It's Not Business - It's Strictly Personal - Are You Listening?

A recent post by John Furrier, a Silicon Valley pioneer in social media & advertising and Founder of Podtech ,was entitled 'It's Not Business - It's Strictly Personal' (http://tinyurl.com/4x5efz) and he is right on.

2008 is proving that the customer is driving. In a global economy the customer has access to an unlimited number of choices. In an increasingly fragmented market, every CEO is looking to laser in on what segments of customers want, how they want it and how they can deliver it to them - ahead of the competition.

Digital advertising is that laser. It is both content and delivery. It's a marketing dream, or nightmare if you don't understand it. Buying has never been about the business. Buying has always been personal, the "what's in it for me?".

From interactive games to cell phone-based behavioral metrics delivered in real-time to viral videos, customers are telling us exactly what they want, how they want it - and how every CEO can deliver it to them ahead of the competition.

Don't let the technology confuse you. Twitter, You Tube, MySpace, Ning...these are listening devices and your customers are filling them up.

So as my fellow CEOs, the real question is "Are you Listening?"

Be Strategic...and Do It In 90 Days?

Do these sound like two conflicting goals? "Be strategic and do it in 90 days"

In our ever-increasingly competitive global business environment, this is every CEOs reality.

No matter whether you are a publicly traded company sublject to the psychology of stock market trends or a privately held company managing cashflows in a tight credit market, we are all in one business today - the business of speed!

It's speed to market - speed to delivery of what customers want - speed to revenue recognition.. ..

A colleague of mine had recently stepped down as CEO of her third sucecssful entrepreneurial company to be the "VP of Strategy" instead.

When did we start separating "Strategy" from what a CEO does?

Is customer demand for "stuff" so voracious that companies are just giving them what they want and worrying about whether it is the right move for the companies long-term succes or not?


As the very first Sales Director dedicated to the Carrier market (ok, Guinea Pig) for Netscreen back in 2000, I was strategic sales. But I still had a quota every 90 days and had I ever missed it, I wouldn't have been around for more than 2 quarters. Yet those Carrier purchase orders were pretty big - albeit the revenue "hockey stick" every quarter aged us all.


So in 2004 when Juniper paid $4Billion to buy Netscreen, on revenues that were a fraction of that number, Bob Darabant who led our small team of 5 Carrier salesmen, looked like a genius. (Not surprisingly he's CEO of Montego Networks now) http://www.montegonetworks.com/ . Juniper looked to acquire a strategic entry point into that half of the Carrier market that their competition did not already own.


In today's fragmented market CEOs not only can be strategic and do it in 90 days, they have to.
With the "right" strategy, the rewards are exponential in both the near and long term.

So yes, you CAN be strategic......and do it in 90 days!


So share your own succes stories. Where else has a CEO been successful at being strategic in 90 days?