The Manager's View

Finding People to Accomplish the Extraordinary Choosing the right individuals to build an organization is critical. When organizational challenges are extraordinary finding the right people is absolutely essential. The question arises “How do you identify these key individuals?” There is no infallible process but I have had some experiences that might provide some assistance. I can recall being a new publisher of a community daily newspaper that was experiencing difficulties in the production areas at a time that we were also building a new plant, installing new presses and purchasing new production equipment. We used recruiters to help us find qualified individuals to place in key production areas as leaders. After a thorough review (we thought) of their background and capabilities and interviews with our corporate leadership, we hired several of the individuals that were recommended. With this new group of production leaders the installation of presses and p...

How Do I Start a Business? It is likely that a person wishing to go into business has a pretty good idea of the kind if business they would like to run. This is generally based on skills the individual has or needs in the market that have been identified as business opportunities. If there is just a desire to be an entrepreneur then the process for identifying a possible business can begin by looking at the kinds of needs that exist in the marketplace. How do you identify market needs? How do people come up with ideas that people don’t know they need until they see them? The process to identify new products that can result in new businesses is discussed in previous posts to The Manager’s View in: http://gwrresearch.blogspot.com/2012/11/new-product-development-process.html ,    http://gwrresearch.blogspot.com/2012/12/want-to-find-new-product-for-business.html After the business opportunity is identified, starting the business requires ...

Developing an Effective Ad Campaign                                                               Copyright GWR Research 2012 MOVING AN AUDIENCE TO ACT Since advertising is the primary method for businesses to inform and influence individuals to consider and purchase their products, the question is often asked, “How many exposures are needed to cause an individual to act?” Unfortunately there is no formula available to answer this question but there are considerations that can help. Roger Wimmer, Ph.D. authored an article, “The Five Stages of Communication/Persuasion”. In his article Dr. Wimmer points out that all people must pass through five stages to make a decision about anything or...

developing new media solutions +Kristina Ackerman and +Deena Higgs Nenad authored an article in the March 2011 edition of Editor and Publisher that described what 10 newspapers that “got it right” were doing to improve their franchise. These were excellent examples of what newspapers can do to connect with their communities and improve the sustainability of the business. The Seattle Times partnered with established bloggers and provided consumers with a blog vetting process and a means of building a web based news interaction with the community. The Detroit and Seattle newspapers and others that have made significant progress are finding ways to create a symbiosis between the established and new medias. In truth every media in the marketplace, old and new, is working hard to assure its success by providing new products and new approaches. A major challenge is finding a way to focus these efforts to improve the success of each effort and the overall success o...

Creating A New Business Idea How do you identify market needs? How do people come up with ideas that people don’t know they need until they see them? The simple truth is the need is there and the job the new product will perform is one that needs to be done and may be getting done but not very efficiently. So is there an exercise that can identify jobs that need to be done more efficiently or begin being done? Here is a process that works. Go through this example and see if it helps you develop a new product or business. Let’s pick an ordinary person that is going on a business trip . Here is a list of things that will need to be done: Prepare for meetings Make reservations for hotels, cars, restaurants, air travel, etc Travel to and from destination Pack clothing etc. for trip Now break down any one of these categories to activities. Let’s pick Pack Clothing for trip: Get suitcase Lay out clothes for each day/activity Layout toiletries a...

TO CLARIFY YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY, START CLASSIFYING YOUR CUSTOMERS From Texas CEO Magazine, December 2012 By Gary Randazzo Every business, at some point, will review its marketing strategy. The cause for a strategy review can come from a difficult business environment, a windfall in profits, a change in technology or a change in customer preferences. When a marketing strategy review is in order it can be challenging to decide where to start.   Classifying Customers Classifying customers, based on the amount of their spending, can be a good place to begin. Spending used as a metric can help the analyst understand which customers provide the biggest impact:  1)      Key customers representing the largest percentage of sales and profit 2)      Customers with the potential to provide greater sales (under-potential) 3)      Customers that do little or no business with the organization but use products ...

             THE IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCT PRICING                                     By Gary Randazzo The impact of pricing strategies can be critical for the success of new product launches, a company’s image and ultimately a company’s short and long-term success. REACTING TO THE COMPETITION I have worked in several industries and found that pricing is often overlooked as a key marketing tool. In many instances pricing is driven by the sales department and is a reaction to the competition. This reaction assumes the competition knows the market better and has a superior marketing strategy. When reacting to the competition it is important to understand that you are being drawn into a game whereby you play by the competitor’s rules. You are playing th...