PMA February 2010 : Page 24

PMA 2010 Flip it upside down By Jennifer Barr Kruger You’ll “flip” for PMA 2010 Official Business Session speaker Peter Sheahan Business consultant Peter Sheahan, author of the new book, “Flip: How to Turn Everything You Know on Its Head – and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings,” is taking a nontraditional approach to his PMA 2010 Official Business Session, which will be held Feb. 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. Sheahan will interview a panel of industry leaders on the important issues facing the photo imaging business. Here, Sheahan shares some insights with PMA magazine on how to “flip” what you know to succeed in the current environment. PMA: What is the basic idea behind “flipping what you know,” and how can it put businesses on the path to success? Sheahan: The book is about being willing to consider counterintuitive approaches to your business. I don’t just mean counterintuitive approaches to marketing; I mean going right to the heart of the business model itself, and being willing to question how we make money. Every business leader needs to ask, “In the next five years, where will we find new economic value?” Not how do we maintain the status quo; but how do we find new opportunities for growth, new opportunities for profitability. They need to ask this question in two ways: first, from the perspective of finding and extracting value in their existing business models; and second, in terms of exploring new business models. That’s the essence of flip. PMA: What are the “four forces of change,” and what do business leaders need to do in response? Sheahan: The first is what I call “compression.” It’s the idea we are, ultimately, compressing our concepts of how long things should take, the impact our geography should have in our ability to engage in an activity, and the amount of effort we expect to expend to get our results. In other words, we want it faster and easier; and we want Catch the session Be sure to attend the PMA 2010 Official Business Session fea- turing Peter Sheahan on Feb. 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. 24 PMA — February 2010 — www.pmai.org PMA 2010 Official Business Session speaker Peter Sheahan will interview a panel of industry leaders on Feb. 21. it wherever we want, whenever we want. That’s not a new concept. What’s essential to understand in business is the concept of compres- sion – that force of change – is omnipresent. It’s always, always there. The second force of change is accountability. You are increasingly being kept accountable by your customers for what you say you can deliver. They have the ability to keep you accountable if you don’t deliver on your promise, if you’re not creating mind-blowing cus- tomer experiences. It’s just so easy to logout and go somewhere else. Third is the concept of transparency. People cannot only keep you more accountable, but find it so much easier to discover what else is available to them. This is obviously driven heavily by the web. Many businesses have built their competitive advantage on having access to equipment or knowledge and information that is hard to get. That’s increasingly difficult to do because of the quality of equipment we Continued on page 26

Flip It Upside Down

Jennifer Barr Kruger

You’ll “flip” for PMA 2010 Official Business Session speaker Peter Sheahan

Business consultant Peter Sheahan, author of the new book, “Flip: How to Turn Everything You Know on Its Head – and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings,” is taking a nontraditional approach to his PMA 2010 Official Business Session, which will be held Feb. 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. Sheahan will interview a panel of industry leaders on the important issues facing the photo imaging business. Here, Sheahan shares some insights with PMA magazine on how to “flip” what you know to succeed in the current environment.

PMA: What is the basic idea behind “flipping what you know,” and how can it put businesses on the path to success?

Sheahan: The book is about being willing to consider counterintuitive approaches to your business. I don’t just mean counterintuitive approaches to marketing; I mean going right to the heart of the business model itself, and being willing to question how we make money.

Every business leader needs to ask, “In the next five years, where will we find new economic value?” Not how do we maintain the status quo; but how do we find new opportunities for growth, new opportunities for profitability.

They need to ask this question in two ways: first, from the perspective of finding and extracting value in their existing business models; and second, in terms of exploring new business models.

That’s the essence of flip.

PMA: What are the “four forces of change,” and what do business leaders need to do in response?

Sheahan: The first is what I call “compression.” It’s the idea we are, ultimately, compressing our concepts of how long things should take, the impact our geography should have in our ability to engage in an activity, and the amount of effort we expect to expend to get our results. In other words, we want it faster and easier; and we want it wherever we want, whenever we want. That’s not a new concept.

What’s essential to understand in business is the concept of compression – that force of change – is omnipresent. It’s always, always there.

The second force of change is accountability. You are increasingly being kept accountable by your customers for what you say you can deliver. They have the ability to keep you accountable if you don’t deliver on your promise, if you’re not creating mind-blowing customer experiences. It’s just so easy to logout and go somewhere else.

Third is the concept of transparency. People cannot only keep you more accountable, but find it so much easier to discover what else is available to them. This is obviously driven heavily by the web. Many businesses have built their competitive advantage on having access to equipment or knowledge and information that is hard to get. That’s increasingly difficult to do because of the quality of equipment we All have access to now and because of the information explosion.

The fourth, and most obvious, is a satisfied need no longer motivates. In other words, expectations continue to rise. What is good enough today is never good enough tomorrow. If you bring that together with compression, accountability, and transparency – and there are obviously numerous subtrends that sit below that, you now have some understanding as a business leader of how to answer that first question: Where are you going to find new value?

That question can’t be answered based on what the world looks like today. You need to answer that based on what you think the world might look like tomorrow.

PMA: Please explain how the concept of being fast, good, and cheap needs to be flipped.

Sheahan: If you look at the evolution of competitive strategy, it began with the idea you either have to be really fast, or really good, or really cheap. You only had to pick one. About 30 years ago, people began saying no; you really need to be fast and good.

If you’re fast and good, you can be expensive, or you can be fast and cheap; but the market perception will be your quality must be terrible. You can be good and cheap; but then you’re no longer a priority. In other words, we had a belief if it was fast, good, cheap: pick two. Customers would trade off between these three criteria.

What I am putting forth in “Flip” is it is actually fast, good, cheap: pick three – and that is merely competitive necessity. The four forces of change have created a situation where the market wants really well-priced products – which doesn’t mean cheap, but rather high perceived value. They want it quickly, and they want quality. That’s just the price of entry. That’s not what gives you a point of difference.

That’s not what actually makes you stand out in the marketplace.

There is a fourth dimension that has you stand out in the marketplace; now, it’s fast, good, cheap, easy: pick four.

Bear in mind, in about 3 years to 5 years, there will actually be a fifth dimension that gives you competitive advantage. It will be fast, good, cheap, easy: pick four; and your point of difference will come again from a fifth, intangible source, which is what helps you stand out from the crowd. It’s the internal narrative you create in the buyer’s mind about why they should do business with you.

PMA: At PMA 2010, you’re going to interview industry leaders about the issues facing imaging today. Why are you using that interview format, and what do you hope to accomplish during the session?

Sheahan: My belief is there’s more expertise in your industry than a speaker like me could ever come and deliver in an hour from the stage. Sometimes the best way is to learn from each other – we just need the environment to allow that discussion.

I have twice presented at PMA events in other parts of the world; and the most recent time, I delivered a keynote and facilitated two panels. Yes, people loved my keynote, I got a nice clap, and it rated very highly; but what the business owners found most valuable was hearing from their own industry leaders and from case studies. So, rather than having me pretend I’m an expert in your industry – which I am not – I’d rather facilitate a conversation with people who are. I think it’s a valuable experience. I have been engaged by PMA to make sure it’s an energetic panel that goes in the right direction.

Previous Page  Next Page

Publication List