many have been set forth by large companies. But make no mistake, small startups and independent inventors and developers have been part of the community that allows adaptive companies to succeed.

The bad: In 2011, Harvard Business Review published a popular article Adaptability: The New Competitive Advantage. It is still relevant, unlike some of the products its readers may have introduced back in 2011. The article explains that traditional goals, such as building "an enduring (and implicitly static) competitive advantage" and pulling together the "right capabilities and competencies for making or delivering an offering" are under siege in an era in which the moment a company completes these tasks it may have to toss the work aside and start over with new market needs in mind. Many companies address these challenges with adaptable teams, partnerships with other companies, digital processes, and – once again – a culture that fosters innovation. Clearly, however, the struggles are real. Think about the erstwhile Hewlett Packard, Yahoo and other distressed large companies; Eastman Kodak, too, of course.

The takeaway: Big companies have it tough. Small companies are often more adaptable than large ones. Fewer people are involved in decisions, you probably don't answer to a team of stockholders and in many cases, you – or maybe you and a partner – are in charge. Here is a good story about The Marlin Company, an 103-year-old printing company. Most of its innovation has been in the last dozen years. Your team has the capability to do the same.

Developing a satisfied workforce

Why do some companies seem to have happy, productive, engaged employees, while others foster grumbling and high turnover?

The good: That's funny – Google again. For seven of the last ten years, it has ranked as Fortune's best company to work for. Others on the list also rate high in their employees' evaluation of the "Trust Index": "management's credibility, overall job satisfaction, and camaraderie," factors which are weighted as two-thirds of Fortune's job satisfaction ratings. Pay and benefits, by the way, are grouped with other factors for the remaining one-third of the ranking, the "Culture Audit."

The bad: 24/7 Wall St. conducted a survey to check out the other end of the spectrum: the worst companies for which to work. For the companies that had the misfortune to make this list, factors irking employees include lack of work-life balance, culture and values, and to a much lesser extent, pay.

The takeaway: Trustworthy and trusted management is the most important factor in employee satisfaction. Job satisfaction, which can include not only the work people are doing but also their sense of having satisfactory work-life balance, is also very important. Pay your employees fairly, but in many cases, money is not the most important factor in satisfaction.

Managing reputation

Big companies are highly visible. Their reputations are affected by customer service, product quality, legal issues, and stories – good or bad – that make the news or populate social media feeds.

The good: Wall St. 24/7 has done the research, rating companies on factors including "emotional appeal, products and services, vision and leadership, workplace environment, social responsibility, and financial performance." According to this post detailing its 2015 results, "Upstate New York-based grocery chain Wegmans is the most highly-regarded company. Also notably, Samsung surpassed Apple this year as the technology company with the best reputation, and Amazon.com moved to second overall after occupying the top spot in the previous two years."

The bad: According to the same Wall St. 24/7 study, Goldman Sachs has the worst reputation of any American company. Bank of America and AIG were close behind. Apparently Americans are not forgetting the financial meltdown of 2008-2009, and are holding these financial companies, all of whom were players in the crisis, responsible.

The takeaway: "Ask for forgiveness rather than permission" can be a terrible mistake. As Warren Buffett famously said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you'll do things differently.” Once again, having good values and living by them can be key to long-term success.

Goliath… and David

Large companies have many advantages. They have a great deal of money, in most cases. They can afford to hire and retain excellent people. They can lobby the government for advantages and favors in ways that small businesses generally cannot do. But they are also behemoths, and can be beholden to shareholders, run by inefficient or misdirected teams, bogged down in procedure, and slow to respond to industry and market change. Sometimes they are highly innovative and other times tone-deaf to changes in culture.

From this, take the best practices that you can reasonably apply to your own business, and avoid the serious missteps even a household-name company can make.

Sure, Goliath, that Fortune 500 giant, is powerful. We, the Davids, the small companies, at our best, are agile and smart. We have our strengths, too.

Unconventional business reads

Summer is coming. You really need a mental-health break, but you also really need to keep learning and thinking fresh thoughts. Pack these books in your beach bag and achieve all of the above.

Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons: Dan Lyons, a former Newsweek journalist and author of the popular Fake Steve Jobs blog, accepts a job with Boston-based start-up HubSpot, and the misadventure begins. At 52, he's twice the age of the typical employee, and nobody lets him forget it. Moreover, he rapidly becomes turned off by a culture of “forced fun,” an exceptional lack of fealty by management toward a team from which management expects TOTAL loyalty, and ultimately the disparity between the company’s mission of inbound marketing and its reality of its aggressive telemarketing. Not to mention the fact that HubSpot is at that time bleeding money. And yet Lyons stays, hoping to cash out nicely when the planned initial public offering (IPO) happens. The result is a hilarious, snarky and ultimately disturbing read that will have you questioning fast-growth startups, IPOs and the better-than-everybody-else we-change-the-world attitude of companies that aren’t and don't.

No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits by Dan Kennedy: If the word "ruthless" doesn't give it away, Dan Kennedy is nobody’s Mr. Nice Guy. If he can manage his company from a back room with one employee and a security camera monitoring that employee's every move, and make more money by doing so, he will. He scoffs at the feel-good management guidance promulgated by HR managers who don’t have to manage the bottom line, instructs readers not to over-hire to impress anybody with the number of employees the company has, and advises that employees are loyal only as long as you feed them. He provides painfully familiar examples throughout the book. Kennedy coaches business owners on specific tactics to take control, set and enforce standards and maximize profits. Whether you agree or disagree with his approach, Kennedy’s “no B.S.” theory is worth a read. By the way, this is one of a series of “No B.S.” books by Kennedy.

The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth by James Altucher: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold,” warned Yeats in his epic poem The Second Coming. That was a hundred years ago. Today, Altucher, no less compellingly, argues that everything is changing, that the bottom falls out of the economy every few years, that the traditional "safe route"" of long-term, secure employment and owning a home is disintegrating – and that the best, albeit winding, path to whatever you call success is to “choose yourself.” Altucher is as eccentric as he is brilliant. Some will dismiss this book, which encompasses both theory and excruciatingly personal details of Altucher's insecurities and failures, as the stream-of-consciousness ravings of a man who, despite his financial and business success, is a little unhinged. Others, including me, will find inspiration in a number of his ideas and earned wisdom. I highlighted about a quarter of the text. In either case, reading Altucher is like playing a wild game of ping pong with the world’s most unpredictable opponent.

Enjoy.

Deal-making for business owners

We've been hearing a lot about the art of the deal lately. For many business owners, making deals is less about thinking HUGE and more about getting deals done right, not that the two are mutually exclusive.

So how can you get your deals done, and done right?

-Some people believe that business deals are a zero-sum game, with a winner and a loser. If you will be working with the other party after the deal, or if you may want additional deals with the same party in the future, OR if you may want to make deals with other people in the party's circles of influence, the win-win deal works better. Period. Business expert Stephen Covey agreed.

-You can make deals only with the decision-maker. If the decision–maker isn't at the proverbial table, you are wasting your time.

-Know who has the power in a deal. Who needs this most? If it isn't you, find ways to assure you are not desperate – or at the very least, that you do not appear so. Here's a fun article on the topic.

-Don't bury important issues just to get (an inferior) deal done. Get them out in the open and get your important questions answered.

-Know what issues are negotiable and what ones are not – on both sides.

-Learn to read subtle signals during negotiations. Here's a good Entrepreneur article on that topic.

-If a deal feels bad while you are making it, it's probably even worse than you think. Apply a multiplier to that gut feeling.

-Unless you are getting married, most deals shouldn't have "forever" or even very long-term clauses. Situations change, and escape hatches or exit plans can be valuable when they do.

-Deadlines can be advantageous. Urgency of real need helps get deals done.

-Aside from deadlines, many deals have organic shelf lives. When stale or stuck, they really aren't happening. Know when to stop chasing a deal.

-Also know when to keep lightly in touch, because some good deals come back to life when you least expect it.

-Negotiating, at its best, is the art of coming to an agreement, not conquering an opponent.

-Not good at negotiating? Attend a seminar or webinar (there are many) or read a negotiation book.

As in all matters, model your negotiation skills after people you admire, not only for their ability to make advantageous deals, but for their overall reputations and ethics as well. This article was originally published in Succeeding in Small Business.

Image © 2004 van Schouwen Associates, LLC, by Stephen van Schouwen.

 

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Pinpoint your small company's vulnerabilities

For small business owners, it is not the case, sadly, that the only thing we need to fear is fear itself. On the contrary, we must remain vigilant that we don't miss the one vulnerability, or the several, that could spell doom for our companies.

Gorilla customers: Do one or two customers provide too high a percentage of your revenues? Would you suffer a great deal if those customers left? Make sure you market aggressively to balance out your base. Gorillas walk away. Believe it. (See an earlier Succeeding post on this topic).

Embezzlement and theft: How many stories have you heard about the employer who realized, too late, that accounts had been bled dry, often by a trusted employee with too much access? Employ financial safeguards.

Overdependence on any one employee: Dan S. Kennedy, in his book No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits, reminds readers that "one is the loneliest number." In other words, if you have one employee holding unduplicated skills or knowledge, you are vulnerable if that person leaves. Either cross-train someone, have a second person in the department (if you can afford it) or, at least, have a few job candidates or contractors on your short list for that fateful day.

Potentially litigious employees: Maybe you didn't do anything wrong. Or maybe one of your staff members said something inappropriate to another. Perhaps you fired for cause and the former employee said it was because of age or race. Who knows. Whatever the reason, and whether or not you triumph in the end, fighting a legal battle over employment issues is expensive and distracting. For less than you may think, you can purchase Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) and, largely, leave the litigating to the insurers.

Empty piggy bank: Does your business have two to three months cash available, whether in the bank or as a line of credit? If not, the specter of customer loss, general business downturn or a slowing of customer payments is scary. Start building a fund, or find cash alternatives to which you could turn.

Falling behind on taxes and obligations: It's a sad day when a company makes the news because it hasn't met its obligations, whether for payroll taxes, employee retirement account funding, sales tax payments, or similar commitments. If you fear you may fall behind, talk with your accountant immediately and get help. Failing to pay important obligations is a losing game.

Neglecting your reputation: It's one of your most important assets. We've blogged about this before. Build and protect your small business' reputation.

Your business may have its own unique vulnerabilities. What are they? And how will you repair them before they negatively impact all your hard work?

This article was originally published in Succeeding in Small Business.

 

Trendspotting and idea generation build your value proposition

[caption id="attachment_2051" align="alignleft" width="281"] Illustration © 1990 van Schouwen Associates, LLC. Created by Steve van Schouwen.[/caption]

Entrepreneur, writer and engaging character James Altucher advocates becoming an "Idea Machine," coming up with ten new ideas a day.

Good ideas are the best starting point for good business. In an ideal world, your products and services will respond to a need so great, so obvious, that they will practically sell themselves. With this in mind, our two preceding blog entries focus on what climate change means to the architectural, engineering, building products and systems, and construction industries in terms of future customer expectations and new opportunity. Climate change and its impact is going to become an increasingly significant factor in architecture, building design, products, construction, location, repair, maintenance, and value – among other factors. The intent of each post was to inspire readers to check out the buzz and start generating ideas of their own.

But it's not just climate change or the need to build for resilience that matter. Change continues to accelerate in every business sector, and in our entire world. Which leads us to ask...

What emerging trends are relevant to your business? How can you leverage these trends? Can you come up with five or ten ideas today, to spark your thinking?

Change is a primary driver for new value propositions and new success... when you spot trends, generate ideas and move forward with the best of these ideas. It's a great feeling for our team to work with clients who have discovered a need, a trend or a pain point that the client feels uniquely qualified to address.

Resiliency in building: Why it's hot, what you need to know now

[caption id="attachment_2593" align="alignleft" width="388"] Image courtesy Union of Concerned Scientists[/caption]

Launch marketing for architectural and building products, systems, services, and tools has a whole new focus. We urge our clients to take a close look...

Check out the clear and growing opportunities in resilient building. "Resilient building" is a hot topic with USGBC (including via LEED), The Rockefeller Foundation, GreenBiz, and too many other forums to list here.

Climate resilience, from which the term "building resilience" most likely derived, is defined by Wikpedia as: The capacity for a socio-ecological system to: (1) absorb stresses and maintain function in the face of external stresses imposed upon it by climate change and (2) adapt, reorganize, and evolve into more desirable configurations that improve the sustainability of the system, leaving it better prepared for future climate change impacts.

For companies in the architectural and building industries, questions to ask now include:

-Are we already involved in resilient building?

-How should we develop or increase our involvement to provide meaningful value to our customers and stakeholders?

-What should we tell our stakeholders about our contributions, products, services, and commitment?

Climate change and its impact is going to become an increasingly significant factor in architecture, building design, products, construction, location, repair, maintenance, and value - among other factors.

The time to build your value proposition in resilient building is now.