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Archive for May, 2010

Video blog: Back in Vietnam where it Began

Posted in business, entrepreneur, social media, tagged , , , , , on May 26, 2010 | 5 Comments »

The first video blog post. Would love any feedback.

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After Merger, Harnessing Friction to Hone The Blade

Posted in business, entrepreneur, management, social media, tagged , , , on May 20, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Organizational optimization, now that’s a mouth full. Whenever you go through a merger, there is some underlying compelling business reason. Successfully integrating two entities, however, isn’t as easy as merely modeling out a new business plan.

At Intrepid, we just merged Lift9 and Intrepid. On paper, the prospects are exciting as we merged a creative boutique research consultancy with a social media research firm. The new Intrepid has an opportunity to disrupt the market research industry by integrating and applying digital data sets with traditional research insights. There are out-of-the-box type of research thinking that we are providing right now for clients. That’s exciting.

Candidly, our biggest challenge will be on successfully integrating the two very different, yet complementary entities. Even with two small companies, the change management issues can be time-consuming and distracting.

For me, a key success factor is how to harness the inedible frictions that will occur into positive energy. We want to let the natural frictions “hone the blade” making us together sharper. Let the frictions become overwhelming and unproductive and they will certainly break the blade – us.

Each entity, each individual for that matter, has a distinctive point of view on how to move forward. After the hoopla of the merger subsides, the realization of all the work ahead to integrate and achieve the goals sink in. People tend to dig their heels in with their own perspectives, creating friction. I see this as a point of great opportunity. You have smart, capable people with differing points of view now trying to work together. The ensuing frictions make each person look at problems differently. Blind spots, which we all have, are now better covered throughout the organization. With effective collaboration, innovative, stronger strategies emerge. The blade becomes more effective.

It takes leadership to create an environment that is conducive to harnessing such frictions. There needs to be shared vision throughout the new leadership and alignment throughout the troops. Too many mergers end up ineffective because the friction is not harnessed properly, ending up as broken blades.  Others avoid friction altogether, letting the entities operate separately with no synergies. In these cases the blade remains dull and ineffective.

I’m obviously optimistic about our future. I believe in our people’s ability to harness the frictions properly. It is their ability to do so, and to get in alignment, that will eventually determine our overall success.

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A Story of a Merger Intrepid, Lift9

Posted in business, entrepreneur, social media on May 18, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Let me tell you a story about an emerging company that is global in outlook and nimble in execution.

Recent times represent great change, when technologies continue to shrink the world and potentially disrupt the general pecking order of businesses. As digital information doubles every 18 months and social media changes how people around the world connect, a new company was born.

This company’s DNA was atypical to those more traditional companies. Without any revenues, this Seattle-based company developed a social media research center in Ho Chi Minh City. This was not an ordinary “outsourcing” outpost. Rather, it was geared to be the best social research center of its kind anywhere in the world. Much effort and time was spent on finding the right people, developing a sustainable culture and a relentless focus on training.

The company remained small but quickly built a solid reputation in the Seattle area. The company continuously looked for more insightful applications to social media data. By happenstance, fate led them to another small, but globally-oriented company with offices in London and Seattle. This other company had spent the past 11 years providing innovative and penetrating insights as a boutique market research company.

As a combined entity, they knew they could disrupt the traditional market research industry. Yes, all the big agencies talk about new digital data practices, but they are enormous companies typically organized around silo-ed disciplines. It would take more effort for those large organizations to integrate traditional and digital internal groups than for two nimble, savvy, willing companies to do so at the outset.

Unhampered by traditional “cash cow” practices, the two companies worked hard on coming up with new research solutions that encompass both traditional research methods and incorporate the usage of digital platforms and data sets, including social media, web analytics and others. They knew they could positively disrupt an old industry that needed the shakeup.

Both companies were still small, flexible enough to merge their DNAs to adapt more successfully in today’s dynamic research environment. By leveraging emerging technologies and proven traditional research methods across three continents with multi-lingual and multi-cultural perspectives, a uniquely relevant company is emerging.

So, the story continues now with the merger of Intrepid Consulting (research firm) and Lift9 (social media firm) into a kind of business consultancy.  I will lead the new “Intrepid” as CEO.  Our story is just beginning, but already gaining traction. If the story, so far, is interesting to you as well, please contact us for more information.

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Reviewing Basics of Conceptual Selling

Posted in business, Entrepreneurs, tagged , , , on May 14, 2010 | 5 Comments »

Recently, much to my delight, I’ve been in front of potential customers more often. Over the years I feel as if I’ve developed good sales instincts. Successful entrepreneurs are instinctive salesmen. Nonetheless, I wanted to review some basic  principles of conceptual selling. Let’s do it together.

First, no one buys a product or service. The customer buys what they think the product or service will do for them. There are two tasks to conceptual selling

  • Understand the customer’s concept first, of what he or she wants to accomplish
  • Connect your product/service to that concept

The benefits of focusing on the customer’s concept first are:

  • Allows you to learn more about your customer
  • Enables you to focus on results
  • You’re unlikely to be pigeonholed with the competition
  • Minimizes the importance of price competition
  • Positions yourself with the person who makes the final decision
  • Enables you to spot early those situations that are not Win-Win

There are three phases of a sales call.

The first phase is Getting Information:

  • Effective selling begins with the ability to ask good questions – why?
  • Qualifies the prospect early
  • Helps you understand the current situation
  • Builds rapport
  • Helps you determine the customer’s decision-making process
  • Enables you to identify differences between your service and your competitors’
  • Reinforces your own credibility
  • Motivates and sustains your customer’s interest

The second phase is Giving information:

  • Relate information about your service to his or her concept
  • Relate information about your service that differentiates your offer from the competition
  • Differentiation only works by pointing out Unique Strengths

The third phase is Getting commitment:

  • Get some kind of commitment from the client after every sales call
  • Get a higher degree of commitment as the sale moves forward
  • Whenever customers refuse Commitment, it’s because they feel they’re going to lose with you or your solution — there remains a Basic Issue

Why do salespeople talk so much?

  • They feel more comfortable being in control
  • They feel it’s their job to tell the prospect about their service
  • Talking is what the customer wants the salesperson to do
  • Talking takes less planning
  • Sometimes answers to questions are hard to swallow

In the end, it must be a Win-Win scenario.

  • Don’t oversell on expectations
  • Don’t get suckered into a giveaway
  • Hear the customer out
  • When in doubt find out
  • Be willing to walk
  • Always give information in context of the customer’s concept

So, we’ve reviewed that to be effective on sales calls, you must be able to listen and understand what the customer is trying to accomplish. Then, explain how your solution fits into making that possible. Simple, right?

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A Perfect Day with My Mother

Posted in People, personal stories, society, tagged , , , on May 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I had an amazing mother’s day.

My mother’s always been a people person. She has great timing with stories and jokes. She easily entertains in group settings, and is quick to laugh. Despite this, we didn’t always get along when I was a teenager. As a mother, she could be extremely demanding and my adolescence would have been any parent’s nightmare.

Those days have long passed, and last Sunday I wanted nothing more than to spend time with my mother on her terms. After a family lunch, she wanted to explore Seattle’s downtown shopping district. I volunteered to escort her around, starting with a Seattle Street Car ride from our South Lake Union condo.

We wandered into Nordstrom, where I patiently followed her through the assortment of purses, then to the women’s apparel. I gave feedback about various outfits, but we mostly talked about the family, laughing at the passage of time. We spoke in Korean, somehow feeling closer for it.

She reminded me about how much I used to eat as a high school athlete, emphasizing the enormous amounts with her spread out arms and the volume of her laughter. Then, she saw an outfit on sale and excitedly asked me to help find her size. I obliged, searching through women’s clothes, not considering how ridiculous it may look.

Eventually, she lead me to the men’s section and asked if I needed anything. Mothers always treat their sons as little boys regardless of age. I tried to change the topic with questions about several of my cousins, but she was already looking at clothes for me. Finally, I convinced her that we should look at other stores as well.

Outside, the weather was gorgeous, perfect for downtown shopping. With the street musicians serenading us, she stopped by a cherry blossom that reminded her of Korea.

After a few stops, I directed her to the Nordstrom Rack. She was now even more focused on shopping with the prospect of saving money. I followed her about, delighting in her obvious enthusiasm. There, she found a pair of sandals that she loved — so much so she decided to buy another pair for my wife Shari.

I let her buy me a pair of shoes there as well.

Outside again, she pulled out a Starbucks card insisting we enjoy tw0 frappuccinos. We got carried away in our good mood and also shared a roasted corn on the cob. We conversed about how healthy she and my dad are. Me, watching her reaction carefully for any telltale signs to the contrary. Happy not to have noticed anything.

Time moved fast. I had arrived a day earlier from London but didn’t feel any jet lag shopping with her. It was just a perfect day.

The next day, she texted, “I was happy yesterday shoping with my son and lunch together with my family.”

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Walking, Riding Subways Puts You Right Into the Culture

Posted in social media, society, travel, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 7, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Don Miller, my friend, was happy to walk Paris with me

Traveling with me can be a pain or quite adventurous, depending on your perspective.

Generally, I like riding local public transportation, especially the subways. I also like to walk. I only ride taxi’s out of necessity. Why would I want to be in a car with just the driver when there’s a whole new environment to observe?

Last weekend, I visited Paris with a friend. We traveled mostly by the Metro and by foot.

On the Metro, I can observe the locals in their environment. I get a sense of the fashion. You can observe how couples express intimacy. I can see the protocal between the old and the young. You can observe the general reaction to panhandlers.

By foot, you get a good sense of the “energy” of a place. You smell different odors, hear new sounds, and see new surroundings. Even crossing the street can be a unique experience depending on where you are. In Ho Chi Minh, crossing a street full of scooters can scar you for life. In Seattle, police give tickets for jaywalking.  In London, the cross walks warn you on which direction to look before crossing.

My approach allows me to find subtlties that I wouldn’t otherwise. It allows me to fit in slightly more. I leave a new place with a better understanding of its culture than just what its tourist attractions represent.

Such effort to immerse oneself in a culture to observe is called ethnography, an anthropological term. For me, I figured ethnography would be a good hobby, until I got into the business of analyzing social media data. What better environment to observe behavior in people’s natural environment than in social media platforms? This is called Virtual Ethnography.

As for my travel habits, however, it turns out that I’m not an ethnographer after all. I’m a big fake. That’s because I participate as well as observe. While I love watching people, I also love talking and interacting with them as well. So, when I walk, I tend to talk to street vendors and anyone else who are willing to talk to me. On the Metro, I love trying to make strangers smile, or sometimes helping an old lady with her bags.

So now you are forewarned: Travel with me at your own risk.

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Storytelling Effective in Corporate Communications

Posted in entrepreneur, executive communication on May 5, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Throughout this blog, I’m telling stories. I try to make these stories entertaining, interesting, and have some point.

Storytelling is also an effective way to communicate within your organization. Sometimes, however, even story-tellers like myself forget to make important points through an effective narrative.

Recently, excited to have some positive financial information about our company, I went through a powerpoint presentation of revenue and profit charts, actual to forecast sales charts, sales pipeline charts, and other such dry charts during  a staff meeting.  As blank faces stared back at me, I knew I had blown a great opportunity to engage and excite them with an effective story.

Storytelling is vital for internal communication, especially for helping staff identify with corporate goals and values. Not everyone can communicate numbers and behaviors, according to the Financial Times article, “Storytellers Who Make Up The Skills Gap” .

My grandmother and mother used storytelling to give  a sense of my past, as well as to motivate me for the future. Their stories were always so compelling. Remember your best professors in college? I bet they were great storytellers who made subjects come alive. The worse professors, for me anyways, were the ones who read from the text book and just gave us dry facts.

Do you want to really communicate? Be creative and tell a story that brings your information alive.

The corporate world and the creative world do not have to be mutually exclusive. So, tell a story when talking about the financial performance of your company. Narrate a story about your successes, triumphs, and continuing challenges. Your audience, be it your staff or potential investors (or even family and friends), will react better than the blank stares I encountered with my powerpoint presentation.

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