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CTLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY
CTLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY
Image Source: http://diytoolkit.org/media/Business-Model-Canvasb.jpg Today I had lunch with a great, humble man named Randy. He is a private investor and is currently one of the creators for an app called Skipio that allows small businesses to share their contact information with others instantly without having to type info into the phone. He is personal friends with Oprah Winfrey and Mitt Romney along with hundreds of other influential people from across the country. While talking with him he taught me the power of tweaking a certain section of business model--how businesses can literally transform from a million dollar company to a billion with a switch on the focus of what to bring customers. It’s called the Economy Experience. He learned about it while he attended Harvard and here is a summarized article on the subject: hbr.org/1998/07/welcome-to-the-experience-economy When he presented the experience model he basically summarized how a company can increase the value of what they are selling by changing their standpoint of what it is that they are selling. In other words, rather than focusing on an item solely being sold as a commodity; the business team needs to consider the customers needs and wants in order to heighten the customer's desired experience that he or she will get out of the item. A business's revenue will increase not only because an experience is valued more than a commodity. A business will grow more when it is the correctly desired experience. (Image Source: bettycrocker.com) One example he gave was the Betty Crocker company. At the beginning, Betty Crocker wanted to sell pre-made instantaneous food that one could have by just adding water. Through trial and error, Betty realized that customers (mainly housewives) hated the idea of not having to do any work when preparing the meal. This lessened the value of what Betty was selling because it wasn't the experience they desired. Instead of including pre-cooked powdered eggs into the cake mixes, Betty allowed her customers to crack their own eggs. This gave her customers the experience of cooking which is what they wanted with the cake mix in addition to easy, quick home- cooked meals. He also talked about what makes an individual stand out from the crowd when it comes to promotions. He explained the difference with a story. The CEO of Kodak -Jeff Clarke- (and a good friend of Randy’s) told him about a test that he ran with his executive team. He purposely ran the clock twenty minutes ahead and he wanted to see what his team’s reaction what going to be. At the beginning of the meeting, he scowled at everyone. He couldn’t believe his whole team was late Image Source: kentuckyfertility.com for the first meeting of the year. One of his executive spoke up and told him that the clock was wrong, he was right on time and he was 100% sure the clock was behind. Another spoke up and told him that on the 11th floor the clock was slow as well and that there may be something wrong with the clocks in the building. This brought up the whole team talking about how they can fix the problem. It wasn’t until the youngest person in the team; a graduate intern, sighed really loud and grabbed a chair. She stood on the chair and corrected the time. Jeff laughed and promoted her there right on the spot. The lesson here is don’t just plan but actually execute your idea when you need to think outside of the box. Randy then asked us which was more important execution or planning? I yelled out execution and a lot of other people did too. Until a girl in the back scoffed at us and beautifully stated, “Planning and execution are like night and day- you can’t have one without the other,” and there is the answer. Again, like Randy stated in the beginning what separates million dollar companies from the billions is finding the correct direction you want to go and executing the idea to the best form you can place it. He also talked about the dangers of separating another set of twins that go hand in hand: possibility and probability. Possibility tends to be better understood by CEO, innovators, and R&D players. Probability leans more of the mindset of accountants, financiers, and a majority of stockholders. When a company wants to transform themselves apart from the norm the CEO needs to obtain a team that can believe in the “impossible” while creating their business from the scrappiest resources. What does scrappy mean? It means to the cheapest, most accessible items the company can get a hold of. When a team like that is conjured, the business model will fly. I hope this post will help you in your business endeavors whatever they may be. Sincerely, Connie Tinoco |
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