Archive for the ‘Growth’ Category
Introducing Palindromic Queries
No straight lines of possibility?
Alan Moore’s recent post is worth a read:
In his article for The Observer – Tony Judt writes,
Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For 30 years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth.
The materialistic and selfish quality of contemporary life is not inherent in the human condition. Much of what appears “natural” today dates from the 1980s: the obsession with wealth creation, the cult of privatisation and the private sector, the growing disparities of rich and poor. And above all the rhetoric which accompanies these: uncritical admiration for unfettered markets, disdain for the public sector, the delusion of endless growth.
Indeed, this is a point of view that I share (here) and (here) and (here), in fact I have written a book about it (video) – Judt’s article goes onto examine the role of the state in the context its enthrallment with all things market driven. And yet we are told whoever comes into power in the UK slash and burn of core pubic sector services is inevitable. And of course this will be done in a manner redolent of the industrial age.
Yet – a networked approach to solving problems can help re-frame our world vision – providing new solutions to once seemingly age old and intractable problems.
Brookside, postboxes & SaaS development
Loads of illuminating analogies have emerged in conversations with Andrew Missingham, but today there’s one in particular that popped up…
You may remember when the soap Brookside launched on Channel 4. The storylines were based around folk living in a close of houses. They had some trouble at the outset however, in that script writers realised they hadn’t created enough ‘stock devices’ – places where people could meet that would fuel the dramatic unfolding of events. Their answer was to put a postbox on the street, so residents would accidentally meet.
Given that the ability to innovate relies on diverse skillsets and knowledge banks coming together, this analogy is more relevant than ever. New knowledge uncovered by researchers, for example, needs to be matched with entrepreneurs who can interpret and understand the opportunities, then commercialise… in turn with the help of skilled troops, whether designers, developers, craftsmen etc.
Barriers to entering this innovation ecosystem are lower than ever – and the very reason for the existence of Scramblr is to lower them even further.
The question I’m asking myself today, is ‘What are our postboxes?’
The conversations are out there
20 questions for agency biz dev
Client development is more important than ever in a business culture that has shifted markedly from hunting mode to farming mode (Seth Godin articulates this shift eloquently in his blog here).
I was recently asked to write a biz dev article and thought I’d post up an extract – my list of 20 questions agencies should ask themselves, given that they’re five times more likely to grow existing business than win new (and it’s the only real chance of short term revenue).
1. Do you celebrate those who grow existing clients as wildly as new new wins?
2. Is your approach to new business as formalised and structured as your approach to new new business?
3. Does your biz dev team share responsibility for account development with senior management?
4. Have you identified which clients will most enhance your reputation?
5. Do you avoid chasing clients who already have strong agency relationships?
6. Do you have a great rapport with all the clients on your top hitlist?
7. Do you know what you want? (e.g. to take clients form offline to online; or to work with sophisticated clients only)
8. Do you value winning extra assignments as much as winning new clients?
9. Do you ask your clients about their ambitions, life plans are and what keeps them awake at night?
10. Do your clients see you as a strategic partner and adviser rather than a project-by-project delivery partner?
11. Do you position your company in the wider context, through the lens of building brands as opposed to completing assignments?
12. Are you actively convincing your clients’ boards that they aren’t pursuing a digital fantasy?
13. Are you measuring the quality of your relationships?
14. Are you chasing more work in the honeymoon period rather than awaiting completion?
15. Do you and your clients really understand what one-another does and doesn’t do, beyond current/past projects alone?
16. Do you know exactly what your piece of success looks like?
17. Are you fully leveraging the ease of freelancing and outsourcing?
18. Have you invited procurement to your office to learn more about what you do?
19. Have you made your organisational objectives clear to your clients?
20. Are they helping you write your business plan?
Copyright ResonanceBlog 2009
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