China By The Numbers

Last week I and a peer held a seminar in Edmonton on the opportunities for growth that exist by doing business with China. As often happens, when I finish talking about China, people's minds are blown by the veracity the numbers discussed.

It has been my experience that until you begin to understand the vast potential that exists by going way west to China, you are doing your business a great disservice and missing what could be your greatest growth opportunity...ever!

So start to engage your mind on China and begin to make the numbers work for you.

Are You Referable?

I spoke at an executive workshop in Edmonton yesterday. It was built around helping leaders step back and rethink about tools and strategies they could possibly employ to gain growth going forward.

One reminder I wanted to share was ensuring you and your business are acting in a manner that will encourage other businesses to refer your goods and services. Are you being trustworthy and responsible? Are you living up to what you promise? As Jared Smith from Insight Solutions pointed out, think of the traits you look for in the firms and people you refer and then ask yourself do you practice these same habits.

All in all the mood from the executive's was that business is soft in some areas but growing in others. The key was to be flexible and be aggressive towards uncovering business. As I have said many times in this blog, it is time to rethink your marketing strategy and ensure you are talking to the right people and offering them something that is relevant to their current needs (if you know them).

Time To End The Hostage Crisis

"The world economy has effectively lost its sugar daddy." this is how Douglas Porter from BMO views the economic malaise that is underway in the United States. See the link below for the full article in the Edmonton Journal.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Business/sugar+daddy+save+banker/1497637/story.html


Past growth for most Canadian businesses were in some way tied to the United States. Today these traditional growth models lay in ruin. It was all to easy to just look south for our growth. In fact we were blinded by this ease and now we are miles behind other nations when it comes to building growth models from other markets. Today China represents the best growth opportunity for many Canadian organizations. Just read the front page of the latest Edmonton Chamber of Commerce news letter titled “Sino-Canadian Trade Potential” for the latest opinion on the matter.

So, does your business have its China strategy yet?

Required Viewing about China and India

As we sit in Western Canada with our traditional options for growth in Canada and the United States under pressure, we must continue to look to Asia for the outstanding growth opportunities.

The link below is to an excellent September 2008 interview with Tarun Khanna from the Harvard Business School on the entrepreneurship and opportunities being developed in India and China. Do yourself a favour and take 16 minutes to widen your mind.



http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/China_and_India_the_power_of_complementary_cultures_2290?pagenum=1#khanna

Why the fear of knowing your market?

Why is business afraid to learn what their customer has to tell them? Maybe if they don't ask them they won't have to change their business model if they learn they are no longer providing a need that their customers want. Maybe it's just easier to die a slow death watching customers go to the competition down the block. For the past year I have been travelling around Alberta and I find it interesting that most businesses do not believe in research that helps them better understand their lifeblood; their consumer or customer.


Often the SME believes they already know the market they are selling to. They've worked in it for years, or they are out meeting customers every day. They find it difficult to get their head around paying for consumer insight they think they already know. The point is do they really know what is driving consumer choice right now? Do they really believe that what consumer's did in the past 10 years will be what they do today? Do they really believe seeing consumers everyday is the same thing as understanding their consumers' emotional drivers and trigger points?


When it comes to paying for some insight sessions and the insight report generated from them, many balk because they are not familiar with the benefits it will have on their business. This is an attitude that businesses in the West need to face if they want to be differentiated and sustainable going forward.


Simply put, if you do not know who you are communicating with, and how their ever changing beliefs impact every aspect of your business, then you will not succeed. Spending time and money on uncovering what makes your lifeblood tick is probably the most important investment you will make in these uncertain times.

Take Stock Now

The task of a business leader is to overcome the paralysis that these tight economic times can bring, and begin to shape the future for your company.

To do this you must start by taking stock. What do you really know about your market and industry? How has this current state changed it? Guaranteed it will not be the same as it was four months ago, let alone when you did last years strategic plan (if you did one).

By taking stock of the consumer and competition you will gain understanding that will result in critical and timely changes in strategy. These strategies will need to take into account the high likelihood of change that is still to come, and differentiate by addressing the barriers that will stand in the way of your stated mission and objectives.

In short, companies that spend time and money figuring out what matters to their customers today, and then cutting or funding projects accordingly, will be the companies that thrive in the months ahead.

So how many businesses in Western Canada are doing just this. I dare say not enough. Too many are becoming paralyzed.

"Sure we can build you a new site, but why?"

I was speaking with a peer the other day and the issue of thinking versus doing came up. We were talking about how the advertising industry has continued to slip further in the area of ability to think bigger picture about their client's business challenges. Many marketing communication firms can "do" stuff but how many can really provide thinking that will help grow their clients business. How often are agencies saying "Sure we can build you a new cool site, but why?". From what I see not often enough.

In this time of pressure, the ability to think is the most precious ability of all, and the marketing services industry needs to be training its people to both "think and do" in order to be successful. Clients want to believe they are paying for minds to help them solve their marketing and business problems. Anyone can pop out a logo and some creative, the question is why is this the content that will build their clients business. I mean really, why?