My Breakfast Talk: Turning A Potential Negative into a Positive

This morning, I gave a breakfast talk at my local chamber of commerce. 

It went great, but it could have been in crisis before it started!

Last night, they sent an email saying that the normal conference room they use for talks (which was large, and had an overhead projector / screen for Powerpoint) was severely damaged by a water leak, so they had to move the event to a much smaller conference room.

It meant no projector and, instead of everyone seated comfortably in a large room, they were crammed tightly around a table that took up most of a tiny room.

Instead of panicking, I turned the situation into a strength. I didn't use Powerpoint. Instead, I just talking with them.

I had access to the backgrounds of the business owners, so I used them in my examples. They stopped and paid attention.

It also started a discussion. I ended up only talking for 1/2 the time, and they talked with each other, on my topic (strategic innovation), the info I gave, and their situations.

At the end, they were energized, and I had at least one person interested in doing business with me. A lawyer with an independent practice said he had a corporation as a client who could use my help.

Info World Article: 7 deadly career mistakes developers make

I was quoted in a recent Info World Article:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3069558/application-development/7-deadly-career-mistakes-developers-make.html

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) For Innovation

Most of the common KPIs that executives typically look at are good for measuring the financial performance of their organizations.

But, what are some useful KPIs for measuring innovation?

Here are 2 of them:

1. What percentage (%) of revenue / profits are derived from products / services that are less than X years old?

2. Your average sales price (per unit)?

You want both of these metrics to be increasing.

The first KPI helps you track how successful your organization is at creating new products and services that your customers actually value and want to buy.

The second KPI will tell you if your pricing power is increasing (By making it per unit, you discount the effects of customers buying in greater volume).  An increasing average unit price indicates that your customers are receiving (and paying for) increased value, and don't regard your products  / services as a commodity.

The Joker's Tattoos: Innovative Content Marketing For "Suicide Squad"

To promote this summer's "Suicide Squad" movie (based on the D.C. Comics series where the government uses villains to complete dangerous missions), the producers went beyond trailers.

As an example of synergy between content marketing the film, and the film itself,  the movie is giving the Joker tattoos for the first time.  Now, to publicize the film, the producers are revealing that the tattoos contain meanings and hidden "Easter Eggs" based on the long comics history of the joker.

There are two lessons for business:

1. Are there any neat stories behind your products and services that can "edutain" prospects and draw attention to your business?

2. Can you build interesting content into your business that you can later use for marketing?

© 2016 Praveen Puri

How to Reduce Call Center Volume

I was included with a panel of experts on how to reduce call center volumes for better customer service:

http://www.nanorep.com/important-tips-to-reduce-call-center-volume#Puri

Hotel Pillow Origami: Restoring Control Outside Your Comfort Zone

I'm currently in Rhode Island on business and just woke up after my first night in the hotel.

I had a pleasant night's sleep because I took the time to engage in "hotel pillow origami", where I used trial and error, and creativity, to rearrange the pillows into a formation that supported my head, neck, and back.

I'm sure that most experienced business travelers can identify: every hotel room has different beds and a unique assortment of pillows.  Not taking control and finding the right pillow foundation can literally be a pain in the neck.

Taking control in this way shouldn't just be limited to travel and hotel beds.  In business, our careers, and our lives, there are many times we end up outside our comfort zones. In fact, we should want this to happen, because that is where growth and advancement happen.

But, there is no rule that says we have to endure maximum discomfort in these situations.  In fact, I'd argue that the ultimate personal growth happens when we rise to the challenge of uncomfortable change and adapt it to us, rather than just passively accept  new situations.

Reimagining A Commodity

You're a Wisconsin dairy at a time when milk, a commodity, is at historically low prices.  Many mom and pop farmers are struggling.

What do you do?

If you are 1871 Dairy, you copy the microbrewery trend, and become a micro dairy. They first started by providing fresh, organic, grass-fed milk to high-end Chicago restaurants.

Now, they are opening a micro dairy, where they will build a small milk processing plant in downtown Chicago, far away from the actual Wisconsin farms.

They will offer small-batch, exotic flavored milks, creams, yogurts, etc. such as adding blackberry-basil or banana-almond butter to fresh milk.

In this way, they have added value, and elevated milk from a commodity to a unique, premium  product for which they can charge more.

Are there creative twists that you can add to pain-vanilla portions of your business, to create awesome value for your customers, which will inspire and delight them?