In ’08: The Central Banks rescued PE firms from their over-paid, over-leveraged ’07 deals. By lowering interest rates to near-zero for 10 years good things happened:
Continue reading 149. What Distributor Roll-Ups Will Become Zombies?True or False:
The original – “Fail: fast, often, forward” – quote was penned by Samuel Beckett. It’s tattooed on tennis player Stan Wawrinka’s forearm. Variations abound, like: “I never lose, I win or learn”.
Attendance in Entrepreneurship classes is booming at colleges. Every student parrots these startup steps:
I’ve written a big document (free upon request) entitled: “CORE RENEWAL ROADMAP TO EVERYONE-WINS (How Distributors Can Act on Customer Profitability Ranking Realities)”. The feedback? Too often it is: “I get it, but we can’t execute.” Why? Common reasons:
For new-vision stimulation, request my roadmap and a C-Suite, virtual session on customer/SKU net-profitability analytics. [email protected]
The “scientific method” has enabled all the fruits of modern civilization.
The Scientific Method’s steps are (modified for distributor results):
Until 1660, when the Royal Society of England was founded, scientists who published discoveries that conflicted with the beliefs of the church or dictators could be burned at the stake. Even today – politicians, churches, economists, CEOs, etc – will undermine any (scientific) facts that get in the way of their agendas (comp plans) or belief-identities. Want to get ahead? Tell these bosses what they want to hear!
Science-denying leaders have good audiences for their data-free opinions. Besides obedient underlings, surveys reveal that citizens are OK on everyday-science facts. But, they often struggle with the scientific method process and statistics.
Every company is dominated by the voice of finance. Be financially pragmatic. Pay timely taxes. Service debt and meet lender’s ratios. Meet the payroll. Please the auditors. But, what are the blind spots of financial operating assumptions like “buy-low, sell-high, and sell-more”?
What “observations, questioning, theories, and new analytics” should challenge financial management? Do financial numbers measure the improving effectiveness of leaders, strategy, and the culture and systems that support the strategy? How measurably great and guaranteed your “service value” is for best, most net-profitable, target customers?
Switching to the sanctity of “relationships that reps have with their customers”. Where are the metrics by which to manage and improve the quality and win-win economic benefits of these relationships?
Family businesses also have beliefs/values. But, to paraphrase Tolstoy, “Happy family businesses are all alike; every unhappy family business is unhappy in its own way.” Have any unhappy, family beliefs to question?
In your company, if scientific method analytics clash with data-free beliefs, what happens? Is the C-Suite open to experiments? Or, do they want “new” data that supports the status quo beliefs and compensation schemes? Big profitable gains come (unfortunately) from big changes to old ways. What will happen to your company, in fast-changing times if scientific method analytics can’t challenge dysfunctional, profit-drain beliefs? For more on scientific, big-change analytics for distributors, be in touch: [email protected]
Analytics have swept through Major League Baseball (MLB) over the past 17 years. The Oakland A’s got first analytical results. But, the Boston Red Sox were the first to go big in 2002. John Henry, the new owner, was a believer. He had gotten rich by trading commodities with his own invented analytics.
Continue reading 144. Baseball’s Adoption of Analytics v. DistributorsBig players (Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, etc.) are combining many technologies to create the onrushing Cloud Omnichannels to which B2B brands must respond.
Amazon’s (AMZ) “doorstep-back-to-producers” value-channel is all in the cloud. It incorporates technologies like AI, machine learning, robots, and cobots. And, AMZ has already hugely pre-invested in exploiting 5G bandwidth, instant-startup-clone brands, info-videos with watch-me reward points, last-mile-uber-metro-delivery platforms, voice commerce, drones, fintech, blockchain, etc.
Continue reading 140. Channel-Model Innovations Ahead