IS YOUR PRODUCT LABEL A CALL TO ACTION?...A story regarding label disclosure

Just picked up a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Peppermint Soap and noticed the label appeared different from what I was used to seeing. The label is an editorial to lobby for a YES vote on Bill I-522 in Washington State on Nov 5th. Bill I-522 has to do with labeling for genetically engineered foods. The front of the bottle features a prominent headline for a YES VOTE. The back of the bottle is a full feature editorial on the rights of consumers to “know if our food is genetically engineered” and how a label disclosure victory in Washington State will affect other states’ legislature going forward. The label also provides a history of labeling requirements in regard to health issues. One section even identifies two global companies by name that the Dr. Bronner organization sees as culprits in engineering resistance in food crops. There are also instructions on how to educate, donate and/or volunteer to the cause.

I have never seen a company deliver a political message, much less one so strong in its positioning, on its product label before. Has anyone ever seen a campaign of this type on a consumer package before?

ALIGNING PROCUREMENT AND MARKETING

      

 I believe it is a process of education. Specifically, the role of procurement is to manage a process that ensures efficiency, cost reduction and/or value creation. In short, to develop a value/function blueprint. Marketing's role is to manage strategy to build business. If marketing can provide a better understanding to procurement how the components of communications is bought and sold, and the circumstances that can affect pricing, procurement will have a larger opportunity to define that value/function relationship in a more realistic and genuine way. This is a critical step when one considers the fact that marketing, unlike raw materials for example, deals with long term benefits, competitive positioning and opportunity.

                   

IT AIN'T ABOUT THE PRICE....

There is an old saying: "He who buys based only on price, is legal prey for anyone who sells based on price." Someone will always find a way to come in lower...but (and this is a big but) at what ultimate cost to the buyer? I've worked with business service companies that will respond to a requested price quote just to stay in the game, when in fact the game was over from the get go. I've also worked for companies that would simply have thanked the buyer for his/her interest and clarified that they are not bidders because bidding in and of itself does allow the seller to differentiate its service, quality and overall resources. One solution to a price only mentality is to say OK, I'll send in a quote, however, I need to better understand the criteria of the decision making...what weight does the organization place on each component of the deliverable? In short, the seller needs to attack the idea of defining value from the buyer's perspective at the very start with a goal of building a relationship, not closing a deal. Sometimes the best deal is the one you are willing to walk away from.

 

WHY SOME COMPANIES SUCCEED, AND OTHERS DO NOT...

I would say it's a continual refinement of a company's culture that allows it to succeed. This takes a committed and dedicated leadership, one that runs its ship as a meritocracy, works hard to build enduring relationships internally and externally and has a balance of compassion, reason, purpose, integrity and drive so that each employee feels and acts as a stakeholder in each customer engagement. Companies that have and keep leadership positions in their categories seem to be those that know when and how to integrate new products, services and benefits into their offerings without taking its eye off the core business or qualitative deliverables. These organizations know they don't make money making stuff, only selling stuff, and therefore, build cultures focused on sales, service, value creation and again, building evergreen relationships with its customers.

BEWARE MICROMANAGEMENT...

Micromangement is a form of insecurity, a lack of trust or the need to manage up. As such, the micromanager, realizing it or maybe not, is making the job about themselves. One way to put micromanagement in check (at least to an extent) is hold fewer meetings, streamline reporting protocols, reduce redundancy and build better, more interpersonal relationships with team members. Building trust and confidence in team members is critical. Managing down allows the manager to better understand that individuals often have their own success formulas that will not interfere or delay the desired results or take away from achieving the manager's goals for the team. Micromanagement is a habit and like other less than desirable habits can be fixed.

HIRING THE "RIGHT" EXECUTIVE FOR YOUR TEAM

Ideally, the organization seeks an individual with experience (and/or potential) based on the job description, a proven work ethic and a personality that would fit into the organization's culture. All good. Equally as important should be the character traits that cannot be taught: an individual's written and verbal communications skills, their ability to develop meaningful relationships internally and externally, positive attitude regarding mentoring, and, have a balance in their life that reflects a sense of fair play, compassion and integrity.

MARKETING IS ALIVE AND WELL...

Just read an article focused on the death of marketing. Marketing, IMO, is far from dead. In fact, the “art” of marketing is just experiencing a new beginning. Marketing is a continually evolving mechanism to help a sales initiative and outflank competition. As economic and technology landscapes grow, so do the channels of communication. At the end of the day the marketing plan needs to meet specific business objectives. It may be better to think in terms of managing a communications (marketing) strategy to help build your business. The rationale for the selection of media and communications vehicles will be based on a number of things: efficiency, creative strategy, budgets, timing, etc. As data gathering becomes more and more sophisticated, so will sales strategies to reach high performance consumers and build enduring relationships with those consumers. It will be the role of marketing to manage those strategies.

FEAR AND FAITH CANNOT LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE

Some words of encouragement

written by Thomas A. Edison for his final public address:

"My message to you is: Be Courageous! I have lived a long time. I have seen history repeat itself again and again. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has come out stronger and more prosperous. Be as brave as your fathers before you. Have Faith! Go Forward!

WHAT IS VALUE?

If the purpose of business is to generate a profit, and the fact that no company makes money making stuff, only selling stuff, then the idea of value is defined in the deliverable to your customers. If thought of in this way, value is defined as:

• Is our organization helping the client achieve something it could not achieve before, better or on its own?
• Is the deliverable measureable?
• Is the process for working with customers accountable?
• Is our service or product helping the customer to outflank its competition?
• Is our service or product a good price?

The aggregate answers to these questions is what value is.

Elliot DeBear and Josh

KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN APPROACHING A SALE

I believe a sale is about value creation, how is the salesperson helping to deliver value to his/her customer. The salesperson should understand, first and foremost, the primary goals of the industry they are selling. As a general rule and common denominator, most large organizations from my experience are focused on 3 key goals: 1) growth, 2) market expansion and 3) new market creation. Is the sale contributing one or more of these goals in some way?
I would want a sales force to attack 4 critical questions in preparing for it pitches:
1. What can I help the client achieve that they could not achieve before?
2. Is the benefit of the product or service I am selling measureable and is my sales process accountable?
3. How does my product and/or service help my client outflank its competition?
4. Am I providing a good price?

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IS THE MAGNET TO HIRE THE BEST...And Keep Them.

Smart people, especially those with some experience under their belt, seem to gravitate to effective leaders because of the culture those leaders have and continue to build. Good cultures evolve because leadership moves an organization forward in inclusive, incentivized ways, understanding that when every team member is treated as a stakeholder in the success of the business, the organization usually thrives. Such cultures reflect a manage down atmosphere where managers have a real stake (and obligation) in nurturing and helping their reports be successful and grow into greater responsibility and authority. In such cultures, the organization is run as a true meritocracy. Hierarchy does not warrant greater respect than non-hierarchy. This all comes from effective, authentic, smart, compassionate and balanced leadership. If leadership is ineffective in its communications and relationship building, all the incentives and perks in the world will not make such a company more effective or competitive...or attractive to the best and brightest hires.

WHY MARKETING IS AN INVESTMENT, NOT AN EXPENSE:

In an era where client loyalty is more difficult to sustain than ever before, new business initiatives must take priority. Service organizations especially sell their ability to craft competitive, result oriented strategies to manage clients' brands and build their businesses. Within this, such organizations sell innovation and customization. Today, the companies that continually create new specialized services for their clients will be the post recession winners of this decade.
While client retention and growth are critical, it is new business and the incremental cash streams it creates that will allow companies to continue to grow their services, gain intellectual capital in new categories and expand their engagements with a larger variety of corporate cultures. In doing so, companies will be able to expand their resource to current and future clients, as well as, build tools to outflank competition.

BALANCING THE NEEDS OF THE INDIVIDUAL WITH THOSE OF THE TEAM.

Should corporate management foster a sense of individual achievement?
I find that individuals (and teams) that are reflective of high achievement--productivity on a consistent basis--work in cultures that foster individual success formulas.
Managers especially who have learned from their positive experiences and, importantly, their failures, seem to understand what behaviors work most effectively for them: how best to communicate internally and externally and how to prioritize work loads in context of their organization's needs. Such managers also understand and encourage their reports to develop their own individual formulas through trial and error, learning how to best use their personalities and organizational resources to be most effective. Businesses that recognize and foster individual achievement know they are also building assets for their future. I’m not implying organizations should promote cowboy mentalities, but rather use such support and recognition as a motivating tool to promote positive behaviors, enrich the individual’s corporate experience, grow the organization’s intellectual capital and develop more effective contributors to the team and overall organization

ACCOUNTABILITY AND PERFORMANCE MANAGMENT: KEY FUNDAMENTALS FOR SUCCESS

Accountability and Perfomance Management are critical to any organization, especially those with multiple disciplines and siloed functions. These terms mean different things to different levels of management. In general, I would say accountability comes from a meritocracy based culture. Clear objectives, realistic goals and environment where all people feel like stakeholders in the business and share in some way new equities created through collaborative actions. I think accountability loses its substance when the organization's community sees a lack of accountability by its executive management who are often far removed from the day to day business.

CONCEPTS OF LEADERSHIP FROM THOSE WHO LEAD

A collection of thoughts from interviews conducted by Adam Bryant for the New York Times’ Corner Office.

…if you’re going to lead an organization, you need to have some sense of what everyone does every day.
James E. Rogers, Duke Energy

It’s not how much they (your employees) respect you that is most important. It’s actually how much you respect them. It’s everything.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation SKG

I’m not looking for a mirror image of me. I’m just looking for somebody who gets turned on about something. If you find that kind of person, then these are the people you want to climb mountains with.
Joseph J. Plumeri, Willis Group Holdings

Fear is not a motivating factor. You might be able to get a little bit more out of someone in the short term, but you will completely erode your business and your culture in the long term. You’re going to lose all your good people. You’re not going to have people tell you the truth, and it becomes the tradition.
Mindy Grossman, HSN, Inc.

People leave companies for two reasons. One, they don’t feel appreciated. And two, they don’t get along with their boss. We try to develop coaches instead of bosses.
David C. Novak, Yum Brands

I value a true meritocracy. The only way people will have a trust to give their all to their job is if they feel like their contribution is recognized and valued. If they see somebody else higher above them just because of a good resume, or they see somebody else promoted who they don’t think deserves it, you’re done.
Mark Pincus, Zynga

It’s one thing to say you’re inclusive, but it’s a whole other thing to be inclusive.
Susan Docherty, General Motors

(I learned) how much of what comes out of corporate offices is of absolutely no purpose, and how far removed some people are from the front lines.
Andrew Cosslett, InterContinental Hotels Group

…a lot of decisions (are) made behind closed doors and dictated to the staff without any bridging of the feasibility gap…you can’t disenfranchise people from the process by just giving them orders.
Don’t hire jerks, no matter how talented.
I don’t believe that creativity is a department. It’s cost of entry.
Michael Lebowitz, Big Spaceship

It’s too easy to let a person with great presentation skills buffalo you into thinking they are better or more knowledgeable than someone who might not necessary have that particular set of skills…(don’t) let the veneer distract you from the substance.
Robert W. Selander, MasterCard

It takes a lot of spine to tell the truth, especially in a large organization, where obfuscation is a political skill…if something goes wrong, it’s my problem; if something goes right, it’s their success.
Pamela Fields, Stetson

Different people have their own formula for success. I look for why they are successful, not just whether they are successful.
Richard Fein, Royal Caribbean Cruises

…avoid unnecessary process and hierarchy---things that might frustrate employees.
…people don’t perceive legitimacy from rank. They perceive legitimacy from how good you are.
David Sacks, Yammer

You have to make sure you never confuse the hierarchy that you need for managing complexity with the respect that people deserve. Because that’s where a lot of organizations go off track, confusing respect and hierarch, and thinking that low on hierarchy means low respect; high on the hierarchy means high respect.
Mark B. Templeton, Citrix

LEADERSHIP: WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

Good leadership manages down, not up.

Good leadership avoids unnecessary process and hierarchy.

Good leadership knows it's business does not make money making something, only selling something.

Good leadership sees how bureaucracy can strangle understanding, process and action.

Good leadership knows it is not always right. Good leaders understand how far removed they often are from the front lines.

Good leadership understands volatility doesn’t equal risk…that risk is a chance of permanent loss.

Good leadership writes well and often. Good leadership reads and responds always.

Good leadership listens carefully to other's views...nuggets of wisdom can come from the most unexpected dialogues.

Good leadership dedicates time with their managers to understand how they view their roles and yours.

Good leadership is not about being right…it’s about winning.

Moving From Account Management to Growth Management

Because today’s environment is stewarded in large part by client side procurement management, companies require client solutions teams that can act among other things as a business growth units. This should be a team of high level, senior executives who, over time and increased knowledge of a client’s business can carry new strategies to further benefit the client’s business and increase their organization’s sales. It is becoming increasingly important for growth directors to consider a client management structure that is tied to the daily workings of each major account. Most sales forces function in a somewhat “siloed” manner, generally seeking business from new clients, rather than focusing on existing ones. Growth management teams must be able to look at the big picture or the “integrated strategic picture” for its existing business base.

Growth Management Objectives

• Develop client relationships at the highest levels to enable your organization to have access to and understand client needs
• Provide neutral, integrated solutions focused on meeting identified client needs
• Create platforms to evidence your company’s qualifications and competencies in delivering reliable solutions on time and to specification
• The business proposition of a growth management team is to create better ways to build revenue…to transact client relationships in an efficient manner to maximize profitability.

This approach requires two primary business components. First, a day-to-day operations and service experience enabling team directors to conceptualize how a strategy for incremental business can work. And secondly, salesmanship; the ability to ascertain the relevant information required to bundle business services into larger responses and solutions. These two components combine the most important aspects of a traditional account director and specialty strategic business development or growth director. Importantly, when viewed in this way, the account team can provide a familiar operating logistic to the client…again, keeping a “same page mentality” for the account management team to accomplish its tasks.

Creating a Client Centric Approach The Account Team must view itself as a Client Management Solutions Group, working with the client and internally to articulate:
• What goals must be served by whatever action is taken
• Which goals have the highest priority
• What solutions groups, individually and collectively, will achieve the desired goals
• Which choices seem best for the client

The Big Question Will the client understand the “payoff” from our actions?

Definition of "Brand"

Brand

A set of promises and management of experiences that engage the consumer and create a set of expectations for the consumer so a premium price will be paid for your product or service.

A company does not build a brand, but rather manages their brand through strategy to build its business.

Elliot's Resume

ELLIOT DEBEAR                                                                                            edebear@gmail.com

914.500.7541

Greenwich, CT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Sales and business development specialist.  Leading & developing people, using processes, analytics and technology to create sustainable improvements to business results.  Stimulate sales and optimize sales operations by implementing strategic programs, embracing innovation, creating scalable processes and building cross-departmental partnerships. Analyze trends; formulate short and long range objectives, and direct actions for optimal results.  Focus on building and growing C-suite client relationships.

CONSULTING EXPERIENCE DeBear Sales Consultancy- Greenwich, CT                                                                                                                                          2012- Present

Manage sales, marketing and brand strategy to build business.

Identify distortion in the sales process so companies can better define their value and make their payoff a stronger, more powerful point of differentiation.

• Constructing effective sales cultures
• Moving sales from vendor status to that of a strategic resource
• Refining the role of account management to growth management

CORPORATE EXPERIENCE
Active International-Pearl River, NY                                                                                                    2002-2012
Senior Vice President- Account Management & Sales
Corporate trading and barter company with Fortune 500 companies, as well as smaller firms on its client list. Corporate trading is a financial strategy that allows companies to use under performing assets and inventories to fund the purchase of media and business services to achieve incremental value and grow their business.

• Worked effectively with executive and management teams to ensure consistent execution of corporate strategy and support atmosphere of teamwork at all times.
• Provided support to projects from an operational, financial and resource standpoint.
• Coordinated and conferred with professional staff to resolve operating difficulties, and authorize department operational procedures within corporate framework.
• Promoted and instituted best-in-class, customer-centric practices to align with customer interests.
• Managed client relationships, business retention, growth targets and P&L of primary accounts.
• Monitored and managed transactional engagements to ensure maximum client value and optimize revenue streams.
• Implemented corporate policies, procedures, and organizational structure for assigned operating unit within the framework of corporate policy.
• Recommended process and system improvements.
• Actively participated in the establishment of the strategic sales plan and direction for the company, utilizing understandings of market opportunities, company operational capabilities, and industry trends.
• Made joint sales calls with sales team to provide coaching and guidance especially with regards to closing and development of sales team.

Clients inclusive of: MARS, United Technologies, AkzoNobel, Mitsubishi Motors,
Scotts Miracle-Gro, ACH Foods, Pioneer Electronics, Ace Hardware, Bacardi

Independent Media Services, Inc. – New York /Los Angeles                                                      2001-2002

Executive Vice President / Chief Marketing Officer

MS is a media and communications advisory specializing in strategic planning and media procurement for the film, publishing and broadcast sectors.
Clients inclusive of:  New Line Cinema, New York Post, Lincoln Center Theater Productions.

MPG- New York                                                                                                                                                1996-2001
Senior Vice President Business Development Directed all US new business activities for this $3.5 billion global media management company

Identified and developed programs for European and Latin American offices to grow multi-market sales strategies for overseas expansion

Clients inclusive of:  Office Depot, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals (Prilosec) , Outback Steakhouse, LifeMinders.com,  Haggar Clothing Co., Comedy Central Network , Casual Corner Stores.

The Media Department-New York                                                                                                        1990 – 1995
Founding Partner Launched and built media planning and buying service specializing in consumer staples and retail.
Clients inclusive of:  Del Pharmaceuticals, Wella, Perillo Tours, Canadian Glacier, Bally's Casino Hotels, Lincoln Center Theater Productions and TimeWarner Wireless Retail Stores.

COMMUNITY SERVICE Lecturer: The Role of Sales in Today’s Business Environment- State University of New York-SUNY

 EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts University of Kentucky, Lexington