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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
From best-selling author Jeffrey J. Fox, how the savvy see opportunity -- and capitalize on it Economic downturns separate the winning companies from the struggling. And as best-selling author Jeffrey J. Fox shows, tough times also give solid companies, strong managers, and potential rainmakers the opportunity to seize market share. In this eminently readable, practical resource for business leaders and managers, Fox explains exactly how the savvy few who rise to the top stay focused and alert, get new market share, hire good recently fired talent, increase investments into customer service, speed innovation, train all customer facing people, make acquisitions, get rid of underperformers, build brand names, pay for measurable performance, and lots more. Potential rainmakers, CEOS, marketing superstars, and great bosses have long turned to Jeffrey J. Fox for advice. Now he shows exactly what to do to weather any climate.
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Seitenzahl: 118
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010
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Table of Contents
Praise
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PREFACE
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 1 - THE FIERCE COMPETITOR COMPANY
CHAPTER 2 - BAD TIMES ARE GOOD TIMES
CHAPTER 3 - HUSTLE. HUSTLE. HUSTLE.
CHAPTER 4 - LEADERSHIP IS NOT “PUSHERSHIP”
CHAPTER 5 - THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEADERS AND MANAGERS
CHAPTER 6 - KNOW YOUR COMPANY’S RAISON D’ETRE
CHAPTER 7 - MANAGE AS YOU WOULD INVEST
CHAPTER 8 - “I VISIT CUSTOMERS IN STORES”
CHAPTER 9 - ALWAYS ANSWER THE PHONE
CHAPTER 10 - PILE UP CASH
CHAPTER 11 - BE EVER FEARFUL
CHAPTER 12 - SHOW FEARLESSNESS
CHAPTER 13 - PLAY “WHAT IF?” GAMES
CHAPTER 14 - LEADERSHIP IS FULL DIS CLOSURE
CHAPTER 15 - GET A KITCHEN CABINET
CHAPTER 16 - ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN
CHAPTER 17 - STAY OFF MAGAZINE COVERS
CHAPTER 18 - “I NEVER MADE A DIME TALKING”
CHAPTER 19 - NEVER TAKE YOUR HAND OFF THE TILLER
CHAPTER 20 - CONTROL OR ROLL
CHAPTER 21 - GET OUT OF THE OFFICE
CHAPTER 22 - WALK AROUND THE COMPANY
CHAPTER 23 - NEVER FORGET THE THIRD SHIFT
CHAPTER 24 - BE OBSESSIVE ABOUT EXECUTION
CHAPTER 25 - GET RID OF EXECUTIVE PARKING SPACES
CHAPTER 26 - FIGHT UNIONIZATION
CHAPTER 27 - PEOPLE ARE NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET
CHAPTER 28 - NURTURE THOSE YOU HIRE AN D ACQUIRE
CHAPTER 29 - PRUNE ALL DEADWOOD
CHAPTER 30 - BULLDOZE ALL SILOS
CHAPTER 31 - BROOM OUT ALL BUREAUCRACY
CHAPTER 32 - SCOOP UP NEWLY AVAI LAB LE TALENT
CHAPTER 33 - FORGET ABOUT PEDIGREES
CHAPTER 34 - PAY FOR PERFORMANCE, NOT FOR ACTIVITIES
CHAPTER 35 - CONTINUOUSLY RIP OUT, TEAR OUT BAD COSTS
CHAPTER 36 - THE DO AND DON’T CUT LIST
CHAPTER 37 - FORGET MONTHLY REPORTS
CHAPTER 38 - NO MONEY, NO MEETING
CHAPTER 39 - BE FANATICAL ABOUT SELLING
CHAPTER 40 - DON’T FIRE SALES PEOPLE
CHAPTER 41 - HIRE FIERCELY COMPETITIVE SALES PEOPLE
CHAPTER 42 - BANISH ALL SELLING THIEVES
CHAPTER 43 - ALWAYS CONDUCT DAILY SALES MEETINGS
CHAPTER 44 - THE BIG OPPORTUNITY
CHAPTER 45 - NEVER CANCEL BATTING PRACTICE
CHAPTER 46 - DOUBLE THE TRAINING BUDGET
CHAPTER 47 - LOVE THAT CRANKY, FICKLE, DEMANDING CUSTOMER
CHAPTER 48 - FIRE THE “STRATEGIC CUSTOMER”
CHAPTER 49 - CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A SURVIVAL STRATEGY
CHAPTER 50 - WORSHIP AT THE ALTAR OF QUALITY
CHAPTER 51 - GET RID OF “MR. OUGHT-TO-BE”
CHAPTER 52 - ALWAYS LEAVE FLOWERS, FLOOR MATS, AND FOOTPRINTS
CHAPTER 53 - DON’T CUT PRICES
CHAPTER 54 - YOU ARE NEVER ON VACATION
CHAPTER 55 - LOCK, LOAD, AND LAUNCH
CHAPTER 56 - SUE THE BLANKETY-BLANKS
CHAPTER 57 - WELCOME SERENDIPITY
CHAPTER 58 - GO GREEN!
CHAPTER 59 - BE A MASTER GARDENER
CHAPTER 60 - SUMMARY: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIERCE COMPETITOR COMPANIES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“What a fun and exciting and inspiring book. I read it in a single sitting. It’s a must-read for any leader, in any organization, at any level, especially in these tough times.”
—Jim Donald, former president and CEO of Starbucks
“It’s easy to be a competitor when times are great and everyone is feeling good. What separates the winners from the losers, however, is what they do when times are tough. If you want to respond to tough times like a winner, this is the book for you!”
—Chris Widener, author, The Art of Influence and The Angel Inside
“Fox’s principles on how to compete are clear, immediately usable, and will have high impact.”
—Jack Stahl, former president and COO, The Coca-Cola Company and former CEO, Revlon
“How to Be a Fierce Competitor is great—focused, disciplined, practical. I learned a lot by reading it and it was a lot of fun!”
—Harry Kraemer, Jr., professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and former chairman and CEO of Baxter International
Also by Jeffrey J. Fox
Rain: What a Paperboy Learned About BusinessHow to Get to the TopHow to Land Your Dream JobSecrets of Great RainmakersThe Dollarization DisciplineHow to Make Big Money in Your Own Small BusinessHow to Become a Marketing SuperstarHow to Become a Great BossHow to Become a RainmakerHow to Become CEO
Copyright © 2010 by Jeffrey J. Fox. All rights reserved. Published by Jossey-Bass
A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002.
Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fox, Jeffrey J., 1945-
eISBN : 978-0-470-58853-6
1. Leadership. 2. Management. 3. Competition. 4. Business planning. 5. Business cycles. I. Title.
HD57.7.F694 2010
658—dc22
2009041372
To Luca Moe, Bella Ella, The Bean, Jozzie, PJ, Lily, Cosette, Madelaine, Chumley, Squid, Stella, Maple, Ridley, Buddha Blue, Zoe, and Sammy
PREFACE
There are hundreds of Fierce Competitor best practices in this book. Open to any page and put your finger on any sentence or two. If you are not using that best practice you touch, consider starting. If you are using that best practice, good, but flip the page.
Thank you for investing your time and money in this book. May your returns be infinite.
JJF
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Doris Michaels and Delia Berrigan Fakis, uber-agents in the DSM Literary Agency in New York City.
Karen Murphy, Senior Editor and whip-cracking author-wrangler, and everyone else on the terrific Jossey-Bass team, particularly Mark Karmendy.
Heather Belko Fox, tireless transcriber of countless pages, drafts, edits, and re-edits for most of the books in the Fox Business Library series.
CHAPTER 1
THE FIERCE COMPETITOR COMPANY
Fierce competitor companies relentlessly, tirelessly, continuously do whatever they legally can to pursue and capture every profitable customer. They never stop innovating. They never stop selling, reaching out, and communicating to their markets. They train, train, train, and execute, execute, execute. They never stop ripping out waste and bad costs. Fierce competitor companies play to win. They compete for every inch of shelf space, every customer purchase, every first look and last look. They want every good customer, every sale, every penny in every pocketbook.
Fierce competitor companies have peerless customer service, amazing innovation, price leadership, highest-quality image, strong market share position, and great brand names; they are “most admired” by industry followers; and they make money.
Fierce competitors focus on their customers and their competitors. They watch everything their customers and competitors do. If a competitor is doing something that appeals to customers, the killer competitors will do something similar, but better. They often know more about their competitors than their competitors’ own employees do.
The fierce competitor companies create jobs and add employees. Their marketplace success funds payrolls and benefit plans, creating prosperity for families and communities. Their purchasing budgets sustain thousands of suppliers and the suppliers’ stakeholders. Their profits create value for share owners, pension plans, and retirement accounts. Their tax payments and philanthropy support school systems, police departments, Little Leagues, and hospitals.
These companies are ethical, honest, compliant with regulations, and model citizens.
They are sometimes feared and always watched by their competitors. They are loved by their customers. They are easy to do business with, but they never take it easy. If the rest of the industry starts work at 8:30 AM, they are in by 7:00 AM. If everyone else closes on Sundays, they are open. If the other guy wings it, the fierce competitors plan their moves with care.
It is tough to be a tough competitor. Fierce competitors often require more sacrifice than ordinary players. Fierce competitors know that happy, rested employees are most productive, and they work at morale building, but they never lower the performance bar. Never.
If you or your company is not a fierce competitor, then hope one never enters your industry, your space, your market.
As you will read, fierce competitors do unusual things—often spectacular, hard-to-believe, bold actions—to get customers, to get market share, to win.
Some of their stories may sound like urban legends, but they’re not. They are what you need to be doing, how you need to be thinking, the risks you need to take, and if you want to gain market share, seize opportunity, and win when the stakes are at their highest, read on.
CHAPTER 2
BAD TIMES ARE GOOD TIMES
Good, always-surviving, fierce competitors hunger for new sales, new customers, new revenues, new products, new talent, new technologies, new geographies, new channels to markets, new brands. They are always alert and ever on the lookout for assets of all kinds that they can use to strengthen their position in the marketplace.
The savvy, smart, well-led companies see bad times as a good time to gain market share, to out-fox the competition.
Fierce competitors …
• aggressively pursue underserved customers.
• market to brand-indifferent customers and work mightily to make them brand-loyal.
• go after the other companies’ dissatisfied, angry customers.
• buy under-priced hard assets.
• build capacity.
• hire newly available human talent.
• acquire product licenses, anxious good suppliers, undermarketed products, new wholesalers and distributors, and core-relevant acquisitions.
They go after market share and emerge from the downturn ahead of companies that pull back and play it safe.
CHAPTER 3
HUSTLE. HUSTLE. HUSTLE.
From the economic panic of 1823 through the Great Depression and the twelve recessions since 1955, the facts are indisputable: those companies that outsell, outmarket, out-train, out-innovate, and out-hustle their competition emerge from the downturn in a stronger market share and profit position than do those companies that hunker down.
Tough economic times are the perfect times to get new customers, launch new products, build inexpensive capacity. The marketplace is not as crowded with other sellers. Your ads are more prominent. Customers have more time to talk and to evaluate products—especially those that cut costs, boost revenues, and make the customer more competitive. Customers favor the company that visits them over the company that does not.
Two companies competed to sell specialized stencil machines used in the sign-making business. Due to “market conditions,” the larger company cut its travel budget for sales people, significantly reducing the number of visits the sales force could make to current and new customers. On hearing that news, the CEO of the significantly smaller company sensed an opportunity and went into marketing overdrive. He met with his sales force and offered to increase commissions on selling products that were strategic to the bigger competitor. He offered one-time bonuses for every new customer the sales people switched to his company. He offered one-time bonuses for every deal closed on a Saturday. He added money to the travel budget as long as it was spent on breakfasts, lunches, or dinners, but only and always with customers.
The CEO hired one new person whose full-time job was to call customers and set up sales appointments for the sales people. The small company reached out to every possible customer, letting them know the company was increasing customer service levels and offering repairs on machines the big competitor sold, and now had a “no questions asked” warranty policy. The CEO notified all of his machine component suppliers of his plan. In exchange for the promise of increased parts volume, he negotiated paying in sixty days versus forty.
The CEO knew the larger competitor was an established company with good customer loyalty. He personally called the competitor’s biggest customers to suggest that if their loyalty was greater to the sales person who called on them than it was to the larger company, he would consider hiring that sales person.
The CEO repeated and repeated his locker room speech: “We do not have 100-percent market share. There is business to get. Go get it.”
The CEO later marveled at the situation. “If our competitor had done what we did, it might have put us out of business. It certainly would have hurt us. They had the money, the customers, everything. Now we do.”
Don’t hide from the customers. Don’t hunker down in a hole. Don’t go dark to the market.
Call one more customer.
Pay 1 percent more.
Add one more hour to your day.
Send one more email.
Take a chance.
In tough times the tough don’t start selling; they ratchet up
