Successful Blog

121: How Do You Get from Strategy to Execution?

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An Execution . . . [grin]

Dawud, Do I hear you laughing from sending this question? DAWUD MIRACLE asked me (and you),

What do you feel is necessary to create an effective strategy to promote a business?

I shall rise to the challenge. I shall not be intimidated . . . much.

Strategy and promotion in the last question. Strategy and execution in this one. I’m wondering whether you stay up all night thinking of how to make me work?

Strategy and Execution . . . or Strategy and Tactics

This is a place I could write a book by talking. After five minutes, my husband would say, “Honey, don’t make me live it.” Most publishing projects I’ve worked on, including those I’ve been in charge of, have gotten this wrong in some way.

It’s almost impossible to get the transition from strategy to execution/tacitics just right . . . it’s like becoming a person. In fact, this particular challenge is one of the reasons that I get so jazzed about business. I believe it has made me a better human being — granted, it can go either way.

The main problem that happens is best described this way.

The project is over. Time to do the prototype.

My best tactic is to spend 80% of my time in strategy. I fight myself and everyone on a project to plan deep and build protoypes that are highly defined and agreed upon. Execution is a breeze when everyone knows what the definition of “good work” is, what direction to walk in.

So the way I get from strategy to execution is really to have a strategy, one in which outlines in detail what we are building. The next step is to look at three things closely– People, Quality, and Resources — and how to manage them on a daily basis — Process (information flow).

I actually draw boxes to show how the project will move from one phase to another. In the boxes I write what people and resources I might need to shore things up. I make sure I know what information comes together when.

By the way, I’m no good at doing this in my head or alone. The people involved have to talk it out to make sure that there aren’t gaping holes. When we describe a realistic process, we build in 10% more time for that problem that no one ever expects that always comes.

If I have a clean desk and a schedule for those boxes, when a strategy is planned, I’m more than ready to hit the ground running.

And since this is a one2one conversation . . . and I’m inherently currious . . . to Dawud, (and you too)

I’m sending the question right back.
What do YOU feel is necessary to create an effective strategy to promote a business?.

If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your answer too.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

One2One is a cross-blog conversation. You can see the entire One-2-One Conversation series on the Successful Series page.

The Ideal Customer Test

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Pick One

inside-out thinking

Who is your customer? Before you answer, if you are going to say “small business owners,” STOP. You can’t build a business foundation trying to read 25 million minds at once. Small business owners is not a niche it’s a population.

In my presentation at SOBCon07, I had a single slide that said

Choose your customers.

I didn’t spend nearly enough time talking about those three words.

The key to a successful business is truly connecting with the ideal customers for the service or product we offer. The process starts by doing what we love, because doing what we love makes good business sense. The next step is to find the folks who love what we do.

How do we do that?

Look to your past successes. Who has come to you in the past for what you love doing and then loved what you provided?

Make a list of the people who have already loved what businesslike thing you love doing for them. Now you have some idea of who your ideal customer might be. Use this model to see who on that list passes the Ideal Customer Test.

Ideal Customer Test

  • The ideal customer is part of a group. You don’t really want customers who are loners. Let someone else sell to the hermits and the recluses.
  • The ideal customer’s group is relational. They don’t have to sing kum-ba-yah by the campfire. Lawyers are relational. They talk to each other and ask what works. Even corporate clients check out the competition and do horse trading.
  • The ideal customer wants to be better . . . to keep up with the folks at the front of the group.
  • The ideal customer has money and the potential to make more.
  • YOUR ideal customer looks a lot like YOU.

It’s true none of us are a field test or focus group, BUT, pay attention to that last point. If you are looking for the folks who love what you do . . .

Your ideal customer is likely to think, act, and respond like you, because it’s human nature to think people who think like we do are brilliantly smart.

That’s how our customers look like us.
That’s why they love what we do.

Skeptical — huh?
Try it this way It’s unlikely that an information geek is going to feel comfortable working with me. I’m just not linear. I’d send him to my friend. Greg Balanko-Dickson the Remote Control CEO. He’s a self-proclaimed information geek. The chart at the top of his blog shows the difference immediately. Greg does what he loves and the information geek would love what he does.

Do what you love in service to those who love what you do. —Steve Farber

Who loves what you do?

Next: Questions to Describe Your Ideal Customer

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Is your business stuck? Check out the Start-up Strategy Package. Work with Liz!!

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To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.

Life, an Onion, and Social Networking

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I've been thinking . . .

about life on the Internet and an onion.

Once a friend gave me a metaphor of the world as an onion.

Life in the comment box is what my friend called Layer 17.

“Imagine that life is like an onion,” a friend said to me. “Most people live on that brown papery stuff on the outside. That ‘s where they go about their daily routine. They’re born. They have kids. They die out in the sunshine on that brown papery thing.”

“Yeah, so.”

“You like to live be thinking and talking inside somewhere down near Layer 17. You come out and have fun on the papery thing, but you live near Layer 17.”

I have fun Social Networking on the papery thing, but the comment box here is Layer 17.

Liz's Signature

Kirk M and Kent Newsome Are B.A.D. Bloggers!

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Hello, Hello! I’d Like You to Meet . . .

BAD Blogger Button

It’s a fine way to spend a Sunday visiting some B. A. D. Bloggers I know. Without hesitation, these are folks who are worth getting to know. I can say that because I did.

Have you met Kirk M?

I got a B.A.D. Blogger email from Kirk M.
He said, “If you’re still doing this, I would like to offer myself as a victim…er…I mean interviewee if you would be willing to risk your mental health by talking to me.” You should have seen me smile. The prospect was lovely. This fella who came around my blog with always a thoughtful remark, wanted to spend time talking to me.

It was a gracious man, Kirk M., who took a phone call from me. We talked about submarines, wheelchairs, dreams, blogging, the sort of people we are, the sort of people we meet, how our minds ramble from subject to subject. I told stories. He told some. We talked about claustrophobia, fear of heights, and that crack between the floor and the door in an elevator. It was a fun and relaxing conversation.

Kirk was in the room he once described in a comment.

Currently my back room is located in a corner of our library (we live in an old house so we set it up in an old fashioned way), with a rocker to my right with a forest of plants behind it in the window. Behind me is a old table made out of rock maple and a grandfather clock on the other side ticking away ready to tell me I need to get started for work (and more plants).

He was the guy I knew who typed those words. Authentic Kirk.

Kirk original email had also said, “Just think…then I could put a ‘I survived a call from Liz Strauss’ thingy in my sidebar!” He did. At least, I think he did.

Oh and, do you know Kent Newsome?

I met Kent for the first time when he suggested we might meet virtually. So on went out head phones and up went the conversation level. From his first words, I started thinking about and calling forward my memories of Texas just from hearing his voice. It was lovely.

I had recently discovered Kent’s blog. He had recently emptied his feeds and asked his readers to recommend new ones. Somehow my blog got in the mix. Somehow we ended up on a voice call.

Kent and I spent time discussing what made a great blog post. It was a conversation about conversation and blogging — how to leave the blog post open and unfinished, the way conversation happens. That led into writing and interacting with people. We talked about how long we’d been blogging. That led into a glance at our philosophies of life and our histories . . . isn’t that always the case?

We compared notes on everything from the web to songwriting to lawyering.

Kent told me a bit about his background in law. He’s songwriting lawyer who blogs — well not all at once, but it’s fun to say. Kent wove all three into the coversation about his blog and his blogging. He’s an integrated guy. He brings his skills out when he needs them.

Kent said he started blogging to see whether a guy who didn’t live in the Bay area or work in the tech industry could make his way into the conversation.

The answer is a resounding “yes.”

Kirk and Kent, you are B.A.D. Bloggers!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar.

One Blinking Dot

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Connecting Dots with The Idea Dude

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I started this week’s column with one blinking dot… actually it was my cursor. It was waiting impatiently for me to connect this week’s dots. The blinking dot could have also been my heart, thumping in anticipation of what is to come.

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Sara, over at Frugal Village would understand this, she inspired the analogy. I read her wonderful post about filling the blank page because the only reward she really wanted was to know that her voice, her one single thought could reach a total stranger. She said, I want to reach through the page and continually say I believe in you, you’re not alone, and everything will be OK.

dotdoticon-tiny

It reminded me of JJ, who describes herself as having an addiction to blogging. She shared her joy this week. She found her voice after searching many years. The people at this party are the coolest ever! she exclaims. She comments wherever she stops because it feels good when people do that on her blog and she wanted to help others know they are not alone.

Two dots, two voices, two hearts.

Speaking of hearts . . .

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Speaking of hearts, there is none larger that the one that belongs to my friend, Mike Sansone. The bear hug he gave me at SOBcon07 still lingers. Mike has been ill recently. The first thing he did on his blog was to create the biggest heart I have ever seen made up of all the logos of bloggers who wished him well throughout his adventure. To describe Mike best is to tell you what he wrote to accompany his post. . . Got better sooner, thanks to you.

What better place to speak of hearts, right here on Liz’s blog because she taught us all to never forget to connect our hearts to our heads.

And what did all this mean to me? I’m humbled… even after leading many companies and teams in my career, this master has become the apprentice.

I am thankful. And why not? Karin would tell you from her own experience, teaching and learning is the two way traffic of life. Joanna reminds us, we don’t need grammar books to write. All you need to do is identify the things you consistently do that might make you look dumb — then take responsibility for working out how to change them.

May the dots be with you!
Vern, The Idea Dude

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Connecting Dots

The Old Neighborhood Bars and Blogs

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Chicago is a city of neighborhoods and neighborhood bars. Every neighborhood has a name. Every neighborhood bar is like Cheers. People go there because the folks inside, especially the bartender, knows their name. Names are important. They’re the first words we know about ourselves and each other.

When I think of my favorite neighborhood bar, I can’t separate it from the folks who are always there. Over time the people grow and change. Some days all one bartender can talk about is his camera. Other days all he can think of is sports. That’s who he is. That’s part of what makes him interesting.

We have personal jokes. He knows some of what I like. I can tune in. I can have my beverage and hardly talk to him at all. There was a time when he was not a happy guy. He’s a friend. You ride it out. Everyone has phases. . . .

It’s a well-known fact that I think of my blog as my father thought of his saloon. But in one way it can’t be the same. Saloons don’t have RSS feeds.

What difference does that make?

When I change focus for a while — you might do it too, or you might not, but we know I always will — readers can decide the new direction is not their “beverage of choice.” That’s cool. That’s only right. I do the same thing — with the blogs I read, not with the people in my life.

In life when my friends shift gears, I often come back to see what they’re doing later. Most often what I find is that we have plenty in common still. Yet when a blog has changed direction, it’s felt more permanent. I hardly ever go back. I’m rethinking that today.

Over the next week or two, I’m going to check in on blogs I used to read. It will be like visiting the old neighborhood bar to see who’s still there. I’m looking forward to it.

I think I might find some nice surprises. What do you think? What’s your experience? Do you ever go back to the old neighborhood?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! Liz understands how people think.