Shepherd Advisors - Latest Blog Entries

EVENT: Michigan Wind Energy Outlook: 2/23/12

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:52:00 -0500

MMA's Wind Energy Community Meeting: February 23

MMA Headquarters (620 South Capitol Ave., Lansing, MI 48933)
8:30 am - 11:30 am

Meet with other community members to discuss the current direction and sustainability of the wind energy industry in Michigan. Come join the conversation!

Speakers:

Arn Boezaart, GVSU/MAREC - WindSentinel Research Buoy
Jennifer Alvarado, GLREA - Industry Forecast
Bruce Thompson, Rockford Berge - Project with L3 and Gamesa
Loch McCabe, Shepherd Advisors - Moderator

Mr. Boezaart is the Director of the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) at Grand Valley State University. He will report on preliminary data gathered from the WindSentinel research buoy for the Lake Michigan Offshore Wind Assessment Project, as well as the next phase of the study and what it's findings could mean for the wind energy industry in Michigan.

Bruce Thompson from Rockford Berge will discuss their project with L3 Communications and Gamesa, as well as an industry forecast for manufacturers from Jennifer Alvarado, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association.

A roundtable discussion will be held at the end of the event to answer questions you may have for any of the presenters. Loch McCabe, President of Shepherd Advisors, will serve as moderator to help facilitate the conversation and give his perspective on industry trends.

Registration Contact: Dane Cooke, cooke@mma-net.org, 517-487-8551

BLOG: Position Yourself To Attract New Customers

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:39:00 -0500

If you ask buyers what is important to them when buying a product or service, most of the time you will hear that it is some combination of price, quality, service, and product features. But information at this generic level is not very actionable or helpful. To be valuable, you need to truly understand which needs are their "essential needs” that may prompt purchase decisions.

Recently Shepherd Advisors produced a webinar entitled “Using Market Research to Send the Right Message to Your Customers” that focused on this topic. The webinar explored how to construct and send the “right messages” to your target customers focusing on using research methods to identify your customer’s essential needs.

Link to the 11/3/2011 webinar: /media/AA/AC/shepherdadvisors/downloads/182073/2011-11-03_14.00_POSITION_FOR_GROWTH__Using_Market_Research_to_Send_the_Right_Message_to_your_Customers.wmv
(note: audio recording has an echo but clears within 2 mins)

GAINING INSIGHTS: By engaging buyers in detailed conversations about how they use and buy products outside the context of negotiations, you begin to get a more nuanced and actionable set of insights that you can use to position your company in your website, brochures, trade publications, and other marketing materials. Understanding how they do or would use the products and services you offer, how and when they decided to buy what they did, and the circumstances of the last time they switched suppliers will inform not only your ideal messaging, but can generate key insights when designing new products, considering pricing strategies or channel partnerships.

GAINING CLARITY: While price is usually the critical factor for many customers, most markets have segments where customers are willing to pay more for certain features, quality, or service. Knowing what clients really mean when they use these terms is invaluable when designing marketing and sales strategies. Field interviews can help differentiate between these generic industry needs and the specific needs that individual prospects have. Exploring these dynamics can help you clarify those few needs which may actually motivate prospects to switch suppliers in your favor. Your marketing materials can then be organized around these "essential needs". In depth conversations about their "switching behavior" can help you understand how to position your business whether your concern is more sales within your existing markets, jumping into new segments, or targeting new types of customers.

POSTIONING FOR GROWTH: There are many ways Market Research can help you find insights that can help grow your business, but some of the best are field interviews with people in your industry, in your current market, or in markets you are considering entering. Market Research allows you to benefit from candid and in depth conversations with your existing customers, prospects, and others in your market place outside the context of a sales call.

Before investing in new product or marketing campaigns to expand or diversify, you may want to explore how Market Research can speed up your penetration into new markets with well positioned materials and a well-armed sales force.

RESOURCE: Webinar: Using Market Research to send the Right Messages

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:52:00 -0500

WEBINAR SLIDES: /media/AA/AC/shepherdadvisors/downloads/180983/Shepherd_Advisors_Webinar._Nov_3_2011.pdf

WATCH AND LISTEN: The November 3rd, 2011, Webinar can be viewed by clicking the following link: /media/AA/AC/shepherdadvisors/downloads/182073/2011-11-03_14.00_POSITION_FOR_GROWTH__Using_Market_Research_to_Send_the_Right_Message_to_your_Customers.wmv

(please note: The audio recording starts with an echo, but this clears up after 2 minutes)

Please contact Dave Crumrine (Dave@ShepherdAdvisors.com or 734.975-0333) if you have any comments or questions.

The webinar addresses:

RIGHT PLACE: Understand how to assess the competitive landscape to more strategically position your product, service, and company.
RIGHT MESSAGE: Formulate your "essential" marketing message(s) to more effectively connect with the customers you want.
RIGHT DELIVERY: Determine where and how to convey your message to ensure its heard above the competitive noise in the market.
The presentation also includes examples of how companies have used market research tools and best practices to their advantage.

RESOURCE: Online Video: Smart Grid 101 - Primer & Panel Discussion by Shepherd's Steve Craig at the Michigan Energy Forum

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:00:00 -0400

Over the summer Shepherd Advisors consultant Steve Craig moderated a panel of Smart Grid experts at the Michigan Energy Forum meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The event was videotaped and can be watched online now by clicking here.

As part of the sessions, Craig presented an overview of Smart Grid basics to help those who are new to the topic understand some of key terms and concepts such as demand response, distribution automation, smart meters, and cost recovery. Craig also presented findings from his informal survey of Midwest utilities discussing the strategic benefits and concerns that the utilities considered when beginning their smart grid planning and efforts.

Most utilities mentioned operational cost savings and a few mentioned reliability improvements as key benefits provided by smart grid investments. Many of the utilities also described smart grid as a way to empowering customers and providing ratepayers with more value. Most of these utilities expected to implement peak pricing or time of use pricing where rates would be increased during peak demand periods but lowered at all other times, allowing customers a chance to save money if they shifted their energy usage away from peak periods. By shaving peak loads, utilities hope to save the entire rate base money by precluding the need to buy energy on the spot market and reducing or delaying investments in new power plant facilities.

While Craig had expected utilities to express concerns about customer opposition to smart grid plans similar to the public hostility facing PG&E's smart meter roll out in California, more utilities in fact struggled with customer indifference as a larger problem. Some utilities are reporting that simply providing customers with information on their energy usage is not enough to motivate the change utilities were hoping for, even when coupled with time of use pricing.

In addition to the challenge of getting customers engaged, most of the utilities Craig spoke with are concerned about "stranded technology investments", that is, investing in hardware and software that may be outdated as technology. This in fact is a problem facing some utilities that invested in Automated Meter Reading technologies 5 or 10 years ago. Having just invested in meter upgrades, they are not in a position today to begin smart meter deployments. Given how quickly the technology is improving and the expectations of utilities, customers, and regulators are evolving, these concerns are not unfounded.

Craig advices utilities to step back before making expensive smart grid plans to undertake a planning process focused on strategic goals. "There are many ways to achieve the same goals and utilities should decide what they want to achieve and systematically review options before designing pilots, issuing RFPs, or choosing technology partners."

UPDATE: Loch McCabe: Featured Presenter at the Michigan Assoc of Mayors Meeting

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:51:00 -0400

Loch McCabe and Greenville Mayor Kenneth Snow at Michigan Association of Mayors Summer Conference in Port Huron (picture from Mich Municipal League)

The Michigan Association of Mayors (affiliate of MML) is a statewide organization for elected leaders of Michigan’s municipalities. Loch McCabe, president of Shepherd Advisors, was a featured presenter at the conference which addressed community engagement, maximizing tax revenue through planning and redevelopment, helping local entrepreneurs boost a community’s economic grown, developing green initiatives and learning about the Mi. Municipal League’s Center for 21st Century Communities.

EVENT: 10/6/2011 MMA On-Target Training Seminars Features Shepherd Advisors

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:43:00 -0400

Using Strategic Market Research to Drive Revenue Growth
Thurs., Oct 6th from 9am to 12 noon
Location: Creative Foam Corporation (300 N. Alloy Dr., Fenton)

Need to drive top-line growth but are running out of good opportunities to develop? Not sure which market segments contain the best sales opportunities to pursue? Trying to find more qualified sales prospects?

Loch McCabe, President of Shepherd Advisors, and his colleague, Dave Crumrine, will walk participants through the strategic market research process that provides a valuable framework for identifying, vetting, and prioritizing market opportunities and key prospects.

Who Should Attend: Business owners, CEOs, marketing and sales managers, business development, product and business line managers

Pricing: MMA members: $85/person; non members: $175/person

Registration: On-line: www.mma-net.org (see "Seminars & Events"); email: LeAnn Hicks (hicks@mma-net.org)

EVENT: SVSU-Great Lakes Bay Region Biomass Energy Summit - Sept 27, 2011

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:35:00 -0400

Great Lakes Bay Region Biomass Energy Summit 2011

Location: Saginaw Valley State University; 7400 Bay Road; Curtiss Hall (2nd Floor)
Date/Time: Sept. 27th, 2011; 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $39 (prior to September 16)

Link to Registration Site: REGISTRATION
Link to Agenda, Featured Speakers, and Panelists: AGENDA

Biomass Combustion Discussion will cover:

Biomass Energy
Biogas Energy
Liquid Biofuels
Manufacturing Perspectives

Program Contact: Linda at 989-964-7015 or email lhaas @svsu.edu

EVENT: Economic Gardening Workshops

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:43:00 -0400

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and the Small Business Association of Michigan are hosting one-day economic gardening workshops throughout the state.

Economic Gardening is an economic development strategy that focuses on providing high-end, corporate marketing and strategy support to second-stage entrepreneurs.

Shepherd Advisors, one of the foremost leaders in Economic Gardening in Michigan, will be presenting on the history and definition of economic gardening, key research findings, and successes and examples from our work in economic gardening throughout the state.

Please join us an any of the following locations: Traverse City (September 20), Lansing (September 21), Troy (September 28) and Grand Rapids (September 29).

To register for one of the workshops or for more information, click here.

EVENT: Shepherd Advisors Partners with SVSU to Conduct Wind Summit

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:30:00 -0400

Shepherd Advisors collaborated with Saginaw Valley State University to develop and conduct the Great Lakes Bay Wind Energy Summit, held August 4 at SVSU. The conference featured industry experts participating in the rapid acceleration of wind development in mid-Michigan, and drew more than 80 attendees from across the state.

The goal of the Summit was to help regional businesses serve the growing mid-Michigan wind industry by helping them to:

Get up to speed on the wind industry activity in the region;
Discover business opportunities arising from wind development;
Learn how they can participate in the growth.

The catalyst for the Summit was the expansion of wind projects in planning, development, and construction across the state, and mid-Michigan in particular. For example, in Gratiot County, 133 turbines representing more than 200 MW are currently under construction, with more in development. The Gratiot project alone more than doubles Michigan’s wind energy capacity, and additional projects are in the works in Huron, Mason, Sanilac, Tuscola, Delta, and Lenawee counties, with others to come.

At the Summit industry experts brought valuable perspectives from across the broad range of activities required to bring wind energy projects to fruition—from beginning to end. The program was organized into four expert panels, featuring panelists from key companies/organizations:

State & local economic development authorities—Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Greater Gratiot Development, Inc., Huron County Economic Development Corporation
Utilities & transmission—Consumers Energy, DTE Energy, ITC Holdings
Wind developers & construction firms—Exelon Wind (previously John Deere), Geronimo Wind Energy, Invenergy, Nordex, Windemuller
Wind turbine manufacturers—Northern Power Systems, Ventower Industries

“The Wind Summit was a great opportunity for participants throughout the supply chain to both network and get the most up-to-date information about the wind market in Mid-Michigan,” Loch McCabe, President of Shepherd Advisors.

RESOURCE: Customer Feedback Webinar Presentation

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:56:00 -0400

On August 16, 2011, Loch McCabe and Dave Cumbier presented the second in their series of "Position For Growth" Webinars: "Primary Research Tools: Using Customer Feedback to Improve Strategy, Service and Sales".

For a copy of their presentation, please follow this link: http://bit.ly/CustomerFeedbackWebinar

Please also feel free to contact Loch (Loch@ShepherdAdvisors.com) or Dave (Dave@ShepherdAdvisors.com) directly to discuss your impressions of the program.

EVENT: Primary Research Tools: Using Customer Feedback to Improve Strategy, Service & Sales

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:38:00 -0400

Tuesday, August 16, 2011
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM EDT

REGISTER NOW

PRESENTERS:
Loch McCabe, President, Shepherd Advisors
Dave Crumrine, Consultant, Shepherd Advisors

McCabe and Crumrine will present a 45-minute webinar on how customer feedback can be gathered and used to improve sales and operational performance. The webinar is being offered free of charge.

The webinar will address:
• The role of customer feedback in the market research and strategic planning process
• Best practices for gathering high quality and insightful customer feedback through direct interviews
• Mapping customer feedback to operational, sales, and strategy improvements
• Examples of how customer feedback supports the strategic planning process and drives business value

Title:	*Primary Research Tools: Using Customer Feedback to Improve Strategy, Service & Sales*
Date:	Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Time:	2:00 PM - 2:45 PM EDT
	Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/643071312

EVENT: Aug 4, 2011--Great Lakes Bay Wind Energy Summit

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:05:00 -0400

GREAT LAKES BAY WIND ENERGY SUMMIT
August 4, 2011 - Saginaw Valley State University

The Great Lakes Bay Wind Energy Summit helps regional businesses serve the growing mid-Michigan wind industry.

AGENDA
9 am- 9:30 am: Registration and Networking
9:30 am - 4:30 pm: Program featuring: Wind Industry Update, Economic Development, Utility & Transmission, Project Development & Construction, and Manufacturing Panels; Lunch and Networking Break

4:30 pm - 6 pm: Networking Reception

REGISTRATION LINK: Great Lakes Bay Wind Energy Summit ($39 by July 26th; $55 after July 26th)

CONTACT: Linda Haas at lhaas@svsu.edu or (989) 964-7015

EVENT: July 7, 20011--Shepherd's Steve Craig to present at the Michigan Energy Forum

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:42:00 -0400

Attend On-Site or On-Line!

Each month, the Michigan Energy Forum presents a panel discussion on a timely and important energy-related topic. This month’s topic will be the Smart Grid and will address what the Smart Grid is and what it means for residential and business utility customers in the future.

Program Presenters:

Panelist: Shaun Summerville, Marketing Program Manager, DTE Energy
Panelist: Roland Kibler, Director, Generation, Storage & Fuels Programs, NextEnergy
Moderator: Steve Craig, Shepherd Advisors

Shaun Summerville from DTE will share the utility's Smart Currents program and Roland Kibler from NextEnergy will share his thoughts based on an examination of the economic development potential that the emerging smart grid industry may provide.

Steve Craig from Shepherd Advisors will moderate the panel and also provide a brief primer on what the Smart Grid is and share findings from his study of the strategic benefits and concerns utilities face when making Smart Grid related plans.

Forum Details: Thursday, July 7, 2011 from 5pm-7pm at Ann Arbor Spark's downtown Ann Arbor office: 330 East Liberty.

Registration (free): Please follow this link: Michigan Energy Forum

“Virtual Attendees”: The Michigan Energy Forum will also be streamed live by Magic Coast:
http://www.annarborusa.org/live-events/index.html so tune in if you can’t join us in person.

Economic Gardening? What Stage 2 Growth Companies Really Want!

Fri, 20 May 2011 13:39:00 -0400

Economic Gardening is a hot topic in today’s economic development arena. However, this term “economic gardening,” while increasingly popular, is generally not well understood. [For a description of economic gardening, see our blog post, "Economic Gardening: Seven Key Success Factors."]

In a recent effort to help the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) develop a “better” economic gardening toolkit, the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM) and the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA) engaged Shepherd Advisors to survey their business memberships to better understand which economic gardening tools they thought would contribute most to their business growth.

The Survey

During a one-week in late March 2011, Shepherd Advisors sent an on-line survey to 8,200 companies, and 526 Michigan companies responded.

Of special interest were the 86 companies that met the criteria of a 2^nd stage growth company:

10-99 employees
$1M - $50M in sales
>15% growth expected

Of these 2^nd stage, growth companies, nearly half (48%) were manufacturers and slightly more than half were service companies.

The Economic Gardening Services Stage 2 Growth Companies Want

Taking a closer look at of the range of economic gardening tools and services 2^nd stage Growth Companies could choose from, what rose to the top?.

More than 50% of the 86 Stage 2 Growth companies that responded rated the following six economic gardening services as “Valuable” or “Very Valuable:

Identifying Companies to Partner With (58%) - Finding and connecting with other businesses to partner with

Improving Web Presence (54%) - Search Engine Optimization (SEO), online advertising, developing more effective web content, or social networking

Targeted Market Research (51%) - - To better understand the marketplace, to identify, qualify, and get contact information for potential customers, and to better understand the competition

Peer-To-Peer Groups (51%) – Forums for management to learn from and build connections with owners and managers of other successful companies

Growth Strategy Consultation (51%) –Getting professional assistance to help management plan and implement growth into new markets/products

Management Training (50%) - Training for the company's leadership team to help build internal capacity for successful growth

Some Other Takeaways

Both manufacturers and service companies indicated they are very interested in identifying companies to partner with and targeted market research. Interestingly, service companies are relatively more likely to be interested in growth strategy consultation, management training, and improving your web presence.

THIS is Economic Gardening

Fortunately, the core of services to support growth that a majority of 2^nd Stage Growth Companies in Michigan say they want matches exactly the core of services that state-of-the-art robust, comprehensive economic gardening programs provide. While communities can do many things to help local growth companies succeed, it is good to know that what most of these companies want boils down to:

Finding partners to do business with
Improving their web presence
Getting better information about their market and customers
Connecting with top managers/owners of other successful businesses, and
Getting better advice and training about how to better grow their business

Economic Gardening here we come!

Using Digital Technologies to Manage EV Customer Relationships

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:00:00 -0400

As EV’s and other electrified transportation products (such as Low Speed Vehicles (LSV’s), scooters and bikes) are being rolled out into the marketplace, EV manufacturers must employ the right marketing strategies and tactics to reach, generate interest, and manage relationships with their target audience.

This and other topics were discussed at a recent EV event in Ann Arbor Michigan co-produced by Shepherd Advisors and Ann Arbor Spark. The panel members included representatives from DTE, Detroit Electric, Center for Automotive Research, and the Southeast Michigan Clean Cities Group. A featured panelist was GM’s Kristin Zimmerman, Manager-Advanced Technology Infrastructure, who overviewed GM’s rollout efforts with the Volt.

One of the themes emerging is the use of social networking and Web 2.0 technology. There are two key objectives that the use of new digital technologies supports: targeting EV early adopters, and creating and managing an ongoing ownership dialogue with that audience.

The target audience for early stage EV purchases looks very similar to the early adopters who purchased hybrids over the last decade. This audience tends to be more educated, green conscious, affluent, urban and technology-centric. Marketing via mobile technologies and smart phones, social networking, blogs, and other Web 2.0 applications is fundamental. Using these communication platforms will allow the EV marketers to efficiently target the appropriate audience.

The rollout of next generation EVs (pure EVs or at least products closer to pure EVs such as the Volt) has some very unique challenges associated with monitoring and addressing logistical issues. These challenges can be associated with charging infrastructure, electricity rates, and other new product needs. However, unlike the rollout of the electric vehicles of the 90’s, social networking and other new digital platforms allow the OEM’s to establish direct or closer contact with EV owners, and to manage a two way dialogue regarding their ownership experiences. GM’s Volt owner’s site, www.myvolt.com, incorporates many of these features.

These new media technologies allow OEMs to quickly get real user feedback regarding issues and challenges, allowing them to quickly convey solutions where they already exist and develop new solutions for unanticipated problems where needed.

This use of new technology is key to a successful rollout of today’s EVs as the broader public’s impression of the usability and practicality of EVs will be quickly shaped by the news headlines and word of mouth stories they hear regarding the early adopter’s ownership experiences. The question is, will the OEMs be able to effectively respond to the 360 degree feedback loops enabled by these technologies. I sure hope the EV OEMs are ready!

Shepherd Advisors Assists Michigan Manufacturers Association’s Wind Suppliers

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:16:00 -0500

Shepherd Advisors provided assistance to the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA) in a series of events aimed to facilitate connections between MMA member companies and wind turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

The series included two connected events—a training session geared toward preparing suppliers to meet with wind OEMs, followed one week later by an opportunity for the suppliers to meet face-to-face with nine of the OEMs.

Representatives of approximately 30 manufacturers attended the training session, “Meeting the Wind OEMs: We’ll Show You How to Make Each Minute Count!” held February 15^th at MMA headquarters in Lansing. Shepherd provided a wind market overview and profiles of the OEMs that would be attending the following week. In addition, Shepherd facilitated a hands-on, interactive workshop in which the Michigan manufacturers learned to develop one minute “elevator pitches” showcasing their companies, and then had the opportunity to practice and refine them.

The second event, “Face-to-Face with Global OEMs: Make Your Mark in the Wind Energy Industry” was co-hosted by DTE Energy and MMA on February 22^nd, at the MGM Grand in Detroit. Organized in a “speed dating” format, nearly 40 Michigan suppliers had the opportunity to deliver their one-minute pitches to nine wind OEMs. This high-energy approach enabled face-to-face connections, and provided an equal opportunity for all suppliers to make their case. Both suppliers and OEMs were able to quickly assess fit and interest in pursuing follow-up meetings. OEMs in attendance included Acciona, Gamesa, General Electric, Kenersys, Northern Power, REpower, Siemens, Suzlon, and Vestas.

For more information about these events, and how Shepherd Advisors can help your organization strengthen and improve its market position, please contact Loch McCabe or Tim Kumbier at 734-975-0333, or loch@shepherdadvisors.com or tim@shepherdadvisors.com

The MMA Wind Energy Community can be accessed at:

http://www.mma-net.org/membership/cmnty_wind.asp

Information on DTE Energy’s renewable energy plan, including plans to construct and purchase wind power in Michigan, can be found at:
http://www.dteenergy.com/dteEnergyCompany/environment/renewableEnergy/overview.html

How to Approach Market Diversification

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:02:00 -0500

At Shepherd, we work with businesses of varying sizes guiding them through market diversification processes. Whether you are a manufacturer trying to protect your business from the declining automotive market or a clean energy service provider looking to enter a new clean energy market to grow your business, there are several key questions to address as you approach the diversification process.

Asking the right questions and engaging in a focused effort to generate quality answers is vital to meeting your goals. While working with clients, Shepherd employs a research and data-driven approach to this process that will position you to more effectively understand the conditions of the market(s) you are targeting as well as the state of your own business.

This process provides a high level roadmap for diversifying your business. Many of these steps may entail several tasks each and will likely take a significant investment of time. We recommend a thorough approach with a team of internal and/or external resources focused on the process.

Step 1: Define Goals

Clearly stated goals are essential to successfully diversifying your business. Your goals will guide decisions downstream through the process. Goals may include diversifying to achieve rapid growth or diversifying to fill unused capacity in a declining sales context. Knowing your goals will help steer decisions regarding which markets to enter, will guide investment decisions, and will help you in determining the degree and nature of risks to take.

Step 2: Know Your Business

As you enter new markets you will face different business conditions and challenges versus your business’ current markets. It is vital to understand what your business can do well and equally important, not do well. Having a current competitive analysis and SWOT analysis (examining your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) for reference is best practice. The SWOT should include a thorough assessment of all functions including sales and marketing, operations, technical and product development, as well as an evaluation of your financial position (balance sheet and cash flow) and the strength of your organization from an HR and leadership/management perspective. All these areas will be needed to support your diversification strategy and knowing your relative strengths and weaknesses should be considered when choosing your market.

Step 3: Select Your New Market(s)

Generally, you may start by considering markets that are similar to your existing markets. They may have many of the same customers and / or similar product lines and may have similar success factors. But be careful. If you are diversifying to protect against sector risk, you may need to find a market that is outside your comfort zone (e.g., entering the medical products industry for an automotive supplier). Use market research to develop a baseline understanding of the markets you are considering for entry that should at the least include market size, key trends driving and inhibiting growth, and some understanding of the customers and competitors already in the marketplace.

Once you’ve identified candidates for your chosen market, prioritize your options using criteria designed to support internal considerations such as your goals and your organization’s capabilities, as well as external considerations such as market growth, profitability potential and the competitive situation. Apply the prioritization criteria and select your market(s).

Step 4: Address the Organizational Needs Pursuing Your New Market(s) Will Create

Once you’ve chosen your new market(s), conduct deeper research to have a solid knowledge of the trends, key players, and the key success factors. Talk to potential customers, industry experts and others who have this knowledge. You must be able to confidently understand what it will take for your organization to be successful in your market.

Compare these new market success requirements to your organizations strengths and weaknesses and identify the major gaps. Define an organizational readiness plan that addresses the key gaps and pursue it. At this stage we recommend a sanity check of the viability of successfully diversifying into your chosen market. If your action plan has several major organizational needs and actions – you may want to reassess the plan.

Step 5: Targeted Sales Prospecting & Engagement

As you are implementing your organizational readiness plan, your sales and marketing team should gear up for market entry. While a “let’s just dive in” approach may bear some fruit, you will see better results from a methodical sales prospecting exercise. This will allow you to better allocate sales resources and focus on the more strategic and high likelihood sales targets.

Our next blog entry will explore sales prospecting best practices.

Finally, many of our clients lack the experience in managing diversification process and/or have limited bandwidth to manage the process. We recommend seeking help from consultants, partners, customers and other friends that can guide you through the process. The cost of ineffectively pursuing a diversification strategy can be high with new investments in equipment, marketing and personnel, and substantial opportunity costs incurred as the organization turns its attention away from the core business.

So as you plan your diversification process, consider these tips and be prepared for a substantial effort in order to successfully meet your goals and strengthen your overall business position. Good luck!

B2B Marking Tactics: Using Analytics to Drive Continuous Marketing Improvement

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:09:00 -0500

Last time we discussed how B2B marketers need to focus on the classic “who, where, why, what, when, and how much” questions regarding their marketing tactics. (Click here to review the previous blog). Once you have explored and answered these questions (as well as the additional questions that are inevitably encountered through the process), you are ready to effectively go to market.

But this is just the beginning of the strategic marketing process. Garnering insights from actual market experience and building them into your marketing plan going forward requires a focused analytics effort. The question is: what does a focused and effective analytic process look like?

An effective analytics process requires investment in time and resources, tools, and a management commitment to integrate learnings into future marketing efforts. Whether you are managing analytics with a shoestring budget and allocating minimal resources to the effort, or have a dedicated internal/external team managing your analytics, the same basic methodology should be employed:

Analytics Methodology

Step 1: Setting Goals

The most important and the most overlooked step in analytics is setting effective goals for your marketing campaign/efforts. Effective goal setting entails defining measurable goals that are tied ultimately to budget and ROI goals as well as qualitative goals. Often time goals will be speak to closed sales and/or leads generated from direct marketing/sales efforts. They can also outline brand awareness, customer satisfaction, and reputational metrics for upper funnel marketing activities.

Step 2: Measure Performance

Using the marketing analytics tools and financial systems available to you, measure the appropriate quantitative and qualitative metrics. Generate reports summarizing the metrics and other pertinent data to enable analysis. Effective reporting should accurately capture the required data points over the appropriate periods of time. Any reports generated should not inundate the audience with unnecessary or extraneous information. The measured data should relate to and support the stated goals from Step 1 and include a “variance to goal” view of the data.

Step 3: Analyze Findings

Analyze metrics assessing whether you have achieved, exceed or missed your goals and more importantly why. Compare metrics to similar campaigns and prior periods for benchmarking purposes. The analysis process can often entail examining additional data points as you investigate why or why not goals were achieved. Sometimes a “deep dive” analysis process may be called for depending on the findings and strategic importance of the marketing campaign being analyzed.

Step 4: Recommend and Implement Learnings

Based on the analysis, make recommendations for change and implement as viable. Translating analytical findings to implemented changes to your marketing plan can often times stall due to political pressures and momentum within the organization. The keys to overcoming these challenges include effective dissemination and communication of analysis as well as empowerment from management to act on analytical findings. Establishing a regular forum for key decision makers to review findings and discuss adopting recommended changes is a key step.

Step 5 / 1: Set New Goals…

Once the marketing plan has been adjusted based on prior findings and the marketing team kicks off the next campaign, the analytics process starts over with goal setting based on revised strategies and tactics as appropriate.

Effective marketers utilize an analytics process that employs these fundamentals to continually improve their marketing efforts. The findings and changes that ensue from the findings may reshape your answers to some of the classic who, what, where, why, when and how much questions. Working to have the best answers in place to these questions is vital to having the right marketing strategy in place, generating ROI from your marketing investment and effectively growing your business.

It's Time to Take Advantage of a Great New Industrial Energy Management Resource

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 06:30:00 -0500

The industrial energy experts at University of Michigan have another great resource to offer Michigan industrial energy managers. Through generous grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and the State of Michigan Department of Labor, Energy, and Economic Growth, U of M, in partnership with Shepherd Advisors, has established the Michigan Industrial Energy Center (MIEC). The MIEC launched its website last week, which offers a wealth of great information, news and events, and case studies highlighting ways to save energy and reduce costs. It is based on their experience in conducting hundreds of energy assessments with small and medium sized companies throughout the Midwest over the last 10 years. The website also offers the opportunity to join the MIEC Network, which provides access to peer to peer discussions, e-mail updates on industrial energy news and events, and the ability to “ask an expert” on the MIEC team specific questions about your facility.

Maybe the most exciting features of the new MIEC are the opportunities for FREE energy assessments for large companies and low or no-cost training on cutting edge industrial energy topics. The Save Energy Now assessments are available free of charge to a limited number of facilities each year, and include evaluation of current energy use, an in-depth onsite assessment of processes and technologies, and specific recommendations for energy savings, including potential costs and payback periods. With Michigan utilities offering significant rebate opportunities for energy efficiency upgrades, these types of energy assessments are invaluable tools for energy managers to identify and implement the best options for energy efficiency upgrades. If you’re not taking advantage of this opportunity yet – its time!!! You can e-mail me for more information and to set up a time for the assessment, or visit the MIEC website.

The Center is also offering several training courses throughout the later winter, spring and summer, including 4 Department of Energy Certified Specialist and End User training courses in compressed air, steam systems, and PHAST. In addition, MIEC will have several online training courses available on the “Basics and Economics of Industrial Energy Management.” These training opportunities are all low or no-cost, and easy registration will be available on the website in the next few weeks.

As energy costs continue to rise, finding ways to decrease energy use will be critical to growing and maintaining Michigan industrial competitiveness. Resources like the U of M MIEC are a great tool for energy managers to find tried and true solutions, particularly those with low implementation costs and returns on investment, as they look for ways to reduce costs. Take advantage of this great resource today!

Are You Ready to be Gardened?

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 10:57:00 -0500

Shepherd Team Members, Loch McCabe and Terri Schroeder, recently published an article in the Small Business Association of Michigan's magazine, Focus on Small Business.

The article, "Are You Ready to be Gardened?", gives some background on economic gardening and what it means, as well as helps small businesses position themselves for success when they are presented with economic gardening support.

Find a copy of the complete article here.