Video Course in CRO Thinking

In order to get the most out of this course you should plan to Think, Reflect and Apply what you learn, then Practice and Test.

By the end of this course we will teach you how you can win the Revenue Game.

We will help you:

1. Diagnose where you are
2. Build a Revenue Strategy
3. Deploy your Revenue Strategy
4. Continuously Grow, Align and Improve

“You have to have a Dream

to make a Dream Come True and

today you are Declaring Your Dream”

What is the value in having a clear True North?

Ask yourself the question “do I ever want to do business with a company that has no integrity” and the answer is NO! Integrity and alignment are the result of having a True North for the staff, customers and partners to aspire to. The integrity creates loyalty between the company and the people while the alignment reduces the chaos and delivers the profits.

How does applying Revenue Science™ Impact Margins?

The True North’s integrity and alignment make a huge difference in margin. The integrity encourages the buyer to pay you more because they trust and believe you when you tell them what they can expect from working with you. The alignment allows you to minimize your Cost of Chaos and operations, which increase your margins.

Both internal and external costs are positively impacted by applying revenue science. The definition of one of the two primary costs of chaos is when a company “fights the science” by trying to do things that that science says “will not work” but the company has always done it that way.

This is a time to say NO to the 20th Century way that doesn’t work and apply the science. External relations with partners and alliances will be more focused and aligned. Your deployment of the generation of or the delivery of revenue with partners will create more topline with less cost (much higher margin).

Homework

Define in writing:

1.What are your goals for our work together?

2.By the end of the year what do you want to attain through your commitment to deploying the Science of “Revenue Generation?”

3.Design the Dream you want to have come true when you reach your True North.

4.How will you measure the result of attaining your True North (at least 3 measurable outcomes)?

What’s Next in the Course

The next lesson will focus on the Cost of Chaos to produce revenue and one of the most out of control parts of the revenue process: the “Cost Per Sales Hour”.

Start to think about revenue processes you have been part of and ask if there were things that slowed down or prevented sales transactions with ideal customers.

Additional Resources:

Challenge Articles

• Are you missing?
• Have we entered a New Normal? Hardly.
• Are You a “Best of the Worst” Company?
• The CEO’s Job? Uuuuuuuuuh, So WHAT’S My Job Again? The CEO’s Top Concern Is …
• I am Busy Fulfilling my Customer’s Orders and Making Money!
• Explaining Sex to a Virgin or Engineered Growth to a CEO which is easier?
• Dream a Little – Then Turn Your Dream into YOUR Strategic Revenue plan to win The Revenue Game

Where do you find points of chaos in a business?

There are many standard points of chaos but every company is creative enough to find new places to develop chaos.

The two standard definitions of chaos are:

• Spending our money to compete with ourselves (sales and marketing do this all the time by trying to accomplish the same thing with different approaches and metrics)

• Competing with the science would be demonstrated by spending money on marketing without metrics to determine the impact on producing profitable revenue growth.

Who owns removing the Cost of Chaos?

• In 99% of companies NO ONE owns removing chaos.

• The new role of CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) has removing the Cost of Chaos as one of two strategic obligations.

What is an example of fixing the Cost of Chaos and is it worth fixing

A key element of the Cost of Chaos for most companies is the “Cost Per Sales Hour” which for most companies exceeds $3000 to $4000 per hours. Those numbers can be reduced as much a 90% which means almost every sales team is over staffed. When the “Cost Per Sales Hour” is greatly reduced you attract and retain the great sales persons who are good at selling.

How does the Cost of Chaos impact

A Business

By reducing the Cost of Chaos between 10 and 40% of the topline, while accelerating topline growth, which creates immediate cash flow. For a company that is for sale it can mean 10s of millions of additional dollars based on improved valuation.

An individual

Once an individual understands the Cost of Chaos they can change their personal work patterns to increase their productivity by at least 500%, work less and reap the financial rewards.

Homework:

1. Start to keep a journal of every point of chaos you encounter

2. Do the math to figure out YOUR “Cost Per Sales Hour” and then create a specific plan to reduce your “Cost Per Sales Hour” over the next 12 months.

What Next in the Course

So now we know there is a Cost of Chaos what steps to you take to remove it and what are the first steps?

Resource List :

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox

Challenge Articles

• The Cost of Chaos I http://tinyurl.com/3hb9sxr

• “Cost of Chaos” II http://tinyurl.com/43wtdex

• The Cost of Chaos – Part III http://tinyurl.com/43p4lqv

• “Why can’t we hire a VP Sales who can deliver?” http://tinyurl.com/3fbtbga

• “We have plenty of leads but can’t seem to convert!” http://tinyurl.com/3bzdaqe

• Your sales team shouldn’t be doing road repair! http://tinyurl.com/3sy35z5

• How does the cost of chaos differ in B2C versus B2B companies? http://tinyurl.com/cnunkfk

• What does this mean to you your Cost Per Sales Hour – Does $525,000.00 per month seem high for 8 hours of selling per day? http://tinyurl.com/7hs47pu

• Watch CEOs learn the 2 sources of the “Cost of Chaos” to grow revenue  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=quivI52hah4

What is a Revenue Strategy?

• A Revenue Strategy is the translation of the corporate strategy into predictable growth of earned income and is the result of the 5 Revenue Questions either being intentionally answered and deployed or not.

Why do I care?

• A Business

When the 5 Revenue Questions are not intentionally answered and deployed, the Cost of Chaos will always be high, and the business can be put out of business by a competitor who removes the Cost of Chaos.

• An individual

Anyone who is talented always wants to work for a company with a Revenue Strategy because a deployed strategy results in everyone making more money with less stress.

Do I need to answer all 5 Revenue Strategy Questions?

• YES – but your answers will never be perfect because the world is always in transition. When you answer them all and you verify the answers in the market, you can keep getting closer to your True North. If you don’t answer them all, an aligned deployment is not possible. You will always have a high “Cost of Chaos,” and winning requires good luck.

Resource List

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox

It’s Not Luck by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Challenge Articles

• The World Isn’t Flat: Planning for a New 2011 http://tinyurl.com/3kahbv3

• Have we entered a New Normal? Hardly. http://tinyurl.com/3f3kyxl

• Thought Leadership is a Business Strategy http://tinyurl.com/3zahxvg

• Have the Courage to Create a Brand! http://tinyurl.com/3s4mfnw

• “We have plenty of leads but can’t seem to convert!” http://tinyurl.com/3bzdaqe

• I am Busy Fulfilling my Customer’s Orders and Making Money! http://tinyurl.com/kv3r5uk

• Sales Is a Relationship Business – Right??? http://tinyurl.com/8x9s883 (MadMen)

• Which Comes First – The Business Plan or the Revenue Plan? The answer determines the ability to deploy & monetize http://tinyurl.com/bsn7mr9

What Next

What 3 words will determine your margin?

How to answer the first 2 questions of a Revenue Strategy

Homework

From a Buyers Frame of Reference

• Create a written FIRST draft of your Revenue Strategy by answering all 5 Questions in writing (2 sentences per Question).

• Based on your last home 5 Question draft review places where your organization is competing with itself or fighting the science?

Exactly what is a Brand Promise, and does everyone have one and need one?

• A Brand Promise is the experience a customer, staff member and partner will have with your company EVERY TIME.

• Every company has a brand, and the market believes what your promise is. The only issue is if the Brand Promise is the one you intended or it just happened. “Just Happened” is not recommended.

Why is answering Question number 2 “What is the customer problem you solve for your customer that no one else solves” so tough for almost all businesses?

• One of the Myths left over from the 20th Century is that sales and marketing is about telling possible buyers about your product and service. The Myth infers that once you tell someone what you have, they will buy. WRONG and if they do buy, it will be at the lowest prince you will sell for.

• Any time you tell someone “what you do” vs. “the problem you solve for them that no one else solves” you are forcing the suspect to guess why they care (most won’t guess), and if they guess, you have to hope they guessed right.

• Since the Myth about “telling” persists, over 90% of companies and individuals can’t even answer from the customer’s frame of reference (what is the customer problem) after corrected two or three times.

How do these two questions impact:

• A Business

A business who doesn’t address these questions intentionally with market confirmation will get low margins, long sales cycles, a low percent of wins and is at danger of being put out of business by a competitor who answers the questions.

• An individual

Never work for a company that can’t answer the questions.

If you work for a company that can’t answer the questions, and you answer them in your part of the territory or market, you will be very successful by your company’s standards, but you will be a maverick, an outsider.

Resource List

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action | Video on TED.com

Challenge Articles

• Thought Leadership is a Business Strategy http://tinyurl.com/3zahxvg

• Have the Courage to Create a Brand! http://tinyurl.com/3s4mfnw

• SAY NO – to sell more. This is the time of year to be clear. Share this with your team & your feedback with me http://tinyurl.com/chwlrmd

• Stop Talking About Knowing Your Competitors http://tinyurl.com/c6eg6rw  – Delight Your Customers

• Eggs or Elephants? Which will get you more Profitable Revenue? Apply Revenue Science™ and find out. http://tinyurl.com/ab8fkx7

• Three words will give you predictable revenue growth with a low Cost of Chaos http://youtu.be/yCJP2J2mFDI

What Next

How do you pick the best niche to dominate, and what do you do to make it happen?

What are the metrics to drive a “NO” to keep on track for your True North?

Homework

How to get your Brand Promise and Customer Problem ready for the real world.

Now that you have your Brand Promise and Customer Problem in your mind, put them in writing, practice in your mind, role play in real life, test with friendlies and continuously improve them until satisfied and then keep testing with real suspects and customers!

The way you test your most critical metrics is from the customer’s frame of reference – Does the buyer care about your brand promise and the problem you solve for them? Do they see you as a partner, and how did they demonstrate these in measurable ways?

Why is the BellCurve tool such a powerful diagnostic tool, and how does it impact:

• A Business

When a business knows how to apply the BellCurve to diagnosis their own business and everyone they connect with, there is alignment and metrics.

• An individual
• When an individual knows how to apply the BellCurve to diagnoses companies during the hiring process they will pick the best companies and avoid those that are out of control or fighting the science.
• When an individual knows how to apply the BellCurve, they will use it for tactical planning to out produce competitors.

Resource List

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore and Regis McKenna

Inside the Tornado: Strategies for Developing, Leveraging, and Surviving Hypergrowth Markets (Collins Business… by Geoffrey A. Moore

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action | Video on TED.com

Challenge Articles

• Growth through Focus: It’s Clear as a Bell http://tinyurl.com/3jx8zmy

• Are you missing? http://tinyurl.com/4y5el2g

• Thought Leadership is a Business Strategy http://tinyurl.com/3zahxvg

• “Why can’t we hire a VP Sales who can deliver?” http://tinyurl.com/3fbtbga

What Next

How to dominate a niche, manage your margins, and decide when you have too many niches.

Homework

Place your sole in the BellCurve. List in writing the Niche(s) you do or will dominate & answer each Question yes or no:

• Is each niche aligned to your Brand Promise? YES NO

• Is each Niche aligned to the Customer Problem you solve for the customer no one else solves? YES NO

• When you tested your Brand Promise & your Customer Problem, were they compelling to the suspect or customer? YES NO

Why is integrity the foundation to all businesses?

• The Brand Promise must be based on integrity.
• The True North must be based on Integrity.
• A company’s location on the BellCurve must be based on Integrity.
• If any of these are not true, the results are:
• Low margins
• Short-term relationships with customers, staff and partners
• Small percent of winning deals

There are 5 tracks on the BellCurve, does the science have some important things to share about the tracks once the seller knows where they are on the curve?

• The far left track is where the seller is selling their brain (the seller knows things the buyer needs to solve problems) and is talking to the human with the problem and the budget.

• The far right track is where the buyer buys pure “stuff” because they don’t need any “brain” for the seller. The decision criteria are price and logistics (do you have it when I need it).

• The center track is where the buyer and seller both bring brain in a specs-driven partnership.

• Any person, partner, customer, etc. that is more than one track right or left of your sole is fighting the science.

Resource List

Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore and Regis McKenna

Inside the Tornado: Strategies for Developing, Leveraging, and Surviving Hypergrowth Markets (Collins Business… by Geoffrey A. Moore

It’s Not Luck by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Michael E. Raynor & Mumtaz Ahmed from Deloitte Consulting LLP the authors of The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Thin

Challenge Articles

• Thought Leadership is a Business Strategy http://tinyurl.com/3zahxvg

• Have the Courage to Create a Brand! http://tinyurl.com/3s4mfnw

• Three words will give you predictable revenue growth with a low Cost of Chaos http://youtu.be/yCJP2J2mFDI

• PLEASE PAY ME LESS THAN MY WORK IS WORTH! – Tell me again exactly why you say that to every customer?? http://tinyurl.com/lp8gr4r

What Next

Exactly who is your ideal customer?

How do you compel the ideal customer before they are a customer?

Homework

• Take your written list of your Niche(s) from the last homework, and for each Niche, decide if you are fighting any of the science for the niches and determine what you need to do different!

• Make a list of things to say NO to!!!

Don’t we know our ideal customer – why is it one of the 5 Revenue Questions?

• Most B2B companies think their buyer is a company – Wrong. It is always the person with the problem who has the ability to pay.

• Every niche you dominate or plan to dominate will have a targeted ideal customer that is the person who experiences the pain of the problem you solve. The selling job is to qualify and close the buyer who experiences the pain of the problem you solve and is compelled eliminate the problem by working with you to apply your solution. If the ideal buyer is not clearly identified selling is random and without any meaningful focus (low levels of success and high Cost of Chaos).

Who decides the ideal customer marketing, sales or some team?

• None or all. It comes from the 5 Question Revenue Strategy which is created by everyone.

How does knowing the answer to the ideal customer question impact:

• A Business

Any business who knows who their ideal customer is will get more customers in less time based on less investment.

• An individual

Any individual who knows the ideal customer will give better service, make better / more sales and know when to declare “NO, we aren’t a good fit for you.”

Resource List

Neuromarketing: Understanding the “Buy Button” in Your Customer’s Brain [Paperback] Patrick Renvoise (Corporate Author)

Challenge articles

• “8 Ways to Listen to Your Market” http://tinyurl.com/3nfhemy

• Thought Leadership is a Business Strategy http://tinyurl.com/3zahxvg

• Have the Courage to Create a Brand! http://tinyurl.com/3s4mfnw

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWdMqObXmDk&feature=plcp ideal client – Learn how to lower your sales cost by defining your ideal client. http://tinyurl.com/75g2gqe

• It’s Not Luck by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

What Next

How to offer your great revenue strategy to the market?

Let’s climb the Stage 5 model and start getting the benefits.

Homework

Using the message model, review those messages you and your team share with the world. Start by looking at:

• Your website
• Presentations PowerPoint & other
• Proposals
• Advertisements
• Marketing messages & programs
• LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

Then Use the Message model to fix just one that is not following the model