Morningstar Communications Luminary Blog

We recently convened five outstanding area Luminaries to talk about how businesses can survive, and even thrive, in a recession. Thanks again to Bo Fishback, from The Kauffman Foundation, Chris Kuehl, from Armada Corporate Intelligence, Rich Witaszak, from Staples Promotional Products, Jeff Xouris, from Perceptive Software, and Sam Johnson, from Argus Health Systems for participating.

The hardest part about networking for me is entering a room full of people I don’t know and having to open a set.  For those of you who don’t watch The Pickup Artist on VH1 (And really who doesn’t? It’s quality television!), a set is a group of two or more people already in a conversation.  Below are a few tips I’ve learned for joining networking conversations – don’t worry these tips didn’t come from The Pickup Artist!

1. Arrive early. You know the saying “the early bird catches the worm?” Well, in this case the early bird gets in the conversation.  By arriving early you’ll be able to initiate conversations before groups are formed.

2. Stand near the registration table to reach people who have just arrived. I’ve blogged on this tip from Luann Feehan at The Kansas City Chamber of Commerce before, but I think it’s a great idea and it fits great with my first tip.

3. Approach people who are alone or in groups of three or more.  While two people talking may not want the interruption, a larger group shouldn’t have a problem welcoming another person into their circle.

Resources:
The Really Great Networking Conversation
How to Successfully Network Yourself
Entering and Exiting Conversations...Gracefully

The last question we asked our Luminaries was about customer service in an always-changing world. BusinessWeek recently observed, “Just as companies are dealing with plummeting sales and sinking employee morale, skittish customers want more attention, better quality, and greater value for their money.” We asked: How do we meet this challenge head-on in both B-to-C and B-to-B environments?

Here are the key thoughts from our Luminaries.

1. Know your audience -- and what they want. Several Luminaries spoke about the importance of segmenting your audience. Just because the Millennials who buy your products or services want online customer service doesn’t mean the Boomers do. Know what your customers want…and give it to them.

“You have to segment your base,” said Rich Witaszak, Staples Promotional Products. “You have to let your customers make the choices. If they want handholding through the entire sales cycle, you have to give it to them. But only if they want it. Because only the minority actually need and want that service.”

“Despite technology, you need to segment your audience,” said Jeff Xouris, Perceptive Software. “Face time is critical. You have got to maintain relationships in person, whether that’s breaking bread with someone or breaking wine bottles.”

2. Know what you should be doing, not just what you are doing. As we’ve seen in many of our Luminaries’ responses, a recession is a great time for businesses to stop, slow down and carefully consider what’s being done, its effectiveness and improvements to make. Customer service is no different. Take a close look at how you’re reaching customers and evaluate whether it’s effective.  You can also take the opportunity to look for small changes that will mean worlds to your customers.

“You have to go back and listen to the customers you have,” said Bo Fishback, The Kauffman Foundation. “Are you meeting their needs? Are you really hearing them? Companies who take that as a serious to-do have a better chance of surviving the recession.”

“Standards of customer service excellence have gone up,” said Eric Morgenstern, Morningstar Communications. “So ask yourself what else you can do to meet those standards. Is it a regular wellness visit with your top customers? What other new things can you try to meet your customers’ changing needs?”

Paying attention to customers is always important, and recessionary periods are no different. Nurture relationships carefully. After all, “People with money know they have it,” said Chris Kuehl, Armada Corporate Intelligence. “They don’t want to be overlooked. You have to give maximum attention to the people who deserve it right now.”
 

Question three for our Luminaries brought up a popular subject. With new research indicating spending on social media and conversational marketing will outpace that of traditional marketing by 2012, we asked: Does new technology call for reinvention of traditional business practices? Is there still a place for tried-and-true business strategies? Here’s what we learned.

1. Hybrid solutions are best. The Luminaries overwhelming agreed that technology and new innovations, used in combination with trusted business practices, will be the answer to successful businesses now and in the future.

Chris Kuehl, Armada Corporate Intelligence, said, “We’re going to see a need to integrate more traditional techniques with the new technology.”

“As marketers, we have to stay current,” said Jeff Xouris, Perceptive Software. “There are people who still want print collateral, just as there are some who only want consumer information via the Web. There are emerging technologies, and we have to be smart, but tried-and-true methods still play out. Tradeshows are a great example of this.”

2. Harness the speed technology can bring to traditional practices. Our Luminaries also brought up many examples of how technology can speed up traditional sales generation times or R&D processes.

“Speed always wins,” said Rich Witaszak, Staples Promotional Products. “The first to market often wins, and technology increases the speed of doing that.”

“It’s also the concept of the Fast Second,” said Sam Johnson, Argus Health Systems. “Many ideas get started fast, then fail. The key is to watch this, then improve the failures and be a Fast Second idea to market. Look for the low-hanging fruit – what are things customers can’t afford, don’t want or couldn’t get? Use those answers to generate new, better ideas and succeed.”

“Technology is an enabler of other things,” said Bo Fishback, The Kauffman Foundation. “Where social media leads is that it allows you to either grow or fail faster. The technology just greases the skids and makes things happen instantaneously. We can use technology as an enabler to use the old-school model to build businesses.”

As with our discussions on innovation and management changes, the need for using new tools in a strategic manner was clear. So was this: technology isn’t going away. So adapt your business now to make the most of it.

Question two for our Luminaries started a conversation about changes management must make to help businesses continue to grow.

Fast Company contributor Billee Howard identified “reshaping” trends including “A rising premium inside organizations on people as opposed to technology – and a new crop of market leaders who value agile and sleek entrepreneurialism, as opposed to complacent and bloated former market dominance derived from sheer heft.” So we asked our Luminaries: What changes will we need to see in management for this trend to take hold?

Our Luminaries gave two key pieces of advice.

1. Stay up-to-date. Keeping people in mind is important, but keep in mind that as technology advances, especially social media, your people can help guide your business through the changes and find new solutions to better reach customers.

“It’s a challenge,” said Rich Witaszak, Staples Promotional Products. “In the service-oriented industry, it’s difficult to keep up. It can be hard to stay service-oriented with the new mechanisms and media like Facebook and Twitter. Our training must change so our people know how to make deals in this ‘new world.’”

“Find a microniche market,” suggested Chris Kuehl, Armada Corporate Intelligence. “Use social media to identify micro markets – something that might justify two weeks’ worth of production, for example. Since social media gives immediate interaction with people, throw your needs out into that world. See if you can meet a need for someone in a smaller market.”

“Use reverse mentoring,” said Sam Johnson, Argus Health Systems. “Senior management has to understand the value of concepts like using Facebook. You must have examples. So go up the chain. Use younger employees to help bring ideas to the senior management team. Help management understand you realize the risk and know some things will fail, but that you’ll keep going and learn from mistakes.”

Which leads to the second tip:

2. Accept risk and embrace failure. In order to gain anything, you will have to risk something. Use slower times to test concepts. As Chris said, “Fail. Fail fast. Then learn from the failures.” But our Luminaries also cautioned against chasing down every new idea that comes in front of you. Instead, have a strategic plan in place, supported by senior management, that helps you quickly determine which new ideas are worth trying and which you should let pass.

“You have to find the balance between being nimble to respond to new ideas and focusing on the task at-hand,” said Jeff Xouris, Perceptive Software. “It can be a challenge for management to do both. We have to get behind the things that are cool, but can’t forget the overall mission of our business. And you have to instill a value for risk-taking in your culture.”

“You have to decide what is an acceptable level of risk. Some would say this recession was caused by too much risk, so the pendulum may swing the other way for a while,” said Rich.

“But you have to accept failure,” said Eric Morgenstern, Morningstar Communications. “You have to risk something. You can’t have innovation if you can’t accept failure.”

And again, the Luminaries agreed that it’s important to keep people in mind, no matter the situation.

“Where management teams make money is where there’s a culture people want to be part of,” said Bo Fishback, The Kauffman Foundation. “Some people in really boring businesses love what they do because it’s so much about the culture. It’s the soft side of management, but an important side.”

Today begins the first of a four-part blog post series on the lessons learned during our Illumination Session on business best practices for surviving a recession.

The first question we asked our Lumnaries was about innovation. It seems everywhere we look today, experts are touting the importance of creating new ideas, processes and products. Tricia mentioned a recent story in The Wall Street Journal that proved the need for continued R&D funding, even as other departments face cuts.

And as we told our Luminaries before the session, we all know necessity is the mother of invention. So we asked: What role, if any, do you see innovation playing to help keep businesses afloat? Here are three things to keep in mind about innovation in today’s successful business.

1. Stay focused. – When you hear the word “innovation,” it’s easy to think of giant brainstorming sessions where ideas abound, but reality is seldom considered. Our Luminaries stressed the importance of using innovative ideas, but only after a structure is in place to keep ideas on-track and supporting the ultimate goal – helping a business survive the economic downturn.

Chris Kuehl, Armada Corporate Intelligence, said that having a plan for coming out of the recession is key for businesses who want to gain market share. “This recession was prompted, in effect, by a bank collapse,” he said. “So banks are going to be even more careful with business plans. We’ll see people returning to old-school business plans.”

But Chris said this attention to detail from banks and other authorities should sharpen innovation, not hinder it. Businesses, especially start-ups, need to fully develop strategic business plans with careful, collaborative thinking and decision-making.

Jeff Xouris, Perceptive Software, said for his business, the economy has forced him to slow down, step back and evaluate what the business should be doing. For a business that has been thriving since its start, innovation has come in finding ways to transition from unbridled-success mode to a focused business mode.

“It’s been an eye-opener for us,” he said. “Suddenly we have to be a ‘real business,’ with strategic planning and incorporating things that weren’t there before.”

Jeff said once the strategic business plan was in place, then he and his team looked for new ways to help customers, such as offering financing and subscriptions to their software.

Sam Johnson, Argus Health Systems, agreed. “We used to be drowning in innovation,” he said. “There was just too much information, too many ideas.”

Now, Sam says the key for his company is first knowing who they want to be, then what jobs they need to do for customers. With that clarity in place, innovation plays a role in finding how to meet customers’ needs, sometimes with existing methods or products, sometimes with new ones.

 
2. Look outside. – Innovation doesn’t just have to come from the team you have on-staff. Using other organizations to test ideas can be a cost- and time-effective way to get the answers your company needs to move forward.

Bo Fishback, The Kauffman Foundation, said he’s seen a large rise in external innovation, where large companies look to outside groups to serve as a sort of R&D department.

“It’s been great for us,” Bo said. “Since big companies are looking outside for this kind of information, it’s great for the smaller or start-up companies who can test ideas.”

3. Keep people in mind. – At the end of the day, people choose to work with not companies or organizations, but with other people. Our Luminaries agreed: innovation and technology are great, but keeping relationships at the forefront of business plans is vital to long-term success. Innovation can be most important as it relates to reaching customers where they are.

Rich Witaszak, Staples Promotional Products, talked about how the sales process has changed with the advent of social media. For his company, innovation has meant using new technology to connect with customers.

“For us, we’ve taken an opportunity to step back and look at how to make things easier for our customers. Technology is the new world,” he said.

If customers prefer to live chat with a customer service rep, Rich says that’s where customer service-oriented companies need to be.

In the end, the Luminaries agree innovation is key to surviving the recession. But ideas need to be focused with a definite business goal in mind. And, at the end of the day, we all have to remember to take care of the people who make our businesses succeed.

We’re so glad to have had five outstanding Luminaries meet with us today to talk about how businesses can survive, and even thrive, in a recession.

Bo Fishback, from The Kauffman Foundation, brought entrepreneurial insight and a passion for using technology to help speed up the relationship-building process.

Chris Kuehl, from Armada Corporate Intelligence, shared research, stats and anecdotes from his work providing daily economic write-ups to companies and industries across the country.

Rich Witaszak, from Staples Promotional Products, spoke from the vantage point of a well-known brand that, in his segment, is using the recession’s slow pace to step back and look closely at what the business should be doing.

Jeff Xouris, from Perceptive Software, talked about how the recession forces businesses who have been running in start-up mode to stop and look at traditional business models and best practices to come out of a downturn even stronger than before.

Sam Johnson, from Argus Health Systems, brought healthcare marketing experience and underscored the need for businesses to figure out who they are, what they deliver to their customers, and if they’re doing that to the best of their abilities.

Our own Eric Morgenstern participated, too, with Sheri Johnson facilitating.

In the upcoming days, be sure to check back here at the Luminary Blog to learn more about our Luminaries’ thoughts on the need for innovation in a recession, beneficial changes management can make, the role of technology in surviving a downturn, and how customer service still reigns supreme among the keys to a business’ success.

The Illumination Session on business best practices for surviving a recession starts today at noon CDT. Want to be part of the conversation? Matt (@m_dunn)will be livetweeting from the session using the hashtag #luminary. Come join the conversation! Send us your questions, and we'll try to get our Luminaries' take on them and report back to you.

Recently, we had the chance to host the KU chapter of PRSSA here in our offices. It was a great opportunity for us to share our agency with these students, many of whom are graduating soon and looking for opportunities in the PR world.

One student asked me a question, and considering how I love to get on my bandwagon about students always, always being prepared for interview questions, I was a little surprised at myself for not having an answer! She asked what my most embarrassing and proudest moments in my PR life have been so far.

I was stumped! Embarrassing moments are pretty easy to come by, so that wasn’t much of a problem (no, I’m not sharing it here). But my proudest moment? In the supportive, team environment where I’ve “grown up,” it was hard to think of any success that didn’t involve at least one other person. So in the end I told the truth. My proudest moments are little successes every day. A pitch that works. A reporter returning my phone call because she’s interested. A happy client. Those are the kinds of things that can make my day.

If you find yourself staring out the window today in anticipation of 5:00, think about this: What’s your most embarrassing work story? What’s your proudest moment? Feel like sharing with the group? The comments section awaits.

 In preparation for our Illumination Session next week, we've provided these discussion starters to our Luminaries.

A recent Wall Street Journal article (also referred to in Tricia's post) touted the importance of continued R&D funding during a recession. We all know necessity is the mother of invention. What role, if any, do you see innovation playing to help keep businesses afloat?

Fast Company contributor Billee Howard identifies “reshaping” trends, including: “A rising premium inside organizations on people as opposed to technology—and a new crop of market leaders who value agile and sleek entrepreneurialism, as opposed to complacent and bloated former market dominance derived from sheer heft.” What changes will we need to see in management for this trend to take hold?

These days, everyone is talking about reinvention–newspapers, health care, your career. What’s your take on the need for reinvention? Does everything need to be reinvented? Is there a place for tried and true business strategies and lessons from our past? 

New research indicates that spending on social media and conversational marketing will outpace that of traditional marketing by 2012. Do you think our region will fall in line with this projection? Why or why not? What are you seeing in terms of effective business applications for tools like Twitter, Facebook, etc?

As part of our commitment to helping clients strengthen and grow their businesses, we regularly bring together the brightest minds in business for Illumination Sessions.

Our next session will be on April 14. Our Luminaries will discuss strategies for building business during recessionary periods. With minds like these, we know we’ll have excellent ideas to report to you after the session! We're so glad the following Luminaries will be joining us for the session:

• Bo Fishback – The Kauffman Foundation
• Chris Kuehl – Armada Corporate Intelligence
• Sam Johnson – Argus Health Systems
• Rich Witaszak – Staples Promotional Products
• Jeff Xouris – Perceptive Software

If you have questions for our Luminaries, please leave them in the comments section below or email me at lerickson [at] morningstarcomm [dot] com. In the meantime, check the Luminary Blog often as our team posts relevant finds about successful business practices for a down economy.

In the last 24 hours I have read and heard many different stories about how businesses need to adapt to suceed in our current economy. Here are some of the best tips I have heard:

1.    Reevaluate your product offering. Customers are buying different products and services today than they did a year ago. Today's consumer is more focused on value, customer service and finding a happy ending.

2.    Steal market share from competitors that are having serious financial difficulties. Keep your ears open for unhappy suppliers, this could be an advance warning that your competitors are nearing bankruptcy.

3.    Invest in long-term sustainability projects.

And of course, use integrated marketing communications to let all of your key publics know what you are doing, because in today's world it really isn't enough to build a better mousetrap.

If you want additional information please check out these reports:

As Manufacturers Buckle, Winners Emerge From Havoc by Timothy Aeppel of the Wall Street Journal

Companies still keen on green despite economy by Candace Lombardi on cnet

Economic Downturn Signals A New Normal by Robert Siegel on All Things Considered on NPR

Recession Fuels Readers' Escapist Urges by Motoko Rich of the New York Times

Yesterday I read a great article in the Wall Street Journal.  The article emphasized the need for continued funding of R&D in a recession.  It also showed how many top companies are following this advice and not cutting their R&D budgets.  In a recession, innovation is one of the best ways to position your company for success.  Whether it’s looking for opportunities to do something better/smarter/more efficiently or discovering your target audience’s unfulfilled needs and creating a solution, innovation can help you survive in this down economy.  

I’m looking forward to hearing what our Luminaries have to say about this topic during our next Illuminations session.  Stay tuned for their insights on successful business strategies in a recession.

Ok, so this is a very tactical example of how we can do more with less in business right now.

For the last three years, I've been involved with the Bronze Quill Awards program, sponsored by the Kansas City chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). We just finished our judging weekend, during which we fly in communications professionals from around the country and host them as they judge our award entries.

This year, our money tree died along with everyone else's and our budget to feed a group of 10 judges, plus 5 volunteers for two days was $200. Last year, I would have laughed and said this is a ridiculous budget. This year, we needed to make due with what we had.

Here's what I did:

• Taco Bar: Served about 30 people because we had the board of directors with us for the first night's dinner. Donated ground beef and cooked it myself. (My husband and I bought 1/4 of a pastured cow...we won't need beef for a long time.) Spent less than $10 at Aldi's (where, yes, you have to deposit a quarter to get a cart) on frozen chicken breasts and canned tomatoes. Those went into a croc pot as a beef alternative. Lettuce and fixings from Costco. Asked board members to bring chips or desserts and a $10 donation.
• Breakfast Casserole: Again for less than $10 at Aldi's, I got two dozen eggs, cheese, sausage and frozen tots. Mixed all of this into a casserole that cooked in one hour Saturday morning.
• Subs for Lunch: What a blessing the $5 footlong is! Picked up eight of those at Subway for Friday lunch. Went with Goodcents for Saturday lunch, which was actually a better value.
  

The judges really appreciated that we got creative and made better use of our chapter's money this year.

Although this is a post about ordering food -- maybe I could stretch to say it's about event management -- it caused me to think about other ways I can be creative in my job to do more with less.

What new ways of thinking have made a difference in your bottom line? Comment here or find me on Twitter - @ClaraMiller.

After completing our research on best practices for marketing to and working with Millennials, I presented the findings at The Chamber's March 18 Business Brainfood.

The audience was great. I received insightful questions, some of which I will need to research and answer in future blog posts.

For now, here are several links people wanted me to post:

• GenYGive - This site talks about trends in marketing to Gen-Y, from the fundraiser's perspective.
• Justin Case You Were Wondering - Blog by Justin Goldsborough of Sprint. He is blazing trails with using Twitter as a customer service tool.
• Deloitte - They've done research on Gen-Y in the workplace as well as what marketers should keep in mind in the banking and insurance industries.
  

I'll be looking through my presentation to see what to share publicly. I'm scheduled to speak again this summer at Central Exchange, so I won't give away too much in advance.