Most Important Factors in CMO Success

The article Six Questions That Can Improve CMO Job Security from BusinessWeek discusses the most important factors that determine success of an executive in a CMO role.

Here are Pete Krainik’s top 6 factors from the article:

1. The CMO and board must be in sync.
2. The CMO needs the authority to lead change.
3. The degree of customer centricity at the company.
4. How well the CEO and board understand marketing.
5. The level of influence the CMO has in the company.
6. The marketing budget and how it is determined.

The author described factors that the CMO doesn’t have much control over. Are there certain factors that the CMO can control to be successful in the CMO role at a company? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

VPs of Marketing and Sales Should “Have a Pint”

by Jonathan Gilliam, Interim Management Executive

People who work to generate revenue for companies understand the long-standing friction between marketing and sales departments. Often the relationship is at best cordial, at worst outright subversive. But the growing consensus, at least among top management, is that the two should be inextricably linked to the same accountability, metrics, and goals.

Marketing Leadership Lessons From General Schwarzkopf

During the Gulf War, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf was tagged with many labels from Teddy Bear to the toughest soldier in the Gulf. In a recent interview, he discussed some of the principles that guided him. Many of these same principles of leadership have applicability for sales executives.

Below are “Stormin’ Norman’s” principles of leadership:

You must have clear goals.
You must be able to articulate the goals clearly. One of the advantages we had in Kuwait, said the general, was the clarity of the Mission: “Kick Saddam Hussein’s butt out of Kuwait. The goals was clear and simple, and something that every one of our troops understood.”

Give yourself a clear agenda.
Every morning write down the five most important things for you to accomplish that day. Whatever else you do, get those five things done. Insist that the people who report to you operate the same way.

Let people know where they stand.
Everyone knows you do a disservice to a B student when you give him or her an A+. That applies not just to schools. The grades you give the people who report to you must reflect reality.

What’s broken, fix now. Don’t put it off.
Problems that aren’t dealt with lead to other problems. Besides, something else will break and need fixing tomorrow.

No repainting the flagpole. Make sure all the work your people are doing is essential to the organization.

Set high standards.
Too often we don’t ask enough from people. At on point in Schwarzkopf’s career, he was placed in charge of helicopter maintenance. He asked how much of the fleet was able to fly on any given day. The answer was 75%. “People didn’t come in at 74 or 76, but always at 75, because that was the standard that had been set for them. I said, “I don’t know anything about helicopter maintenance, but I’m establishing a new standard: 85%” Sure enough, within a short time 85% of the fleet was available on any given day. The moral: people generally won’t perform above your expectations, so it’s important to expect a lot.

Lay the concept out, but let your people execute it.
Yes, you must have the right people in place, but then step back. Allow them to do own their work.

People come to work to succeed.
Nobody comes to work to fail. It seems obvious. So why do so many organizations operate on the principle that if people aren’t watching and supervised, they’ll bungle the job?

Never lie.
Ever. Schwarzkopf said there had been a big debate about whether to use disinformation to mislead the Iraqis during the Gulf War. “We knew they were watching CNN. Some people argued that we could save American lives by feeding incorrect information to our own media.” Schwarzkopf vetoed the idea because he felt it would undermine the military leadership’s credibility with the American public.

When in charge, take command.
Leaders are often called on to make decisions without adequate information. As a result, they may put off deciding to do anything at all. That’s a big mistake, said Schwarzkopf. Decisions themselves elicit new information. The best policy is to decide, monitor the results, and change course if necessary.

Do what’s right.
“The truth of the matter,”, said Schwarzkopf, “is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.”

Need a marketing leader on an interim basis? Visit OneAccord’s website or email info(at)oneaccordpartners.com.

Seth Godin’s New Book Tribes Inspires a New Kind of Marketing Leadership

In Seth Godin’s latest book, Tribes, he makes his usual attack on traditional thinking, this time on leadership. He describes how the internet makes it it easier than ever to build a tribe, or a following, around your business or your personal brand. Tools such as blogs and Twitter make it easier to attract people who are interested in what you have to say.

I think when people follow you by reading your blog or following you on Twitter, it builds powerful relationships with individuals who are more likely to buy your product or hire you to work for them. One example of this is the Obama campaign, which used Twitter to communicate with over a hundred thousand loyal followers. Obama’s campaign was able to utilize this relationship to their passionate followers to spread a message and encourage action, such as getting people to register to vote.

Seth argues that real leaders create change by challenging the status quo. He points out that our society works hard to prevent change but a lot of the best growth occurs when you’re not like most people. One of the most interesting insights that Godin makes is that a company can have a religion, not in the spiritual sense but rather as it relates to a set of practices that are followed because that’s the way things have always been done. Heretics are those that challenge the religion of the company and push for a new religion. A good leader is able to fight the social forces to keep things the same and lead change that will lead to growth. The creator of the Big Mac, was a franchise owner who broke the rules and created one of the most successful products in the company’s history. Being a heretic is not easy, but Seth says that is exactly what we need right now.

The book was heavy on inspiration and pretty light on substance, but I think the message is an important one. This is especially true when technological advances, demographic shifts, and global issues are rapidly changing the business environment. Companies can no longer settle for what has worked in the past, but must change their “religion” in order to adapt to the the changing landscape.

Seven Keys to Entering the North American Marketplace

The affluence, consumer culture, established distribution channels, and technology adoption of the U.S. market attract the interest of astute businesspersons worldwide. However it can be intimidating to consider such an expansion initiative when one already has a full day of problems to solve.

While there are no guaranteed success formulas to entering the North American marketplace, there are a number of key factors OneAccord has found to be important. You may be familiar with a number of them in the operation of your small- to mid-sized business. By going through this process, you can work consciously through critical decision points where competitors make implicit assumptions (they “don’t know what they don’t know”)!

1. Recognize the distinct distribution options you have in bringing products and services to this marketplace. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, in terms of capital investment, profit margin, and ownership of the customer and any associated credit. Go direct to customers, by establishing a North American office or by outsourcing or contracting out North American sales/service. Or go indirectly, through distribution/reseller partners and/or OEM partners.

2. Target your offering at a specific industry “vertical”, rather than a horizontal approach. This is the most effective way to bypass the competitive “noise” in the marketplace. It is easier to reach those buyers who you want to hear your story. For example, if you are in the CRM software business, you’ll be more effective with a “CRM for Real Estate” product than offering “CRM for small business”.

3. Make sure your value proposition is clear and concise. The end customer of your product or service must be able to tell another person, so it has to be simple. Based on your distribution choice above (1) you are likely to have another important customer constituency — your prospective partner must be compelled by their own clear and concise value proposition. If they are any good, they will have other things competing for their attention!

4. Create a 12-24 month plan/timetable. Go into detail, identifying specific persons with the right skills sets and the right connections and give them responsibility. Also identify specific activities to be accomplished in the marketing/sales/partnering/product development realm. You’ll find that specificity, early in the process, builds confidence internally and with your partners, and often illuminates hidden concerns. Don’t worry — change is inevitable and can be managed.

5. Determine criteria to measure the success of your plan. You might set your benchmark based on number of new customers, revenue level, or a profitability target. Commit to regular monitoring and course-correction, so you don’t look up one day and wonder where things went wrong. What gets measured gets managed.

6. Prepare to make the appropriate investment to manifest your plan. There is truth in the old saying, “it takes money to make money.” Having gone through the planning process, you now recognize that your expansion plan can never come into being with a couple lucky phone calls. Establishing a significant business in North America is possible, and will take a concerted effort.

7. Be conservative in your planning. Things always take longer and cost more than you originally expect.

Paul Travis is a Partner with OneAccord Corp, a professional services firm serving companies as a catalyst for revenue growth. The firm’s International Business Development (IBD) Practice exists to accelerate the successful entry by companies worldwide into the North American market, and vice versa. Mr. Travis welcomes your questions via aul.Travis@OneAccordCorp.com”>Paul.Travis@OneAccordCorp.com or at +1 (206) 910-2222.