John Maver - Maver Management Group

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Customer Satisfaction

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 21:43:00 +0000

How satisfied are your customers with you, your products and your service?

You should know! You also should know that customers are becoming deeply engaged with brands across the entire digital channel - and it’s by choice. 73% of customers have posted a brand review on sites like Amazon, Yelp, Twitter and Facebook, and more than 52% of them post a response on a company’s blog. Customers are letting companies know just how satisfied they are. As customers come across other experiences, they will switch to the product or service that offers the best one. That’s why smart companies, like Procter & Gamble have specific contact sites for each of their products in addition to the overall company and are putting customers at the center of their business.

In today’s world, any business can connect to its customers via many channels -- email, Facebook, Twitter, phone, live chat, web -- and the technologies to do this are available and within reach of even the smallest of small businesses. Where a business focus on customer satisfaction used to be a rarity, it’s now commonplace.

Experts agree that there are 3 main strategic paths that a company can follow to success. Which one is chosen, comes directly from their Core Strengths and Strategic Planning. These are product innovation, price and customer service. All can lead to customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction can be embellished beyond these basics through the following:

1) The quality of your product or service

While the company focuses on one of the basic strategic paths, it also must also have at least threshold levels of the other two in order to stay competitive in the face of competition.

2) The relationship with your customers

Strong customer support and service measures in place result in better service, less training, faster resolution and happy customers. You’ll build customer loyalty for your brand.

3) The overall customer experience

People don't buy products or services. They buy experiences. Creating experiences that will make customers feel good about the reward product.

4) The financial cost vs. benefit

If you are in a dialog with your customer, you can more clearly identify their true needs and create the product, service and experience that best meets that need. It takes away the guess work and non-productive costs.

The best companies today understand that customer satisfaction is not just about being nice to your customers, it’s about understanding how strong customer relationships are pivotal to a company’s success. If you don’t know the answers to their questions, you aren’t really serving the customer. Every interaction your customers have with your company is an experience, and customer care should be the first responsibility of your business. If you do it right, you'll not only score a lifelong customer, but also an advocate for your brand—and that's a lot more valuable.

Thanks,

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Focusing on the Important and Cutting the Clutter of Emails and More

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 18:38:00 +0000

Are you inundated with emails, meetings and other less productive intrusions in every day? What can you do about it?

Clearly the Executives at P&G do not completely eliminate emails or meetings and neither should you. But how can you handle these in the most effective manner?

As you will quickly see, these recommended actions apply to meetings as well and both can significantly clear up time for more in-depth thinking about the business.

1. # As in all areas, start with the right focus. This will come from the strategic business plan. You will find emails on many different subjects in your files. You can quickly identify the ones that that are based on the plan. Eliminate all other emails that don’t come from the actions on the plan. This supports the focus. If anything is REALLY important, it will show up again.

# Insist that all emails be action oriented, either as a recommendation or a summary with conclusions. There are just too many “nice to know” or “thought you might be interested” emails. Stop them. If they don’t have action to drive business growth, they are a waste of your time.

# Eliminate almost all of the “Reply to All” emails. They just clutter everyone’s Inbox and encourage others to hit the “Reply to All” tab, thereby further adding to the clutter.

# Don’t start the day with an email review. You have important activities to perform and they must demand your best time and not be cut short at the end of the day. Set aside a specific block of time later in the day and hold to it. Too often “just 10 minutes” turns into two hours.

# Be judicious. Don’t take the emails home with you to spend the evening in front of the computer. If you have something really important, do it. The rest will wait until the next day.

c) Scott Adams

Meetings, meetings, meetings. So much time is wasted in meetings. Several years ago there was a book titled, “If you want shorter meetings, don’t have chairs”. There is some truth to that. Many of the recommendations about emails apply to meetings as well. With the right plan and effective delegation meetings can be focused and very productive. Get the right plan.

Hopefully you will not view this article as just another workflow improvement message. It is designed to help your productivity and that of your teams. It is recognized that generally while you and your team have the abilities, you have neither the time currently nor the procedures to be able to implement this plan.

Unfortunately, many companies do not make the necessary changes and just keep trying to wade through all the various clutters.

Don’t do that. Bring in an experienced consultant to help you work the plan and establish the right focus and priorities. While the business will prosper, your peace of mind and freed time alone is worth the effort.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – The Next Step

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 20:52:00 +0000

What is your next step to drive profitability as you start 2015? What worked last year and what will you continue? What markets and customers will you pursue and what needs to be put in place to be successful?

What is your next step for the right plan that all in your company know and can follow?

As we have written in earlier articles, Procter & Gamble devotes considerable time and effort to creating the specific strategic plan for their overall business and under that plan for each of their business units and brands.

During these early weeks of 2015, P&G has a clear next step. It is an in-depth review of their plans to insure that they still are on target and will achieve the required results. This is very important work since it will direct corporate effort and resources. Once the plan is vetted, they will move quickly to put it into action. It is understood across the company, the roles and responsibilities of all. The focus is clear and the next steps known.

How will they accomplish this work? It involves top management and then as it cascades down, directors and managers. It is facilitated by professionals with the experience to guide the required data collection and the subsequent reviews. These professionals are required so that the executives can concentrate on developing the right plans. Most companies do not have these skills on staff but hire experienced consultants to assist the company. It provides a very positive ROI on the relatively small amount of funding required.

What are you doing? If you need help in either creating the right plan to start or refining an existing plan and committing it to written form so that all can follow, please contact us. We have a wealth of experience both at Procter & Gamble as well as with companies in a broad range of industries.

Thanks

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble –Focus on Market Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 23:50:00 +0000

Getting profitable and staying profitable is how we help our clients, the critical element for all companies. Being a market leader, while not an easy task, is certainly one way to help make that happen. P&G has the largest lineup of leading brands in its industry, with 21 brands with over $1 billion in annual sales and another 19 brands generating about $500 million or more in annual sales. In 2000, there were 10 brands over a Billion; today, they have 21. During this period, the company’s revenue has doubled from $40 Billion to $80 Billion.

Procter & Gamble is very clear on their objective to have superior products, not just in performance, but in consumer preference. They have sharpened their focus on how to deliver this. This sharpened focus has meant selling off or discontinuing a number of very successful brands, but brands that did not fit with an opportunity for global market leadership.

The company used to market a stable of brands and achieve market leadership through the combined sales. For example, when I joined P&G in the early seventies, in laundry detergents, the company marketed Tide, Cheer, Bold, Gain, Duz, Dreft, Era, Liquid Tide, Ivory Snow and the first detergent, Oxydol. There were probably several others as well that just don’t come to mind. Combined, this provided market leadership.

However, it resulted in increased costs. The brands competed against one another for sales force time, retailer promotions, shelf space, advertising, media time slots, in-store offers and most importantly, Procter & Gamble management attention. As a Brand Manager, my task was to get a larger share of company effort so that I could increase my brand’s impact with consumers. It was not uncommon for a great idea to be expended on one of the smaller brands and thus dilute its impact. The company realized that it would be far better served to focus its efforts on the lead brands and make them clear market leaders. The billion dollar brands are the result.

Today, Procter & Gamble has a very clear path for its mega brands to achieve market dominance. All of the very best people, ideas, support and processes are given to one brand and not spread across multiple brands. In fact, there has been an increasing tendency to “borrow” from one mega brand in one category to assist another in a separate category.

But what is the value of the Procter & Gamble experience for your business if you do not have a stable of billion dollar brands or are not the market leader? How can you capitalize on the learnings from P&G’s experience?

Here are 5 tips learned from Procter, building the smaller brands or opening up new categories and industries for the company.

1. Be choiceful in selecting the market / industry / geography in which you will compete. Make certain that you have an opportunity to be able to gain a leadership position in the arena that you select, perhaps not immediately, but within a reasonable time frame.

2. Focus your resources to build a solid base in one area and become successful before you move to additional areas.

3. Hire and use “A” class people. Your best investment will be in your people. Skimp in other areas if needed since the great people will be able to over compensate.

4. Take good care of your customers. You would be surprised at how many companies we see that overlook their current customers in the drive to get new ones.

5. Take advantage of consulting and contracting help to both capitalize on their expertise and keep your costs down overall. This may sound self-serving, since we are consultants, but there is no substitute for experience. We have used our P&G learning and knowledge to build substantial profitability for many companies

Market leadership brings with it many benefits that help companies get profitable and stay profitable. We can help you. Contact us anytime.

Thanks.

John Maver
Founder & Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

What’s the issue? Business planning or just doing?

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 19:43:00 +0000

The recession continues and more and more businesses are failing - failing and being forced out of business, failing enough to have significant losses despite large layoffs and a desperate focus on cost cutting or failing through having little idea of how to turn the business around and keep a meaningful cash flow.

What’s the issue? Is it too much planning or too much action?

Are they failing because they have spent so much time creating the mission, vision, objective, goals and measurements for their strategic business plan that the opportunities have passed them by? Or are they locked in to outdated plans, programs and spending? Or is it more a case of having leadership that is unable to cope with the realities of today’s dynamic marketplace?

On the other hand, is it because they do not have a basic business plan that they are following and are just winging it? In this case, everyone is going full speed, but not in the same direction, no matter what you may think and certainly not toward a specific goal.

Or worse still, is it because they are faced with analysis paralysis and actually doing nothing? This cause a company to seize up and the organization grinds to a halt.

Actually, the failing may be the result of some or all of these elements. Business plans are a MUST for every company. However, they need to be actionable. And they need to be acted upon, adjusted and acted upon again. They shouldn’t be binder thick. In fact, we recommend that they be kept to one or two pages. Otherwise, they are not read, used properly or followed.

What are you doing in your company? If your company is struggling, is it due to over-planning for the business with concentration on the theoretical plan and not taking the appropriate action? Or is it all action and no known overall plan. Clearly, it can’t be an either/or if you are going to survive in today’s economy. It is a reasoned combination of both planning and action.

Do you have a written business plan? Is it simple and understandable to all? Has it been communicated to others?

Are they taking action on it? Are you adapting the plan based on the ever new market feedback? Do your customers know what you are trying to do and the benefit in it for them? Are they supporting your direction?

What are the results and what needs to be changed?

So many companies are focused on cost cutting that they are not generating revenue that is desperately required for cash flow and support and also undermining all future efforts. Now, and when the economy turns, it is going to be the company with the successful plans put into action and market honed that will prosper.

Managing in today’s turbulent times isn’t easy so don’t think you can do this on your own. Get some help from experts who have been there before and can help lead you through the problems.

This can be a time for you and your company to actually prosper but you have to do it smartly.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from P&G - False reasons for not doing strategic planning

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 19:42:00 +0000

Procter & Gamble spends a considerable amount of time and effort in gathering the appropriate data and developing the right strategic plans that can be followed to maximize effectiveness in the market. As a result, they have a significant number of billion dollar brands from their world-wide effort. Yet, as we have studied many other companies across a broad range of industries, we find that many companies are reluctant to undertake the simple strategic planning process and thus are not achieving the results that they should.

Here are the 7 most common reasons given for not doing strategic planning. You can see why these could be considered to be false reasons and just stand in the way of the company’s success. The lessons from Procter & Gamble show how these may be false.

1 The CEO believes they already have a plan in their mind.

Too often the CEO believes that there is already a strategic plan because they have a rough plan in their mind. The difficulty is that this plan is generally not data based and worse still is not communicated well or understood by the rest of the organization. As a result, the organization does the best that they are able but seldom in line with the CEO’s vision or plan. Valuable resources in people and finances are not focused and wasted. If you want the plan to work, write it down and share it broadly. This only makes sense!

2 A belief that funds for planning are not available.

This is a great misunderstanding and is based on a short term view. The investment of funds to do a strategic plan properly is generally minimal. The ROI is generally considerable. Once the expenditure is made, the benefits start quickly and the business and profitability grow. This is an investment that will pay big dividends in so many ways.

3 Focusing on too many other projects.

One of the reasons that there are too many other projects is that there is no well-known and followed plan. A strategic plan is not only what the company will do but what it will not do. Focused effort leads to fewer false starts with less wasted effort and rework. Productivity increases. The employees are happier and have less stress, thereby reducing turnover.

4 A Belief that the market will change

Many companies put off strategic planning because they expect the market will change. Of course, the market will change! But the purpose of the plan is to manage that change and not be managed by it. The right plan can help companies to take advantage of market changes and gain a competitive advantage over competitors who have done no planning. Develop the plan and review it, altering it to capitalize on market changes.

5 Not sure how to proceed

Executives at companies are smart. They clearly have the intelligence to do strategic planning. However, in many cases they just don’t have the training in strategic planning and should be active participants instead of facilitators. Having a simple process like the one that we use at Moon & Stars allows the executives to lead the planning without disrupting the daily business.

6 Team doesn’t want to do it

Teams generally do not get involved in strategic planning. They are just provided with new ways of doing business and of course there is always a resistance to change. They need to be “pulled” into executing the plans. At Procter & Gamble, all are involved and so they believe that they have a vested interest in the plans and an understanding of the benefits.

7 Takes too much time/ Waste of time

Actually, the strategic planning process can be built upon current data and knowledge and accomplished within normal work effort. Almost immediately, it will become clear as to the activities that can be eliminated due to negative or low returns. This frees up the time to do the planning and the activities which will have a long term positive effect.

Conclusion

Strategic planning is generally misunderstood and as a result these and other false reasons are held that prevent companies from getting the benefit of the planning. We at Moon & Stars have had the opportunity to learn, not only how to do strategic planning, but to assist clients to develop plans that are specifically tailored to their situation. The time and investment are minimal and the results are significant. Procter & Gamble makes this process a common activity in which everyone participates.

What is holding you back from getting the business results that you might achieve?

Thanks,

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble on Strategic Planning

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 02:02:00 +0000

Are you leading your company in effective strategic planning?

A Difference

There is a difference between strategic planning and business planning. Business planning is developing the plan of action to accomplish specific goals over time. Strategic planning is understanding how the environment will change and how to best capitalize on it. It is based on Core Principles of Purpose and Values.

Procter and Gamble has made a number of changes in their strategic planning process and as a result has developed global brands of more than a billion dollars each. They have harnessed resources and focused efforts. It hasn’t been easy and they have had a number of personnel and process changes.

Planning pitfalls

Here are some of the learnings that they have had so that you can be successful in your efforts.

1. Not taking the time, energy or resources to secure the right factual information. Too often companies rely on bad or no information. Factual decisions are critical.

2. Being resistant to change and ignoring what your planning process reveals. Don’t toss out the good strategic planning work just because it doesn’t fit preconceived notions.

3. Being unrealistic about your ability to plan. This should be led by someone with the expertise to guide the team to make sound strategic choices. It also will take time and follow up effort. Create the time and give it the attention it requires. The payoffs in doing so are significant.

4. Not making sure that all major conflicts are clearly understood before you start to plan. Don’t just ignore them and hope that they can be settled later.

5. Copying and pasting from old plans. Strategic plans are “live” documents and are meant to take into account the changes in both the internal and external environment. The old plan is just that – the old plan.

Every Senior Executive and most Directors and Managers agree that having an effective strategic plan is critical to business success. We had that drilled into us at Procter & Gamble and the first basis for any recommendation was always the strategic fit. We recommend that you adopt that philosophy in your company, too.

Tips

· Get the right process and leader.

· Get the right team.

· Get the required factual information.

· Get the quality time set aside for the work.

Let us know how we might help. We have a simple process developed and used by a number of top Fortune 500 companies, including Procter & Gamble. And we have used that process effectively with many companies across a broad range of industries.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from P&G – Making the Number

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 23:48:00 +0000

How’s business? Are you and your company on track to deliver the promised results for the year?

Do you require a boost in performance?

While this is written to address the companies who are not at desired levels, the basic message holds true for those that are doing well and want to continue the progress.

We are entering the last quarter of the calendar year and incremental effort may be required. At Procter & Gamble, this was the time to call in the experienced help. It wasn’t just the senior management. It was getting advice and assistance from others who had fresh ideas and could identify opportunities. They had the experience to know what would work and what could deliver the number without increasing the resources.

In today’s world companies generally have the financing required and of course the product ideas. It is the experienced management talent that is often missing. That was a big difference compared to Procter & Gamble where there was an abundance of highly trained and experience management.

So what can a company do today? In some instances, the C level executive has the skills but not the bandwidth. In others both the skilled experience and the bandwidth are missing. In either case, there is just something missing and there is a gap between the required result and the ability to deliver it. How does a company close this gap without the time and great expense of searching for and hiring full time the required expertise?

That is why I am writing this article!

The reason that we created Moon & Stars Consulting was to assist other companies to have access to the management experience that can be used in the short term to quickly fill this gap and be able to make the number.

How do we assist companies? Working with the company team, we determine the key challenges and opportunities to deliver the number. Then using our experience and perhaps that of other consultants with the strong Procter management training, we create the strategies, plans and the execution that will drive the marketplace results.

We know that this works because we have had success with hundreds of clients in addition to our Procter & Gamble businesses.

It is also very cost efficient, since you are getting significant expertise and only need use it in the short term until the plans are in place and generating success. Not only are we really skilled at what we do, we are fun folks with whom to work.

For some of you, this may seem simplistic, but the ideas are important. We would just like to support your efforts. Let us know how we can help. In any case please stay in touch. We value our friends.

John Maver
Founder & Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Branding, an Example

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 18:38:00 +0000

“You can trust Tide to get clothes clean.”

As an ex-Tide Brand Manager, yes some time ago, I was privy to the extensive world-wide research and branding effort that has been done by Procter & Gamble on laundry detergents and in particular for Tide. Tide as you may know is one of the “family jewels” of Procter & Gamble. It serves as an excellent example of how branding is developed and the results it can provide.

Tide was launched in the 1940’s as the second laundry detergent after Oxydol. It cleaned much cleaner than the soap powders and didn’t leave any residue. In its earliest times, research showed that women wanted proof that it would generate great amounts of suds since that was the signal that it had cleaning power. The message was “Tide Generates Oceans of Suds”.

Of course, the branding started with the product quality and its ability to deliver on its promise of getting clothes clean. Procter & Gamble had many practical scientists and product development people working on this brand and still does. Its efficacy has been unmatched in the minds of the consumers since its launch.

As you can see from the slogan that became the bedrock of Tide’s marketing, “You can trust Tide to get clothes clean”, the tone and emotion of trust was established. Consumers came to know that when they used Tide it would get their clothes clean every time. Tide became a reliable helper in the household chore of clothes washing.

Branding is much more than just product and positioning. The packaging was an important part of Tide’s success. The vibrant colors made the product stand out on the shelf. The bull’s-eye reinforced the single minded positioning of cleaning. In fact, packaging research has shown that consumers can identify the Tide package as Tide even without the word Tide across the bull’s-eye.

The brand quickly moved to market leadership. This brought with it economies of scale, increased store merchandising and a premium price.

Today, there are many forms of Tide that can handle the current fabrics and washing machines. Many other detergents have been wiped out as the brand’s share of the category has risen steadily to over 50%.

Strong branding is essential for companies to maximize the impact of their product investment. If you don’t have the resources to develop and direct this effort you will need to get it.

Let us know how we might assist you.

Thanks,

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Branding

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 21:13:00 +0000

All companies and executives know about branding but many are not familiar with how to use it or how it can affect the bottom line. Over the years P&G has become a master of this and has many multi-billion dollar brands as a result. A strong branding strategy can increase the awareness of a company’s products in such a way that establishes strong feelings and reactions and a favorable view towards the company as a whole. Successfully out-branding your competitors is a continuous battle for the hearts and minds of your customers. The proposition your brand strategy makes must be very compelling, attractive and unique among competitive offerings. Done correctly, branding is that extra margin that companies achieve over generics or even store brands.

Building on the inherent values of a brand should be the core of any branding strategy. Winning brand strategies starts with top-notch research. Your target customer will determine your success. Research with consumers will identify needs and then it is up to your branding to make the fit of your offerings fill those needs. Consistency is a key here, since all aspects of the branding must fit together.

Make it your mission to get as detailed information as possible on their age, gender, income, shopping habits (online and off) and anything else of relevance you can determine. If you’re targeting a business market, these criteria will differ, depending on the industry. Understanding your target market and what they want is key to developing a winning brand.

The research will lead to the brand promise. It states the benefit of buying and using your company’s products or services. A great deal of time and effort at Procter & Gamble is spent on finding the right promise and making it competitive so that it stands out in its industry or category. They know that it must be specific because specific is exponentially more memorable.

Creating a positive emotional association in your market for your product or service is key. It can create want and desire by the mere mention of your brand, product or service name. Needless to say, that’s powerful. For instance, the mere mention of Tide detergent makes buyers think of clean clothes.

To create a brand promise that creates such emotional connections, it should be:

1. Grounded in the brand’s core values.
2. Clearly relevant and engaging to your target market.
3. Able to create some sort of positive emotional attachment beyond just being “good”.
4. Adaptable to the business climate in terms of how the basic promise is presented although the promise itself does not change.
5. Continually reinforced and consistent across advertising and marketing.

It is clear that branding can make a significant difference in the success of a brand and a company. Without intentional effort, unintentional positioning will occur and that can spell disaster.

The Moon & Stars team have had long experience and great success over the years with branding and have developed solid procedures to help clients. We are happy to share these with you.

Thanks,

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Integrity

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 17:27:00 +0000

We have written several times about core values of an organization. Our experience at Procter & Gamble made us believers and we became accustomed to dealing with colleagues with integrity. Those that didn’t got weeded out quite quickly as they came into the global headquarters.

Here is how integrity was explained at P&G.

Integrity - We always try to do the right thing. We are honest and straight-forward with each other. We operate within the letter and spirit of the law. We uphold the values and principles of P&G in every action and decision. We are data-based and intellectually honest in advocating proposals, including recognizing risks.

One can’t assume integrity in some others no matter what the pedigree. You have to take the practical steps to confirm it. You will find that the conclusions are not surprising, but so easy to overlook as you look for the best in people.

1 “Trust everyone but cut the cards.” This is an old poker message and it means make sure that you keep a personal eye on the finances with regular review. It isn’t enough to have a summary supplied by one person unchecked. Go to the source and verify.

2 Never let one person handle the finances alone. Make certain that there are at least two signatures on the bank accounts.

3 Work together and build together. If you don’t give lack of integrity a chance to get started you can avoid much trouble later.

4 If you find lack of integrity, rid the company of it immediately. It is like a cancer and will spread.

These are simple actions and can avoid a great deal of pain to a company. Don’t be misled by appearances.

If you need some help on this issue with your company, contact us. We would be happy to help.

Thanks,

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Valuing Experience and Expertise

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 14:49:00 +0000

What is the greatest challenge facing executives today? It isn’t opportunity or drive or brain power. Today’s executives are faced with more challenges, but less time than ever before. Most are relatively new to their jobs as the average length of tenure for a CEO is just over two years. They are being asked to handle issues like the experienced executives of old who have a great deal of expertise.

Despite being very smart with boundless energy, the new management can be babes in the senior management ranks.

It would seem to make sense that the senior executives and particularly the CEO gets some help, at least in the short term, to do, teach and mentor. The impact on not just productivity but on the business acceleration can be significant. This doesn’t have to be a full time hire. Getting an experienced consultant with expertise can be the most cost effective. Use them to provide the short term boost and then handle the business as before, but with the benefit of the new training.

At Procter & Gamble throughout our years, there were many senior managers available to help with a specific need. They had faced the challenges before and had both the expertise and expertise to guide us. As a result we didn’t have the struggles learn and understand how to best capitalize on the opportunities. At Moon & Stars Consulting, we do the same for our clients.

Take advantage of the “grey hairs” and benefit from their expertise and expertise.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from P&G – Favorite places to work

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 20:44:00 +0000

For many years, Procter & Gamble has been one of the favorite places to work. It was renowned for its training. The quality of the people and the quality of the CPG brands made it an ideal environment. Last year world-wide there were more than two million applications for less than one thousand entry positions in Marketing. Many other CPG companies tried to duplicate the P&G culture, including Clorox an ex-P&G company here in the Bay Area.

There are many CPG companies of varying sizes here in the Bay Area. However, based on a survey done by “The Business Times” they are not appearing as favored places to work.

Here is the summary of the survey by industry.

The criteria for this survey were:

· Trust top execs (honest, capable of leading the organization to prosper, integrity in dealing with all stakeholders)

· Trust other employees (loyalty to each other, camaraderie and teamwork, integrity)

· Longevity (Employee length of service, invite friends to apply)

· Satisfaction with what the employee does each day (feeling challenged and engaged, feeling positive about the company and the other employees)

· Feeling Valued (talents noticed and cultivated, seen as essential contributors)

Having spent several decades at P&G and been at the Executive level and now consulting in the Bay Area, the differences for CPG are obvious. Most of the larger ranked companies value training and work environment. They take advantage of senior management and have them serve as teachers and mentors to the more junior managers. With the significant cost of replacing and recruiting talent, providing this development support is not only prudent but very cost effective.

You may know that P&G has a strong promote from within policy and therefore the impetus was on each layer of management to develop those below them since they will be associated with them and their abilities for years to come. Their personal performance was going to be influenced by the productivity and expertise of those who report to them.

But in the Bay Area, given the exigencies of business and the heavy workloads being carried by senior management, from where should this expertise come in companies who are not a promote from within? The obvious answer is to take advantage of either consulting senior executives who have the experience or bring in on a temporary basis retired executives from other companies. Both are going to have significant cost benefits and higher overall productivity.

As you can see from the chart, most of the companies are in industries that have strong startup or growth phases. The founders are in constant contact with the employees. This helps support the favorite company status. For those other industries like CPG, the message is clear. If you want the top performers and you want to keep them, provide the mentoring and development support.

Thanks

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director of Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from P&G - Integrity

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 23:40:00 +0000

Here is how integrity was explained at P&G.

As we formed Moon & Stars Consulting LLC, all with ex Procter people, we naturally assumed that integrity would be a normal part of our lives together. Building on it we expected to develop a strong business that would apply that same integrity to our clients for their success too.

One can’t assume integrity in some others no matter what the pedigree. You have to take the practical steps to confirm it. You will find that the conclusions are not surprising, but so easy to overlook as you look for the best in people.

1 “Trust everyone but cut the cards.” This is an old poker message and it means make sure that you keep a personal eye on the finances with regular review. It isn’t enough to have a summary supplied by one person unchecked. Go to the source and verify.

2 Make certain that there are at least two signatures on the bank accounts. In small companies, never let one person handle the finances alone.

3 Work together and build together. If you don’t give lack of integrity a chance to get started you can avoid much trouble later.

4 If you find someone who lacks integrity, rid the company of it immediately. It is like a cancer and will spread.

These are simple actions and can avoid a great deal of pain to a company. Don’t be misled by appearances.

If you need some help on this issue with your company, contact us. We would be happy to help.

John

John Maver
Founder and Managing Director Moon & Stars Consulting
President Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from P&G Values in Partnerships

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:33:00 +0000

Partnerships or limited companies like Moon & Stars Consulting Group, a company of P&G Alumni, can find itself with significant problems brought on by one or more of the principals who are not in alignment with the values of the partnership. This article is not to dwell on the problems caused, but rather to identify some issues from the Procter & Gamble Values and Principles that are worth highlighting and may be of use to you in your “partnership” endeavors. Here are the P&G elements, many of which you may have adopted for your company: Integrity • We always try to do the right thing. • We are honest and straightforward with each other. • We operate within the letter and spirit of the law. • We uphold the values and principles of the company in every action and decision. • We are data-based and intellectually honest in advocating proposals, including recognizing risks. Trust • We respect our colleagues, customers and consumers, and treat them as we want to be treated. • We have confidence in each other’s capabilities and intentions. • We believe that people work best when there is a foundation of trust. Respect for All Individuals • We believe that all individuals can and want to contribute to their fullest potential. • We value differences. • We inspire and enable people to achieve high expectations, standards and challenging goals. Mutual Interdependency • We work together with confidence and trust across business units, functions, categories and geographies. • We take pride in results from reapplying others’ ideas. • We build superior relationships with all the parties who contribute to fulfilling our Corporate Purpose, including our customers and suppliers. In a partnership that is just starting out and not a large company that has been in existence for several hundred years, it is easy to take these traits for granted. We assume that all members will operate in the same manner in which we personally operate. This is particularly true when we think we know their background. But do not be fooled. Commonality is not always the case, no matter how rosy the initial period might be. In some cases there is not commonality of values and selfish issues can tend to creep in and can become more and more prevalent with some individuals. They start to operate independently and not in the best interests of the company and your stake in it. This has to be weeded out quickly. It is difficult to test for values since most people talk a good game. So stay alert and watch what is happening. Hopefully, you will be able to see the problems before they become crippling and find a means to exit the damaging individual. One suggestion, beyond taking the extra time at the start of the relationship, is to continually make all of the financial transactions totally transparent. Let us know if you have problems or questions. We can help. Thanks, John Maver President Maver Management Group (925) 648-7561 Moon & Stars Consulting Group Founder and Managing Director Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Creating The Vision

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:28:00 +0000

Do you have 20/20 vision? How clearly can you see? How clearly can you see into the future?

Does your company have 2020 vision? That is to say, does your company have a clear view of what it wants to accomplish by 2020? You may see this as just a clever play on words. However, it is much more than this. Without a clear vision that is known and understood throughout the company, chances are that your company will not maximize its success. It is like trying to operate without your own 20/20 vision. Things just get blurry. Since it is all about sight and that is best from high up, not surprisingly, it is commonly the responsibility of the CEO to articulate and lead activities toward achievement of the vision.

A well-conceived vision consists of two major components: core ideology and envisioned future. Core ideology defines what the company stands for and why it exists. It is made up of core values and core purpose. We recently wrote about core values, both in general and in specifics, for Procter & Gamble. We also wrote about core purpose, “why do we exist”, the second part of the core ideology. These two elements are unchanging and complement the envisioned future. The envisioned future is what we aspire to become, to achieve, to create.

Vision captures both of these elements and does so in terms of defining a future state. A vision is a picture of what success will be at a particular time in the future. It encompasses answers to an array of questions: What does your organization look like? How big is it? For what are you famous? Why does anyone care about what you do? How do people who work there feel about their jobs? A great vision is inspiring. It gets you and everyone in the organization excited to come to work. This is not mere wishful thinking. A vision must also be strategically sound. You have to have a reasonable shot at getting there. Vision provides guidance about what core to preserve and what future to stimulate progress toward. But vision has become one of the most overused and least understood words in the language, conjuring up different images for different people of deeply held values, outstanding achievement, exhilarating goals, motivating forces, or raisons d’etre.

Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices adapt to a changing world. The dynamic of preserving the core while stimulating progress is the reason that companies such as Procter & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Sony, Motorola, and Nordstrom became elite institutions, able to renew themselves and achieve superior long-term performance. In Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, the authors found that these companies have outperformed the general stock market by a factor of 12 since 1925.

The second primary component of the vision framework is envisioned future. At Procter & Gamble in their strategic planning process, this is called the Objective. It is a qualitative statement of what the company targets to accomplish. In some ways Objective is somewhat paradoxical. On the one hand, it conveys concreteness, something visible, vivid, and real. On the other hand, it involves a future time with its dreams, hopes, and aspirations.

Procter & Gamble and other visionary companies use bold mission statements as a powerful way to stimulate progress. These serve as a unifying focal point of effort and act as a catalyst for team spirit. They have a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal.

supports the envisioned future with an engaging and specific description of what it will be like to achieve the Objective. It translates the vision from words into pictures, of creating an image that people can carry around in their heads. Passion, emotion, and conviction are essential parts of the vivid description. Perhaps the most dramatic statement of a vision was President Kennedy’s announcement that the US would put a man on the moon within ten years. Not only was this a rallying cry but it also guided action and resource allocations. They made it happen!

We have found that many executives struggle with mission statements and vision statements. They overanalyze or underallocate effort to the process. These statements turn out to be an ill-defined mix of values, goals, purposes, philosophies, beliefs, aspirations, strategies and descriptions. They are usually a boring, confusing, stream of words that evoke the response “True, but who cares?” They fail to preserve the core and stimulate progress. A true vision simply provides the context for bringing this dynamic to life.

This may seem like a simple process. It isn’t. As you can see, it combines the analytical with the creative and then necessitates alignment across the organization, if it is going to be successful. We have had experience both at Procter & Gamble and with many other companies in our consulting business. We know the powerful results that can come from the investment of time and energy in creating a sound vision for the company.

How is your foresight? Does your company have 2020 Vision? Do you need help with your 2020 Vision?

Thanks

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble –Focus for Market Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:25:00 +0000

Getting profitable and staying profitable is what it’s all about for companies. Being the market leader, while not an easy task, is certainly one way to help make that happen. P&G has the largest lineup of leading brands in its industry, with 22 brands with over $1 billion in annual sales and another 19 brands generating about $500 million or more in annual sales. In 2000, there were 10 brands over a Billion; today, they have 22. During this period, the company’s revenue has doubled from $40 Billion to $80 Billion.

As you may have read in our last article about Core Values, Procter & Gamble is very clear on their objective to have superior products, not just in performance, but in consumer preference. They have sharpened their focus on how to deliver this. This sharpened focus has meant selling off or discontinuing a number of very successful brands, but brands that did not fit with an opportunity for global market leadership.

The company used to market a stable of brands and achieve market leadership through the combined sales. For example, when I joined P&G in the early seventies, in laundry detergents, the company marketed Tide, Cheer, Bold, Gain, Duz, Dreft, Era, Liquid Tide, Ivory Snow and the first detergent, Oxydol. There were probably several others as well that just don’t come to mind. Combined, this provided market leadership.

However, it resulted in increased costs. The brands competed against one another for sales force time, retailer promotions, shelf space, advertising, media time slots, in-store offers and most importantly, Procter & Gamble management attention. As a Brand Manager, my task was to get a larger share of company effort so that I could increase my brand’s impact with consumers. It was not uncommon for a great idea to be expended on one of the smaller brands and thus dilute its impact. The company realized that it would be far better served to focus its efforts on the lead brands and make them clear market leaders. The billion dollar brands are the result.

Today, Procter & Gamble has a very clear path for its mega brands to achieve market dominance. All of the very best people, ideas, support and processes are given to one brand and not spread across multiple brands. In fact, there has been an increasing tendency to “borrow” from one mega brand in one category to assist another in a separate category.

There are many benefits to being the market leader and we will highlight some in a separate article.

But what is the value of the Procter & Gamble experience for your business if you do not have a stable of billion dollar brands or are not the market leader?

Here are 5 tips I learned from my time at Procter building the smaller brands or opening up new categories and industries for the company.

1. Be choiceful in selecting the market / industry / geography in which you will compete. Make certain that you have an opportunity to be able to gain a leadership position in the arena that you select, perhaps not immediately, but within a reasonable time frame.

2. Focus your resources to build a solid base in one area and become successful before you move to additional areas.

3. Hire and use “A” class people. Your best investment will be in your people. Skimp in other areas if needed since the great people will be able to over compensate.

4. Take good care of your customers. You would be surprised at how many companies we see that overlook their current customers in the drive to get new ones.

5. Take advantage of consulting and contracting help to both capitalize on their expertise and keep your costs down overall. This may sound self-serving, since we are consultants, but there is no substitute for experience.

Market leadership brings with it many benefits that help companies get profitable and stay profitable. Look for our next article that highlights some of those benefits.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – P&G’s Core Values

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:39:00 +0000

We recently wrote about the importance of Core Values as an integral part of strategy for companies. A book written by ex-senior Procter & Gamble management, “When Core Values are Strategic” has just been released. Given my 23 years with the company, the values I espouse for Maver Management and for our clients are among those covered in detail in the book. We were all grounded similarly. The book tells personal stories of how the basic values of Procter & Gamble transformed leadership at Fortune 500 companies. The track record for most senior P&G executives, both with P&G or subsequently with other companies, has been outstanding.

Adherence to Core Values, such as the ones below, has been instrumental in that success. Here are the Procter & Gamble Core Values:

People - We attract and recruit the finest people in the world. We build our organization from within, promoting and rewarding people without regard to any difference unrelated to performance. We act on the conviction that the men and women of Procter & Gamble will always be our most important asset.

Leadership - We are all leaders in our area of responsibility, with a deep commitment to deliver leadership results. We have a clear vision of where we are going. We focus our goals to achieve leadership objectives and strategies.

Ownership - We accept personal accountability to meet the business needs, improve our systems, and help others improve their effectiveness. We all act like owners, treating the company's assets as our own and behaving with the company's long-term success in mind.

Integrity - We always try to do the right thing. We are honest and straight-forward with each other. We operate within the letter and spirit of the law. We uphold the values and principles of P&G in every action and decision. We are data-based and intellectually honest in advocating proposals, including recognizing risks.

Trust - We are determined to be the best at doing what matters most. We have a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo. We have a compelling desire to improve and to win in the marketplace.

Passion for Winning - We respect our P&G colleagues, customers, and consumers and treat them as we want to be treated. We have confidence in each other's capabilities and intentions. We believe that people work best when there is a foundation of trust.

Do Procter & Gamble’s Core Values help you understand the base upon which P&G has built a multi-billion dollar global business? Interestingly, if you review the histories of the company, you will find that these Core Values, stated in some form, have been consistent throughout the 150 years that the company has existed.

Do these values trigger opportunities or ideas for you with your company? If we can help you define your Core Values and make them a sound basis for your strategic planning, contact us. We have had great success with companies from Fortune Top 10 to startups.

Thanks

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Core Values and Their Strategic Nature

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:05:00 +0000

Core Values are often overlooked as an important, in fact vital, part of strategic planning for a company. While Core Purpose is the Mission and identifies why the company exists, Core Values fundamentally outline what the company is and how it will operate. Hence, it is a critical base upon which to build the company’s plan.

Core Values are essential and enduring tenets which prescribe the attitude and character of an organization. They are a small set of timeless, guiding principles that require no external justification, but have intrinsic value and importance to those inside the organization. Therefore, there is no universally right set of Core Values. Companies generally have only 3-5, since only a few values will be truly core.

Can you see the critical strategic importance of the Core Values stated below for these four companies? They clearly define and help shape the direction of the company. You will note that only one mentions honesty and integrity. That doesn’t mean that the others do not value it. In most cases, it is a given. Companies just cannot survive in any business without it and so it is generally not stated for inclusion. Look at the values and see the impact that they have on their organizations. I suspect that you will be nodding in agreement with most of them as you reflect on each company.

Merck
 Corporate social responsibility
 Unequivocal excellence in all aspects of the company
 Science based innovation
 Honesty and integrity
 Profit but profit from work that benefits humanity

Nordstrom
 Service to the customer above all else
 Hard work and individual productivity
 Never be satisfied
 Excellence in reputation; being part of something special

Sony
 Elevation of the Japanese culture and national status
 Being a pioneer – not following others; doing the impossible
 Encouraging individual ability and creativity

Walt Disney
 No Cynicism
 Nurturing and promulgation of wholesome American values
 Creativity dreams and imagination
 Fanatical attention to consistency and detail
 Preservation and control of the Disney magic

What are your personal Core Values? What are the Core Values for your company? How closely are they aligned? If they are not well aligned, you had better start looking for a new company because you will ultimately become very unhappy.

If we can help you with not only crystalizing the Core Values, but helping you to build the strategic plans on them, contact us.

Thanks,

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Social Media Award

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:10:00 +0000

AVG just won the Best Use of Social Media award from Computer Weekly Social Media Awards. James Garner accepted the prize in the picture above. They have been clients of ThoughtLabs, a social media strategic company that brings customers closer to companies through technology. They have been working together for three years.

Why are we posting this news item on our blog? Two reasons. The first is that it indicates how important the right social media strategy and plan can be to companies today to give them a competitive edge. That competitive edge can drive business acceleration and increased profitability in a number of ways. The second is that one of the founders and partners is John Maver Jr. and we are very proud of him, awards or not.

If you are looking for business acceleration analysis and plans, contact us. If you are looking for business acceleration social media efforts contact ThoughtLabs.

Thanks

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Leaders

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:21:00 +0000

John Smale, an ex CEO of Procter & Gamble, passed away last week. He was a remarkable leader and made some very significant contributions to P&G. He also took leadership positions from the Board at General Motors, where he turned the company around and revamped it. He was active in his community, restructuring the City of Cincinnati and then working for youth education among other activities.

During my 23 years at P&G and in the subsequent 18, there have been 8 CEO’s at the company. In addition to John Smale, the most memorable ones for me are John Pepper, Howard Morgans, Ed Harness, Ed Artzt and A.G. Lafley. They all made substantial contributions to the company. While some have written books, the important learnings from each have been captured in internal memos and have been shared broadly across the company. All are different and have varied skills, but there are some commonalities. This is not surprising, given Procter & Gamble’s policy of promotion from within and the fact that all of these men had years of training, learning from each other, as well as from many others who helped shape their careers.

They all exhibited strengths in the following:

Values
They all were committed to trying to do the right thing in all they did. Doing the right thing is much more than a cliché, since who would attempt to do the wrong thing per se. In this case, it is seeking to do what is right instead of what is most profitable or most expedient or most popular. The clearest example of this is the removal of Rely tampons from the market when there was an initial suggestion that extended use of the product might be associated with toxic shock syndrome. The company took the product off the shelves immediately until there could be absolute, conclusive proof that it had no impact. The cost was in the millions of dollars and took P&G out of the feminine protection business for several years, but it was the right thing to do and drove home that message and value to all employees.

Focus on the consumer
P&G has maintained a relentless focus on the consumer throughout its years as the global leader in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG). A.G. Lafley wrote “Everything begins and ends with the consumer. If you focus on the consumer and what your brand is doing to serve the consumer, you will win most of the time". P&G was the first company to conduct deliberate, database driven,, consumer market research. This forward-thinking approach enables the company to improve consumer understanding, anticipate needs and respond with products that improve their everyday life. P&G also was one of the first companies to formally respond to consumers by establishing a Consumer Relations department. Several years ago, P&G realized that though it talked to a lot of people, it wasn’t really hearing them. It has overcome this barrier by taking one of the industry’s more traditional market research organizations and turning it into a consumer-understanding powerhouse and consumer-insight generator. By investing more than a billion dollars in consumer-understanding research between 2002 and 2007 and conducting research with more than 4 million consumers a year, P&G has moved away from traditional, behind-the-mirror focus groups to more immersive research techniques. This leads to richer consumer insights, which helps identify innovation opportunities that are often missed by traditional research.

Dedication to product superiority and to superior products
The CEO’s are dedicated to leading the company with a product philosophy of “We will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world's consumers. As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profit, and value creation, allowing our people, our shareholders, and the communities in which we live and work to prosper.” It is not enough just to have product superiority. The company must have products that are superior. Hence, the development and sale of the first shortening for baking and cooking. The first detergent. The first workable disposable diaper. The first two in one shampoo/conditioner. Despite the pressures to deliver above average quarterly earnings, the CEOs have consistently over invested in R&D, compared to most companies.

Commitment to people
The “people” philosophy of these men in simple terms is “Recruit the best. Train and develop all. Promote from within. Treat each fairly.” As a result, P&G has had some outstanding long term employees and many others have left the company to lead other significant operations. The company believes in its people, even in departure. Having been part of the first worldwide global initiative of reductions in force, I was treated extremely fairly and with great respect by my Cincinnati management. As a former CEO, Richard R. Dupree said in 1947, "If you leave us our money, our buildings, and our brands, but take away our people, the Company will fail. But if you take away our money, our buildings, and our brands, but leave us our people, we can rebuild the whole thing in a decade."

Worldwide view and globalization
P&G has long had an international business. In fact, I was part of it in the Canadian operation, several times. The company really got serious when it appointed Ed Artzt as President of P&G International and then promoted him to become CEO of the entire company. Today P&G has 24 billion dollar brands, most with a global sales base. As current CEO Bob McDonald says, “Our objective is to touch and improve lives. Why would we stop with operating in only some countries? Our business is driven by demographics and economics--you have to go where the babies are born, where the households form, where the incomes are rising--and they’re growing a lot faster outside of the U.S.” P&G has product usage with 4 Billion customers and the majority of their products are made outside of the USA. They have established a worldwide research and development network, with research hubs in the United States, Europe, Japan and Latin America.

There have been many tributes to John Smale, deservedly. John Pepper, himself a favorite CEO of the employees, said, "John brought together wisdom and courage, concern for people, and commitment to the long term in a manner I've never seen exceeded." "The man's character was defined by all the things character is defined by: his wisdom, his courage, his persistent commitment to doing what's right for the longer term -- absolutely right down the line. Never compromising.”

Procter & Gamble has had superb leaders. The impact that they have had on the company pales by the impact that they have had on the employees.

Thanks,

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – A Marketing Checklist

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:44:00 +0000

Procter & Gamble’s marketing plans are often quite sophisticated and extensive. They use research in almost every element of the plan to insure that they get the maximum effect from each. Then they monitor the progress, making adjustments as required. This can be expensive and very labor intensive. But, with billion dollar global brands the cost per package is quite reasonable and the incremental sales make the payout quite profitable. You may not have the billion dollar brands of the extensive research facilities. So here are the key elements that Procter & Gamble reviews and that you can do, as well. It fits with both the sale of products or services.

Plan
• There is a written plan in place and it has been communicated throughout the organization.

Positioning
• The target market has been defined and our potential clients or customers, their usage habits and practices, as well as their buying channels and patterns are known.
• The problems, issues and challenges they are facing have been identified.
• The benefit that they will obtain from the use of my product as the solution to their problem has been clearly articulated. It answers the client/customer question “what’s in it for me, the customer?”
• Some form of research has been conducted to determine if the benefit that I am suggesting is actually seen and understood as a value to my targets and has an inherent unique and meaningful competitive advantage that explains why I am different than my competition.
• The benefits I am claiming can be supported by proof in some form through testing, referrals or in market experience.
• The tone of my positioning will resonate with my target and enable them to accept my offerings in the most positive frame of mind.

Execution
• Everything about my business, including my personal presentation, marketing materials, etc. are presented in a way that truly supports all aspects of the positioning.
• Distribution channels are in place that make your product or service readily available to potential customers.
• Multiple promotional and marketing channels for delivering your message are being used to reach customers most effectively and are appropriate for that channel.
• My products or services, what I do and how I do it, are clearly presented and how they solve clients problems.

Measurement
• There is a clearly identified tracking system in place for each of the FEW key measures so that changes can be made to plans quickly to optimize their impact.
• MY BUSINESS IS RESPONDING TO THE MARKETING PLANS!

These are admittedly, simplistic measures for your plan. We would be remiss if we also did not include the need to have available the expertise required to create and operate a high powered plan. You will note that Procter & Gamble employs, trains and upgrades a very large body of expertise from junior managers through senior executives. This doesn’t mean that you have to duplicate their organization. Most companies can do this with experienced consultants, either on a project basis or retainer. That is the most cost effective.

Let us know if we can be of assistance to you.

Thanks

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Downsizing, Rightsizing, RIFs

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:40:00 +0000

Most companies have been faced with the need to cut costs over the past several years and many people and jobs have been eliminated from the workforce. You will note that we have the highest level of unemployment as one of the impacts. The personnel reductions have come under the heading of downsizing, rightsizing or just reductions in force (RIFs). The net result in addition to lower costs is a substantial change in the way that companies have to operate.

At the same time, technology has made tremendous progress and we now have available significant capabilities that never existed before. The idea has been that companies can do much more with much less. Believe it or not, when the first computers were being introduced, there was an expectation that the work week would shrink to less than a day a week. Computers would do the rest. You know personally from your now extended work weeks that this was not the case and was, at best, a wild dream. And yet companies expected that technology could overcome the impact of the lost personnel.

Procter & Gamble is no exception. In 1993, well before this became common practice, P&G undertook a worldwide cut back in personnel under the heading of strengthening global effectiveness. SGE was designed to streamline work processes, drive out non value-added costs, eliminate duplication and speed productivity through a leaner organization. Initially, it was directed at the manufacturing operations but the idea quickly spread to the rest of the company. Up to 10,000 people/jobs were eliminated. The objective, just as it has been the objective of most companies, was same or greater productivity with less cost.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. It didn’t happen at P&G and it isn’t happening with many other companies. Certainly, some aspects worked as expected. But in many cases, the people and jobs were eliminated, yet the work required remained.

This did produce a short term profit bump after the reorganization costs were passed through as a “one time hit” to earnings. However, as Stephen Covey outlined in his book the 7 Habits of Effective People, the golden goose was maimed if not killed outright. The reductions in force often targeted the higher salaried, longer term employees. Companies lost years of very valuable experience and expertise. As a result many companies faced substantial redesign, slower process, business and profit losses.

What made it worse for many companies is that the personnel reductions came on a “chain saw” basis and not a “surgical” basis. This means that cuts were made across the board. The result was reductions in one department greatly affected what was left in other departments or functions, to the detriment of the business. This has led to renewed needs for reorganizations and then further rightsizing. In fact, that is exactly what has happened at Procter. They have had several full company reorganization plans. They have offered several waves of early retirement and outplacement packages to employees around the globe.

What’s the lesson? Clearly it is taking the long view. It is an in depth understanding of what is really required to operate profitably and then providing the technology and human resources required to deliver the objectives. Short term solutions just don’t work. Second, it means focus. It means being choiceful on what activities are really required to operate profitably and to achieve the corporate goals. Other activities that are just nice to do, have to be eliminated. Finally, it is deciding on what data is required to operate. Most companies are buried under an overload of information. Layers of the organization are employed to develop the data, analyze it and interpret it and then try to find meaningful actionable conclusions. The loss of the experience and expertise caused by the cuts has led to much of this wheel spinning over-analysis.

If your company is experiencing “sludge” in your operations and slower speed to market, you might consider relooking at some of the experience that was cut out in the rightsizing. Interestingly, many companies are hiring back ex-employees as consultants at a higher cost to do the same job that they originally did.

Since we have had experience both at Procter & Gamble with SGE and similar programs at other companies, we can help you. Just contact us.

Thanks,

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Value of Branding

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:28:00 +0000

Procter & Gamble is one of the premier brand companies in the world. Their branding extends from their many billion dollar brands to the company itself and in many cases to its people. Being a Procter & Gamble brand assures consumers of quality, even though the company generally doesn’t market its brands under the corporate umbrella. Being the Procter & Gamble sales representative opens many doors. Investors have confidence in their investments as they buy stock in the company. Many of these investors are company employees. Having Procter & Gamble on your resume is a major positive. As you can see, the value of branding goes well beyond just the products.

How does one calculate the dollar value of a brand? There are a number of formulas and all work on the basis of capturing the extent that the company can sell its goods and services at a premium price and profit. Brand Sales = (Cost + Margin) * Volume. Your brand gets you one of two measurable outcomes: margin or volume. Comparing your margins to the competition is one way to assess the value of your brand, if you take heed of the caveat about other factors which may change margin. Comparing volume is less likely to yield a good estimate of brand value, because you can in many markets drive higher volumes with no brand value at all by charging lower prices.

For example, Coke despite its secret formula is flavored water just like RC Cola. However, Coca-Cola’s margin is 15.6%, while RC Cola - Cott’s is 5.3%. The typical company has an operating margin of 5-7%, so Coca-Cola’s margin is phenomenal. But there is more. Part of Coke’s value comes from its significantly larger gross volume sales because consumers are loyal to the Coca-Cola brand. That too generates significant value. How much? That depends on what measures you want to use but it is safe to say it is in the billions. According to Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business, if Coca-Cola suddenly lost its brand name tomorrow, its operating margins could drop to around 5.28%, and it would lose $64.2 billion of value.

Branding is clearly a competitive advantage. It is the reason why larger companies with lots of managerial horsepower tend to spend a lot of time and money on branding. The most important value in a brand is the value that it holds for actual customers. This value is very difficult and expensive to build and fragile and easy to destroy. The difficulty of building and maintaining a brand is one reason why managers the world over tend to avoid spending much time or money on branding, especially in smaller companies. This is a shame, because a well-managed brand is so powerful that it can overcome almost any other competitive advantage.

In previous articles we have outlined many of the competitive advantages that branding can bring to a company. We won’t repeat them now but check the other articles if you are interested.

Since you are a consumer in addition to a brilliant business person, think about some of the brands with which you are familiar. Apple has built a group of very loyal customers and while they may not dominate the computer space, they have used their fan base to launch other products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad where they do dominate. They consistently break records for new product launches before the product is actually available. Valuable brand name for the largest company on paper in the world at one time this past year?

At Procter & Gamble, the Tide brand has now been applied to many types of fabric care, building on its strong base of removing dirt from clothes. Crest has a product for everyone, from first tooth to last and even dentures. Swiffer seems to be cleaning up everywhere (pun intended).

What value have you determined for the brands of your product, company and people? Have you made a conscious effort to create the positive brand and secure the benefits that come with it? If you need assistance, contact us. We can help. We have created and managed some very strong brands and can apply our experience to your business as well.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management

Lessons from Procter & Gamble – Their Brand Positioning Strategy Worksheet

noreply@blogger.com (John Maver) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:49:00 +0000

We have been sharing some learning from Procter & Gamble based on my 23 years building brands and businesses with them. The most recent articles have focused on brands, branding and product positioning. This article provides an outline of how P&G creates their positioning strategies for their brands. You may also know this as the Copy Strategy or the Advertising Strategy or the Branding Strategy, in addition to the Positioning Strategy. This is important since in many cases the support of the brand goes beyond just the advertising.

A Brand Positioning Strategy identifies the basis upon which we expect our brand to be purchased in preference to competition. The content emerges directly from the product or service and the basic consumer need that it is intended to fill. It should state clearly the basic benefit which the brand promises and which constitutes the principal basis for purchase. It should also include a statement of the product characteristics that make this benefit possible and the tone or character that is desired to be built for the brand.

This will provide direction for the basic message of the brand which should remain consistent across all communication vehicles, although the execution of the message may change. It is inherently competitive since it is the basis for preference vs. competition.

Developing the Strategy through use of the Creative Work Plan
Start at the top and work down through the rest of the elements.

1 Key Fact
A single piece of known information relating to the brand which is agreed to be the leading factor influencing or describing the brand performance. It may be information about the brand itself, the competition, the customer, innovation etc. but it must be a single fact.

2 Problem the advertising must solve
This is a consumer problem. It describes the awareness, perception or behavior of the prospective user which has resulted in the Key Fact and which we wish to change.

3 Advertising Objective
Usually, simply the counterpart to the problem, although there are a great many distinct options. Eg "Persuade consumers to try my brand" Or "use more of my brand." Or "use my brand in a different way." Persuade them that my brand is a viable alternative to brand x".

4 Strategy
a) Prospect Definition
Both demographics and psychographics.
b) Principal Competition.
Not just a list of competitors but a description of the segment from which we wish to obtain business
c) Promise
The single most persuasive agreement one can advance for the brand framed with the customer and the competition in mind.
d) Reason Why
The strongest piece of support for the promise. Occasionally there may be more than one piece of support but never a list
e) Tone/Character
The tone that messages should convey to provide personality to the message and bring it alive. This is not executional.

As you can see, the format is very simple. However, like everything at Procter & Gamble, the use of the simple tool is handled by experts in the field. That is what makes the tool so effective.

If you would like to have the benefits of this simple tool support your brand or your business and need the expertise to use it most effectively, contact us. We would be happy to assist you.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management